BoSox walk all over Chicago in second straight rout

Boston 11, Chicago 2
WP: Gabbard (4-0)
LP: Danks (6-7)
HRs: None

SUMMARY
For the second straight game the Boston batters tooled on the piss-poor Chicago pitching staff, blowing open a 4-1 game with a 7-run seventh inning that included three bases loaded walks.

Coco Crisp had his second big offensive game in a row and young Kason Gabbard won his fourth game with his second straight stellar outing. Ah, good times.

#1 STUNNER Coco 3-4, 1R, 5RBI
One day after his three-run triple broke open the ballgame Crisp provided not one, not two but three big run-producing hits today. The slim center fielder has now racked up 8 ribbies in his last two games and 16 in the month of July.

PAN's FAUN Wily Mo Pena 0-2, GIDP, E
Starting in place of Manny in left field (who was DHing in place of Papi) and dropped to 9th in the order, Pena's awful error led to Chicago's first run, then he grounded into a double play one pitch after Coco's single in the second. Ay.

RECAP
I think I'll have to miss games more often.

Although the wife & I didn't make it to the beach as planned due to those pesky Florida summer thunderstorms, we did go to the movies instead (saw "Knocked Up"-friggin hilarious) then went to dinner, so I didn't get to watch today's game until after we got home.

Ah, nothing like delayed gratification.

For the second straight game the Real Sox busted out the whooping stick on the ChiSox and slapped another double-digit scoring barrage on the beleaguered Chicago staff.

And the best funny thing about it is that despite scoring 11 runs, they didn't hit a home run and were without the services of slugging DH David Ortiz.

Big Papi injured his shoulder sliding into second base in last night's 10-3 pasting of the Pale Hose, necessitating an MRI on his damaged wing and at least a day or two out of the lineup, meaning Manny had to slide into his DH spot with Wily Mo Pena starting in left.

Although that configuration would quickly come back to bite Boston when Pena muffed a sinking flyball from Paul Konerko in the second inning that was ruled a two-base error, which was followed by a legitimate two-bagger by Josh Fields that plated the first run of the game, it turned out Pena's non-production at the plate and incompetence in the field would not hurt Boston today.

It turned out to be Boston doing all the hurting from the second inning on.

The Sox would grab the lead right back in the bottom of the frame when Chicago starter John Danks (6IP, 7H, 4ER, 3BB, 4K) handed out free passes to Youk & Mike Lowell and then a single by Jason Varitek to load the bases with one out.

In need of a big hit to keep the momentum of last night going and to prevent the team from falling into another "failed to deliver" funk, Coco Crisp, one of the club's hottest hitters, especially RBI-wise, delivered just that, lacing a Danks offering over the shortstop's head for a two run single that gave the Sox the lead and set the tone for the day.

This would not be a game of missed opportunities.

While the suddenly scintillating Kason Gabbard (7IP, 3H, 1R, 1BB, 1K) held the Chicago lineup in check using his assortment of speeds (slow & slower) to induce a slew of groundball outs, Boston batters set about getting the hard-working lefty a little bit more of a lead to work with.

The Sox would tack on two more runs in the sixth when J.D. Drew (1-3, 2R, 2BI, 2B, 2BB) followed singles by Pedroia and Youk with a line drive double to right that scored Manny, and after an intentional walk to Lowell and a fielder's choice by Tek, Coco lined a single to left that scored Drew but the inning ended when Lowell was called out at the plate.

Although for the second straight day replay showed Boston was robbed on a call when reverse angles showed Lowell's foot cross the plate before Toby hall put a phantom tag on his back.

Oh well. The best was still yet to come.

With Danks out of the game in the seventh and Ozzie Guillen forced to go to his anemic bullpen, Boston wasted no time in turning this somewhat close game into a blowout.

The inning started innocently enough when Big Hit Hinske, pinch-hitting for Wily Mo (thank you Tito), lined a single to right field off reliever Ehren Wasserman, who made his major league debut in last night's loss.

Wasserman appeared to escape any harm, though, when he struck out both Julio Lugo (1-5, 3K) and Dustin Pedroia (2-5), but little did we know the fireworks were just beginning.

Well, I guess you technically can't classify a shitload of bases on balls, a single and a triple as "fireworks", but you know what I mean.

After Hinske stole second while Lugo was whiffing (let's assume that was a busted hit & run), Guillen decided to have Wasserman walk Manny and pitch to Youk with two on and two out.

Talk about opening the floodgates.

Wasserman unintentionally walked Youk, then was replaced by--get this--Boone Logan (where the fuck are they getting these guys? isn't that a porn name? no wonder their bully sucks!), who proceeded to walk Drew on four pitches, scoring Hinske with the Sox fifth run of the day.

Wait, it gets better.

Ozzie pulled another name out of his hat and trotted Dewon Day out of the bunker to take one for the team, and Day honorably followed in his teammates footsteps by issuing free passes to both Lowell (0-2, 2R, BI, 3BB) and Cap'n Tek, the latter after an epic 12-pitch at bat, and just like that the score was 7-1 and the rout was on.

But wait, it gets even better.

Four pitches later Crisp ripped a single straight up the middle to score both Drew and Lowell, and when Ozzie left day in to face the tenth hitter of the inning, Hinske responded to that act of kindness with a ringing triple to deep right that plated Tek with Boston's 11th and final run, and suddenly a three game losing streak has turned into a two game winning streak in which Boston has scored 21 runs, rang up 21 hits and walked an amazing 12 times.

See what happens when I start missing games.

Good news, guys: the wife & I rescheduled our beach plans for tomorrow, so let the beatings continue!

NOTES

• Eagle eyes: of the nine walks issued today by Chicago pitchers, the passes were only distributed to five players--Manny & Tek (1 each), Youk & Drew (2 each) and Lowell (3 freebies)
• Coco's crispy: in addition to his hits, which gave him a modest five game hitting streak (7-20, .350), Coco also continued his Gold Glove campaign in center when he made yet another awesome basket catch of a Jose Uribe drive to end the second
• Lugo on top: for the first time in weeks the hot-hitting Julio Lugo was put back in the leadoff spot, and although he responded with a mediocre game, he extended his hitting streak to 11 games and is hitting a superb .465 (20-43) during that time
• Gabbard has now won three straight decisions since his debacle in Seattle, and this week alone he has won two games, allowing just six hits and one run in 16 innings with 2 walks and 9 Ks; can you say "hot commodity"?
• Joel Piniero got in his requisite one inning/one run allowed appearance when he pitched the ninth and gave up a run on a couple of hits, including a double. Old reliable, isn't he...
• Javier Lopez pitched around a couple of hits to toss a scoreless eighth

QUOTES

"Defensively, he's the best center fielder in baseball and offensively he makes things happen."--Pedroia on Coco

"He pitched better than Beckett"--Ozzie call 'em like he sees 'em Guillen on Gabbard

"When you don't get hits and the bullpen did what it did the last two nights, you're going to get what we did the last two nights. A loss."--Guillen

"Wily Mo will never win a Gold Glove"--FOX's Thom Brennaman after Pena's gaffe

RECORD: 58-39
AL EAST: Up 7.5 gms on NYY
STREAK: W-2
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Sun vs. CHI 205

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Boston crushes Chicago--and I missed it.

BoSox 10, ChiSox 3

Why is it that every time I have to miss a game it turns out to be a memorable Sox victory?

May 13th, Mother's Day--couldn't get away from the holiday festivities to catch the game (it turns out wives are funny about that shit), and it didn't look like a big deal when I heard the Sox were losing 5-0 to Baltimore late in the game.

Good, I half thought, I'm not missing anything great.

Uh, not so fast. The Sox would end up scoring six runs in a miraculous ninth inning to pull off one of the most stirring comebacks of the season and probably in Sox history.

I'm not sure, though, cause I missed it.

Sat, June 16th--while I'm in NYC for my sisiter's wedding, having a grand old time and falling in love with the city I've despised for all these years, the Sox and Giants play a classic in Fenway.

Daisuke Matsuzaka fanned eight batters in seven innings, Manny hit a homer run in the fourth that accounted for the only run of the game, and Hideki Okijima struck out Barry Bonds with the game on the line in the eighth, to the delight of the Faithful and RSN.

Except me, who missed the game (didn't even DVR it--idiot!!)

Fri, July 20th--as I lounged on a 66-ft yacht in the Gulf of Mexico, honoring the life of my late, great friend Chicago Bob Allen, who passed away from a brain tumour one year ago to the day, Boston got busy putting an end to a miserable 3-8 slide that had sliced its cushy 12-game division lead to a mere seven games in two weeks.

With ML wins co-leader Josh Beckett on the mound, Boston exploded for 10 runs including a three-run triple by Coco Crisp and a grand slam from Julio Lugo to crush the Pale Hose, 10-3.

From what I understand it could have been worse. The friggin umps apparently robbed J.D. Drew of a three-run homer in the first, ruling it a double instead, and Manny got thrown out at the plate on the odd play, which brought furious protests from Tito.

Didn't matter as Beckett shook off a three-run bomb by Jim Thome to record 10 strikeouts and his mates would go on to score more than enough runs to compensate for his mistake.

So in one fell swoop the Sox exorcised the demons of a three-game skid, overcame its maddening inability to get a big hit with runners in scoring position, and got Josh Beckett his ML-leading 13th victory on a raucous night at the Fens.

Too bad I didn't get to see it.

But at least this time I recorded it!

Oh, and I can't watch today's nationally televised FOX game because this is the last weekend my son is away and the wife and I are going to spend some time at Mad Beach getting plastered and baked. From the sun, that is.

So it looks like it should be another awesome Sox win today.

I'd better clear some space on the DVR.

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And the beatings go on: Sox drop 3rd straight

Chicago 4, Boston 2
WP: Vazquez (7-5)
LP: Matsuzaka (11-7)
SV: Jenks (26)
HRs: CHI-Konerko (21)

This non-call on Pierzynski was one of the many things that didn't go right for Boston

SUMMARY
Boston continues its descent into a bona-fide pennant race with another dispiriting loss after a drenching two-hour rain delay.

Nothing like waiting till nearly one in the morning to discover how bad your team sucks.

#1 STUNNER A.J. Pierzynski 3-4, 3RBI
Everyone's favorite punching bag was the one doing all the hitting tonight, tallying half of Chicago's hits and driving in its first three runs on RBI singles in the first and sixth innings.

PAN'S FAUN Dice-K 5IP, 2H, 3ER, 6BB, 6K
If that isn't one of the stranger lines you'll see then I don't know what is.

After another start dotted with both poor and excellent stretches, I am beginning to realize that Matsuzaka's sudden sporadic troubles are unavoidable and quietly mystifying, much like the man himself.

RECAP
It's time.

Time to start snapping at the spouse, barking at the kids, ignoring the neighbors and ridiculing the co-workers.

Time to start waking up miserable in the morning (or afternoon) because you're going to bed miserable every night.

Time to trot out old good luck rituals and the favorite hats, to start building shrines and revving up the high-pitched whines.

Because there ain't no two ways about it now: our beloved Sox are in a bad way.

After a two hour rain delay pushed the start of this one back to 9:02 PM EST, the Faithful who waited it out (nearly all of them, of course) were treated to 3 1/2 hours of Chinese water torture, beginning with a 50-pitch first inning and and ending with another (rain-drenched) loss.

In between Daisuke Matsuzaka alternated slices of un hittable brilliance (14 of 15 batters retired at one point) with stretches of maddening mediocrity (three consecutive walks followed by a 2-run single in the sixth), and after his 20th start in a Boston uniform I don't believe any of us in the Nation know what to expect from him on any given start.

In other words he's turning into Julian Tavarez.

I knew they shouldn't have let those two "talk" so much in the dugout at the beginning of the year.

The warning signs showed up in the very first inning that Dice might not be right, possible due to the lengthy delay. But would a guy who once threw 250 pitches in a 17-inning game and who tosses 100-150 pitches in between starts really be bothered by something as trivial as a rain delay?

Whether you want to blame the weather or not, Matsuzaka was shaky in the first. After retiring the first two batters, including countryman Tad Iguchi on a three-pitch whiff, Dice experienced that mysterious loss of control that has plagued many of his starts.

He walked Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, then surrendered a drooping single to right to A.J. Pierzynski, and Thome scurried home with the first run of the night. The damage was minimized when Jermaine Dye grounded into a double play, but Matsuzaka needed 32 pitches and nearly 20 minutes to get through the frame.

Uh-oh.

The Sox took the lead with a couple of runs in the second, but they had to be two of the most unimpressive runs scored in recent memory, a fact compounded by bad Boston base running that prematurely ended the inning and prevented what could have been an even bigger uprising.

Professional Hitter Mike Lowell (2-4, R) sparked the rally with a leadoff single off of Javier Vazquez (6IP, 9H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K.) Jason Varitek followed with a sky high shot to shallow left that dropped in front of Rob Mackowiak to set up a prime scoring opp.

Then nearly got it when Wily Mo Pena scorched a shot down the third base line that seemed headed for the left field corner but was snagged by Joe Crede's replacement Josh Fields; only the hustle of Pena, who beat it out for a fielder's choice, prevented the double play.

Two pitches later the scalding Julio Lugo (1-4, R, BI) hit a hard hopper to deep short that he also beat out at first, and Lowell came home and tied the score at one.

Amazingly, Coco Crisp would then also hit a ball to deep short that he beat out at first, and the odd inning was alive and kicking for Dustin Pedroia.

The second sacker, who followed his three-hit performance last night with another tonight, took Vazquez' second offering and lined a single to right that scored Lugo, and suddenly the Sox had a 2-1 lead.

Told you it was unimpressive.

But what happened next was downright depressive, though.

As Pedroia rounded first on the hit he assumed Dye's throw would go all the way to the plate. But an alert Paul Konerko cut the throw off and trapped Pedroia between first and second.

Pedroia seemed to have done a good job at stalling to let Coco make a break for home, but Crisp hesitated in his attempt, and by the time he did go the Sox had him nailed, with Pierzynski applying the tag to his feet as he dove in vain back to the third base bag.

Tough to get excited about a inning like that, huh?

Still the (good) Sox had the lead, and Dice had settled in after the first, so we should have been feeling pretty good about ourselves, right?

Then why wasn't I?

While Dice was busy setting down 13 of 14 batters from the second to the sixth inning, Boston continued its recent miserable run of failure to capitalize on scoring opportunities. It's become so routine now that talking about it sounds like a skipping CD. But it's unavoidable now.

In the third Manny (2-4) hit a one out single to center, but was left standing at first. In the fourth Lugo singled to left with two outs, reached second on a passed ball and then Coco drew a walk, but Pedroia struck out swinging to end the threat.

Then in the sixth the ugly inning that has been prevalent in so many of Matsuzaka's starts reared its ugly head again.

After four innings of no-hit, one-walk dominance, suddenly the Japanese righty couldn't find the plate. He walked Iguchi, Thome and Konerko on just 15 pitches to start the inning, then faced a do-or-die battle with Pierzynski with the game on the line.

After getting A.J. to chase a couple of bad pitches, Dice-K had a 2-2 count and looked poised for a big strikeout. His next pitch, a taut fastball, looked to catch the outside corner for strike three.

But home plate ump Tim McClelland didn't think so, and a visibly disappointed Matsuzaka and vocally displeased crowd had to watch Pierzynski bat with the count full.

Anyone who's ever lived through a sports team's losing streak could see what was coming next, and A.J. the asshole did not disappoint.

Pierzynski thumped a ball hard into the infield dirt that skipped under Youk's glove and brought home the tying and go-ahead run, and the way the Sox have been playing, everyone watching knew the game was over right there.

Oh Boston would blow another prime scoring chance when Pedroia and Papi singled with one out, but a spectacular catch of a Manny drive at the bullpen wall in the triangle by Jerry Owens (who?!) and a strikeout of Youk squelched yet another Sox scoring opp.

It didn't even matter that Hideki Okajima came in and gave up his first run in 17 innings on a homer by Konerko in the ninth. By that time many of the diehards had left, disappointed by another lackluster effort by a team that can't seem to buy a win.

Any way we can play the D-Rays every night?

At least the Jays came back to beat the Stanks.

NOTES

• Perdoia's second consecutive three-hit night raised his average from .311 to .321
• Lugo's hit extended his streak to nine games (16-34, .471); Lowell reached eight straight games with his two knocks
• Okajima had gone 17 innings spanning 15 appearances without allowing a run; it was his first longball surrendered since Opening Day against KCs John Buck
• The win was Vazquez' 4th straight; he had been 1-3 at Fenway
• On top of Field's snag and Owen's catch, Jermaine Dye made four or five excellent catches in right. He robbed Manny of extra bases in the first, took a potential Pesky shot away from Tek in the sixth, and twice robbed Ortiz of possible hits
• Manny Delcarmen relived Matsuzaka in the sixth and allowed one hit but held the score; Snyder pitched the ninth, allowing a hit and a walk
• Boston had 11 hits and left nine men on base; every starter had a hit except recently slumping Youk (0-4) and always slumping Wily Mo (0-3)

RECORD: 56-39
AL EAST: Up 7 gms on NYY
STREAK: L-3
LAST10: 3-7
UP NEXT: Fri vs. Chi 705

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Series Preview: ChiSox @ BoSox

Chicago White Sox (42-51)
AL CNTRL: -15 GB
STRK: W-1 LST 10: 5-5
AVG: .245 (14) ERA: 4.61 (12)
HRs: 96 (8) RUNS: 393 (14)

Probable Pitching Matchups:
GM1 Thu Vazquez (6-5, 3.77) v. Matsuzaka (11-6, 3.94)
GM2 Fri Contreras (5-11, 5.32) v Beckett (12-3, 3.35)
GM3 Sat Danks (6-6, 4.81) v Gabbard (3-0, 3.38)
GM4 Sun Garland (7-6, 3.88) v Wakefield (10-9, 4.69)

Season Series: 1st meeting

KEY PLAYERS:

• Paul Konerko: .270/20/57--the slugging first baseman leads the underachieving Sox hitters in batting average, homers, ribbies, runs and OPS., and leads the AL in homers since June 1st; other than that he hasn't done much this season
• Jermaine Dye: .230/16/46--having a down year by his standards, especially coming off his MVP-caliber season (.315/44/120) of a year ago, and his name has been frequently mentioned in trade circles, but he can burn you with the longball in a hurry; he's homered in 4 of the last 5 games
• Jim Thome: .290/15/48--after spending time earlier this season on the DL the aging DH has heated up as of late; he's batting .325 (13-40) with 2 doubles, 2 homers, 6 runs scored and seven driven in in his last 10 games
• Tadahito Iguchi: .258/42R/27RBI--the diminutive second baseman has faced fellow countryman Daisuke Matsuzaka many times in the Japanese League, and he has fared quite well against him (31-85, .365), which should give him a decided edge over his teammates in Game 1

PREVIEW:

The Chisox come to Fenway for the first time this season riding high after taking 2 of 3 at division-leading Cleveland, but all in all Ozzie Guillen's bunch has been one of the biggest disappointments of the 2007 season.

The stats speak for themselves--last in the league in batting, last in runs, and third from the bottom in team ERA--and paint the picture of an underachieving group that was poised to have a dominant run after beating Boston en route to winning the Series in 2005.

But, as Boston knows all too well, things don't always go according to plan after the confetti is swept away.

Anyway, the way the Bo Sox have been playing lately my son's Little League team could probably take 'em, so Boston cannot afford to underestimate these pesky sons of an Ozzie.

They need to start the series off on a positive note, which means a solid performance from Dice-K, not that weak shit (10ER, 19H in 11IP) he's been throwing his last two outings, and a lot of timely hits.

If the Red Sox can't stick to that simple formula and apply it in the next four games, things could go well for them in this series.

If not, it could be shades of 2005 all over again.

**UPDATE--the start of tonight's game has been delayed by rain, and according to the Globe it is not supposed to start before 8:15. Great. Haven't had one of these in a while.***

**RE-UPDATE--the first pitch was just thrown at 9:02 pm EST. Looks like another late one**

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Time to panic? Sox drop another game to Royals

Kansas City 6, Sox 5
WP: Perez (5-8)
LP: Tavarez (5-8)
SV: Dotel (10)
HRs: BOS-Manny (14)

RECAP
The sliding Sox suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of the cellar-dwelling Royals.

Julian Tavarez couldn't hold a two run lead and failed to make it out of the fifth inning again, the hitters failed to come through in numerous scoring situations, and for the second straight night Kansas City simply outplayed the Sox in every aspect of the game.

#1 STUNNER M. Grudzielanek 2-4, 2B, 2R, RBI
The gritty second sacker with the eye chart name had another terrific night at the plate and made the defensive play of the game, robbing Youk of a base hit with two men on in the seventh to preserve KC's one run lead.

PAN's FAUN Tavarez 4.2IP, 9H, 6R, 4ER, 0BB, 3K
Tito, please remove this ass clown from the starting rotation, stat!

RECAP
Anyone else getting a weird sense of deja vu here?

Last year the Sox rode a hot first half to a 53-33 record at the All Star break, then entered the second series following the break against Kansas City at Fenway on July 17th, 18th, & 19th carrying a 54-36 record and a boatload of confidence they would crush the wretched Royals.

This year the red-hot Sox took a 53-34 record into the break, then entered the second series following the break against Kansas City at Fenway on July 16th, 17th & 18th brandishing the league's best mark at 55-36 and looking forward to roasting the wretched Royals.

Anyone notice the differences?

Aside from the fact that the numbers are just one off, the biggest difference is last year the Sox went on to sweep Kansas City, taking three straight one-run decisions including the final two games of the series by identical scores of 1-0.

This year? After Boston shut out the Royals 4-0 in Game 1, Kansas City went on to embarrass the hometown nine by outhitting, outhustling, and outplaying the Sox for two straight games, and instead of another Sox sweep, KC came to town and shocked the nation by winning the series.

The other big difference between the two seasons is that last year Boston was nursing a slim 1/2 game lead over the Stanks heading into the KC series that bulged to 2 1/2 games after the Sox sweep.

This season the Sox owned a much more cushiony nine game advantage over New York coming in to this series, but that margin, which was up to 12 games just two weeks ago, has now been sliced to seven games, and if Boston keeps up this pace there's going to be another duplication of last year: the Sox freefall from first place to out of the race.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with all this, but I'm just so pissed off after watching that poor excuse for a game that I can't even think straight.

My only crystal clear thought coming out of the loss is that Julian Tavarez needs to be demoted back to the bullpen ASAP, and someone (i.e Jon Lester) needs to be brought up to take his place immediately.

For the third consecutive start Tavarez could not get out of the fifth inning, and he has allowed 28 hits and a total of 18 earned runs in 13.1 innings over that time, which calculates to an astronomical ERA of 12.15.

(Whistling loudly)

And as usual the Sox hitters fumbled away scoring chances like Tony Romo, leaving another eight men on base even though they put together a four-run fourth inning that briefly gave Boston the lead.

Like last night tonight's game remained scoreless through the first three innings (more deja vu?), and in another creepy coincidence the Royals put a pair of runs on the board in the fourth inning of both games as well.

Alright, enough of the freaky coincidence shit, I've played that one out.

Mark Grudzielanek got things started with a single to right, then Mark Teahen (1-4, 2R) followed with a single to left. After a groundout advanced the runners, former USF standout Ross Gload hit a sac fly to Drew that scored Grudz, and two pitches later improving rookie Alex Gordon dropped a single in front of Drew that scored Teahen and gave KC a 2-0 lead.

Unlike last night, however, Boston answered right back with a four spot in the fourth, and with a quality pitcher on the mound that might have been enough to beat these guys.

Manny (2-4, 2R, RBI) opened the frame with a bloop single to center, and a walk to Youk and single by Mike Lowell quickly loaded the bases with no outs against crappy KC starter Odalis Perez (5IP, 7H, 5ER, 2BB, 2K, HR.)

Varitek would get the first Sox run home when he tapped out to shortstop, and after Coco walked to reload the bases, hot-hitting Julio Lugo took the first pitch he saw from Perez and laced it down the third base line just under Gordon's glove for a huge double that scored both Youk and Tek and gave Boston a 3-2 lead.

Hooray--they finally got a big hit with men in scoring position!

Three pitches later J.D. Drew sent a sagging liner to left that Emil Brown made a nice shoestring catch of, but Coco (1-3, R) was alert enough to tag up and easily came home with Boston's fourth run.

The inning ended on a sour note when Pedroia (3-5) was called out on a controversial play at first base for the second night in a row, causing the Sox sparkplug to blow a gasket while the Nation celebrated Boston taking the lead.

But the party would be short lived.

In the very next inning Tavarez had one of his now patented meltdowns, and by the time the fifth was over Julie was muttering to himself in the clubhouse and fans were muttering to themselves "when is this shit going to end?!"

Ironically it was a five foot bunt single by David DeJesus would be the linchpin for the Red Sox unraveling. That's because Grudz immediately smacked a double off the scoreboard that bounced over Manny's glove, allowing DeJesus to race around from first to score, setting up a "wheels fall off" situation.

When Teahen spun a grounder to Lowell that doinked off his glove for his 14th error and set up a first & third, one-out situation, no one was really surprised (even Rem Dog said he could see that coming, and he was right, as usual.)

And when Billy Butler (who the fuck is this guy?) crushed a drive to deep left center that rolled to the wall and scored both runners to give KC the lead back, 5-4, not a fan in the Nation was at all shocked.

The shocking thing was that Tito allowed Tavarez to stay in the game, at least until he surrendered an RBI single to Gordon (2-4, 2BI)to batters later to close the scoring for the Royals, but unfortunately that move came about four batters too late.

Manny gave the Sox hope when he blasted a long & deep shot to straightaway centerfield for his 14th home run with one out in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-5, but Grudz killed Boston's last glimmer of hope when he took a hit--and potential tying run --away from the Sox in the seventh.

Pedroia reached with his third hit of the night with one out in the inning, then moved to second when Manny walked one out later. With Youk at the plate with a chance to tie the game, he hit a bouncing grounder that looked destined for rightfield.

But the spunky second baseman ranged far to his left, dove across the slippery turf, and stopped the ball from reaching the outfield. He then rose to his knees and fired a strike to first base to nail the hustling Youk by a nose, and it was at that point that we knew we had lost to these clowns again.

Even Jonathan Papelbon's first appearance in a week could spark the sad Sox, as the broken Boston boys succumbed to the immortal Octavio Dotel in the bottom of the ninth, failing to capitalize on an Ortiz single when Manny popped out to--ta da--Grudz to end the game.

Now comes the inevitable piling on by Stankee fans/ Sox haters, followed by the interminable feelings of when and if the Empire will overtake Boston for the division lead.

Last year that occurred on the 3rd of August.

Right on track for deja vu all over again.

NOTES

Too pissed.

QUOTES

Too tired

RECORD: 56-38
AL EAST: Up 7 gms on NYY
STREAK: L-2
LAST 10: 3-7
UP NEXT: Thu vs. CWS 705

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Game preview: Royals @ Sox GM3

Perez (4-8, 5.68) vs. Tavarez (5-7, 5.15)
Fenway Park 705

Oh joy, look who we get to see take the mound for the Sox tonight in hopes of halting this hideous stretch of mediocre baseball and taking this series from the Royals...

...none other than Julie "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" Tavarez.

After hitting a decent stretch in mid-June where he was throwing 6-7 innings per start and allowing 2-3 earned runs per game, Tavarez has regressed back to his human flamethrower form, allowing 20 runs (16 earned) and 32 hits in his last four starts for a 7.71 ERA while only pitching an average of 4 1/2 innings during that span.

Ouch.

Perhaps the Sox can take some solace in the fact that Julie's mound opponent will be the odious Odalis Perez.

The 30-year old righty has played for four teams in eight years and has brought promise and high expectations everywhere he's gone, but he owns a mediocre 62-67 career record and has had an ERA under 4.00 just once, yet he still makes $7 1/2 million per year for that kind of production.

Boston's hit & miss hitters better jump on this clown from the get-go tonight, both to atone for last night's horror show and to make sure they get enough runs to compensate for Tavarez' inevitable middle-inning meltdown.

Go Sox--let's ream these Royals!

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Sox Drawer: Remy stirs up a fuss on the Internets

During last night's awful loss to Kansas City, Remy & Orsillo engaged in a mini-skit in which Remy read a supposed application to become President of Red Sox Nation from someone who called himself "The Sports Guy."

What else are you gonna do when you're getting blitzed by the Royals?

Anyone who's from Boston, loves sports and has a keyboard in front of them knows who The Sports Guy is--Bill Simmons, a transplanted Bostonian sports writer who used to write for Jimmy Kimmel and who now spends three-four days a week mainly blogging about the NBA draft on ESPN.com.

Like most former nobodies who have gone on to make it big, Simmons is no longer as good, or more importantly, as funny as he used to be. Whether it was the move to the West Coast, or his parochial slant for writing about all things Boston, The Sports Guy, much like The Nation he came from, is a constant object of ridicule & scorn.

So when the two worlds collided last night during the Sox game, the rest of the sports universe took notice. And ridiculed.

The folks at the terrific sports media blog Awful Announcing have posted the entire transcript of what took place, so I'm just gonna link to that here so I don't have to reproduce the whole thing myself (thanks, AA!)

Suffice it to say the awkward, faux-ripping of Simmons by Remy drew numerous and varied responses, most falling in the "Simmons sucks and so does the whole Red Sox Nation" range.

Whatever.

Look, as a member of the Nation I can see where the rest of the country is coming from, i.e. it comes off as a "we are a holier than thou fandom that infiltrates opponents arenas and cause a ruckus basically because we are taking seats from uninterested local fans."

Fine.

But the absolute hatred and misdirected animosity from commenters on the web is getting to be a little ridiculous.

Here are just a few remarks from the commenters on anti-ESPN blog Deadspin.com, who with their inside jokes and retarded avatars & user names come off like a high school clique, minus the Popular Ones:

--"You see, this is why the rest of us think you are all douchebags."

--"I find myself hating Red Sox fans more and more with each passing day. President of 'Red Sox Nation'? Spare me."

--"We should just nuke the Red Sox Nation now. "

Funny stuff.

I personally find all this vitriol highly amusing, and said as much in my comment response on AA.

Just as well because when we win the title again this year we're only going to multiply until we eventually overrun every stadium in the major leagues and aggravate every snarky commenter out there, and then they can their sites with runneth over with animosity for all things Red Sox.

Because in this war of words, this Nation is going to be the last one standing.

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Sox reach new low, get pounded by KC

Royals 9, Sox 3
WP: Gobble (4-1)
LP: Wakefield (10-9)
HRs: None

RECAP
In what has to be one of the most disappointing losses of the 2007 season to date, Boston got outplayed in the field, at the plate and on the basepaths as Kansas City took advantage of a quiet crowd and sloppy Sox squad to hand the Olde Towne Team an embarrassing defeat.

#1 STUNNER(s) Gordon & Pena 6-10, 3R, 3-2B, 2BI
The two youngsters who occupy the left side of the Royals infield finally had the type of games the KC brass envisioned would be everyday occurrences when they promoted the talented rookies.

Pre-season ROY candidate Gordon rapped three hits, stole a base and scored three times, while the erratic SS Pena had a single and a pair of doubles and drove in a couple of runs, although he did make an error and got caught stealing. Still...

PAN's FAUN Wakefield 6IP, 9H, 6ER, 0BB, 1K
Wake's three game winning streak came to a crashing halt as he continues to get hammered like a celebutard fresh out of rehab; in his last six starts the the vet has allowed 26 earned runs and 48 hits in 36 1/3 innings for a 6.44 ERA.

RECAP
What.

The fuck.

Was that?

I mean I just got done watching the game, and I think I know what I saw, but for some reason I'm confused.

Because it appeared to me that the boys from Boston decided to don those distinctive Royal blue unis, while those pranksters from the prairie land thought it would be fun to run around historic Fenway dressed as Red Sox players.

That's the only explanation I can come up with after the team that was dressed in the home whites, the one with the best record and second-highest payroll in baseball took it on the chin from the team with the microscopic budget and vanishing fanbase.

What went on tonight at the Fens goes beyond the simplicity of a bad loss to a bad team; it takes what has happened to the Sox since that meteroic start and puts it into a proper perspective:

the team that started the season 36-16 was awesome and seemingly unbeatable every night, while the one that has been wallowing in mediocrity at 20-21 since is a fragile, fickle squad that can make two-run deficits seem insurmountable and turn minor league hayseeds into Hall of Fame candidates.

Case in point regarding the latter would be 23-year old hurler Leo Nunez, making his first appearance of the season and first start of his career after being recalled from AAA yesterday.

The skinny Dominican had pitched in 48 games as a reliever in 2005 & 2006 for KC but was making his first start ever with John Thompson placed on the DL; all the kid did was hold the powerhouse Boston lineup to one run on six hits in 4+ innings, and if his manager had just left him in there for a few more batters he could've picked up the win.

I'm sure Buddy Bell would have let the Nunez finish the fifth instead of removing him after Julio Lugo led off the inning with a double had Bell known his team would turn a close game (3-1 KC) into a laffer with a five-run seventh.

Perahps he should've asked Tito when he was going to remove Wakefield and then played it from there.

The knuckleball was dancing early, though, as Wake plowed through the first three innings only allowing one base runner, a single by Pena in the third, and he was erased when Mirabelli threw him out trying to swipe second base immediately thereafter.

Unfortunately Boston started playing its favorite game, Missed Opportunities, ealry as well, blowing a leadoff walk by J. D. Drew in the first when Pedroia grounded into a double play, and committing its first baserunning gaffe of the night on an emptyheaded play by Mike Lowell (3-4, R) in the second.

After Youk flied out on a second consecutive nice catch by rightfielder Mark Teahen, Lowell, being the Professional Hitter that he is, ripped a ball off the Monster for a one-out double. But when Coco turned the first pitch he saw from Nunez into a lazy flyout to right, Lowell decided to test the arm of Teahean and tried to take an extra base.

He was out by about four feet.

The Sox took one more crack at Nunez in the third, getting two men on base on an error and a single by Pedroia with two outs, but David Ortiz (1-5) grounded out weakly to second base and another potential scoring chance had gone by the wayside.

And then the Royals struck back.

As if being shut out for 12 consecutive innings finally got them pissed off, Kansas City struck for a pair of runs in the fourth when someone named Billy Butler doubled home Mark Grudzielanek and Teahen, who had both singled with one out.

Not content to settle for just a couple of runs, the Royals followed yet another blown scoring chance by Boston (two on, no outs) in the bottom of the fourth with a single run in the fifth on a single and stolen base by Gordon and an RBI double by Pena, his second hit of the game.

This from a guy who was in an 0-10 slump coming in.

The Sox would finally get a run across in the fifth, but it wasn't exactly on an offensive explosion like yesterday. After Lugo's (3-4, R) leadoff double, Jimmy Gobble came in and got Drew to fly out but saw the Sox score when Grudz misplayed Pedroia's grounder and Lugo came home to make the score 3-1.

Game on.

For an inning.

Following yet another botched rally attempt when Lowell's leadoff single in the sixth was wiped out on a Coco double play, Kansas City tore the game open with a soul-crushing seventh.

Reggie Sanders (yup, he's still playing) opened the frame with a wall-rattling double and Gordon ripped a single to right one pitch later to set up second and third with no outs. Tito stuck with Wake, and on the very next pitch catcher John Buck ripped another double off the Monster that chased both runners home and gave the Royals a 5-1 lead.

After a groundout moved Buck to third, Francona pulled wake and brought in Javier Lopez, who only added fuel to the fire that is Wakefield's ERA.

Lopez promptly walked David DeJesus, then let Buck waltz home on a passed ball. Grudz (2-5, 2R, BI) then singled DeJesus home, and by the time the inning was over, KC had turned a 3-1 contest into a 8-3 blowout.

In the bottom of the seventh one play would typify what kind of night it was for the sad Sox. Lugo again led off with a single, and when Pedroia walked with one out, it looked for a moment as if they might be able to climb back into it if they could get a few runs across here.

Papi came up and lofted a deep fly to left center that was drifting towards the Wall and looked like a sure RBI double. Except Emil Browne lunged at the last moment and stabbed the ball just inches from the Monster, and as Lugo and Pedroia scurried to get back to their bases, Brown rifled the ball to first to double up Dustin and end another inning with egg on Boston's faces.

The game was over right there, but just for shits and giggles KC scored another run in the eight off Joel Pinero, and even though Boston finally put a decent string of hits together and scored a couple of runs in the bottom of the inning on a triple by Coco and a single by Belli, it fell squarely in the 'Too Little, Too Late' category.

It's still tough to say that things have reached critical stages with a team that is still almost 20 games over .500, but keep playing lousy ball against lousy teams, and eventually it's bound to catch up to you.

And don't look now, but the Stanks are just 8 games back.

NOTES

• En fuego: Lugo's three hits extended his hitting streak to seven games (14-22, .636) and raised his average to .217; it was his third three-hit game during the streak
• Lowell is also riding a seven game streak (10-27, .370)
• The Sox (12) and Royals (13) pounded out 25 hits one day after combining for only 10 knocks
• Kansas City made a pair of errors and has committed three in the series; all Boston's errors were mental
• Pena's 'E' was his 16th on the season and 15 have come on the road
• Royal pains: KC has now defeated the mighty Sox in seven of the teams' last 11 meetings dating back to last season
• Easy money: Gobble got the win despite facing just three batters
• Teahen titan: aside from notching his 12th assist when he nailed Lowell, the Royals rightfielder robbed Manny of extra bases when he made a nice running catch of a deep drive to the warning track to end the first
• Triple threat: Coco's 8th inning shot to the deepest part of the park--the corner of the triangle--that scored Lowell in the 8th was Crisp's third three bagger in his last 10 games

RECORD: 56-37
AL EAST: Up 8 on NYY
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: Wed vs. KC 705

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Game Preview: Royals @ Sox

Nunez (NR) vs. Wakefield (10-8, 4.47)
Fenway Park 705

As if allowing three homers and getting shut out in the series opener wasn't bad enough for Kansas City, the Royals will trot a young pitcher to make his first major league start tonight in Game 2.

This could get ugly.

The Sox hitters should be chomping at the bit to get a look at 23-year-old Leo Nunez, a lanky kid who has appeared in 48 games for KC over two seasons, but was just recalled from AAA and will be thrust into the fire by making his first ML start in place of injured starter John Thompson.

Boston will counter with grizzled vet Tim Wakefield, who began his career in the majors when Nunez was nine years old. Wake is riding a three game winning streak, but he has been less than spectacular in the last two of those outings.

In his past two starts the knuckleballer has allowed 16 hits, 8 earned runs and three homers, and in his past five starts he's given up 29 hits and 20 earned runs in 30 innings (6.00 ERA), with eight longballs surrendered.

Hopefully the presence of a young starter and feeble hitting Royals team combined with and a bunch of hot Boston hitters, namely Manny & Papi, will help Wake get that ERA down and start the Sox off on a nice little winning streak.

And let's hope Nunez doesn't become the next Jesse Litsch.

Go Sox!

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Pedroia big, Gabbard huge in crisp Sox win

Sox 4, Royals 0
WP: Gabbard (3-0)
LP: Bannister (5-6)
HRs: BOS-Pedroia (4), Manny (13), Papi (16)

Gabbard closed the win in style, with this strikeout of Mark Teahan

SUMMARY
Boston used the power of three home runs and a stellar pitching performance from the emerging Kason Gabbard to erase the memories of yesterday's painful loss and gave the Nation something to smile about--a sweet shutout victory.

Who cares if it was against the Royals?

#1 STUNNER Gabbard 9IP, 3H, 1BB, 8K
Wow, where the fuck did this come from? I mean I know the kid has been improving since his debacle in Seattle, but this effort was downright Beckett-esque.

PAN's FAUN Bannister 6IP, 5H, 4ER, 0BB, 3K, 3HRs
Not a bad performance, per se, but when you only allow five hits and three of them are longballs, well you got some problems there.

RECAP
Thank you, schedule makers.

Coming off a tough loss, saddled with some nagging injuries and riding a mediocre 5-7 stretch sandwiched around the All Star break, Boston was in desperate need of playing a team it can just bash around for a few games, kinda like a self help book for an MLB team; you know, a patsy.

Enter the Kansas City Royals.

Nothing like a visit from the perennial doormats of the AL Central to help a sick team cure what ails 'em.

The Sox got healthy in a hurry tonight in more ways than one, turning in a solid offensive showing coupled with a lights-out pitching performance from one of its promising young starters against the Royals.

Perhaps it was because Boston finally had its regular starting nine in the lineup for the first time in quite a while, and although they only managed seven hits on the night, they maximized their potential by scoring all four runs on homers.


But the most exciting aspect of the game (other than the brisk sub-2 1/2 hour run time) had to be the coming out party of young lefty Kason Gabbard.

The 25-year-old was making just his ninth career start, fifth this season, and had been steadily improving since a horrendous 6-hit, 4-run, 6-walk meltdown against the Mariners in late June. Over his last two starts since then he had allowed just 6 hits, 5 earned runs and 6 walks in 12 innings pitched while lowering his ERA from 6.48 to 4.87.

Even with that modest turnaround, and considering the quality of competition across the field tonight, I don't think anyone saw this kind of dominating performance coming from the youngster so soon.

As it turned out KC got a pretty solid effort from its rookie starter, 26-year-old Brian Bannister, as well. Both kids stymied the opposing hitters for the first 3 1/2 innings, the only baserunners coming on a single by Julio Lugo in the third and when Gabbard hit David DeJesus with a pitch to start the fourth.

DeJesus would quickly be erased on a double play, though, and through the first four innings Gabbard had faced the minimum amount of batters and had struck out five of them. Nice.

He would get all the run support he would need in the bottom of the frame when struggling Dustin Pedroia stepped in to face Bannister for the second time ever. Francona had admitted recently that Pedroia had been sick around the All Star break and he had intended to rest him for a game or two, but he couldn't because Cora was sick also.

The skipper followed through on his promise yesterday, as Tito gave Dustin the day off except for a pinch hit appearance in the windfest, and it looks like the brief, belated blow really paid off.

Pedroia worked the count to 3-2, then unloaded his mini-man swing and shot the ball halfway up the Monster seats for his first homer since June 15th, and the Sox smallest player did something none of the big boppers could do yesterday--put a ball out of the freaking yard.

After Papi (1-4, R, 2BI) grounded out, apparently inspired by Pedroia's effort, Manny (1-4, R, BI) decided to best his teammate. Ramirez took Bannister's fourth pitch and deposited it halfway up the light tower, where it ricocheted off and nearly hit a Monster spectator in the skull before landing as a souvenir in the back row.

2-0 Boston.

Ballgame.

Gabbard got into his only trouble of the night in the fifth inning when he allowed a single to Emil Brown (2-3), a walk to Esteban German and then hit Sox nemesis John Buck to load the bases with two outs.

But secondary hero of the night Pedroia (2-4, 2R, BI) bailed him out when he made a gorgeous sidearm throw on a slow roller by Tony Pena to get the speedy shortstop by a hair at first, saving the shutout and effectively ending any hopes KC had of making a game of this one.

Just in case they had some crazy thoughts of a comeback though, Papi squashed them when he followed a one-out single by Pedroia with a Pesky Pole job in the sixth, wrapping the ball just around the wall near the marker for his 16th homer of the season and second in five days.

From there it was all Gabbard's game to drive home, and he cruised through the last three innings, facing the minimum amount of batters again (thanks to another DP) and adding his final two strikeouts of the night to end the ninth and put the seal on his first major league masterpiece.

Like I said, who cares if it was against the Royals?

NOTES

• More Gabby--the complete game shutout was the first by a rookie in the majors this season and the first by a Boston starter since the immortal Paul Quantrill pulled the feat in 1993
• The win was Boston's first shutout since the back-to-back 4-0 and 11-0 pastings of the Braves on June 19th & 20th in the A-T-L
• Julio Lugo extended his hitting streak to six games (11-22) with another infield hit in the third, but the joy was diluted when he was subsequently picked off--by a wide margin--just a few moments later to end the inning
• Dynamic Duo--tonight marked the 45th time Manny & Papi have gone yard in the same game in thier careers, third most among active players
• J. D. Drew returned to the lineup after a two game absence and went 1-4 from the leadoff spot; no word yet on if he'll be out tomorrow
• Pedroia had been in a 3-18 slump before his two big knocks tonight
• The game clocked in at a mind-boggling, National League-esque 2 hours and 18 minutes. Now that's sweet.

QUOTES

"Your adrenaline takes over, but you have to kind of settle yourself down." Gabbard, on the rush of a pitching a CG shutout

"The kid has had a lot of roadblocks coming through the minor leagues. He has very good stuff."--Tito, on the injury-filled minor league travails of Gabbard

"Butter fingers in the 2nd level there. Too much popcorn, too much butter on the popcorn."--RSN President Remy, calling out a fan who failed to catch a foul ball. How can anyone not love Rem Dog?

RECORD: 56-36
AL EAST: Up
STREAK: W-1
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Tue vs. KC 705

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Series Preview: Royals @ Sox

Kansas City (39-52) at Boston (55-36)
3 Game Series @ Fenway Park

Standings: Sox up 9 gms in AL East; KC 15.5GB in AL Central

Season Series: Sox lead, 2-1

Probable Pitching matchups:

• GM1 Mon 705 Bannister (5-5, 3.71) vs. Gabbard (2-0, 4.87) MY PICK: Sox win
• GM2 Tue 705 Thompson (1-1, 3.38) vs. Wakefield (10-8, 4.47) MY PICK: Sox win
• GM3 Wed 705 Perez (4-8, 5.68) vs. Tavarez (5-7, 5.15) MY PICK: Sox win
  

Keep An Eye On: C John Buck .245/15/39--the light hitting catcher leads the Royals in homers, and he gave the Sox fits in the teams' first meeting of the season. In the first game of the year, a 7-1 KC win, Buck clubbed two extra base hits off Boston, including a homer on Hideki Okajima's first pitch in the big leagues

Preview:
For a team struggling to put together a decent winning stretch, a visit from the woeful Royals (or Rays) is just what the doctor ordered to help the Sox get healthy again.

Since putting together a modest four game winning streak against the Rangers & Rays (see) before the break, Boston has dropped five of its last seven games, and after beginning the season by going 36-16 in the first two months, the team is a decidedly mediocre 19-20 in the last month and a half.

So that's why the Sox have to be ecstatic that the lowly Royals are limping into town. Although this year's edition of the team isn't the worst in baseball (for a change), it's still in the bottom 10, and with such putrid numbers in both offensive and pitching categories, it's no wonder why.

• Batting average: .260 (10th in AL)
• Runs scored: 415 (11)
• Homers: 63 (14)
• ERA: 4.51 (10)
• BAA: .279 (13)
• OBP: .391 (13)

Needless to say anything less than a sweep of these guys would be considered a major upset, especially after they handed Boston and Curt Schilling an embarrassing 7-1 loss to start the 2007 season off on a sour note in Kansas City.

Even though the Sox went on to win the nest two in that series, no one can forget the humiliation suffered from that first loss.

And you know what they say--payback's a bitch.

Go Sox--Sweep or Nothing!
just kidding, we'll settle for two out of three if we have to

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Series Recap: Jays @ Sox

GAME	SCORE	WP	LP
GM1	BOS, 7-4	Wake	Halladay
GM2	TOR, 6-5	Marcum	Snyder
GM3	BOS, 9-4	Dice K	McGow'n
GM4	TOR, 2-1	Litsch	Becks

STAT	TOR	BOS
WINS	2	2
HITS	43	44
RUNS	16	22
HRs	4	4
AVG	.303	.310
ERA	5.29	4.00

Batter's Composite Box:

PLAYER	SERIES STATS	COMMENT
Coco	5-15, 2R, 3B, RBI, 2BB, 2K, SB	continues to excel
Pedroia	2-14, 3R, RBI, 2BB, SB	sick & slumping
Papi	8-17, 4R, 3-2Bs, HR, 5BI, 2BB, 2K	FINALLY!
Manny	6-16, 3R, 2B, HR, 7RBI, BB, 3K	DITTO!
Lowell	5-16, R, 3B, 3RBI, 3K	Professional Hitter
Youk	2-13, R, 2B, 2RBI, 3BB, 4K	just getting healthy
Tek	2-8, R, 2B, HR, 2BI, 4K	sat GM4 w/ thumb inj
Lugo	7-16, 2R, 2SB	I repeat, FINALLY!
Hinske	2-9, R, RBI, HR, 3K	Big Hit Hinske
Cora	1-3, R, 2B	played one game (#4)
Belli	1-7, 2B, BB, K	played 2 games this series
Pena	1-2, K	Whiffy Mo strikes out again
Drew	2-6, 3R, 2B, BB	living down to "Nancy"

Pitcher's Composite Box:

PITCHER	SERIES STATS	COMMENT
Wake	6IP, 9H, 4ER, 0BB, 2K, 2HR, W	wins despite poor numbers
Tavarez	4IP, 9H, 4ER, 3BB, 3K	ND despite poor numbers
Dice-K	6IP, 9H, 4ER, 2BB, 2K, 2HR, W	wins despite lousy numbers
Beckett	8IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 8K, L	loses despite great numbers
Manny D	3IP, 1H, 5K	can you say 'money'?
Oki	2IP, 3H, 2K	Oki doing a-okay
Paps	1IP, H, 2K, SV	save # 21 in GM1
Timlin	3.1IP,1H, 1K	...heee's baaack!
Pineiro	2/3IP, 1H, 1BB, 1K	...oh, and so is he.
Lopez	1/3, 1K	1batter, 1K--nice
Snyder	1.2IP, 2H, 2ER, BB	awful in GM2 loss

Recap

It was another eventful series with the Sox northern neighbors/division rivals, a wild & wooly four games that featured two Boston blowout wins and two tough one-run losses.

Plus a lot of wind.

The good news coming from this series was the reemergence of Ramirez & Ortiz as the power hitting offensive forces we know and love. Both batters had huge numbers this series (14-33, 7R, 2HR, 12RBI), and with the 3-4 spot producing numbers like that, it's only a matter of time before the Sox start to club some teams into submission with this offense.

Actually the Sox clubbed plenty of balls in this series; unfortunately a stiff breeze and stiffer starting pitching kept the Sox from getting Josh Beckett what would have been his ML-leading 13th victory yesterday, and Kyle Snyder gave the game away in one fell swoop after Boston had worked so hard to get a lead Friday.

I found it interesting that the first three Boston starters had identical numbers as far as hits and earned runs allowed, numbers which were not good, but all three could have gotten wins, while the one starter who had an excellent outing was saddled with a bitter loss. Hmmm.

That's the game of baseball, as they say.

On the injury front Drew left Saturday's game with a tweaked hammy and sat the last two games, but could be back tonight; Youk played all four games after missing 5 of 6 with a bad quad; and Tek had yesterday off after getting hit in the thumb by a Matsuzaka mistake on Saturday.

It wasn't a terrible series by any means, but for a team that was swept before the break, splitting series against weaker division competition won't cut it. With New York now just nine games back, the Sox need to string together a stretch of 8 wins in 9 games or some shit like that to get the confidence back and start rolling into the dog days of summer with that sizable lead intact.

Oh, and who better to do that against than the next two teams to visit Fenway, the putrid Royals and awful Chisox?

Go Sox!

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