(Cy) Young and Bard put a hurtin' on Sox

San Diego 6, Sox 1
WP: Young (7-3)
LP: Wakefield (7-8)
HRs: SD-Greene, 2 (11), Bard (3)

The Bard served up a bit of poetic justice to his onetime teamates and the man he just couldn't catch, Tim Wakefield

SUMMARY
Chris Young was dominant for seven innings; Tim Wakefield, not so much.

Young fanned 11 batters and allowed one hit in seven innings while Wake allowed six runs and three longballs in less than six innings, including a controversial 2-run shot to his onetime catcher Josh Bard, and only a late 9th inning rally prevented the Sox from getting shutout for the fifth time this year.

HERO(es):

1. Young 7IP, 1H, 2BB, 11K--what more needs to be said?
2. K. Greene 3-4, 2R, 2BI, 2HRs--ditto
3. Bard 2-4, 2R, 3BI, 2B, HR--an ex-Sox player kills his former mates-shocking!

GOAT: Wakefield 5.1IP, 8H, 6ER, 0BB, 4K, 3HRs
He's taken home this dubious honor enough times this season to be considered for a lifetime achievement award.

RECAP:
Not much went right for our Sox tonight in San Diego.

They got schooled by a pitcher who was as close to unhittable as Boston has seen all season.

Their former catching prospect Josh Bard, who was thrown at the Padres in order to get Doug Mirabelli back to catch Wakefield, torched his former team with an RBI double and a two-run bomb.

And Boston manager Terry Francona got tossed for the second time this season when not one but two calls were reversed against the Sox, a trap/catch by Manny and the other a fair/foul switcheroo on the homer by Bard.

Didn't even matter that the umps got both calls right.

It turns out none of the shit that came later really mattered because for all intents & purposes the game was over after Bard singled in Mike Cameron, who had led off with a bunt single, for the Padres' first run in the second inning.

Because the way Young was straight dealing, the rest of the game was just for padding his gaudy stats.

Coming into the game the 6'10" Princeton grad (!) was sitting pretty at third in the NL in ERA but also sitting on pins & needles awaiting an appeal of a five-game suspension resulting from a fight with the Cubs Derek Lee last weekend.

And the guy pitched like a man on borrowed time.

Young decimated the Boston lineup for four innings, allowing just a walk to Pedroia in the first while retiring 7 of the first 13 batters on strikeouts, but he did get into trouble in the fifth when he gave up a leadoff single to J.D. Drew and Lowell reached on a muff by rookie third baseman Kevin Flying Kouzmanoff, setting up a potential rally.

Ah, what rally? Young proceeded to mow down the next three batters like Lindsay Lohan snorting rails, striking out Mirabelli, Lugo and Wakefield on 11 pitches to escape the would-be jam.

Alrighty then.

With that kind of firepower on the mound all San Diego had to do was put a couple three runs on the board and it would be time for the supersized contingent of RSN to hit the Gaslamp District to drown their sorrows, and in the bottom of the inning it would do just that.

Khalil Thabit Greene got the party started when he launched Wake's third pitch of the inning deep into the seats in left center for a 2-0 Padres lead. After Wake got Termell Sledge to strike out, Kouzmanoff dropped a ball into left that Manny appeared to make a spectacular shoestring catch of, but after an umpire conference they (correctly) ruled it a trap and awarded Kouzmanoff first base.

Young sacrificed him over and then Marcus Giles (2-4, RBI) roped a double over Manny's head to plate Kouzmanoff and make the score to 3-0, and with the way Young was pitching it might as well have been 10-0.

Just to make things really interesting the Pads would score three more, initate another ump conference and get Tito run from the game all before the sixth inning was over.

With one out Mike Cameron needed just one pitch to line a double to left off Wakefield, and just one pitch later Bard hit the shot heard round Red Sox Nation.

The brief batterymate of Wakefield sliced drive down the left field line that at first was ruled foul, but upon further review of the "quirky" layout of PetCo Park, the umps convened and (correctly) ruled the ball hit off the foul pole that faces sideways along the balcony of the old warehouse and was indeed a homerun.

This second reversal, combined with the blitzkrieg by Young, caused Tito to blow his top for the second time this month, and with the way the game was going and the fact that both calls were correct I'm positive the ejection was planned so he could get a head start on tomorrow's game.

Ironically after all the hubub died down (Tito nearly got hit by a bottle during the arguement), Greene blasted his second homer of the night as if to say "enough-this game is OVER!"

Young left after seven (thanks, NL rules) and the only saving grace for Boston was that they prevented San Diego from recording a major league-leading 12th shutout when callup David Murphy lined a triple to the gap and Mike Lowell brought him home with a double off Justin Hampson in the ninth to spare the indignity of being shutout.

But that was small consolation on this night as Boston was given a full dose of what it's like to go up against the best pitching staff and bullpen in the majors.

And up next is the NL leader in wins & ERA, Jake Peavy.

Gulp.

NOTES:

• Boston managed just four hits off three Padres pitchers, Drew's single, Murphy's triple, Lowell's double and a pinch hit double by Eric Hinske in the 8th; that hit was only Boston's 2nd of the game at the time
• Drew returned from his quad strain and broke up what was looking like a possible no hitter by Young with his 5th inning single. He also attempted to steal and made a nice play in the field, although he was pulled after seven (hurt or not?)
• Murphy was just recalled yesterday from Pawtucket when Schill was officially put on the DL; he got into yesterday's game in the ninth, then smoked the three-bagger for his first hit of 2007 tonight
• Wake, who once upon a time was leading the AL in ERA at 1.79, saw his number bloom to 4.52, while Young's ERA is down to an awesome 2.08 and an ML-best 0.94 at home. Wow.
• Green has 4 homers and 14 RBIs in his last 11 games
• One night after 13 Padres fanned, Boston batters turned the baker's dozen; eight players struck out at least once, and five fanned twice
• WARNING!WARNING!: Lugo-fer went 0-3 (his latest such streak is at 0-22) and is now batting .196. Yikes.
• San Diego rapped 11 hits, and four guys (Giles, Cameron, Bard, Greene) had at least two hits apiece
• Lowell, who had sat out three games in a row with a minor thumb strain, snapped a 1-19 skid with his 9th inning blast, a ball that might have gone out if not for a great effort by Cameron
• Speaking of great efforts, Manny made a nice sliding grab in the second inning, then nearly sold that rolling trap play in the 5th; who says he can't play defense?

QUOTES:

"I have a feeling they probably ended up getting both right. But you get frustrated."--Tito, proving my point about the early exit

"I feel I pitched better than the numbers showed. Every ball I made a mistake on, they hit hard. With the stuff I had, no way I give up six runs."--Wakefield. Uh, okay Tim. Dude, you got hammered like chopped meat, get over it.

"I'd only faced him one time, in '02, and it was a time when I was swinging the bat pretty good left-handed and he really gave me a tough time, so I was thinking why not give it a shot right-handed and thankfully it worked out." --Bard, on his decision to bat righty against the righty Wakefield

RECORD: 47-26

AL EAST: Up 10.5 on NYY
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Sun @ SD 4EST

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Game Preview: Sox @ San Diego GM2

Wakefield (7-7, 4.18) vs. Young (6-3, 2.26)
Petco Park 10EST

I don't have much time to go into detail about this game- I already predicted a Sox loss in my series preview anyway-because I am taking my son to the D-Rays game to see them take on the West Coast edition of the Red Sox, the LA Dodgers.

That's right it's going to be a veritable Bosox reunion with Nomah, D-Lowe and Slingblade Little livening up the Trop, and no, I won't try to hit Grady with a poison spear dart, so stop asking.

After last night's thrilling 2-1 Sox victory, Boston is due for a letdown when the erratic Wakefield takes on the man with third best ERA in the NL, Chris Young. Young is waiting to serve a five game suspension for brawling with the Cubs' Derrek Lee last weekend, so you know he'll be hungry to mow down some Sox batters before his departure.

Who knows, maybe he'll be ansty. Either way I'm sure the Rays will be getting blown out in plenty of time for me to get home for the start of the game.

I'll have a full report from the Rays game as well as a wrap up of tonight's Sox game later on this evening, or should I say tomorrow morning by the time the game gets over.

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Sox hang on for win over Maddux, Padres

Sox 2, San Diego 1
WP: Matsuzaka (9-5)
LP: Maddux (6-4)
SV: Papelbon (17)
HRs: None

What's more embarrassing, this fourth inning fall or those hideous throwback unis!?

SUMMARY
After a shaky start (3 walks, 1 run in the first) Daisuke Matsuzaka settled down to pitch six satisfactory innings, and the Sox got to Greg Maddux for four hits and two runs in the fourth to account for the only runs in this well-played game between the top teams from each league.

HERO: Matsuzaka 6IP, 5H, 1ER, 5BB, 9K, 126P
Sixteen starts in and the mystery that is Daisuke Matsuzaka only continues to deepen. At times dominating, other times infuriating, Dice-K is starting to resemble the Japanese version of Julian Tavarez.

I can't believe I just said that.

GOAT: Maddux 6IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K, 91P
He's taking home this honor not so much due to his pitching, which was solid save for that rocky fourth inning, but for his barrel roll off the mound as his spike got stuck in the turf during a pitch to Papi in the 6th; as Remy said "that had to be embarrassing." Yep, it was.

RECAP:
Although it was by no means a work of art (3+ hours, 9 pitchers, 302 pitches, one unplanned pratfall), the first game ever at Petco Park between these two division leaders had enough entertainment & excitement to make me forget it ended at 1:16 am EST.

Probably because the way it began pumped enough adrenaline through my body to keep me alert for the next three hours.

What should have been a classic mano-a-mano pitcher's duel between a future Hall of Famer and a Japanese League legend returning to the site of his greatest international baseball moment may have the shiny box score facade of such a contest, but a closer look inside reveals a sloppy, erratic piece of abstract art.

Matsuzaka was the cause for the early agita when he walked the first three batters of the game, and most of the pitches weren't anywhere near the strike zone. Of his first 15 pitches, 11 were balls, and one was a wild pitch. Yikes.

But despite this horrific display of inability to find the strike zone, Dice began putting together parts of a brilliant outing by getting out of the three-on, no-out jam allowing just one run, on an RBI single by newly acquired nuisance, catcher Michael Barrett.

The line score for the inning: 1 hit, 3 walks, 1 wild pitch, 1 run, 1 strikeout

Amazingly following that ominous opening the only category to greatly increase on that line was the strikeout total, as Dice-K settled into a groove from there to the point that he retired 9 of the next 11 batters, five by strikeout.

It was a good thing he calmed down, too, because Mr. Maddux was dealing his usual hand of 'catch this if you can' mastery, setting down eight of the first 10 Sox batters and facing one over the minimum through three thanks to a double play.

Thankfully then came the fourth. As I reported in my preview, Maddux has been touched for 19 runs in his last 32.1 innings, and in the fourth it was evident how as Boston sent seven batters to the plate and almost every one of them hit the ball hard.

Pedroia got it started with a solid single to center, then Papi followed with a long, loud flyout to left. Then the next three batters-Manny, Youk & Tek- all ripped singles off Maddux, Youk's to tie the game and Tek's to knock in the go-ahead run, and even though Wily Mo grounded out and Lugo-fer fanned to end the frame, the damage was done as the final runs of the game had been scored.

Not that anyone knew that at the time because the way Dice-K was pitching it seemed like the whole thing was going to come crashing down like a house of cards at any moment. Matsuzaka allowed two men to reach in the fifth and sixth innings, yet somehow managed to avoid further damage by getting the big out when he needed it.

By the end of six both starters were gone and it was up to two of the best pens in the game to keep the game where it was and give their teams a chance to win it.

San Diego brought in former Sox prospect Cla Meredith, and the righty sidearmer allowed only an infield single to Coco Crisp (3-4) in his inning of work. Boston countered with lefty sidearmer Javier Lopez and then Manny Delcarmen, who combined for a scoreless seventh, then went to the heavy artillery for the final two frames.

Okajima was money in the 8th when he set down all three Padres he faced on just 10 pitches, two on strikeouts after Scott Linebrink had done the same in the top of the inning, which made it a 2-1 game heading into the ninth.

San Diego went with relative unknown Royce Ring instead of closer Trevor Hoffman, and all he did was ring up all three Sox batters on strikeouts, needing just 11 pitches to do so. Whew.

That left the game in the hands of Jonathan Papelbon, and the way he has been slamming the door lately it's almost as if he should have entered the game to Hoffman's infamous Hells Bells theme song.

After getting two quick outs Jose Cruz Jr slapped a single to right to break up the perfect save and ratchet up the tension another notch. But as a large, loud contingent of RSN cheered him on, Paps got Padres slugger Adrian Gonzalez to strike out to end it, and Paps nearly broke Tek's mitt slamming the ball into it after the emotional & hard-fought victory.

Like I said, it wasn't pretty and it wasn't very offensive, but the game provided a number of memorable moments and impressive displays.

Too bad one of the most memorable is going to be Maddux' mound muff.

NOTES:

• Throw(it)back--the teams wore 'vintage' 1980s unis, Boston in morbid grey & black and San Diego in those infamous shit brown & Gulden's psychedelic specials. Nice.
• Coco still crispy--with three more hits tonight (plus a stolen base), Coco has now hit in 8 straight games and has lifted his average from .224 top .258 in the last ten games
• Drew who?--Coco batted leadoff tonight as Drew's latest malady-a strained quad-kept him out of the lineup despite a day and a half of rest. It's beginning to look like those preseason naysayers were right-the guy's brittle and slump-prone and NOT worth $70 million bucks
• Manny had another couple of hits (single, double) and is now up to .304, much more Manny-like. Now only if those homers & RBIs would go up
• Youk's RBI single ran his hit streak to six games, and he also made a couple of slick plays at third
• Speaking of third, Lowell (hand) sat for the thrid straight game, but did come in as a defensive replacement in the 8th
• Speaking of Youk's single, Maddux didn't appreciate a non-call that could have been strike three on Youk before the hit, and after he fanned Lugo to end the inning on a near identical pitch, Maddux waved his arms and shouted at home plate umpire Brian Knight on his way off the field
• Speaking of Lugo, he sucks. He went 0-4 and now is below Mendoza at a mind-numbing .198. For $36 million bucks. It's time for Tito to bat him below the pitcher for the rest of the series.
• Oki's scorless outing dropped his ERA to a fiber optic-thin 0.98; wow.
• Delcarmen has now pitched 2.2 hitless, scoreless innings since his most recent callup
• The free-swinging Fathers, who were second in the NL in strikouts coming into the series, fanned 13 more times, including three by leadoff man Marcus Giles
• Barrett the Brawler--the new arrival from the Cubs singled in his first two trips and also threw out Coco trying to steal. Sure, it's all good until he punches Peavy.

QUOTES:

"Good game. Got outpitched."--Maddux

"I tried to get off to a gentle start today but that clearly didn't go so well. After getting into the jam I told myself that maybe one run would be permissible here, and that's how I approached that tight spot."--Matsuzaka

"Senior moment." --Maddux, referring to his elderly-like fall from grace in the sixth


RECORD: 47-25
AL EAST: Up 10.5 on NYY
STREAK: W-3
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sat @ SD 10EST

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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.

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Sox Drawer: State of the Sox

It's an off day for our boys as they travel to San Diego for a three game weekend set with the Padres (current ownners of the best record in the National League), so the lack of game action has led me to do one of my patented, world famous, all-encompassing State of the Team posts.

Truth be told I'm doing this for myself as much as for my trusty readers, because after missing three games earlier in the week I need to get up to speed as to who's hot, who's not, and who's perilously close to slipping below the Mendoza Line with another oh-fer (ahemlugoahem.)

So without further adieu, and before I use up all my bandwidth, here's my latest State of the Sox:

BATTER	LAST 10 GMS	COMMENT
Drew	.228/2HR/3RBI	slowly impr'ving
Pedroia	.342/1HR/7RBI	hit in 8 of 9 gms
Papi	.296/2HR/4RBI	2HRs in ATL
Manny	.355/3HR/8RBI	avg. now .300
Youk	.300/oHR/3RBI	hit in 9 of 10 gms
Lowell	.184/1HR/5RBI	**hand injury**
Tek	.237/1HR/3RBI	2HR, 5BI in Jun
Coco	.400/3HR/5RBI	hit in 9 of 10 gms
Lugo	.105/5R/1RBI	avg. now .201
Cora	.143/2R/1RBI	big 3B on TUE
Pena	.190/0HR/2RBI	2-4, R on WED
Hinske	.250/1HR/2RBI	hit HR on WED
Belli	.174/0HR/1RBI	ice, ice baby...
PITCHER	LAST 3 APPS	COMMENT
Schill	18.1IP/20H/11ER	on the DL til???
Beckett	19IP/19H/8ER	ran rec. to 10-1
Dice-K	20IP/14H/4ER	ERA now 4.18
Wake	20.1IP/19H/9ER	ERA also 4.18
Tavarez	20IP/15H/5ER	won last 4 dec's
Paps	3IP/0H/0R/2K	ERA now 1.78
Oki	3IP/1H/0R/2K	ERA now 1.01
Snyder	2.2IP/2H/0R/5K	K'd 3 vs. COL
Lopez	1.2IP/1H/1R/1K	1-hitter wonder
Delcarmen	2.2IP/0H/0R/2B	recalled on 6/18
Pineiro	3.2IP/4H/0R/2K	0 runs in 7 of 10
Timlin	3IP/5H/3ER/HR	his arm is shot

Delcarmen was called up Monday when the Sox placed Brendan Donnelly on the DL with a forearm strain.

The rest of the injury report looks like this: Curt Schilling was placed on the DL after a shoulder strain was discovered following Monday night's loss to Atlanta; Mike Lowell is nursing a hand injury and was given a couple of nights off in Atlanta; and J.D. Drew was pulled from Wednesday's ass-kicking with a slightly strained quad.

Also, J.C. Romero cleared waivers, which could hurt Boston in the pocketbook when he signs with another team (they'll be on the hook for the bulk of his $1.6 million salary when he gets picked up.)

So despite Schill going on the DL and a number of other guys banged up, plus a lineup shuffle initiated due to Lugo's prolific slump, Boston has shaken off the early June swoon to post a 9-4 record in its last 13 games, and that incredible shrinking lead that New York had whittled from 14 1/2 to 7 1/2 games is now back to a comfy 10 1/2 games.

That's good, because this match up with the Pads over the weekend is going to be a real test of the team's mettle, and with quality pitching match ups each game in what should be a packed & rockin' PetCo Park, there will be a definite playoff atmosphere to the series.

Good thing a huge chunk of the fans will be proud members of RSN!

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A special shout out to a great new website

I want to take a moment to thank the folks behind BlogInterviewer.com for asking me to be included on their innovative new site.

What sets this site apart for all the run-of-the-mill blogrolls is that BlogInterviewer lets the reader actually preview various sites by providing a screenshot as well as a mini-interview with its creator, not just a soulless, impersonal link. Very cool.

This is a terrific way for lesser-known blogs like mine to get our name out there among the traffic heavyweights, and I have little doubt it will catch on like wildfire.

And I'm not just saying that because they were kind enough to ask me to be a part of it.

Really, I'm not.

Anyway, please click the link above and peruse the site yourself; if you want to shoot directly to my page (and I know you do), click here.

Thanks again to Mike Thomas and the rest of the gang for choosing my humble little blog, and keep up the great work!

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Sox slam 10 XBHs in a rout of the Braves

Sox 11, Atlanta 0

WP: Tavarez (5-4)
LP: Carlyle (1-2)

HRs: BOS- Drew (6), Coco (4), Papi (13), Manny (11), Hinske (2)

Julian's jubilation provided a hilarious backdrop to the Sox offensive display

SUMMARY

Boston exacted sweet revenge for the 14-0 drubbing the Braves laid on them in May at Fenway as the offense smacked 15 hits including five homers and five doubles, Tavarez pitched seven shutout innings and the Sox took two of three from Atlanta before heading west to San Diego.

HERO: Boston batters 15 hits, 11 runs, 10 extra base hits

It was a true team effort tonight as every Boston starter except Lugo had at least one hit, five players had at least two hits, and ManRam chipped in with three knocks.

Plus seven guys had at least one extra base hit, three had two XBHs, and Manny & Drew both notched a double & a homer.

Did I mention six different players drove runs, four drove in at least two, and Coco brought home three with his 1st inning smash?

GOAT: Buddy Carlyle 3.2IP, 9H, 7ER, 3BB, 4K, 3HRs

Buddy pitched more like Kitty Carlisle as the Boston batters bludgeoned poor Buddy to the tune of nine hits-a mind-blowing seven for extra bases-and seven runs in less than four innings.

It was ugly early (two homers allowed in the first) and often (Boston sent 14 batters to the plate in the first two innings) for bummin' Buddy, who needed a My Buddy doll, or at least a joke from Buddy Hackett, after this one.

I'll stop now.

RECAP

After the Sox hitters slapped the Braves pitchers around like Foxy Brown at a nail salon, I'm still trying to figure out if it's ironic or just plain sad that the only regular who failed to register a hit was Julio Lugo, yet he was robbed not once but twice of possible base knocks.

Nevertheless the Boston batters unleashed an awesome display of offensive firepower on an unsuspecting Atlanta squad, ripping five homers and 15 hits off of four Braves hurlers (Oscar Villareal was the only Atlanta pitcher who didn't allow a hit, run or walk) and jumping out to a 7-0 lead after just two innings.

That large early cushion allowed Julian Tavarez to slip into his wacky alter ego, let's call him Bizarro Julie, the one who pitches like Juan Marichal and acts like Juan Epstein.

Tavarez (7IP, 3H, BB, 4K) was dazzling for much of his seven innings, mesmerizing Atlanta hitters with a wide array of pitches, pitch locations, and odd on-field antics.

Fist pumping, finger pointing and him repeatedly touching his scalp and cap led ESPN announcer Dan Shulman to describe his schtick as "Julian Being Julian", and that overplayed handle is actually appropriate in this case.

It turned out Boston didn't need to score a ton of runs to win with the way Julie pitched, but they went ahead and grabbed a bunch early, just to be safe.

J.D. Drew got the party started right away when he launched Carlyle's fourth pitch of the game over the wall in right center for a quick 1-zip lead. Dustin Pedroia followed with a double to deep left,and after Papi struck out swinging, Manny doubled home Pedroia for the second run of the game.

But the fun was just beginning.

Youk fanned on three pitches for the second out, but after falling behind 2-0 to Tek, Bobby Cox decided to walk the Captain to get to the hot-hitting Coco Crisp.

Bad move, wife beater.

After looking at one pitch, Coco launched Buddy's second offering high & deep into the seats in right for a sweet 3-run bomb and a sudden 5-0 Sox lead. It was Crisp's third longball of the series after he had only tallied one the whole rest of the year. Check his urine.

Lugo ended the inning (of course) with a long flyball, the Sox picked up right where they left off in the second, scoring a pair of runs on Big Papi's 13th homer of the season and second in two nights; coincidentally it was a majestic, towering shot that landed almost exactly where Coco's did.

Anything you can do, little guy...

Staked to the big lead Tavarez set to work on mowing down the inept Atlanta lineup, which hasn't scored in 19 innings and was without the ice-cold Andruw Jones (whose batting average is a downright Lugo-esque .202), and he did not allow a baserunner until one out in the fourth and faced the minimum amount of batters through six thanks to two Boston DPs.

His enthusiasm for the situation was evident on two nice plays by his infield, a scoop play by Papi at first on a relay from Pedroia, and a nice snag of a hot shot from Kelly Johnson by Lugo leading off the fourth.

The plethora of fantastic plays by his fielders had Julie on cloud nine, and his wildly entertaining sideshow began to take center stage over the "ho-hum, we're slaughtering them" game itself.

His constant fidgeting, rubbing and removing of his cap combined with him twice asking for the ball at the end of an inning and tossing it into the stands led ---- to speculate whether Tavarez was either doctoring the ball or for some reason trying to convey the appearance of doing so.

Revenge for Atlanta's Brian McCann repeatedly stepping out of the box at the last instant last night against Josh Beckett, or simply just a way for Julie to stay focused while the onslaught was taking place as he sat in the dugout.

Either way the combination of Tavarez' arm and the hitter's lumber sent the Sox to a series win, and coming on the heels of Schilling heading to the DL, this kind of performance from the offense and the now 4th starter is invaluable as the team heads out west.

It was an entertaining game and a semi-positive series for Boston, which has to be happy with the run production yet cautious about the health of its other ace.

But for now let's enjoy the win, let the guys enjoy the off day, and let Bizarro Julie enjoy living in his strange, strange world.

NOTES:

• After beginning the season 1-3, Tavarez has gone 5-1 since with a perfect 4-0 record and 3.65 ERA in his last seven starts. His overall ERA is now down to 4.50


• Manny's three hits (homer, single, double) raised his average to exactly .300, the first time he's reached that familiar mark all season. His 7th inning homer was #481 career


• Drew followed his homer with a double in the second, but he was pulled after scoring on Manny's double due to what's being called a minor quad strain-jeesh.


• The homer was his 4th in the last 12 games after he had just two all season


• All In: after replacing Drew Wily Mo went on to rap two hits including a double and scored a run. Eric Hinske replaced Ortiz for the 7th and promptly smacked a 2-run homer in the bottom of the frame


• Lugo's struggling so badly that hits are being taken away from him because teammates can't advance a base as they expect him to make an out. After Tek & Coco singled to start the 9th, Julio dropped a hit in front of right fielder Jeff Francoeur, but Tek had to hold up at second and was easily thrown out by the cannon armed Francoeur, thus rendering the hit a fielder's choice and dropping Lugo down to .201. Mendoza alert, Mendoza alert!!


• Coco crispy: the defensive whiz has been tearing the cover off the ball of late, and he's now hit in seven straight and 11 of 12 games to raise his average to .250, the highest it's been since early May


• Pen pals: Joel Pineiro relieved Tavarez in the 8th and after allowing the first two batters to reach he retired three straight to preserve the shutout. Maddog Timlin then tossed a 1-2-3 ninth, needing just six pitches to close it out.


• Keeping up with the Joneses: oft-injured Atlanta 3B Chipper joined Andruw on the bench when he left after the sixth with a groin injury

QUOTES:

"Tavarez threw a lot of changeups and sliders and whatever else he was throwing. His ball was moving around a lot."--Braves outfielder Willie Harris summing up Julie's night

"This was my best game. Everything went right for me."--Julian, right on the money

"When you throw pitches like I did, especially to a team like Boston, they're definitely going to hit them. No excuse for it."--Carlyle.

RECORD: 46-25

AL EAST: Up 10 on NYY

STREAK: W-2

LAST 10: 6-4

UP NEXT: Thu-Off; Fri @ SD

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(bad) Breaking News: Chipper was right-Schill is hurt

Sox announce Curt Schilling will head to the DL two days after Braves batters speculated on his health

My question is, would we be in this situation right now if Chipper Jones, Brian McCann and other Braves hadn't commented on Schill's startling lack of velocity following Monday night's game, surmising that he must be injured?

Or would Curt, the ultimate warrior and proud plow horse of the staff, have just kept plugging along through this bout of what he classified as a "touch of tendinitis" in his shoulder, only to injure himself further by not admitting in to the problem?

After the outing, a 9-4 Boston loss in which Schill allowed 10 hits and six runs in less than five innings and didn't register a strikeout for the first time since 1993, a span of 348 games, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones had this to say about Curt's less-than-impressive heater:

"The fastball that I saw register the highest was 89, and that was with the bases loaded. Schill always had that innate ability to catch another gear when he needs it, and for me to only see 89 miles an hour tells me, you know, he might be hurt. I don't know."

Turns out he did know.

According to the Globe, Curt said the dropoff in velocity he experienced Monday reminded him of the time he had a torn labrum in 1995, and that he didn't have any pain until the following day. He described the horrible felling of waiting for that pain to return overnight as "an eerie similarity that was playing with my head pretty severely," and who the hell can blame him?

Luckily this time the pain didn't follow, and an MRI showed no structural damage to the area, but still Boston will be without one of its top starters for at least two weeks and possibly more, depending on how he responds to treatment.

With the off day tomorrow Tito will shuffle the rotation so that they won't need to fill his slot until Tuesday, and speculation has already begun as to who will get the nod, previous callups Kason Gabbard, Devern Hansack or rigorously rehabbing lefty Jon Lester.

The Sox fared okay when Josh Beckett missed a couple of weeks in May, going 6-3 while he was out, and with Dice-K, Wake and Tavarez all pitching well of late, the loss of Schilling shouldn't affect the team too much. Plus at his age and with the history of trouble, there's no way anyone would want him to continue pitching with even the slightest discomfort in the arm, so the trip to the DL is for the best.

Although top of the rotation starters visiting the disabled list is not something a playoff ball club wants to have occur at any point during the season, it's better to have it happen early in the year, be cautious with the problem like they were with Beckett, and make sure the hoss is healed up for the stretch run.

Get well soon, Schill.

And please, no more keeping secrets, okay?

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Me and my Sox: Back in the swing

If only I knew how to play chess I would have bought this set just so miniature Tek could face wash tiny A-Rod

After spending the weekend in New York, most of yesterday flying home and recovering, and the rest of the evening catching up on Sox news and watching my first game in four days (yay!) last night, I finally feel like I'm ready to re-enter the blogosphere.

By sifting through "a weeks worth of Globe stories" I found out that I missed quite a bit of action while I was gone, including Barry Bonds' first Fenway homer, the Sox sweeping the Giants out of town, and Coco Crisp's first career two-homer game. Whew.

Not to mention Manny's twin bombs over the weekend, another 1-0 Sox win in Dice-K's Saturday masterpiece and Schilling's second consecutive meltdown following his 1-hitter. Whew!
Not wanting to cheat my faithful readers out of my always insightful commentary, I'm going to recap some of the past before I get to the future (i.e. tonight's game) regarding our team.

Thank you for your patience.

• Beckett notches win #10 in 4-0 Sox win-- last night's rain-interrupted affair with Atlanta lasted long enough for Josh to pick up his 10th victory in his second attempt, and though he wasn't dominant (6IP, 4H, 0R, 2BB, 3K) he pitched well enough to secure the win. His night ended after a 48 minute rain delay before the seventh, but by then Papi had hit his 12th homer, Coco had made another spectacular catch, and Becks even helped his own cause with an RBI double. Nice.



• Schill shelled again, then sent home for MRI-- according to Braves 3B Chipper Jones, Curt did not have his usual 92+ velocity in Monday's 9-4 loss, and he surmised that the leather-tough vet had to be hurt. Turns out the king of bastard children and annoying DL stints was right, as the team announced yesterday that Schilling flew home to have an MRI on his shoulder. Although the results didn't show any damage, the Globe reported today that Curt says he most likely will miss his next scheduled start and will have a cortisone shot to boot. Gulp. But hey, a Schill that allows 19 hits and 11 earned runs in 9.1 innings is no good to the team anyway.



• Dice & Manny combine for 1-0 gem-- Matsuzaka bounced back from a trio of consecutive losses to throw a 3-hit masterpiece, fanning eight in his seven innings, the highlight coming when he induced Bonds to ground out with two on and no out in the sixth. Manny's 4th inning Monster shot accounted for the only run of the game, Oki struck out Bonds with two on to end the 8th, and Paps finished it with a 1-2-3 ninth. Man I wish I DVR'd this one-IDIOT!



• Coco goes cuckoo at the plate-- he's hit safely in six straight games including his 4-4, 2-HR outburst Monday, and over his last 11 games he's batted .350 (14-40) to raise his average 21 points (.226-.247). Plus he had another great catch. Awesome.



• Bonds hits #748 against his old mate-- in Sunday's victory former Pittsburgh teammate Tim Wakefield allowed career homer #748 to Bonds on a solo shot in the 6th that made the score 8-4 Boston. Of the shot Bonds said "I believe I had two, but we'll leave it at one," referring to his Pesky pole non-call on Friday. Boo hoo.



• Relief cored-- Romero cleared waivers-so long, J.C. we hardly knew ya. We knew you allowed a lot of baserunners, but that's about it...Timlin was torched again in his appearance Monday, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs in an inning and a third to run his ERA to 6.23...Donnelly was DL'd for a small forearm strain, and MattapanManny was recalled and has



• Lugo disappearing off the face of the earth-- already dropped to last in the order the $36 million dollar man has managed to sink even lower, lugging a .205 average into last night's game in which he got the night off in favor of Cora. Lugo's slump has reached Drew-like proportions (0-9, 1-17 and 4-39), and Tito has no choice but to use a platoon system until (if) Lugo breaks out of this infuriating funk

Those are just a few of the notable occurrences that have transpired in my absence, and I could go on but tonight's game (broadcast in ESPN HD-yay!) is getting ready to start soon.

It's good to be home again.

It'll be even better if the Sox win tonight's game while I get to relax on my big comfy couch and watch the game in stunning HD for the first time in a while.

Then again, Julie is pitching, so I could be in for a disappointing night.

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Back From the Abyss: in a New York state of mind

After spending the weekend in NYC, this transplanted Bostonian and lifelong Stankee hater found he actually liked the Big Apple.

Incredible views like this one from the rooftop lounge atop our hotel was just one thing that made my trip more enjoyable than I'd expected

Before you all start to vilify me, it's not like I'm admitting that the powerful allure of iconic American landmarks like Times Square, Central Park and the Empire State Building converted this Boston born Sox Diehard into some kind of closeted wannabe New Yawker...

...but after the fam and I had such a fun, fast-paced and nearly profanity-free three days in the City That Doesn't Sleep, viewing many of the most famous structures and areas in the world while attending one of the best weddings in history, I was surprised to realize that I found the city whose sports teams have caused us Boston fans so much misery over the decades to be a...gulp...a...nice place to visit.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm about to hop aboard a jet airliner and trade in my blue cap with the red script "B" for a set of pinstripes or anything, but the actual city itself, as noisy, smelly, polluted and crowded as it is, is a great place to spend some time provided you have the right combination of factors in your favor such as hotel location, weather and a family member/ friend who lives in the city.

Thankfully my sister Melissa, she of the aforemen-tioned fantastic wedding (more coverage of that event will be posted on my other blog, TampaBayBostonian, sometime tomorrow) has lived in the city for years and she aided greatly in making sure we stayed at the right hotel (Shelburne Murray Hill- hip, contemporary, and favorably located yet relatively in-expensive), went to the right places that fit in with our short time frame (Empire St Bldg, Central Park) and steered clear of places that didn't (Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero.)

Check out where this store owner decided to place Mr. April's jersey-behind baby Matsui's!Classic!

In my efforts to avoid all the coverage of the two despised baseball teams in the region, which wasn't easy since they were playing another one of those silly Subway Series, as a result I didn't get to see much Red Sox action, either.

Saturday I went to the hotel bar to catch the Dice-K game on the plasma since it was on FOX, but the US Open was on instead, and when I asked if they would put the baseball game on, I got a curt "we're watching the golf" reply from a waiter. Alrighty then.

Sunday I saw none of the game since that was the day of the wedding, and yesterday I was "lucky" enough to catch a bit of the latest Schilling shellacking on the hotel TV before we went to dinner, and from what I saw (McCann's three-run homer, Schill with nothing), I'm glad I missed the rest.

So it looks like most of my prediction before I left came true-the Sox swept the Giants series-but thanks to Schilling my hopes of starting the long road trip off on a positive note did not come to fruition, and now it turns out he might be hurt. Great.

Oh well. At least the Sox still have the best record in baseball, and more importantly I survived my first foray into the devil's den with my sanity and senses intact.

I will try to get back up to speed with my Sox postings tomorrow, after I sleep off the effects of jet lag and late night jags, and I'm sure I will revisit this new found affinity I have for the city that harbors two of RSN's most loathed rivals.

The situation is so perplexing I may have to call in Dr. Melfi on this one; she's not doing anything these days.

Meeting legendary Letterman foil Rupert Gee was one of the many highlights of a great trip

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