Curt's Bloody Sock

More pix of my SoxHawk

2008-10-21T00:13:00.001-05:00

Been a long time...

2008-08-18T13:18:00.008-05:00

One of the things I've been up to this summer - seeing Ken Griffey Jr. play in his final game at Great American Ballpark

So I realize it's been nearly a month since I posted here, but it has been a busy summer for me, so I had to put my original Sox blog on the back burner.

I hope you guys have been following my posts on Bugs & Cranks, and if not then I'm really sorry I haven't posted here in a while.

Anyway, with a hurricane bearing down on us here in South Florida, which has already forced the cancellation of the kids' first day of school tomorrow, I thought I'd get back up to speed on what has been going on with the club since I last posted.

Some of these stories are old, but just bear with me as I get caught up.

Manny traded to LaLa land, Bay comes to the Bay state
In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Boston dumped Manny Ramirez and his 49 million headaches for Pirates outfielder Jason Bay at the trading deadline.

I was in Cincy visiting the in-laws when the deal went down, and while I wasn't shocked to see that Manny had been dealt to the Dodgers, I was a little surprised at the price Boston had to pay for ridding themselves of the Manny Being Manny freak show.

Not only is Boston paying the remainder of his 2008 salary, which equates to some 9 million bucks, but they also sent promising outfielder Brandon Moss and "potential" closer Craig Hansen to Pittsburgh in exchange for Bay.

Sure it was a high price to pay, but sometimes you can't put a price tag on the peace of mind a deal like this provides.

I'm already on record with my thoughts about the deal, but to make a long (and old) story short, the team had reached the end of the line with Manny's "me first" antics, and when you combine violence against teammates and club personnel with flopping around in the outfield, failing to hustle, refusing to board the team bus and coming up with phantom injuries during a pennant race, it's time to move on.

Look we all loved him while he was here, and everyone (especially Big Papi) will miss his sweet swing and clutch hits, but when his circus sideshow outweighs the on field performance, then it's time to cut the ties.

It was fun while it lasted, but now ManRam is someone else's headache. Until he dons the pinstripes next season and starts killing his former team.

Injuries barking during the dog days
While the team struggles to keep pace with the pesky first place Rays (they are currently 4 1/2 games out in second place), a number of injuries have cropped up in the last couple of weeks that could greatly affect their chance to win the East for the second year in a row.

Workhorse starter Tim Wakefield, who was leading the majors in quality starts despite his sub-.500 (7-8) record, had to go on the DL on August 12th due to a sore shoulder. So much for the "knuckleballers can pitch till their arms fall off" theory.

With Wake shelved and Clay Buchholz (2-8, loser of 6 straight starts since early May) sucking up the joint, Boston picked up aging right hander Paul Byrd from the Indians last week. Byrd proceed to lose his first Boston start, 4-1 to Toronto Saturday, and he allowed his league-leading 24th and 25th homers in the contest. Gulp.

Another major blow was the loss of Mike Lowell. Already nursing an achy hip, Lowell pulled the oblique during a swing in a game against the Rangers last week, and in doing so had to be placed on the DL for the second time this season.

Mired in a 4-28 slump caused by the hip, Lowell was not providing the protection for Papi the team had been hoping for in the Manny's absence, but luckily for Boston the red hot Kevin Youkilis (11-27, 3HR, 8BI in last 7 games) has proven to be more than capable of filling the void.

Wake is already throwing and should return soon, but it is the same injury that caused him to miss most of the playoffs last year, so it will be a concern heading into the stretch. As for Lowell, with Youk shifting to third and hitting the cover off the ball the loss is softened, but they will need the 2007 WS MVP back and healthy if they hope to make another championship run.

Runs, runs and more runs
With Manny pounding the ball out West (miraculously, his knee injury has seemed to fade away), many wondered whether Boston would be able to continue to put up league-leading offensive numbers.

After a recent stretch in which they scored 37 runs in three games, it looks like the answer is a solid "yes".

In the 15 games since Ramirez' departure the Sox have scored 99 runs, an average of 6.6RPG, and those totals include a 19-run output against the Rangers as well as a 2-run and 1-run effort against Oakland and Toronto, respectively.

Granted the 37 runs came against the awful Texas pitching staff, and Toronto just outscored Boston 19-5 in a rain shortened two game set, but still the numbers are up even with their Hall of Fame left fielder hitting on the Left Coast.

This is mainly due to the fact that Youk and Dustin Pedroia are 1-2 in the AL in hitting, and Ortiz is tearing the cover off the ball again. Throw in a resurgent Jacoby Ellsbury and the production of Bay, who has hit in 13 of his 15 games with Boston and scored 15 runs while knocking in a dozen, and what you have is a team that is plenty capable of scoring runs at an impressive clip, even without Manny hitting cleanup.

Now if the pitching staff would just get their act together...

I think that just about brings me back up to speed. As Tropical Storm Fay approaches the West Coast of Florida, I'm off to watch the Rays play the Angels in person tonight in what could be considered an impromptu hurricane party.

Wonder if they'll appreciate having a Sox fan in the club suite?

Dont' forget...

2008-07-23T17:03:00.002-05:00

...to check out my previews and recaps over at Bugs and Cranks.

Sox Drawer: While Papi progresses, Manny regresses

2008-07-19T12:21:00.012-05:00

David Ortiz has made two rehab starts with the PawSox in his recovery from a wrist tendon sheath injury, and he has walked and mashed a home run in each of his two games.

So it appears that the most important cog in the Sox championship machine is well on his way to rejoining the club in the very near future, provided Papi experiences no setbacks in the next week or so.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that after months of toeing the line, acting like a team player, and singing Kumbaya about his tenure with the Sox, Manny Ramirez has suddenly turned back into the team-altering spectacle that seems to infect the club around this time of the year the past 3-4 years.

With Ramirez in the middle of a pivotal option year, and the Boston management apparently tiring of his antics, the question now is, how long will the dynamic duo remain together after Papi's return?

At first Manny had us all fooled into thinking this year would be different. He showed up to spring training on time (a first), singing the praises of his team and expressing his desire to stay with the ball club after his contract is up at the end this year.

I took this as a not so veiled attempt to get the Boston brass to pick up his 20 million dollar option for next season, so much so that I predicted he would win the AL MVP by putting up 'contract year' numbers, as players in these situations so often do.

The first 2+ months of the season went exactly according to this theory. Manny started off crushing the ball, blasted his 500th career home run at the end of May, and had another memorable MBM moment when he high fived a fan while in the process of turning a rare 7-6-3 double play.

It was all good times and no worries on the Manny front. He wanted to be here. The team and fans wanted him to stay with Boston, and the club appeared to be headed towards another long post season run, especially with Papi's return on the horizon.

But then things stared to change. For the worse.

Two well documented run-ins, one with teammate Kevin Youkilis in a game against the Rays on June 3rd, and the other with traveling secretary Jack McCormick in Houston on June 28th, painted a far different picture of the fun loving, happy-go-lucky left fielder, one that suggests he might have hidden anger issues, or at the very least an over-inflated sense of entitlement.

Who knew those two unfortunate incidents would only be the tip of the iceberg?

Since the McCormick incident, in which Manny shoved the 60+-year-old retired former cop and berated him over a request for 16 extra tickets to the game, the relationship between Manny and management, and even the ever-forgiving fans, has spiraled out of control at a rapid rate.

Before the All Star break, Ramirez pinch hit in a game against the Yankees and watched three straight pitches from Mariano Rivera go by him for a crucial strikeout in the 9th inning of a game the Sox would eventually lose, 5-4 in the tenth.

During the break, Manny had a curious interview in the Boston Herald that rankled Sox owner John Henry, so much so that he issued a response stating how offended he was that Ramirez would insinuate the Boston management has been anything but fair and straightforward with him through all the years of Man-sanity.

And then, on the heels of all this madness, came the play in the outfield in last night's game vs. the Angels.

In the 6th inning of the 11-3 Boston loss, Anaheim's Maicer Izturis blooped a fly ball to shallow left field that looked like a harmless single.

But Ramirez, ever the clown, decided to try and dive for the ball, even though it appeared he had no chance of catching it.

Sure enough, the ball landed in front of him, but instead of responding quickly and professionally to his miscue, Manny rolled backwards, flopped around like a fish out of water, and ended up laying on the ball as Izturis raced around the bases with an RBI triple.

Ramirez got up and laughed the incident off, but Terry Francona and Theo Epstein, who was seated behind home plate, were not laughing, and to everyone watching the fiasco, you got the distinct feeling that the play could have been the straw that broke the ManRam's back in Boston.

Whether or not the Sox deal Manny in the next few weeks, decline to pick up his option at then end of the season, or do end up retaining the unstable slugger, one thing's for sure:

when the circus act known as Manny Being Manny starts to include bodily harm and total disregard for the integrity of the game, it might be time to ship that sideshow off to the next town.

Sox Drawer: Mid Season Awards

2008-07-17T11:51:00.009-05:00

We're going on Day 4 of no Red Sox baseball, and I've already started to get the shakes and I'm quickly heading towards heavy withdrawals.

Sure it was nice to watch six Sox play in the All Star Game the other night, and it was very rewarding to see a Red Sox player win the MVP award in the final ASG at Stankee Stadium, but that glorified dog-and-pony show is not going to satisfy my baseball jones, no matter how many innings they play or how important Bud Selig tries to make it.

So with another day and a half to go before the first place Sox take on the first place Halos in Orange County tomorrow night, I'm gonna fill time and space with my Red Sox mid season awards.

So what if we're three weeks and three days past the midway point. Humor me.

First Half MVP, Offense: J.D. Drew
Winning the All Star game MVP award, and homering in his first ASG at bat in his first ever appearance in the Mid Summers Classic, was like icing on the cake for the Sox right fielder, who is enjoying a renaissance season in Boston. Without his production, which conveniently coincided with the departure of Big Papi from the lineup, the Sox would be nowhere near first place at the break.

Runner(s) up: Pedroia/Youk key contributors in the field and at the plate

First Half MVP, Defense: Kevin Youkilis
He's made three errors all year, plays stellar D at first and/or third base, and is the only reason why Julio Lugo doesn't have 26 errors instead of 16. Another Gold Glove appears to be on the horizon for Yoooooooouuuuuk!

First Half MVP, Starter: Tim Wakefield
I know Dice-K is 10-1 and Wake is just 6-6, but his is a classic case of a guy not being judged by his won-loss record. The knuckleballer has been nails for the last month and a half, tossing 9 straight quality starts and posting an ERA of 2.13 in that time, and the only reason he's not 10-3 is because of shitty relief pitching and lack of run support.

Runner up: Dice-K hey, he's 10-1 - he deserves some credit, right?

First Half MVP, Reliever: Jonathan Papelbon
Though it's obvious that hanging around Schill the last few years has stared to rub off on the vocal closer, and he has been less sharp than in years past, Paps is still one of the best stoppers in baseball and the best reliever on this team BY FAR.

Runner up: David Aardsma the best of the rest

Top 5 Games of the Half Season:
5.) Opening Day, Part I March 25th in Tokyo vs. A's
The pomp, the pageantry, the frequent flier miles. The 2008 MLB season opener took place 6,000 miles away in a foreign country at 6:00 am EST, but it was still a memorable game for many reasons: Dice-K starting and Oki earning the win in their return to their homeland; Brandon Moss tying the game in the 9th with a clutch home run; and Boston winning it in the 10th on a 2-run double by Manny despite Paps allowing a run in the bottom of the inning

4.) Minnesota Beatdown July 9th @ Fenway vs. Twins
The Sox had 23 hits, 10 extra base hits, scored 14 runs in the final four innings and 18 runs total en route to their highest scoring game since 2003. The fact that it came in the final game of a three game sweep, the week before the All Star break, and helped the Sox gain ground on the first place Rays made the win all the more sweet

3.) Youk's Heroic Homecoming June 14th @ Cincy
The former Cincinnati Bearcat returned home for Boston's first series in the Queen City since the '75 World Series, and boy did the hometown kid make this game a memorable one. He had three hits, including an RBI single in the 6th and a double in the 8th, then provided the biggest blow when he hit a game-winning homer in the top of the 10th , to the delight of his conflicted 150 family and friends who were present

2.) Raysbrawl Game June 3rd @ Fenway vs TB
The latest, and bloodiest, installment in a simmering rivalry, Boston and Tampa Bay came to blows when Coco Crisp took exception for being hit in retaliation for him taking out Akinori Iwamura's package on a hard slide the night before. A punch that nearly shattered Coco's face, a pig pile filled with sucker punches, and Manny bitch-slapping Youk in the dugout after the melee are some of the memorable moments from this messy affair.

1.) Jon Lester's No Hitter May 19th @ Fenway vs. KC
The crowning achievement of a courageous kid's comeback from a life-threatening illness, and the most memorable moment in a first half full of them.

Well I think that about wraps up the first half wrap ups. Tomorrow we get back to real baseball, and I'll be back to posting on B&C about the upcoming series with the Angles, as well as contributing content here.

Until then - movie night!

Sox Drawer: Mid Season Report Card II (Pitchers)

2008-07-15T10:58:00.005-05:00

Okay, you've seen, critiqued and disagreed with my grades for the Boston batters. Now it's time to bash my grades for the Sox pitching staff.

Needless to say the grades are going to be a lot harsher than those for the offense.

BTW, I know at the end of yesterday's post I said I was also going to have my players and plays of the 1/2 season today, but I decided to drag that out til tomorrow. Gotta keep em coming back for more, ya know?

Anyway, on to the report card:
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STARTERS: 2nd in AL in ERA (3.75), 2nd in wins (42)
A Daisuke Matsuzaka 10-1, 2.65, 57BB, 77K, 1.38WHIP, 5HR in 88.1IP
He seems to do it with smoke and mirrors sometimes, but you can't get around the fact that Dice-K is 10-1 at the break, the 3rd most wins in the league despite missing a month with a sore shoulder. He can be infuriating at times with the way he nibbles, yet without his efforts the Sox would not be in first place

A Tim Wakefield 6-6, 3.60, 47BB, 84K, 1.18WHIP, 16HR in 122.1IP
For the past month and a half he not only has been the best pitcher on the Sox, but one of the best in the league. Since allowing 8 runs in 5 innings at Oakland on May 23, Wake has an ERA of 2.13 in 9 starts, and has pitched at least 7 innings and allowed 3ER or less in all but one of those starts. He's 10th in the league in WHIP, and he's a knuckelballer. Amazing. Probably the Sox pitching MVP of the 1st half

B+ Jon Lester 7-3, 3.38, 44BB, 82K, 1.33WHIP, 9HRs in 125IP
He's 8th in the AL in innings pitched and 9th in ERA, and that's remarkable when you remember a year and a half ago he was recovering from cancer. He's had a couple of rough starts recently, which knocked this grade down a bit, yet he still leads the team in ERA, and oh yeah, he threw a no hitter earlier this season.

B Josh Beckett 9-5, 3.94, 24BB, 107K, 1.15WHIP, 14HRs in 112IP
Has definitely pitched better than his record indicates, yet he still is nowhere near the dominating starter he was last season. Spent time on the DL early in the season, which probably contributed to his slow start, and has shown flashes of the Beckett brilliance (13Ks at TB), but has yet to prove he's still the ace of this staff. 6th in the AL in Ks, 8th in WHIP

B- Justin Masterson 4-3, 3.67, 28BB, 39K, 1.26WHIP, 8HR in 54IP
When he first came up and started out 3-0, he was the next big thing. The he stuck around for a while, and we realized he's still just a 23-year-old kid who started the season in Double A and is learning how to pitch in the big leagues. Still, the future is bright for the lanky Jamaican-born righty, either for Boston or whichever team trades for him

C Clay Buchholz 2-4, 5.70, 25BB, 49K, 1.67WHIP, 3 HR in 47.1IP (9G)
Hard to grade a guy who's spent the past 2 months in the minors/on the DL, but we expected more from the kid who threw a no hitter in his 2nd career start. Guess there's nowhere to go but down from there. Came back up last Friday and got shelled by Baltimore after being shelled in his previous start at Minnesota, when he suffered a torn fingernail and went on the DL

I Bartolo Colon 4-2, 4.09, 9BB, 26K, 1.39WHIP, 5HRs in 33IP
Can't really give the big guy a grade because he only pitched in 6 games before getting hurt and missing almost a month with a hip injury. Big Bart did provide a lift to the rotation when he started 3-0 filling in for Dice-K, but came back to earth after that, thus the incomplete. Could be a factor in the 2nd half, provided he stays healthy (big 'IF')

RELIEVERS: 10th in ERA (3.95) and WHIP (1.42), 2nd in BS (16)
B+ Jonathan Papelbon 3-3, 2.43, 28SVs, 4BS, 7BB, 51K, 0.96WHIP, 3HRs in 41G
Like Beckett, Paps hasn't been nearly as dominating as he has been in years past. His blown save total is just 2 off his career high, his ERA is the highest its been since his rookie season, and he's allowed almost as many homers as he did all last year. Still, he's the best reliever on the club and one of the best closers in the game

B David Aardsma 3-2, 2.77, 0SV, 0H, 4BS, 25BB, 41K, 1.36WHIP, 1HR in 37G
The hard-throwing righty has been a pleasant surprise for the Sox so far, proving to be another flamethrower out of the pen who can get out of jams (ahem, Manny D & Hansen). He's only allowed 4 of 16 inherited runners to score, and my question is, why doesn't Tito bring him in to more pressure-packed situations instead of those other guys?

B Javier Lopez 2-0, 2.19, 0SV, 9H, 1BS, 16BB, 21K, 1.38WHIP, 3HRs in 43G
The lefty specialist has done his job against lefties (.224BAA), but he's been hit pretty hard by righties (.294); he has been one of the more steady relievers this season. Allowed 9 of 33 IRs to score

C- Manny Delcarmen 0-2, 4.54, 0SV, 13H, 2BS, 15BB, 39K, 1.29WHIP, 3HRs in 43G
In 43 appearances, the former potential closer has allowed at least 1 base runner in 33 of them. Has allowed 11 of 34 IRs to score, because he's usually allowing his own runners to score. Either way you look at it, Mattapan Manny has been a major disappointment for the club, and don't be surprised if he's wearing another uniform after July 31st

C- Craig Hansen 1-3, 5.47, 1SV, 7H, 2BS, 18BB, 22K, 1.63WHIP, 2HRs in 27G
Another potential closer, the hard throwing former first round draft pick has also been a major disappointment for Boston. He might be more likely to switch teams than Delcarmen, if only because he's a little younger and cheaper. One of the two will definitely be gone by the trading deadline, in my estimation

C- Hideki Okajima 2-2, 2.82, 1SV, 17H, 6BS, 16BB, 37K, 1.41WHIP, 4HRs in 39G
Not only have his well-documented troubles caused Tito to lose confidence in him, he has obviously lost confidence in himself. And that's the kiss of death for any reliever, especially a setup man. Has bounced back recently from a horrid stretch, but leads the AL in blown saves and has allowed a staggering 12 of 17 IRs to score. And to think at this time last year, he was an All Star

D Mike Timlin 3-3, 6.31, 1SV, 0H, 0BS, 12BB, 15K, 1.71WHIP, 3HRs in 28G
It's not really his fault that he's older than dirt and has logged so many innings in his career (1,100+) that his arm is ready to fall off, but there's no way he should appear in any games other than blowouts on either side. Coincidentally, 2 of his last 3 apps have been in those types of games (12-1 and 18-5 Boston wins)

Okay, that's it for the report cards. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.

Tomorrow: Plays and Players of the First Half

Sox Drawer: Mid Season Report Card (batters)

2008-07-14T10:54:00.008-05:00

For the 4th straight year the Red Sox are in first place at the break. Time to grade the team for the (unofficial) first half of the season.
As we finally hit the unofficial mid-season break (97 games in, or 16 games after the official midway point), the Red Sox have reclaimed first place in the AL East, thanks to a 7-3 stretch over the past 10 that, coupled with a seven game skid by the Rays, catapulted Boston back on top for the first time since June 28th.

So now it's time to do what we bloggers do at this point in the season - take three days off and binge drink to our hearts desire. Kidding, kidding. of course I mean we grade our team's performance through the first half of the season.

Without further adieu, here is my mid season wrap. Ready, set, go.
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Hard to find too much fault with a club that has been in first or second place in the toughest division in baseball for the entire first half of the season, especially when the team has been missing its most potent slugger, David Ortiz, for almost half of the games.

The most glaring weaknesses on this team are painfully obvious - bullpen and shortstop. But with guys like Hideki Okajima and Manny Delcarmen finally settling down, and Julio Lugo now on the shelf for 4-6 weeks with a torn quad, even those sore spots seem to be taking care of themselves right now.

Even without Big Papi, the offense of this club has been the one constant so far this season. At the break Boston ranks 3rd in the majors in runs scored (495), 2nd in average (.282), 2nd in on base percentage (.356) and 6th in home runs (108).

It's not a stretch to think that if you put Papi in the lineup for the 43 games he's missed, the Sox lead the majors in every one of those offensive categories.

The pitching has been pretty decent as well. Daisuke Matsuzaka, for all his faults, totes a 10-1 mark into the break; Tim Wakefield has been spectacular for the last two months; Josh Beckett has been better than his record indicates; and Jon Lester threw a no hitter.

The bully has been the biggest concern of the first half. The pen is responsible for 16 losses so far, fourth most in the AL, and 16 blown saves, the second most in the league. Three relievers have an ERA of over 4 1/2, three have been let go already, and Hideki Okajima has allowed an atrocious 12 of 17 inherited runners to score.

That being said the Sox are still the best team in the East and are tied for the most wins in majors with 57 victories.

Like I said, hard to find too much fault with that.

Okay, it's time for the player grades.

STARTING LINEUP:
A+ Dustin Pedroia .314, 9HR, 47BI, 67R, 28 2B, .357OBP
What sophomore slump? Pedroia has followed up his ROY campaign with an All Star second season. He recently had a 17 game hitting streak, and has raised his average 54 points since June 14th. Currently 7th in the AL in average, 2nd in runs, and 2nd in hits (124), the Little Big Man is the spark that drives this offense

A+ J.D. Drew .302, 17HR, 55BI, 63R, 18 2B, 52BB, .412OBP
He has finally produced the way the Boston brass hoped he would when they inked him to a 70 million dollar pact prior to last season. His production, especially in June, has softened the blow of losing Ortiz; he ranks in the top 10 in walks, slugging, on base, OPS and is 12th in homers. Arguably the team's first half MVP.

A Kevin Youkilis .314, 15HR, 63BI, 56R, 25 2B, 4 3B, .381OBP
The chrome-domed slugger has been on a tear of late, coincidentally (or not) after he and Manny got into a shoving match in the dugout during a game against the Rays in early June. Since then Youk has raised his average 27 points, hit two game winning home runs, and just hit his first career grand slam yesterday. Currently 6th in average and 5th in SLG%, RBIs and OPS. Leads team in ribbies

A Mike Lowell .297, 13HR, 57BI, 43R, 22 2B, .360OBP, .867OPS
With the numbers the World Series MVP has put up, you'd never guess he missed 18 games with a thumb injury. Despite that lost time he is having an All Star caliber season, as he leads all AL third basemen in RBI and is 2nd in average, doubles and on base percentage, all while providing Gold Glove defense

B Manny Ramirez .293, 18HR, 60BI, 58R, 18 2B, 44BB, .389 OBP
Manny Being Manny has been taken to new highs (and lows) this year, from high-fiving fans during a play to body slamming 60-something team officials and bitchslapping Youk in the dugout. Through it all, and a major slump as well, ManRam continues to produce at a prodigious rate; he's 8th in the AL in homers and SLG%, 6th in RBI, and first in memorable moments, including his 500th home run on May 31st

B Jacoby Ellsbury .269, 5HR, 27BI, 60R, 11 2B, 4 3B, 32BB, 35SB, .340OBP
A little disappointing for the speedy outfielder, if only because after his spectacular 2007 postseason we expected so much from him. Sure he leads the league in steals and provides stellar defense no matter which OF position he plays, but after going 25 -25 in steals to start his career he has been thrown out 7 times in his last 17 attempts, and his OBP has plummeted from a season high of .416 in early
May to a "paltry" .340

B- Coco Crisp .259, 5HR, 22BI, 28R, 13 2B, 13SB, .309OBP
He gets points deducted for igniting a full scale brawl in the Rays series at Fenway in June, and for earning a suspension that forced him to miss the rematch at the Trop this month. But he earns points for handling the dawning of the Ellsbury era with class and going out and playing hard whenever Tito tells him to, proving to be a valuable outfield insurance policy/trade bait

C Jason Varitek .218, 7HR, 28BI, 20R, 14 2B, 27BB, .299OBP
Okay, so he's having the worst offensive season of his career. But if ever there was a player who shouldn't be judged by his stats, Tek is it. If any proof was needed as to how valuable and respected the Captain is to his teammates and around the league, look no further than his being selected to the All Star team by his peers despite his horrid numbers.

D- Julio Lugo .268, 1HR, 22BI, 27R, 13 2B, 34BB, 12SB, .355OBP, 16E
It's that last stat, combined with the anemic production, that makes Lugo the most reviled member of this team, especially when you factor in the team is paying him 8 million a year. You know things are bad for a player when the fans openly celebrate you going on the DL for at least a month. The curse of the Sox shortstops continues!

BENCH:
A+ Sean Casey .373, 0HR, 10BI, 12R, 13 2B, 12BB, .428OBP in 43G
The Mayor has been everything the Sox hoped he would be and more when they signed him in the off season: productive at the plate in spot duty, solid in the field at first base, and the kind of clubhouse guy who pulls a team together. A great signing.

A Brandon Moss .295, 2HR, 11BI, 7R, 5 2B, .337 OBP in 33G
He hit a homer on opening day, has been up and down from the minors more times than I can count, and had his appendix removed a couple of months ago. Through it all Moss has remained a valuable contributor, and even knocked in the game winning run against the Twins last week.

B Alex Cora .283, 0HR, 5BI, 3R, 5 2B, 0SB, .368OBP in 36G
Doesn't hit for power or average, has no speed and little range at short. Still he's a capable utility infielder who doesn't complain and embraces his role as a small cog on a championship club. Should see increase in PT now that Lugo is on the shelf

B Jed Lowrie .277, 1HR, 7BI, 6R, 4 2B, .308 OBP, 0E in 19G
He hasn't played much, but that's about to change with Lugo out. But when the youngster has played, like when he filled in for Lowell when he was hurt, he has proven to be a productive hitter and decent fielder. We'll find out more about his ability in the coming weeks

B- Kevin Cash .242, 2HR, 11BI, 7R, 6 2B, 31K, 11PB in 35G
He's proved to be a better caddy for Tim Wakefield than Doug Mirabelli and Josh Bard, but his recent slump (batted .115 in June) has dropped his average from .314 to where it is now, which also caused his grade to drop.

I Big Papi .252, 13HR, 43BI, 36R, 10 2B, 37BB, .354OBP, .486SLG% in 54G
Hard to grade a guy who's missed half the season and spent the better part of the half he did play in a major slump. But the numbers he put up, in a limited time and while battling injuries and ineffectiveness, prove that he is still a force to be reckoned with

Okay, this thing ran on a bit long, so I'm going to come back tomorrow with my pitching grades, as well as the top plays and players of the first half.

Sox Drawer: Boston sends 7 stars to the Mid Summer Classic

2008-07-06T15:39:00.000-05:00

Four Sox are elected to start the 2008 All Star game, and three more were selected by AL skipper Terry Francona

The votes have been tallied and the bribes have been paid (kidding) and today the 2008 All Star squad was announced, and not surprisingly the roster is dotted with Red Sox.

Here's the starting lineup (and reserves) for the American League:

C-Joe Mauer, MIN (Jason Varitek, BOS; Dioner Navarro, TB)
1B-Kevin Youkilis, BOS (Justin Morneau, MIN)
2B-Dustin Pedroia, BOS (Ian Kinsler, TEX)
3B-Alex Rodriguez, NYY (Michael Young, TEX)
SS-Derek Jeter, NYY (Joe Crede, CWS; Carlos Guillen, DET)
OF-Manny Ramirez, BOS (JD Drew, BOS)
OF-Ichiro, SEA (Carlos Quentin, CWS)
OF-Josh Hamilton, TEX (Grady Sizemore, CLE)
DH-David Ortiz, BOS (Milton Bradley, TEX)

Ever since internet voting became commonplace in the late '90s, and Nomar snuck in as the starting shortstop thanks to like 1 million last minute votes cast by a gang of over zealous, computer savvy Nation members, there has been a sizeable Red Sox prescense on the AL squad.

This year was no different as four Sox won their respective positions and Jason Varitek came within 145K votes of topping the Twins Joe Mauer, and two other Sox, Mike Lowell and Julio Lugo(!) finished in the top five at their postitions.

You know you've got a supportive fanbase when a stiff like Lugo, batting .262 with one homer, 17 RBI and 16 errors, cracks the top 5.

In addition to the four elcted Sox, manager Terry Francona also took his right fielder, Drew, his catcher, Captain Tek, and his closer, Jonathan Papelbon.

No cries of homerism here by Tito as each of them deserve a spot on the squad.

As we all know the game will be played in the Bronx to comemmorate the final season of the House that Filth Built, yet only two Stanks were chosen to represent the AL: the ever-present A-Rod, a.k.a the Prima Madonna, and Derek Jeter, who is having one of his worst seasons, offensively and defensively, of his career.

Way to show loyalty for your floundering team, Stankee fans!

The team that tied Boston for the most selections was the Chicago Cubs, owners of the best record in the National League and another team, like the Sox, that sells out every game and has a huge national following, two key factors for garnering a lot of votes.

Here are the NL Starters:
C-Giovany Soto, CHC
1B-Lance Berkman, HOU
2B-Chase Utley, PHI
3B-Chipper Jones, ATL
SS-Hanley Ramirez, FLA
OF-Alfonso Soriano, CHC
OF-Ken Griffey Jr, CIN
OF-Kosuke Fukudome, CHC

The manager for the senior circuit is Rockies skipper Clint Hurdle. The game will be played July 15th at Yankee Stadium.

For a complete list of the rosters, click here. And Sox fans sit back and enjoy watching a slew of your own representing the league in the house of the enemy.

The Trop was rockin', and the fans were obnoxious

2008-07-05T00:37:00.008-05:00

When the Rays took the lead in the seventh, the scene was pure chaos

So I've been posting my game previews and recaps over at Bugs and Cranks for a few days now, but like I said I'm still gonna produce material here as well, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to tell everyone about my night at Tropicana Field for the series finale of the Rays and Red Sox.

It was pure hell.

As you all know the Rays won the game in spectacular fashion, rallying from a 4-1 deficit to score six runs in what seemed like an interminable seventh inning and hung on to record a nerve-racking 7-6 decision.

The game not only sent the Sox 3 1/2 games behind the AL East leading Rays, but it marked a new era for Rays fans far and wide: the era of being pompous, spoiled, arrogant assholes.

Welcome to the big time, Tampa Bay.

Being a Boston fan all my life I am used to be abused by jealous/miserable fans of other teams any time I show my allegiance to the crossed Sox. Therefore I went to this game, sporting a Dice-K shirt and Sox cap, knowing full well that win or lose, I would incur the wrath of a legion of newly processed Tampa Bay followers.

Needless to say I was not disappointed. Or rather, I was disappointed. Well, you'll see what I mean.

When my stepson and I first arrived at Ferg's, the local watering hole across the street from the Trop where I had to pick up my StubHub-procured ducats, the scene was quite chaotic. Rays fans had come out of every nook and cranny of the greater Tampa/Clearwater/St Pete area and actually outnumbered the mass of Red Sox fans that had always made up the bulk of the crowd in series past.

Looks like those days are gone - for a while.

The tone of the fans was confident yet somewhat reserved, as the imminent sweep was not guaranteed, and some Rays fans were waiting for the massacre to be completed before spouting off about the endless virtues of their suddenly beloved team.

Luckily for us Coco didn't play in this series

As we made our way across the street and into the stadium I had a few friendly discussions with exuberant Rays fans who were already scanning their PDAs for playoff tickets, and for the first time (but not the last) I had to remind these people that it was still July, not October, and not to get too cocky just yet.

As I later found out, most of them waited until after the rally to get fully cocked.

The game started off favorable for the Nation as Dustin Pedroia stroked a solo home run just to the right of our section in the outfield in the top of the first inning to give the Sox a quick 1-0 lead, but Tampa Bay came right back to tie it in the bottom of the inning and that's when the cockiness started to come out.

I just sat and bided my time and respectfully cheered for my team, and when Boston broke through for a run in the third and two in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead, I was feeling pretty damn good about walking out of there with my head held high.

And then the horrible, awful, nightmarish seventh inning happened, and suddenly it was like the old Whodini song in there: the freaks come out at night.

As the Rays were sending 11 men to the plate, with five of them getting hits, three of them walking and six of them coming around to score, I was slowly but steadily getting pelted with insults, jeers, and even a shower of beer (although that may have been accidental due to all the standing and cheering going on all around me).

This was this guy's impression of the Rays sweeping the Sox out of town

The worst abuse I took was from the person sitting right beside me, which ironically was a fairly respectable looking young Latin girl. All night this chick had been screaming in my ear, clapping in my face, and generally acting like a bimbo jacked up on baseball.

So clueless as to the ways of the game this girl was, she asked what the words were to the traditional ballpark cheer "Charge!"

Anyway, when the rays finally took the lead 5-4 on an Evan Longoria double and I had the nerve to say something to the Sox fan in front of me, this bitch became so enraged that I had the nerve to try and rain on her bandwagon parade that she slapped the brim of cap up, nearly knocking it off and hitting me in the face, all the while screaming at the top of her lungs in my grill.

Let me say that I've never hit a woman in all my life, but I came so damn close at that point I could feel her skin under my palm.

As I coolly sat there controlling my rage and urging her never to touch any part of me again, and her boyfriend did the same, I realized in that instant a very simple but time honored transition that has always taken place in sports: winning turns people into assholes.

I took plenty of good-natured ribbing after the game as well (photo by stepson, nothing going on here)

After all, there's a reason downtrodden fans are called 'lovable losers'.

Yup, give a guy (or girl) a little sip of success and they'll go from lovable to loathsome in a few short weeks. Not all of them, mind you, as plenty of the people I talked to before, during, and after the game were respectful and mindful of the fact that their team hadn't won jack shit yet when it comes to meaningful fall ballgames, but there were enough assholes out there to taint a whole decade's worth of lovableness.

Better watch out, Rays fans, or you might turn into "typical" Red Sox fans.

Looking for my game recap?

2008-07-03T11:55:00.002-05:00

I was waiting for it to be official before I broke the news and now it is: Curt's Bloody Sock has gone national as I am now contributing my game previews and recaps for the respected baseball site Bugs and Cranks.

Wait, this site is national, too? True, but not nearly as well-read as B&C.

In answer to your question yes, I will still be posting here. Just not the same material that I have been producing, as that will all be on B&C. Please check there every day for the regular pre- and post-game stuff and then here for more traditional blog posts, like what the team is up to and alternative material.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this blog over the years and given me the confidence and ability to take it to another level, and be sure to visit both sites frequently because I need all the help I can get.

J Rose

For my recap of last night's devastating Sox loss, click here.

I will have another post here later describing my interesting time at the Trop.

Game Preview: Sox @ Rays GM3

2008-07-02T13:44:00.004-05:00

Into the belly of the beast
Matszaka (9-1, 3.21) vs. Kazmir (7-3, 2.28)
Game 3 of 3 710 ESPN @ Tropicana Field

As the Sox try to salvage one game from this washout of a series on Florida's left coast I am heading down to the Trop to try and do everything I can to prevent a catastrophic sweep from occurring.

In other words I'll be sporting my Sox gear, swilling much beer and screaming my head off in the general direction of any suddenly smug Tampa Bay Rays fan that dares stick it in my face that they have the best team in baseball right now.

Which could be, like, 3/4 of the stadium.

Honey, get the bail money out of the account.

Let it be known that for the first time in the history of this formerly feeble Rays franchise I had to buy tickets at a premium price through fan fave StubHub.com. That's because I asked my wife to contact her ticket connection too late to procure ducats for this highly anticipated series, and as I was browsing Ticketmaster the few remaining seats were snatched up quicker than I could maneuver my mouse.

And so for a mere $60 a a pop my stepson and I are going to brave the insane scene that will be taking place in and around Tropicana Field this evening in what is likely the biggest game to be played in this building since the Lightning packed in 27,000+ hockey fans for a playoff game against the Flyers over a decade ago.

In fact this thing might even be bigger than the annual home show, which is really saying something in these parts.

Another reason this game is so big, aside from the fact that the Rays can put the Sox 3 1/2 games out of first place with a win, is the starting pitcher match up.

For Boston wins leader Daisuke Matsuzaka will be faced with the challenge of stopping the runaway train that is the recent Rays, and for Tampa Bay Red Sox killer Scott Kazmir will try and improve on his already stellar record against the defending champs.

Although the young lefty is just 6-6 in 18 starts against Boston over the course of his career, his ERA is a terrific 2.82 in 105.1 innings of work, and he has struck out 123 Boston batters while walking just 51 in that time.

This year he is 0-1 against the Sox, losing a 7-3 decision at Fenway in early May in his first start of the season after spending the opening month on the DL.

On the other side of the mound Matsuzaka has not fared very well against the Rays in his brief ML career. He is 1-3/4.09 in five starts overall and 0-2/4.26 at the Trop. That record will have to improve - quickly - if Boston is going to pull this one out.

Especially since Boston's offense has apparently gone on holiday while visiting scenic Tampa/Clearwater/St. Pete. Not only has the team managed just five runs and 14hits in two games, but stalwarts like Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek and Jacoby Ellsbury are all in protracted slumps that have hurt the club immensely over the past two weeks.

Evidently all Ramirez can hit right now is someone in the Sox clubhouse (rimshot, please.)

It all comes down to which team wants it more, and for the last couple of nights that team has been the Tampa Bay Rays. They've pitched better, they've hit better, their fans have come out to cheer better, and it's added up to the position the Sox find themselves in now - hurtling towards the middle of the division as they enter a 4 game set against the Stanks this weekend.

But I aim to help change all that tonight. I just hope Dice-K and the boys got my back.

Sox look clueless in lackluster loss to Rays

2008-07-01T21:32:00.005-05:00

Rays 3, Sox 1
WP: Garza (7-4)
LP: Wakefield (5-6)
SV: Balfour (2)
HRs: None

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox offense has disappeared without a trace as Boston could muster just six hits - 5 singles, two of the infield variety, and one meaningless 2-out 9th inning double - off three Rays pitchers, and once again Tim Wakefield pitched a brilliant game and got nothing to show for it.

The loss dropped the Sox 2 1/2 games behind Tampa Bay, the furthest they have been out of first place this season.

#1 STUNNER: Dionner Navarro 2-4, 2BI
The Rays catcher drove in two of Tampa Bay's three runs, both were big and both came with two outs.

THE BIGGEST LOSER(s): Hansen & Delcarmen 1IP, 1H, 1ER, 2BB, 2K
Can anyone in that fucking bullpen come in and get three consecutive outs? Is that too much to ask of a bunch of guys who throw 95+ mph and are supposed to have such scintillating stuff?

Evidently so.

RECAP:
As I was sitting on my sofa and watching tonight's game on the HD set, trying not to get annoyed with the nauseating Rays announcers I'm stuck listening to down here, I suddenly realized the similarities between tonight's and last night's games are pretty freaky:

-Tampa Bay jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of both contests

-the Sox didn't get their first hit until the 4th inning, when they went on to tie the game at one

-the Rays came right back to take the lead again in the bottom of the 4th, both times for good

-Tampa Bay's starter handcuffed the Boston batters for the better part of the night

-the Sox had a chance to tie or win the game in the 9th, but a late rally came up short

-the Rays won both games

The other similarities between the two games has been the anemic Boston offense.

In two games Boston has tallied five runs, 14 hits, four extra base hits and just four walks. By contrast in their game against the Astros on Saturday the Sox scored 10 runs, ripped 13 hits including 6 XBHs and walked four times, although they lost that game too, and they were facing inferior pitching.

But my point is the Rays pitching hasn't been all that great, it's just that the Sox offense has sucked worse than The Love Guru.

Case in point tonight. Starter Matt Garza (7IP, 5H, 1R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K, 102) was nowhere near as dominant as he was in his 1-hitter against the Marlins last week, and he threw mainly fastballs near the plate the whole night, yet the Sox batters could do nothing with his heater.

Ditto interim closer Grant Balfour, who was "bringing the heat" with 93 mph cheese, yet the Boston batters acted like they were facing a pre-injury Joel Zumaya. Fouling pitches off, looking at strikes right down the plate, LATE ON 93mph FASTBALLS.

Guys this is the freakin' major leagues. If you can't crush a mid-90s fastball get back down to AAA, okay. I mean you'd have thought the Sox were facing Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson, not a 24-year-old head case and 30-year-old mediocre middle reliever for crying out loud.

Like last night the Sox had their share of chances in this game too, thanks to some shoddy fielding by the Rays MLB-best defense, which committed three errors on the night, all while Jacoby Ellsbury (2-4, R, SB) was burning down the first base line.

After Tampa Bay took the lead in the first on a walk, a ground out, an error by Alex Cora and a wild pitch by Wakefield (7IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 4K, 115P) Boston tied it up in the fourth when Ellsy reached on an infield single and made it all the way to third base when Navarro threw the ball into right field.

One out later J.D. Drew hit a sac fly to tie the game, but just like last night the Rays wasted no time taking the lead right back.

In the bottom of the inning Evan Longoria (1-3, R) reached on a one out infield single, moved to second on another Wake wild pitch and scored on a clutch two out single to right by Navarro before Eric Hinske struck out to end the inning.

And the score would stay 2-1 for a while despite Boston getting men on base in each of the next five innings.

In the fifth a two out single by Brandon Moss (2-4) went nowhere when Cora ended the inning by grounding out; in the sixth Ellsy again reached on an infield hit and made it to second on an error by shortstop Jason Bartlett, followed by a bloop single by Dustin Pedroia, but Drew popped out and Manny fouled out to squelch the threat.

The seventh was deja vu of the fifth - Moss two out single, Cora shit the bed. Then the eighth represented Boston's best chance yet to take control of the game once and for all, but again the inept offense couldn't get the job done.

Ellsy (stop me if you've heard this before) reached on a error by pitcher J.P. Howell to lead off the frame, then stole second in front of a walk to the Little Big Man, and with Drew, Manny and Lowell due up it was rally time for sure, right?

Wrong.

Drew inexplicably watched three straight mid-80s pitches from the junkballer Howell go right down the plate to earn the statuesque strikeout (June's over, guess he's back to being Nancy), and after Manny (0-3, BB, K) drew a walk from newly inserted Balfour to load the bases, Lowell grounded out meekly to short, and the Sox hopes to pull this game out might as well have died right there.

I only say that because Tito called upon the Boston pen to keep it a one run game, and lately that's like asking Nick Hogan to drive your kids to school.

Craig Hansen, he of the nasty 95 mph stuff, walked Carlos Pena and Cliff Floyd sandwiched between a couple of outs, and then for some reason Francona thought Manny Delcarmen would be a better candidate to get out of the jam than the similarly armed Hansen.

Delcarmen, he of the nasty 95 mph stuff, went to 2-2 on Navarro before the portly catcher laced a single into center to score Longoria with the all too important insurance run, and with the way Boston had been batting it might as well have been 13-1 instead of 3-1.

Turns out the run was big (what a shock) when Cora miraculously lined a two out double down the third base line to keep the Sox hopes alive, but Balfour (1.1IP, 1H, 1BB, 3K), juiced up on adrenaline, get Jason Varitek to strike out to end the game and the Trop nearly imploded under the joyous screams of all the new Rays fans.

Two games, two putrid performances and a 2 1/2 game deficit in the AL East. If the Sox don't find a way to hit Rays ace Scott Kazmir tomorrow night, and Dice-K doesn't reprise his outing from last Friday in Houston, it's gonna be a long trip to the Bronx for this team.

So I suggest the boys eschew the temptations of Ybor City and Channelside tonight and hit the sack early.

After all, they can't hit anything else here.

RECORD: 50-36
AL EAST: 2nd, 2 1/2 GB
STREAK: L4
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: Wed @ TB 710 Matsuzaka vs. Kazmir

Game preview: Sox @ Rays GM2

2008-07-01T17:30:00.002-05:00

Wakefield (5-5, 3.88) vs. Garza (6-4, 3.76)
Game 2 of 3 7:10 @ Tropicana Field

If the Sox are going to stem the tide of the red hot Rays and stay within striking distance of first place it will be up to Boston's Rays killer to get the job done tonight.

Tim Wakefield has enjoyed an uncanny mastery of the team from Tampa Bay over the course of his career, especially in the Trop. In 29 career starts (39 apps) against the Rays the knuckelballer owns a 19-3 record with a 3.16 ERA, and in the dome he is even better: 9-1 with a 2.52 ERA in 15 starts (22 apps).

Blame it on the lack of wind, the sterile conditions inside the Teflon Trop or just plain luck, but whatever the reason Wake owns the Rays.

Hopefully that ownership continues tonight.

Luckily for Boston Wake has pitched lights out over the past month. Since May 28th he has allowed 10 earned runs in 43 innings (2.09 ERA) spanning six starts, and he hasn't pitched fewer than seven innings or allowed more than 3 earned runs in any of them.

Last time out he tossed a brilliant 2 hitter against the Diamondbacks, which earned him just his second win since early May.

Unfortunately for Boston Wake's mound opponent is just as hot as he is.

24-year-old righty Matt Garza is coming off a 1-hit gem against the Marlins in which he went 9 innings and struck out 10, walking just 1 batter and throwing only 108 pitches. In his last four starts he's allowed 8 earned runs in 26 innings (2.79) as he has finally lived up to expectations the Rays had when they traded Delmon Young for him in the offseason.

Unlike Wake he owns a modest 2-1, 4.71 mark in four career starts against the Sox, and he allowed five earned runs and six hits in a 7-4 loss in Fenway earlier in June.

It promises to be another intense game in St. Pete, and for a change the Sox backs are up against the wall as they find themselves needing a win to keep pace in the AL East.

Another solid effort from Wake should get the job done.

But if that knuckler isn't dancing it could be a long night for the reeling Red Sox.

Sox Drawer: Sleepless in St. Pete

2008-07-01T11:37:00.002-05:00

One demoralizing loss does not a season make, but three in a row coupled with other negative news sure can bring a top team down fast.

The Sox are suddenly streaking in the wrong direction, losing three consecutive games for the first time since May 23-25 in Oakland, and there has been more bad than good surrounding the club in the past week or so.

On top of Big Papi being sidelined at the beginning of the month, Bartolo Colon going on the DL, Curt Schilling undergoing season ending surgery and Hideki Okaijima falling apart worse than a poorly constructed Haiku, we've had to deal with: a brawl that resulted in three player suspensions and a dugout scuffle between Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis in the same game that was caught on camera; Youk taking a grounder to the eye that sidelined him for a couple of days and left him with a nasty shiner; the Sox dropping an embarrassing 11-10 decision to Houston on Saturday, the same day Ramirez got into a shoving match with a 60+-year-old team official; a wacko making terrorist threats against Ramirez and Coco Crisp, forcing extra security for the club in St. Pete; and now this.

After spending most of the season in first or within sniffing distance of the top spot in the East the Rays have the Sox on the mat with their feet on the jugular, expanding its lead to a game and half with two games left to play in this series, and another loss could send the club into a downward spiral they may never climb out of.

Okay, so that might be a little melodramatic, but still these are somber times for a team that was on top of the world just a few short weeks ago, despite the loss of Ortiz.

On June 15th Boston owned a 2 1/2 game lead over Tampa Bay and were in the midst of a hot stretch that saw them win 10 of 14 games to begin the month.

Since then the Sox have gone 6-7 while the Rays have ripped off a 10-4 run of their own to complete a 4 game swing in the standings, giving the longtime losers the best record in baseball, the biggest turnaround at this point in a season in ages, all while capturing the hearts of the nation with the beloved "little team that could" storyline.

So what are we to make of these series of unfortunate events?

Many people will say it's karma coming back to bite Boston in the ass, for flaunting its superiority like a diamond studded watch, for having the best team in the game, one of the highest payrolls and a star-filled farm system with which to pluck key components necessary to get through a long baseball season.

And they may have a point. After all the Rays have been so bad for so long, have taken all the shit everyone's tossed their way, and they barely made a posturing peep this spring other than to tout the virtues of their new team mentality.

And the humbleness has paid off.

Everyone always hated the Sox, but now instead of hating either Boston or its biggest rival, the Stankees, people have a team they can root for to topple the new empire and give hope to the common man that middle America can win out over the upper class.

Which is all well and good.

Let the Rays have the mid-season accolades. As long as when it comes time to hand out the postseason trophy the Sox are right there holding it again.

Rays take Round 1 despite late Sox rally

2008-06-30T21:58:00.003-05:00

Rays 5, Sox 4
WP: Shields (6-5)
LP: Masterson (4-2)
SV: Howell (2)
HRs: BOS-Drew (16); TB-Upton (6), Gross (6)

SUMMARY:
James Shields out dueled a shaky Justin Masterson and Tampa Bay used two big home runs and survived an odd ninth inning to take the first game of this series, increasing its lead over the Sox to a game and a half in the AL East.

#1 STUNNER: Gabe Gross 2-2, R, 2BB, 2BI, HR
Acquired in a late May in a deal with the Brewers the part time right fielder had the biggest hit of his Tampa Bay career when he drove a monstrous two-run blast into the right field seats to give the Rays a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 4th.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Julio Lugo 0-4
The useless former Ray ended four innings tonight against his former team, the worst coming when he left the tying run stranded at third as he lined out to shortstop to end the game.

Has this loser ever had a big hit in all his time with Boston?

RECAP:
What's worse than being a Sox fan and having to deal with this humbling loss?

Being a Sox fan living in the Tampa Bay area and having to deal with this loss.

For the first time since God created his own personal waiting room down here on the Sun Coast of Florida myself and all the other New England transplants do not own bragging rights over the once feeble legion of Rays followers.

And lemme tell you its a strange feeling indeed.

Everywhere I go everyone's clamoring about the new and improved Rays, and when they find out I'm a Sox fan I receive death stares, boos, hisses and insults not fit to reprint in a family blog.

Which is fine, because being a Boston sports fan I know it's par for the course; we accepted the fact long ago that everyone who's not one of us hates us. No biggie.

But for the better part of this decade we could always fall back on the number one argument stopper when it came time to shut the yahoos up: scoreboard. Now these pesky fucking upstart Rays have taken that hard earned privilege away from us, and if we don't take it back soon things are gonna start getting ugly down here.

Because there's so many members of RSN South here we'll turn this fucking tranquil tropical paradise into a mini Southie if they're not fucking careful.

Sorry, I let myself get carried away a bit there. Let's get back to the game.

To say the night started off poorly for Boston would be a massive understatement.

Tampa Bay starter James Shields retired the side in order in the top of the first on seven measly pitches resulting in three weak grounders, and when the Rays came to bat center fielder BJ Upton, leading off in place of suspended Akinori Iwamura, knocked Justin Masterson's first pitch of the game over the wall in straightaway center for a lightning quick 1-0 Tampa Bay lead.

It would go downhill from there.

While Shields (6.1IP, 5H, 2ER, 1BB, 5K, HR, 104P) was dealing more like he did in his complete game 2-hit shutout against Boston on April 27th than his last two starts against the Sox, where he allowed 11 runs and 13 hits in 4 1/3 innings, Masterson was having a hard time locating his pitches and seemed to behind on every batter.

In fact on the night the 23-year-old fell behind 15 of the 28 batters he faced, including 10 of the first 18 hitters at a time when he needed to establish some rhythm and control over the Rays while Shields didn't allow a hit and struck out four Sox batters through the first three innings.

But the lack of control didn't hurt Masterson (6IP, 5H, 4ER, 5BB, 5K, 2HR, 105P) early on as he used a double play grounder and a couple of one-pitch at bats to keep the Rays at bay, and his abilty to keep his team in the game paid off when the Sox finally got to Shields in the top of the fourth.

Who else could get the first hit for the Sox than the red hot Dustin Pedroia (1-4, R) as the Little Big Man hit a hard hopper to short that was bobbled by Jason Bartlett but ruled a base hit.

After J.D. Drew flew out to deep right for the second out of the inning Manny the mauler drew a four pitch walk before Mike Lowell (3-4, R, BI) ripped a scorching line drive past a diving Evan Longoria at third base to drive in Pedroia and tie the game at one.

Temporarily.

The Sox fans in the stands (and there was quite a bit fewer Nation members present at the Trop, by all accounts) had barely stopped celebrating before the Rays silenced them completely. Masterson walked Willy Aybar on four pitches with two outs in the bottom of fourth and then Gabe Gross connected on a 2-1 pitch and nearly put it through the back of the stadium, sending the pro-Rays crowd into a frenzy and giving Sox fans the feeling that this was not going to be our night.

That feeling grew as Tampa Bay tacked on single runs in the fifth on an RBI double by Carlos Pena (1-3, BI), and although Drew would stem the tide briefly when he hit his 12th homer of the month to cut the lead to 4-2 in the sixth, the Rays added a key insurance run in the seventh when reliever Chris Smith loaded the bases on three walks and Javier Lopez allowed an RBI groundout by pinch hitter Jonny Gomes.

That run would prove to be a very large one indeed.

After Lopez worked out of a self-induced jam in the bottom of the eighth the Sox had one more chance to try and salvage this game in the top of the ninth. And they very nearly did.

Closer Troy Percival began the frame by striking Ramirez (0-3, Bb, 2K) out on a blazing 90 mph fastball, but then the streaking Lowell belted a double to deep left center to set the wheels in motion for aa potential game-tying rally.

Youk then sliced a ball down the third base line that Longoria overplayed but knocked down for a single that saved a run, and then something happened that you can only see at the glorious stadium known as the Trop:

Brandon Moss hit what should have been a sure pop out but got a ground rule double out of it.

The sky high shot off Moss' bat hit one of the catwalks that ring the top of the Trop, and when it landed 25 feet in front of Gross Lowell had scored, Moss stood at second base and Lowell was at third as the whole place shook their collective heads, thinking THIS is reason #1 why the Rays need a new stadium.

An even stranger thing happened at the tail end of the play as Percival pulled a hammy running to cover third base, and despite his vehement (and profane) protests to manager Joe Maddon he was removed from the game in favor of J.P. Howell.

Alas even with all the oddity and obvious anti-Rays karma working they still had one thing in their favor - Lugo at the plate - and he reminded every Rays fan why they are glad to be rid of the overpriced underachiever when he hit a soft line drive on a 3-2 pitch right at his counterpart Bartlett, and the game ended with a fizzle instead of a bang for Boston.

Round 2 tomorrow and the Sox better have a win in them or its gonna be even tougher for us ex-Pats to exist here in the Bay.

Things could get so bad I might have to head to the beach and drown my sorrows in a bucket of beer while grabbing a handful of smooth white sand.

RECORD: 50-35
AL EAST: 1 1/2 GB
STREAK: L3
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: Tue @ TB

Series Preview: Sox @ Rays

2008-06-30T15:39:00.007-05:00

Tampa Bay Rays (49-32)
AL East: Up 1/2 gm
Streak: W1
Last 10: 7-3

3 game series at Tropicana Field
Game 1 Monday 7:10
Masterson (4-1, 3.43) vs. Shields (5-5, 3.76)
Game 2 Tuesday 7:10
Wakefield (5-5, 3.88) vs. Garza (6-4, 3.76)
Game 3 Wednesday 7:10 ESPN
Matsuzaka (9-1, 3.21) vs. Kazmir (7-3, 2.28)

Season Series: Bos leads 6-3

Preview:
In the words of the lyrical gang banger turned kiddie flick star Ice Cube:

Once again it's on!

The Sox and Rays will reprise their decade of dislike when the two American League East rivals kick off a three game set at the Trop tonight, and the interest in this series is at an all time high for many reasons, such as...

-the Rays overtook the Sox for the top spot in the division yesterday, the latest point (by far) in a season Tampa Bay has ever occupied first place

-the Raysbrawl at Fenway at the beginning of this month that resulted in 8 players being suspended, including tonight's Rays starter James Shields and instigator Coco Crisp, who will miss the series (altogether now - awwwwwwwww!)

-the history of violence between the clubs that dates back to the Pedro Martinez/Ice Williams incident in 2000 and includes about 400 hit batters

-a terrorist threat made against the Sox that will force MLB to provide extra security for Boston personnel to and from the stadium

-the Rays are finally good enough to earn the respect of the big bad Bosox.

These are just a few of the factors making this series the most talked about of the season.

Other than that it's just a standard, run-of-the-mill mid-season showdown.

Now I'm not going into in depth detail of all the past disagreements these teams have engaged in, or rehash the June 5th brawl, or go on and on about how the small market Rays are the surprise of the league with the best record in baseball despite having the second lowest payroll.

That's what the World Wide Leader is for.

What I am going to say is that for the first time since, scratch that for the first time ever a Red Sox/Rays series carries playoff implications, meaning this old fashioned (AL East) family feud has finally graduated to full-fledged rivalry status.

After all what was it that the Stanks fans used to say about The Rivalry? It's not a real rivalry as long as only one team keeps winning the meaningful games.

After taking three straight games in St. Pete in late April the Rays sent a message that they might finally be worthy of rival consideration. And even though they lost the next six contests, the animosity combined with the fact that the Rays have hung in all season and have reclaimed the top spot in the east makes this series the most important in franchise history.

Not that these three games will decide which team wins the division, makes the playoffs or sits home in October. But a series win by the Rays will go a long way towards earning them respect within the game and from the players on the opposite side of the field.

As for the field I don't expect there to be any hi jinks or beanbrawls happening this week. Both clubs are still recovering from the multiple suspensions handed down from the last skirmish, as evidenced by Coco having to sit this set out nearly a month after the brawl took place, and nobody wants to miss time with the division race so tight.

Plus the umps are going to be calling this series tighter than any in recent memory.

Terrorist threats aside it should be a fun three games in the cool, crowded environment of Tropicana Field, with fans from both sides cheering on their teams knowing that whoever comes out on top in this series will be sitting atop the standings this weekend.

May the best team win.

As long as its the Sox.

Sox Drawer: The new MBM?

2008-06-30T12:06:00.004-05:00

Manny Being Manny is a phrased that was coined to represent many quirky things the Sox left fielder has been prone to do: Manny being silly, Manny admiring a long home run/fly out, Manny being lackadaisical on the base paths or in the field, Manny taking a leak behind the Monster during a game...

But over the last couple of weeks MBM has taken on a different meaning: Manny Being Mean.

Earlier this month cameras caught Ramirez bitch slapping teammate Kevin Youkilis in the dugout during a game against the Rays at Fenway, and the story that followed said Ramirez, like many fellow Sox teammates, had become tired of Youk's post-at bat tirades so Manny decided to make his feelings known, very vocally I guess.

When Youk protested, Manny unleashed a backhand that sent Youk sprawling, and then Ramirez had to be held off by coaches and players as he lunged for the chrome domed first baseman.

The incident was downplayed as a minor flare up that occurs during the course of a long season when 25 mean spend the majority of their time together for 6-8 months, and both parties as well as the Sox management brushed it off as an isolated incident, forever to be forgotten.

Until now.

A report in today's Providence Journal states that Ramirez laid another smackdown on a member of the club, this time the team's traveling secretary Jack McCormick, Saturday afternoon in Houston.

And suddenly Manny Being Manny isn't so cute anymore.

This latest incident is interesting for the simple fact that it illustrates a side of Ramirez that has rarely been seen, or at least publicized, in all his years with the Sox.

Reportedly Manny asked for 16 tickets to Saturday night's game sometime Saturday afternoon. When McCormick, a retired cop who handles all ticket requests for players both at home and on the road, informed Manny that he might not be able to come up with such a large number so soon before game time, Ramirez fired back at him "just do your job."

That response begot a heated exchange between the two, with the ex-cop and longtime Sox secretary presumably telling Manny to stick his request in his dread-nest (pure speculation on my part, but what do you think a retired cop would tell a spoiled athlete?)

Anyway the situation has once again been downplayed, with McCormick stating that "It's over. He apologized. That's it. Everything's fine" and Francona blowing it off by saying "Sometimes things happen and when they do, we choose to handle them internally."

That's all well and good, but when an incident becomes public, that internal bullshit goes out the window.

The big question here is why a guy known for his easy going manner and good natured playfulness is suddenly taking swipes at teammates and 60-year-old club personnel.

Is it a sign of a surly Manny Ramirez, upset over a recent mini-slump that saw him go 15 games without a homer while he battles a hamstring problem?

Or perhaps this behavior is a direct result of the fact that Ramirez came into this season with a new attitude, arriving to spring training on time, vowing to table the annual "Manny wants to be traded" talks and generally trying to be a model citizen and teammate?

Or is he cracking under the pressure of living up to Manny Being Manny?

Who knows. But maybe next time he explodes he can direct his ire towards an opponent and not someone in his own clubhouse.

Tonight against the Rays might be a good place to start.

Bullpen blows another one as Sox fall from first

2008-06-29T16:35:00.005-05:00

Astros 3, Sox 2
WP: Aardsma (2-2)
LP: Brocail (4-3)
SV: Valverde (21)
HRs: BOS-Manny (16), Pedroia (8); HOU-Blum (5)

SUMMARY:
The Sox head to Tampa Bay having fallen out of first place for the first time since June 3rd when Hideki Okajima allowed Mark Loretta to knock in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth as Boston dropped 2 of 3 in its interleague series finale.

#1 STUNNER: Loretta 1-1, GW RBI
Did anyone in the Nation have any doubt that the ex-Sox second baseman was going to drive in the winning run against the artist formerly known as Oki?

Didn't think so.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Okajima 2/3IP, 1H
Once again the numbers don't tell the story with Oki because he allowed yet another inherited runner to score in this one, making it 10 of his last 11 IRs and 12 of 15 total to cross home plate this season.

RECAP:
Another day, another shitty effort from the Boston bullpen cost the Sox and Josh Beckett a shot at what would have been a hard fought win if not for the maddening enigma that is Hideki Okajima.

How a guy who was so incredibly dominating one season can turn into one of the least reliable relievers in all of baseball the next should be the subject of Stephen King's next baseball-related tale:

The Nation That Hated Hideki.

After battling through stranded baserunners and missed opportunities all day long, Boston finally tied the game at two when Manny Ramirez hit his first home run in 15 games off Oscar Villareal with one out in the seventh inning.

That opposite field shot got Beckett (7IP, 8H, 2ER, 1BB, 4K, HR, 111P) off the hook and set up what could have been a great come-from-behind victory to close out the interleague portion of the 2008 schedule.

Instead the loss left the Sox looking up at the pesky Rays, who have won 11 of their last 15 games as the two teams get set to square off in the Trop tomorrow night.

Maybe Boston will leave Hideki in Houston.

Which brings me to my next point (pardon me while I rant but I, along with the rest of RSN, am a tad ticked off right now) - why did Tito bring in the ticking timebomb that is Oki in the 8th inning of a tie game, something he had been sterring clear of doing ever since Oki's epic meltdown in Baltimore on June 10th?

I realize the bullpen was taxed, with Hansen and Delcarmen having pitched in each of the first two games of the series and Papelbon reportedly unavailable due to a cold, but why not stick with the flamethrower Aardsma after he allowed a one out single to Miguel Tejada?

Just like the night before Aardsma, who has been Boston's most consistent reliever for the better part of this season, would have been a better candidate to get out of his own jam than the unpredictable trio of Hansen, Delcarmen and Okajima.

Plus Francona had been remiss to bring Oki in at all whenever there were runners on base due to his inordinately high percentage of allowing inherited runners to score.

But for some reason Tito went against the percentages and probabaly against his own gut instinct and brought Oki in in a situation where he had made a name for himself last season, and the Japanese lefty failed worse than a college sophomore taking his finals the day after an all-night kegger.

Aside from the beleaguered bullpen this game was a stark contrast from last night's wild and wooly affair as runs were at a premium this afternoon following the run-a-minute pace of that game.

Boston left the bases loaded in the first inning when Houston starter Brian Moehler (5.2IP, 7H, 1ER, 3BB, 5K, HR, 111P) allowed a one out single to scorching hot Dustin Pedroia and walks to J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell.

But Moehler worked out of the jam by retiring Youk on a grounder to end the inning, setting the tone for the game in which Boston left 13 runners on base.

The 'Stros got on the board first when light-hitting second baseman Geoff Blum took Beckett deep for his fifth homer of the year and fourth hit in nine career at bats against the Sox righthander.

But Boston wasted no time in tying it up when Pedroia (2-5, R, BI) blasted his 8th homer of the season to left to lead off the third inning. It was Pedroia's 8th hit in 10 at bats in the series and he has now hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games at a .510 (25-49) clip.

As Dan Patrick used to say, he's en fuego.

The game remained tied at one as both pitchers worked in and out of mini-jams for the next couple of innings until Houston re-took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, and the rally began when Beckett comitted the cardinal sin of National league baseball: he walked the opposing pitcher.

(note: Someone needs to tell these Sox hurlers that the opposing pitcher is supposed to be a rally killer, not starter. On Friday night Daisuke Matsuzaka walked Runelvys Hernandez with one out in the third, last night Jon Lester hit Brandon Backe to ignite a five run rally in the third, and now this.)

After Michael Bourne forced Moehler at second, Hunter Pence beat out an infield single to short (typical Lugo) and then last night's hero, Lance "Big Puma" Berkman laced a single up the middle to plate Bourne with the go-ahead run.

Another bases loaded situation wenbt by the wayside for Boston when Pedroia struck out with the sacks jacked in the top of the sixth, but with Beckett holding the 'Stros at bay the Sox finally came back to tie it when Manny (2-4, R, BI) took Villareal deep to the opposite field with one out in the seventh, and suddenly it was a winnable game again.

But Boston blew another golden oppportunity to take the lead when Villareal followed Manny's longball by allowing a bloop infield single by Lowell and walking Youk and last night's winner Doug Brocail came in to retire Tek and Lugo to end the threat.

Then the bottom fell out in the last half of the eighth when Aardsma (1/3IP, 1H, 1R) allowed a slicing single to Tejada after a lengthy at bat and Francona made the call to the pen for Okajima.

Three pitches in to his outing the reliever bounced a pitch that got by Tek and sent Tejada to second base, and with Oki's confidence at an all time low Houston manager Cecil Cooper sent Loretta, who hit a monster 3-run homer last night, up to bat for Brocail, and the ex-Sox delivered another big hit when he smacked a single into center to easily score Tejada with what turned out to be the game-winning (or losing) run.

Boston made a little noise in the ninth when Manny walked off closer Jose Valverde, but Lowell barely beat out a double play ball at first and then Youk flied out to end it, and the sox had suffered the indignity of losing two of three to a team that had lost 12 of its last 17 games coming into the series.

So it;s off to the Trop to take on the loaded for bear Rays, and with first place on the line and the bad blood still simmering from this month's Raysbrawl affair, tensions should be high and the action should be hot and heavy under the teflon-tarped dome.

Hopefully I'll be there for a couple of the contests to give a first hand account of all the festivities.

And Hopefully Boston will win a couple of the contests, too.

RECORD: 50-34
AL EAST: 1/2 GB
STREAK: L2
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Mon @ TB 7:05 Masterson vs. Shields

Interleague Game preview: Sox @ Astros Game 3

2008-06-29T12:38:00.002-05:00

Beckett (7-5, 3.73) vs. Moehler (4-3, 4.03)
Game 3 of 3 2:05 @ Minute Maid Park

The Sox will try and put the bitter memories of last night's heartbreaking 11-10 loss behind them today when Josh Beckett goes for win number 8 against Houston's Brian Moehler.

Luckily for Boston Beckett has been pitching much better than his record indicates of late, allowing just seven earned runs in his last 27 innings (2.33 ERA) over his last four starts, but he's only got a 2-1 mark in those games after losing a tough 2-1 decision to Dan Haren and the A's last time out.

The veteran Moehler has pitched well for Houston recently also, wrapping three starts in which he's allowed one earned run or less around a horrible outing against Milwaukee in which he gave up seven earned in 4 2/3 innings of a 9-6 loss.

But if today's game is anything like last night's, both these guys ERA will skyrocket amidst a flurry of long balls and laser beams bouncing off the odd angles of Minute Maid Park.

That contest saw 21 runs scored, 27 base hits, 11 extra base hits, 3 hit batters, 6 walks, 16 strikeouts, 20 position players used, 9 pitchers toe the slab and 319 pitches thrown.

I know, it was exhausting just writing that. Imagine playing in that game.

There were so many big hits and strong performances that anyone could have been the hero at any time, but the bottom line is that Boston could have - and should have - won the game if their bullpen had just come through when it had to.

Instead something that has happened way too often this season occurred, namely the pen unable to hold a lead, either by allowing inherited runners to score or just blowing the game outright, and now today Boston will have to scrap to salvage aa series it shoudl have swept heading into the Rays showdown tomorrow.

With Tampa Bay just a half game out after losing a heart breaker of its own in 13 innings last night and playing the lowly Pirates today, a great outing by Josh and a solid win is a must if the team wants to head to the Trop still in first place in the AL East.

But a loss today coupled with a Rays win will make those pesky sea animals even tougher to play knowing that a series win would ensure they hold their grip on the top spot.

Just win, baby. That's all I got to say.

Sox blow two leads, lose sloppy game to Astros

2008-06-28T22:19:00.005-05:00

Astros 11, Sox 10
WP: Brocail (3-3)
LP: Delcarmen (0-2)
SV: Valverde (20)
HRs: BOS-Lowell (12); HOU-Loretta (3), Lee (18), Wigginton (5)

SUMMARY:
On a night when Boston's offense returned in full force the pitching staff had trouble getting any Astros out as the Sox blew leads of 4-0 and 9-6 thanks to shitty performances from Jon Lester and Manny Delcarmen.

Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell both notched 4 base hits apiece and Boston rapped 6 extra base hits, but it wasn't enough to overcome Houston's 14-hit, 3-homer attack.

#1 STUNNER(s - in a game like this there's gotta be more than one):
-Pedroia 4-5, 2R, BI the Little Big Man is as hot as it gets, batting .492 (30-61) in his last 14 games
-Lowell 4-4, 2R, 3BI, 2 2B batting .542 (13-24) during 6 game hitting streak
-Carlos Lee 3-5, 2R, 3BI, HR a big game for a big man
-Lance Berkman 2-5, 3BI, 3K the Big Puma took home the Silver Sombrero but still managed to get the game winning hit
-Mark Loretta 1-4, R, 3BI, HR you just knew the ex-Sox second baseman would factor into beating his old mates in one of these games

THE BIGGEST LOSER(s): ditto
-Lester 5IP, 9H, 6ER, 0BB, 3K, HBP, 2HR not a good outing for the lefty
-Delcarmen 1IP, 3H, 3ER, 1BB, 1K, 1HR not a good outing for the righty
-Brandon Backe 5.1IP, 9H, 6ER, 3BB, 5K, 108P 'Stros starter didn't fare much better
-Geoff Geary 2/3IP, 3H, 3ER, 1BB, 0K neither did the first Houston reliever
-Jason Varitek 0-4, 3K, PB the Captain had a rare bad game at and behind home plate tonight

RECAP:
In case you couldn't get the drift of this wild, woeful game from the descriptions above I'm gonna try and sum it up in 1000 words or less right here.

Or, how 'bout two words: that. sucked.

It's funny because this was one of those games that would have been freakin' awesome if the Sox won.

Instead it was uglier than that chick on the Planters Peanuts commercials, way uglier than Ugly Betty and even fuglier than Nick Nolte's mug shot.

Yeah, it was that bad.

Boston jumped on Houston starter Brandon Backe for a four spot in the third inning, scoring all four runs with two out on a two-run double by Manny Ramirez (1-4, 2R, 2BI), a double by Mike Lowell and an RBI single by Kevin Youkilis.

Unfortunately Sox starter Jon Lester decided to repay the favor and then some when he allowed Houston to score five runs in the bottom of the third after two were out in what seemed like a sick game of "can you top that?"

Before the night was over the sickness of the game would reach new lows as Boston regained the lead only to blow it again, and the outcome wound up being decided on a seemingly innocuous play that prematurely ended the sixth inning.

The bottom of the third began on a bad note when Lester hit his mound opponent Brandon Backe with a pitch to start the frame. Speedster Michael Bourne followed with his second bunt single of the game, but then Lester got a ground out and a strikeout and it looked like he would escape the inning unscathed.

No such luck.

Carlos "El Caballo" Lee ripped a 2-2 pitch from Lester into right field to plate both runners and cut the Sox lead in half, and then things really fell apart when Miguel Tejada lined a single off Lester's leg to prolong the inning, and the agony, even further.

After shaking off the effects of the drilling, old friend Mark Loretta laced the first pitch he saw from Lester deep over the wall in left for a monumental three run homer, and just like that the Sox four run lead had turned into a one run deficit.

I told you it was ugly.

But it gets even worse.

Lee added a run to the lead when he absolutely annihilated a Lester breaking ball for a mammoth solo shot with one out in the fifth, but Boston would strike back with a five run sixth that should have put the game away but ended up falling one run short.

The Sox tied the game when Julio Lugo led off with a walk, Jacoby Ellsbury (1-5, R, BI) tripled him home and after Geoff Geary relieved Backe Dustin Pedroia stroked his fourth hit of the game, a single to right center, to score Ellsy and knot the game at six.

The rally didn't end there though as J.D. Drew (1-3, BB, 2R) dropped a single into center, Manny walked to load the bases and Lowell crushed a sac fly to right to give Boston the lead back at 7-6.

For good measure Youk doubled to deep center (man this stadium can be cavernous in places) to score both Drew and Manny, but the 'Stros alertly cut off the throw to the plate and nailed Youk trying to take third on the play, and it would be that base running blunder that would come back to bite Boston later in the game.

Still you would think a 9-6 lead with four innings to go would be enough to earn the win. But not in this fucked up Arena ball-like contest.

David Aardsma relieved Lester to open the sixth and continued his recent impressive stretch when he set the side down in order including the last two by strikeout. But after the Sox failed to do anything off Tim Byrdak in the top of the seventh, Aardsma ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the inning when he walked Bourne and gave up a single to Hunter Pence to open the frame.

In came Craig Hansen, who promptly surrendered an RBI single to Lance Berkman, who had struck out three times up to that point, and one pitch later Varitek failed to catch an inside fastball from Hansen that went for a passed ball and allowed Pence to score and cut the lead to 9-8.

Gulp.

Hansen got out of the inning when he retired Lee, Tejada and Loretta after that, but another 1-2-3 inning put the Sox back on defense quicker than you can say "blown save."

As soon as Manny Delcarmen came in that's just what happened.

No sooner did the Houston announcers declare that Delcarmen had tossed 13 2/3 scoreless innings over his last 11 appearances, the longest such streak by a Sox reliever this season, did Manny D surrender a laser beam home run to Ty Wigginton of all people to "tie" the game at nine.

And that was the beginning of the end.

Darrin Erstad sliced a pinch hit single to center, Brad Ausmus sacrificed him over, and after Bourne struck out Hunter Pence walked to bring Berkman to the plate in a game-deciding situation.

Wouldn't you know the new NL RBI leader did just that.

The Big Puma pounced on a Delcarmen curve ball and slapped it down the left field line over Lowell's head to score both Erstad and Pence and this topsy turvy contest had come full circle again, with the Sox on the wrong end of an 11-9 score and wondering how it all went so wrong.

Well that's not true, lousy pitching is how, but I meant that in a rhetorical sense.

To make matters worse Lowell hit a solo homer in the top of the ninth off Houston closer Jose Valverde to cut the deficit to 11-10, and if Youk had just stayed at second on that play in the sixth, who knows if he might have come around to score and give the Sox that extra run they needed to possibly win this one tonight.

Once again Boston will try to take 2 of 3 from an inferior National League squad when Josh Beckett takes the mound tomorrow afternoon and tries to find the form that made him a Cy Young contender last year.

If he pitches like these guys did tonight he'll look more like Cy Sperling though.

RECORD: 50-33
AL EAST: Up 1/2 gm
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Sun @ HOU 2:05 Beckett vs. Mohler

Dice-K strikes back with solid effort in win over Houston

2008-06-27T22:32:00.004-05:00

Sox 6, Astros 1
WP: Matsuzaka (9-1)
LP: Hernandez (0-1)
SV: Papelbon (24)
HRs: BOS-Drew (15); HOU-Abercrombie (1)

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox began a(nother) 10-game road trip with an impressive victory over the unimpressive Astros. Daisuke Matsuzaka bounced back from a horrible start to earn the win and J.D. Drew provided all the offense the team would need with a three-run bomb off emergency starter Runelvys Hernandez in the third inning.

Boston outhit Houston 12-4, with 7 of the knocks coming from Pedroia and Youkilis.

#1 STUNNER: Drew 1-3, R, 2BB, HR, 3BI
Mired in a 2-19 skid and coming off sitting out the finale of the Arizona series due to Randy Johnson syndrome, errr a stiff neck, Drew picked back up where he began the month by hitting another huge home run.

Honorable mention: Matsuzaka 5IP, 2H, 0ER, 3BB, 4K, 87P
An excellent effort by the Sox top starter allows everyone to breath a sigh of relief that Boston's $101 million investment has not turned into a broken down bust.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Hideki Okajima 2/3IP, 2H, 1R, 0BB, 0K, HR, 15P
While everyone has been worrying about Dice-K's health, it's Boston's other Japanese import who is now causing brows to furrow throughout the Nation. This month the unconventional lefty has allowed 9 earned runs in 8 2/3 innings of work, raising his ERA from 0.72 to 3.21.

I mean seriously, what's wrong with this guy?

Dishonorable mention: Manny Ramirez 0-4, K
Manny is now mired in a 2-15 slump and hasn't homered in 13 games or knocked in a run in his last 10 contests. Can you say power outage?

RECAP:
You can put away the rosaries and stop pounding sake. Everything appears to be okay with Dice-K.

After suffering his worst loss since he came to the Sox in his last outing, his first since spending nearly a month on the DL, Daisuke Matsuzaka made up for that horror show against the Cardinals with a strong showing tonight in Boston's first ever trip to Houston's Minute Maid Park.

Thanks to a potent offensive attack and a strong effort on the back end by Jonathan Papelbon, Matsuzaka finally earned his ninth victory of the season, 36 days after he logged his then league leading eighth win on May 22nd against the Royals.

In fact it's been so long since his last victory Hillary Clinton was still running for President, the Celtics hadn't won title #17, and people thought the Happening might actually be a good movie.

Yeah, that's how long ago.

Before we get too exited that the shoulder trouble that sidelined Daisuke for a month is all in the past let me state that he didn't have an absolute lights out performance tonight.

For example he barely made it through the requisite five innings to earn the win when he loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth before inducing David Newhan to pop out to shortstop to preserve the Sox shutout.

He also walked three batters, including Astros starter Runelvys Hernandez, who hadn't hit in a major league game since September of 2006, and struck out twice at the plate himself.

But the good far outweighed the bad for Matsuzaka this evening, and it was apparent from the start that this outing would be quite different from the last time he took the mound one week ago tonight.

In that game six St. Louis batters reached base in the first innings as the Cards jumped out to a four run lead, and the carnage continued in the second inning when Dice-K loaded the bases with no outs on a single and a pair of walks.

Tonight was the exact opposite of that as Matsuzaka not only didn't allow a run or base runner in the first inning, but he began the game by striking out the side with all three batters swinging at strike three.

Talk about night and day.

After putting three batters on in the first two innings Boston finally broke through in the third against Hernandez (5IP, 5H, 3ER, 3BB, 5K), who was called up to start in place of disgraced/released starter Shawn Chacon.

Matsuzaka led off with a strikeout before Coco Crisp drew a one out walk and Dustin Pedroia (3-4, 2R, 2B, BI, BB) followed with a ringing double to left field. Three pitches later J.D. Drew slammed a towering, titanic blast to right that banged off the facade of the upper deck for a key three run bomb, and just like that Dice-K had some breathing room to work with.

It was a good thing, too, because had the game been scoreless who knows how he would have handled the pressure packed situation he faced in the fifth.

Geoff Blum lined out to right to begin the frame, but then Hunter Pence walked and Humberto Quintero singled to right to set up runners at second and third with one out.

Darin Erstad (I know, he's still alive!) pinch hit for the pitcher and promptly struck out, and it looked like Matsuzaka would escape the jam easily. But he walked Michael Boure to load the bases, and suddenly it was finger nail biting time in the Boston dugout.

Before they could reach the cuticles Dice-K got David Newhan to pop out harmlessly to short on a wicked breaking ball, and with that Houdini act Matsuzaka's night was over.

The Sox scored another run when Julio Lugo led off the seventh with a bloop single to right and two outs later Pedroia drove him in with a sharp single to center, and although they missed out on a golden opportunity to blow the game open when Youk (4-5) and Tek both singled with one out in the eighth, with Boston sporting a four run lead and just six outs to go this one was all but over.

And then Hideki Okajima entered the game.

The embattled Boston reliever has been tattooed more than Eddie House the past month, and tonight would be no different.

After getting ex-Sox second sacker Mark Loretta to fly out to open the inning, Bourne took an Okajima offering all the way to the left field wall before Jacoby Ellsbury caught it on the track.

The next time he wouldn't be so lucky.

Pinch hitter Reggie Abercrombie, who has only appeared in 155 games in his career and has just seven homers to his credit, turned on a 2-2 pitch from Oki and deposited it on that silly train track the 'Stros have way up at the top of the stadium, and just like that the shutout was gone and the game was on.

When Miguel Tejada followed that blast with a ringing single off the left field scoreboard Tito had seen enough of Oki's antics and brought in Paps to nail it down.

A strikeout of Lance Berkman (1-4) ended the inning, and when Boston tacked on a couple more runs on a two run single by Mike Lowell in the ninth this one was in the bag.

Sure enough paps tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his 24th save, and Boston had it second straight impressive win against a lesser National League opponent.

In those two wins the Sox have outscored the opposition 11-1, outhit them 24-7, and generally outplayed the mediocre competition of the senior circuit.

And with Dice-K looking healthier, Drew still mashing longballs and Pedroia and Youk hotter than asphalt in August, things are looking good for the team.

Although they still just have a slim 1/2 game lead over those pesky Rays.

They'll have to take care of that problem starting Monday.

RECORD: 50-32
AL EAST: Up 1/2 gm
STREAK: W3
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Sat @ HOU 7:05 Lester vs. Backe

Interleague Series preview: Sox @ Astros

2008-06-27T14:33:00.006-05:00

Houston Astros (37-42)

NL Central: 5th, 12 GB
Streak: W1
Last 10: 4-6

Offensive stats (NL rank)
AVG.: .262 (5th)
OBP: .321 (13)
RUNS: 345 (10)
HRS: 81 (7)
Pitching Stats (NL Rank)
ERA: 4.42 (11)
BAA: .270 (13)
RUNS: 377 (6)
SVS: 21 (4)

3 game series at Minute Maid Park
Game 1 Friday 8:05ET
Matsuzaka (8-1, 3.46) vs. Hernandez (NR)
Game 2 7:05ET
Lester (6-3, 3.13) vs. Backe (5-8, 4.82)
Game 3 Sunday 2:05ET
Beckett (7-5, 3.73) vs. Mohler (4-3, 4.03)

KEY 'STROS:
- 1B Lance Berkman .367, 21HR, 63RBI, .450OBP, 70R, 26 2B, .705 SLG% I would be remiss if I didn't mention Taylor Hicks' doppelganger first, since he is leading the club in every offensive stat including man boobs. Earlier this season he was hotter than jalapeno salsa, when a 17 game hitting streak had his average at .399, but now he is merely mildly flaming. And I mean that in a nice way.

- LF Carlos Lee .277, 17HR, 59RBI, 38R, 22 2B, .527 SLG% the gargantuan slugger had been off his game this season until a recent hot streak made his stats look respectable, but he can always hit the ball a mile at any given time. Close runner up to Berkman for the team leads in most major offensive categories, including man boobs.

-Miguel Tejada .288, 10HR, 43RBI, .327OBP, 54R, .455 SLG% the artist formerly known as Miggy has found a home in Houston, the perfect place for a former MVP/juicer who lied about his alleged involvement with PEDs as well as his age to hide out. After all, Clemens and Pettitte laid low there for years

EX SOX:
- 2B Mark Loretta .252, 2HR, 16BI, 10R, 8 2B, 14BB in 50 gms the 2006 Sox starting second baseman will forever be remembered in the Nation for blasting that game winning run against the Mariners on Patriot's Day. Not to mention he hit .285 with 59 ribbies and 75 runs scored and played solid D for the club that year.

He was just named the starter after Kaz Matsui was placed on the DL on Tuesday

PREVIEW:
Boston kicks off its 2008 interleague swan song in the city that is synonymous with heated Red Sox rivalries: Houston.

You remember all the times the Sox and 'Stros duked it out, going head to head by engaging in heated battles to decide...what's that? This is only the second time these two clubs have ever met, the first coming in 2003?

Never mind.

Either way Boston will say farewell to Bud Seligs's brainchild this weekend by taking on the embattled Astros. And I say embattled because the team just had to jettison tonight's scheduled starter, Shawn Chacon, after he went all Latrell Spreewell on the club's GM, Ed Wade.

In his stead Houston will call upon recently signed starter Runelvys Hernandez, a charter member of the All Name team whose previous claim to fame was when he started 4-0 with a 1.10 ERA for Kansas City in 2003 before injuries and ineffectiveness caused him to go 17-29 in parts of four season since then.

Another thing in Boston's favor is it won't have to face Roy Oswalt, who despite having an off season (6-8, 4.77) is still by far the best starter Houston has on its roster.

In other words, the Sox had better sweep these guys or face the fugly fact of having to head to Tampa Bay on Monday looking up at the red hot Rays in the standings.

If the Sox have any hopes of sweeping the 'Stros they must have a quality outing tonight from their own embattled starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka.

After spending almost a month on the DL with a shoulder ailment, Matsuzaka returned to the mound a week ago tonight and looked like one of my son's Little League teammates in an embarrassing effort against the Cardinals at Fenway.

Dice-K looked lost and lethargic in his one plus inning of work, allowing six hits, three walks and seven runs while retiring just three batters, and even though his numbers were made worse when reliever Chris Smith surrendered a grand slam to Troy Glaus after relieving Matsuzaka, everyone in the Nation knew how ugly and unsuccessful this return to action was.

Should Dice suffer a similar fate against the weaker Astros lineup, a team that is last in the NL in walks (221) and is near the bottom in on base percentage, then the club will have to do some serious thinking about what direction to take with the trade deadline a month away.

Do we want to mortgage the future by dealing for a CC Sabathia? Of course not. But if Matsuzaka really is running on fumes after pitching so many innings in Japan the team might have no choice but to go after a horse in order to keep its postseason aspirations alive.

All of this speculation could be put to rest if he comes out tonight and throws seven innings of 2-run ball.

But if he doesn't you can bet Theo's phone will be ringing off the hook this weekend, and it'll soon be deal or no deal time for the Boston GM.

Sox Drawer: Injury updates, news & notes

2008-06-27T11:08:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted in a while because the Sox were off yesterday and my son had his final LL All Star game last night, so I took a personal day from blogging to recharge the batteries.

But there has been quite a bit going on with the team since I last posted, so let me run through what I failed to cover.

-Schilling surgery successful, could throw again by January
Curt Schilling underwent surgery to his ripped right shoulder, and by all accounts the procedure was a smashing success. I won't go into details, as you can get that kind of shit anywhere, but suffice it to say that things went so well that Curt could be back throwing a baseball by the beginning of next year if his rehab works the way it's supposed to.

Now Schill is so giddy, because it's obvious that he and his doctor were right while the Sox brass was wrong regarding the course of action the injured ace should take to heal his wounded wing, that he says he might indeed play again, either with Boston or somewhere else.

"It's what I do. It's what I've done my whole life. It's what I enjoy doing. (But) If I come out of rehab and I'm throwing 84 miles per hour, it's over."

Translation: if I can pitch effectively, I'll be back.

I'm not going to get too deep into this because there is so much that could happen between now and then. But if and when Schill decides to play again, there will be so many words written about it it will make War and Peace look like a pamphlet.

Just as long as you don't go to NY, Schill, we'll be cool.

-Big Papi improving, can smell return to lineup
After taking some swings at a ball on a tee at Fenway the other day, David Ortiz declared he could be ready to play in 2-3 weeks, once again if all goes according to plan.

He has already had the hard cast he was sporting on his injured left wrist removed and now wears a removable splint thingy, and although he wasn't impressed with barely being able to do something my son's team executes with regularity, soft- tossing and hitting off a tee, he knows he gotta take baby steps before he can walk.

Barring setbacks Papi could be back with the team in a couple or three weeks, which would put him on track for a possible post-All Star game return. Boston opens up a series with Toronto at Fenway on Friday after the break, and wouldn't it be nice to see Ortiz in the lineup to kick off that home stand?

Fingers crossed.

-Sox bid adieu to Interleague play after this weekend
Boston travels to Houston to play the explosive Astros starting tonight, and thankfully this will be the final time pitchers have to bat for the Sox.

Granted Boston has had some success playing the senior circuit this season, posting a 10-5 record despite losing 3 of its last 6 IL contests, but I for one am looking forward to playing teams I know and hate like New York and the Rays.

-Hot and not hot Sox
Heading into this series with the Astros, here's a look at the Sox who are lighting it up or stinking it up at the moment. (based on the last 10 games)

Smokin Sox:

-Dustin Pedroia 20-43 (.465), 3HR, 5BI, 8R
The Little Big Man is swinging the hottest stick on the Sox by far right now; he's had multi-hit games in 6 of the last 10 contests

-Mike Lowell 13-36 (.361), 2 2B, 1HR, 5BI, 8R
Good to see the WS MVP getting back to his old self after spending time on the DL

-Coco Crisp 12-35 (.342), 3 2B, 1 3B, 3HR, 7BI, 6R
Looks like the Raysbrawl sparked the part time center fielder's bat. Too bad he'll have to sit out his suspension for his part in the brawl pretty soon, possibly this weekend

-Kevin Youkikis 11-36 (.305), 4HR, 9BI
Only a ball to the eye could slow down the Cincinnati Crusher

Stinkin' Sox:

-Jason Varitek 3-33 (.090), HR, 4BI
The Captain did have the game-winning hit the other night against Arizona, but this has been one of the worst slumps of his career

-Manny Ramirez 7-33 (.212), 0HR, 1BI
The slugger hasn't homered since June 10th (12 games), leading one to believe his hammy is bothering him more than he's letting on. We'll have to see how much he plays with no DH this weekend

-J.D. Drew 10-38 (.263), 4HR, 8BI
Started to cool off the last week after a torrid start to June; is only 2 for his last 19 at bats

-Jacoby Ellsbury 10-42 (.238), 1HR, 1BI, 1BB, 5R
The average would be okay if he were walking and scoring runs, which you can see for yourself, he is not

That's about it for updates. Gotta get ready for the series preview post.

GO SOX!

Sox Cash in on superb outing by Wakefield

2008-06-25T23:04:00.003-05:00

Sox 5, D-Backs 0
WP: Wakefield (5-5)
LP: Johnson (4-6)
SV: Papelbon (23)
HRs: BOS-Cash (1)

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox rebounded from a string of sub par games by executing a near-perfect performance in the series finale with the Diamondbacks. Tim Wakefield tossed seven shutout innings, battery mate Kevin Cash hit his first homer since 2005, and the Sox outhit Arizona 12-3 in the rubber match.

#1 STUNNER: Wake 7IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 6K, 94P
Boy, when that knuckler is working it's like a work of art. Of course when it's not it resembles torture porn, so thankfully tonight it was working.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Eric Byrnes 0-4, 1K
I know he just came off the DL prior to the start of this series, but the D-Backs leadoff hitter was 1-13 in the three games, failing to provide the spark this slumping club needed.

RECAP:
Old beat older tonight as Boston's ancient warrior Tim Wakefield out dueled Arizona's grizzled vet Randy Johnson in a battle for the aged.

No word if the AARP protested on Yawkey Way.

But the way these two guys pitched tonight, you would have to think that the other old folks are pissed at being shown up by a couple of 40-something hurlers who have no business getting hitters out with such alarming regularity as these two.

Johnson, 44, known for his lanky frame, lousy haircut and high '90s fastball, threw his best game in over a month but got nothing to show for it because once again his anemic offense couldn't give him any run support.

That was mostly due to the fact that his soft-tossing counterpart Wakefield, 41, was baffling the D-Backs' batters with an array of butterflies, moths and other assorted flittery flying flutterballs.

It was an interesting study in contrasts in what was the oldest mound match up in a Red Sox game since 1965, and the most interesting part was that the slower, young guy beat the faster, old guy, but not by much.

In fact both geezers were pretty damn awesome this evening, giving instant credence to the term "forty is the new twenty".

(Sorry, something happened with this post and the rest of it got erased. Here's the finished version)

I said up above that the Sox pulled off a near-perfect performance tonight, and the reason it was "near" perfect and not absolutely perfect is because they missed out on quite a few chances to blow the D-Backs out of the park.

For example, Boston put the first two men on base in the second inning when Mike Lowell led off with a single and Coco Crisp (3-4, R) followed with the first of his three doubles on the evening.

Two on (in scoring position) + no outs = big inning, right?

Ah, no. Kevin Cash lined to center, Brandon Moss (0-3, 2BI) got one run home with a ground out, and after Julio Lugo walked, Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to the Unit and the Sox had to settle for just the one run.

After that the two hurlers traded scoreless innings for a while, scattering a hit here and a walk there but not really encountering any trouble.

Boston had another golden opportunity to add to the lead when Lugo led off the fifth with a double off the Monster and then stole third one out later, but after Pedroia (3-5) reached on an infield single to short Kevin Youkilis, returning to the lineup after receiving that nasty bump below his eye and sporting some funky sunglasses, bounced into an inning ending double play to kill the rally.

The Sox did get another run home in the sixth when once again Lowell (2-3, BB, 3R) singled and Coco doubled (deja vu), but after Cash was intentionally walked to load the bases, all Boston could muster was a sac fly by Moss for another solitary run and a 2-0 lead that could have been five or six-zip.

Ugh!

The good news about that frame is that it was Johnson's last. Although he pitched well (6IP, 8H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K, 109P), working in and out of all those jams raised his pitch count and it was time for the ole' mullet man to get some rest.

And it didn't take long for Boston to break it open against Arizona's pen men.

Juan Cruz allowed a two out double by Youk (1-4) in the seventh but escaped that spot, and after Manny Delcarmen tossed a 1-2-3 eighth with two Ks, the Sox tagged Cruz in the bottom of the inning to blow the game open.

Lowell walked to lead off the frame and then Cruz (1IP, 3H, 3ER, 1BB, 2K, HR, 36P) surrendered Crisp's third double of the game three pitches later.

Then, after an epic 8-pitch at bat, the slender right hander gave up Cash's first home run since June of 2005, a titanic blast that cleared the Monster, and finally the Sox had some breathing room at 5-0.

The breathing was a bit labored, though, thanks to Craig Hansen loading the bases on two walks and an infield hit in the ninth inning.

But Tito called on Paps as soon as the game became a save situation, and the closer needed just five pitches to dispatch Chad Tracy on strikes to save the game and wrap up the series win.

So the Sox ended up salvaging the home stand, ending up with a 3-3 record when it could easily have been 1-5, and the team will get a day off before starting the final interleague series of the year in Houston on Friday.

After that a first place showdown awaits with a trip to the Trop to face the Rays, and hopefully by this time next week the boys will have a comfortable lead in the East as the prepare to face the Feeble Empire in the Bronx.

RECORD: 49-32
AL EAST: Up 1 gm (damn Rays!)
STREAK: W2
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Thu-Off; Fri @ Houston 8:05 Matsuzaka vs. Hernandez

Interleague Game Preview: D-Backs @ Sox GM3

2008-06-25T16:15:00.002-05:00

Johnson (4-5, 5.09) vs. Wakefield (4-5, 4.17)
Game 3 of 3 7:05 ESPN2 @ Fenway Park

Wow, what a coincidence - tonight's pitching match up features 4-5 Randy Johnson vs. 4-5 Tim Wakefield, and they're both 45 years old! Freaky, huh?!

Okay, so the Unit is 44 and Wake is "only" 41, but the joke was too easy to pass up.

Seriously though these two veterans are two of the oldest players in the game right now, and between them they have 460 wins, 1,105 starts, 6,647 1/3 IP and 6,540 Ks.

And they're a combined 85 years old.

Just sayin'.

Luckily for the Sox their 40-something starter is pitching much better than Arizona's lately, even though the both have identical records and similar ERAs.

In his last five starts Wake has allowed an average of 5 hits and 2 earned runs per start, yet he is 1-2 with two NDs due to an abysmal lack of run support.

In those five starts Boston has scored 0, 3, 11, 6 and 4 runs, and for the season the Sox offense is supplying the knuckleballer with just over four runs per game, among the lowest of all starters in the league.

As for Johnson he has been awful the last month. In four June starts Unit has allowed 33 hits 21 runs in 24 1/3 innings (7.77 ERA), losing all four starts and raising his ERA from 3.83 to 5.09.

To be fair Arizona has scored a grand total of 13 runs in his last 6 starts, but when you toss back-to-back 10+ hit, 7 ER games, it doesn't really matter how many runs your teammates score for you.

One thing's for sure, Boston needs to put those kind of numbers on the board and tonight would be a good time to start. During this home stand the Sox have scored just 18 runs in five games and are a few clutch hits away from an 0-5 mark.

According to the Globe Kevin Youkilis will return to the lineup tonight, which is a good thing considering he had been one of the club's hottest hitters (11-28, 4HR, 8RBI last 8 gms) before he got popped in the eye by an errant grounder and missed the last two games, but slumping outfielder J.D. Drew (2 for his last 19) will get the night off in favor of Brandon Moss.

The only thing that would make this game better would be if Johnson's ex-teammate and sparring partner Curt Schilling was going up against him tonight.

As it is we'll have to settle for the two old timers with contrasting styles in a battle royale to decide who's the best of the rest (home).

The comeback kings return, just in the nick of time

2008-06-24T21:47:00.003-05:00

Sox 5, D-Backs 4
WP: Smith (1-0)
LP: Qualls (1-6)
SV: Papelbon (22)
HRs: BOS-Pedroia (7); ARI-Tracy (4)

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat tonight when they plated four runs in the eighth inning to overcome a 4-1 deficit and eke out a one-run win. Mike Lowell tied the game with a 2-run double and Jason Varitek won it with an RBI single, giving rookie reliever Chris Smith his first major league victory.

#1 STUNNER: Smith 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 1K, 28P
Lowell and Tek both had clutch two-out hits that allowed the Sox to pull out the win, but they're supposed to do that shit. Smith bouncing back from allowing a grand slam to his second major league batter on Saturday to pitch two no-hit innings and earn his first ML win - that deserves star of the game honors.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Chad Qualls 2/3IP, 4H, 2ER, 0BB, 1K, 24P
With a line score like this he might want to go back to being a DJ.

RECAP:
Let me start off by saying I missed most of this game due to technical difficulties with my Extra Innings package.

The picture would flash on and off in spurts, freeze at some points, and go black at other times.

It got so bad that I was frustrated to the point of watching the premiere of "Wipeout", that Americanized/ESPN-ized version of "MXC" that ABC shoved down our throats throughout the entire NBA Finals, which wasn't so bad because from what I could gather from GameCast the Sox were getting wiped out as well.

In between blank screens I found out that Dustin Pedroia put the Sox ahead 1-0 in the first inning with a titanic blast off Arizona starter Doug Davis, but the 'Backs tied it right up in the top of the second inning on an RBI single by Chad Tracy off Justin Masterson (6IP, 7H, 4ER, 4BB, 4K, HR, 101P).

While I was watching a bunch of effeminate dudes and one pretty hot chick getting covered in mud, blasted in the package and bouncing face first off giant balls (teehee, get it?), Arizona was busy taking the lead when light-hitting Tracy (3-4, 1R, 4BI) launched an 0-1 pitch from Masterson over the Red Sox bullpen for a three run homer and a 4-1 Diamondbacks lead.

Speaking of a blast in the package.

Luckily the score stayed that way for a while because I missed all the action in between, like Masterson working out of two on, two out situations in the fourth and fifth innings and Boston doing absolutely nothing off Davis (7IP, 3H, 3ER, 1BB, 6K, HR, 98P) after the first inning and prior to the eighth.

By the time my reception got back to 21st century standards it was the bottom of the eighth inning and Jacoby Ellsbury had just singled to right to put runners at first and second (evidently Julio Lugo had just singled as well) with nobody out.

That development got Davis, who has now tossed three straight quality starts and has nothing to show for it, removed from the game in favor of Chad Qualls, a move that backfired on Arizona manager Bob Melvin worse than New Coke.

Pedroia (2-4, 2R, 2BI) worked the count by fouling off four consecutive pitches before driving a single into center field to score Lugo and cut the deficit to 4-2, and with two on, no one out and JD Drew and Manny Ramirez coming up it looked like the Sox were going to break this one wide open.

But then Qualls got the suddenly slumping Drew (0-4, 2 for his last 19) to strike out, and one pitch later Manny grounded out to third, although he did advance the runners up a base.

That little piece of fundamental baseball proved to be mighty advantageous for Boston
because Mike Lowell (2-3, 1R, 2BI) took a 2-0 pitch from Qualls and popped it off the Monster for a clutch-as-hell two run double that tied the game at four and brought the Faithful back to life.

But the heroics didn't end there.

Up stepped captain Tek, who just snapped a career-worst 0-24 skid last night with a double off of Dan Haren and was mired in a brutal 1-30 stretch entering this at bat.

After looking at strike one from Qualls, the captain said "what fucking slump?" as he dropped a single into right field that scored Lowell with what wound up being the game winning run, provided Papelbon could brush off a couple of recent blown saves and nail down the win in the ninth.

Eric Byrnes (1-4) made things interesting when he worked Paps for a 9-pitch at bat that resulted in a base on balls with one out, but the steely closer buckled down and got Stephen Drew to strike out and Orlando Hudson to ground out to end the game, and Boston had a much needed come from behind victory to stay one game ahead of the Rays in the East.

The crisis may have been averted tonight but the Sox are still an extra inning home run and a couple of clutch two out hits away from an 0-5 record on this home stand, and if they don't start getting it together soon those effing Rays will overtake them for first place.

And that would be a HUGE blast to the package.

NOTES:
-Yoooouuuuk!: Kevin Youkilis, still recovering from the shiner he received courtesy of an errant warm up toss from Lowell last night, came on in the 9th inning as a defensive replacement for Brandon Moss and fielded the last out of the game, ironically a semi-low throw from Lowell

-Rem Dog honored: it was Jerry Remy day at the ballpark as the club honored the likable Sox second baseman turned analyst turned president of Red Sox Nation with a lengthy pregame ceremony. The cool thing was Extra Innings decided to carry the event live as a bonus for subscribers. The bad news was between the pregame rain and my shitty reception, I barely got to see any of it

-Speaking of rain: for the third straight game the start was delayed by showers, this time for 36 minutes. The two previous contests saw 32 and 50 minute interruptions

RECORD: 48-32
AL EAST: Up 1 gm
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Wed vs. ARI 7:05 ESPN2 Johnson vs. Wakefield

Game Preview: D-Backs @ Sox GM2

2008-06-24T17:28:00.002-05:00

Davis (2-3, 3.65) vs. Masterson (4-1, 3.00)
Game 2 of 3 7:05 @ Fenway Park

Boston will look to get back on the winning track at Fenway Park when rookie Justin Masterson puts his undefeated home record on the line against inspirational Arizona lefty Doug Davis.

Like Sox starter Jon Lester, Davis has come back from battling cancer to continue his career in the major leagues. Diagnosed with a thyroid condition earlier this year, the 32-year-old veteran spent six weeks on the DL receiving treatments before returning to action in late May.

In his first four starts since his return he was up and down, allowing one and three earned runs in a couple of starts and then five and six earned in the other two.

Since then he has been lights out in his last two starts, allowing just 9 hits and 1 run with 15 strikeouts in 13 innings of work, yet he doesn't have a win to show for it.

But the fact that he has come back from the Big C and continued to be a productive member of a pennant contending team is a big enough win in itself.

Masterson, meanwhile, will try to continue to prove that he belongs on the big club for the foreseeable future when he makes his seventh start of the season tonight.

After dropping his first decision in Cincinnati a week and a half ago the 23-year-old bounced back with a solid showing in Philadelphia last Wednesday to earn the first road victory of his career.

In four starts at Fenway Masterson in 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA and a .169 BAA, and the kid has yet to allow more than four earned runs in any start this season.

Just the fact that he's made everyone forget about Clay Buchholz, who only threw a no hitter last September, is an accomplishment worth noting.

If the Sox are to break this mini-schneid at home, losing 3 of the last 4 games, it will need to get its offense going. In the four games since returning home the Sox have scored just 13 runs, and only a walk-off homer by Kevin Youkilis separates them from sitting at 0-4 on this home stand.

Speaking of Youk, according to the Globe he is scratched tonight following his run in with an errant Mike Lowell toss during between inning warmups last night that resulted in a nasty shiner below his right eye. He will visit a specialist and then it will be decided when he will return to action.

With or without Youk's hot bat, Boston needs to score some runs off Davis and get this game in the win column. The Diamondbacks had been in a horrible slump, are terrible on the road, having just been swept in Minnesota, and have fewer impact players than the no-name Cardinals.

No excuses, boys. Bring this one home tonight.

Sox lose Youk and another game at Fenway

2008-06-23T22:32:00.003-05:00

D-Backs 2, Sox 1
WP: Haren (8-4)
LP: Beckett (7-5)
SV: Lyon (16)
HRs: None

SUMMARY:
Boston lost for the third time in four games when Dan Haren out dueled Josh Beckett in a well-pitched nail biter at Fenway.

More costly than the game, though, was the injury suffered by Kevin Youkilis who caught a between innings bad hop below the eye, forcing him to leave the game and leaving the Sox shorthanded on the bench with Sean Casey serving his Raysbrawl suspension.

#1 STUNNER: Haren 7IP, 2H, 0ER, 1BB, 5K, 98P
The man who had never won at Fenway tossed an absolute gem at the old ballyard tonight by limiting the potent Sox lineup to a pair of hits and a base on balls.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Beckett 8IP, 5H, 2ER, 2BB, 8K, 115P
I know he pitched a whale of a game himself, but when the game was winding down and the sphincters were tightening up, Becks folded like a TV tray in a 33-pitch seventh inning when Arizona scored both its runs.

The Josh Beckett of 2007 would not have allowed that to happen.

RECAP:
The Boston Red Sox are kings of their castle no more.

After losing just seven out of its first 35 games at home, suddenly the Sox have dropped three of four in the perhaps too friendly confines of Fenway.

Making matters worse is who they've lost to - an overachieving bunch of scrappy nobodies from St. Louie, and now to a slumping Diamondbacks squad that had dropped 9 of its last 12 games away from the desert and owned a 19-29 mark against teams outside of the squishy soft NL West.

Adding injury to insult was the loss of Sunday's extra innings hero Kevin Youkilis, who caught a bad hop from a Mike Lowell throw while warming up before the fifth inning and had to leave the game when a large black and blue bulge appeared under his right eye socket.

The injury didn't appear to be serious and normally it wouldn't have affected the Sox all that much had Sean Casey been able to come in and back Youk up.

But Casey was unavailable as he began serving his Raysbrawl suspension today (figures), and the incident did end up coming back to cost the team later on when Brandon Moss misplayed a routine grounder into what ended up being the game-winning run.

Guess we can blame it on the Rays. (cue Reggae Paps and Manny D)

For six innings, though, this game was all about the starting pitchers. Haren and Beckett were sporting near-identical records and ERAs coming in to this one, and both were being counted on to pick up the slack from slumping star starters, Brandon Webb and Daisuke Matsuka.

And after a 30+ minute rain delay at the start of the game, both hurlers did just that.

Beckett allowed a two out double in the first inning to Orlando Hudson, another two bagger to Justin Upton with one out in the third, and an infield single to Chris Young with one down in the sixth and that was it for Arizona base runners in the first six innings.

Becks had all his pitches working as he flummoxed the helpless 'Backs batters with a variety of splitters, vertigo-inducing curve balls and filthy heaters; poor Chad Tracy struck out three times on the night against Beckett, all looking.

But as good as Beckett was Haren was a bit better. The only base runners he allowed early on were on a lead off double by Varitek in the third, which broke an 0-24 skid for the captain, and a walk to Jacoby Ellsbury two outs later. That's it.

Sure he wasn't blowing guys away or leaving looking perplexed at the plate like Beckett, but he was getting the job done by doing whatever it took to stop the best lineup in baseball, including going parallel to the ground to snag a botched bunt by Coco Crisp immediately following Tek's double.

In any case both guys were untouchable for the first 2/3 of the game.

And then came the seventh.

It began ominously when Beckett walked his first batter of the game to lead off the inning, Conor Jackson, and progressively got worse as after Tracy struck out (again) Mark Reynolds (1-3, R, BB, 2K) blooped a single to shallow left to set up runners at first and second with one out.

That wouldn't be so bad except where Beckett was breezing earlier he was now laboring, and when Chris Young stepped to the plate with the chance to break the scoreless tie Josh had already thrown 16 pitches in the inning.

Seconds later Young (2-3, 2B, BI) crushed an 0-1 pitch off the Monster for an RBI double, and even though it was just 1-0 I got the feeling the Sox were not gonna win this one.

It was almost as if Beckett had to throw a complete game shutout to ensure a Sox victory tonight.

If that ball that nearly put a hole in the wall wasn't proof enough then the next play just about sealed the deal. With men on second and third Tito had the infield playing in to prevent the run from scoring, and it looked like the strategy would work out when Beckett got Chris Snyder to tap a 3-0 pitch to Moss, who took over at first for Youk.

Except the novice first baseman bobbled the easy grounder, and by the time he found the handle the only play was to tag the runner coming down the line as Reynolds scored to put the Backs up 2-0.

But the way Haren was pitching it might as well have been 12-0.

Boston did get to the tiring righthander in the bottom of the inning when Haren hit Manny (0-3) on a 3-2 count and allowed a single to Mike Lowell one pitch later, but he quickly retired Moss and Tek to escape the mini-jam and end his evening.

A better chance to get this one in the win column fell by the wayside when Boston loaded the bases with one out in the eighth off reliever Tony Pena, Jr.

But after J.D. Drew's sac fly got the Sox on the board, Reynolds make a spectacular snag on a laser beam line drive by Manny down the third base line that would have surely tied the game or gave the Sox the lead but instead ended the inning, and that was that.

After David Aardsma worked his way into and out of a bases loaded jam of his own in the ninth, ex-Sox reliever Brandon Lyon needed just five pitches to dispatch his former team in the bottom of the inning to put a bow on this hard-fought, well-played but ultimately frustrating game for Boston.

If the Sox don't take the next two games it could be time to push the panic button in Beantown. And with trade rumors already swirling regarding this team every game from here until the trade deadline will be like a three hour version of American League Idol.

RECORD: 47-32
AL EAST: Up 1 gm
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Tue vs. ARI 7:05 Davis vs. Masterson

Interleague Series Preview: Diamondbacks @ Sox

2008-06-23T12:58:00.004-05:00

Arizona Diamondbacks (39-37)

AL West: Up 3.5 gms
Streak: L3
Last 10: 4-6

Offensive Stats (NL Rank):
AVG.: .248 (13th)
OBP: .324 (10)
RUNS: 350 (7)
HRs: 81 (6)
Pitching Stats (NL rank):
ERA: 3.96 (5th)
BAA: 248 (3)
RUNS: 339 (11)
SVs: 17 (6)

3 Game Series at Fenway Park
Game 1 Monday 7:05 ESPN
Haren (7-4, 3.26) vs. Beckett (7-4, 3.87)
Game 2 Tuesday 7:05
Davis (2-3, 3.65) vs. Masterson (4-1, 3.00)
Game 3 Wednesday 7:05 ESPN2
Johnson (4-5, 5.09) vs. Wakefield (4-5, 4.17)

KEY D-BACKS:
-1B Connor Jackson .310, 7HR, 40BI, .400OBP and 3B Mark Reynolds .252, 16HR, 47BI, .496 SLG% Wanna know why the 'Backs are such a mediocre offensive team? These two nobodies are leading the club in average, homers, RBI and OBP, that's why.

- CF Chris Young .233, 47R, 13HR, 39BI the former phenom is having a hard time adjusting to big league pitching, but he is still exciting to watch, especially in the field

-SS Stephen Drew .268, 10HR, 27BI, 40R, 15 2B the much-hyped high draft pick has got a LONG way to go to match the offensive prowess of his elder sibling, J.D.. His and Young's slow development have hindered the progress of this young team.

PREVIEW:
Remember when Arizona started the season like a house on fire, jumping out to an incredible 20-8 record and looking like they were going to wrap up the NL West by mid-May?

Me either.

Since then the team is 19-28 and has lost 20 of its last 31 games, and although it has maintained a decent lead in the West it's only because the other clubs in that division (Dodgers, Giants, Pads & Rocks) are some of the worst/most disappointing in the league.

The thing that has kept the team above the fray has been its pitching. Perennial Cy Young candidate Brandon Webb (11-4, 3.40) jumped out to a 9-0 start before a recent slump brought him back to earth, and Dan Haren has been a welcome addition since being acquired in a trade in the off season with the Oakland A's.

Throw in a solid bullpen, anchored by closer Brandon Lyon (15 svs, 2.43 ERA) and what you have is a team that probably had been playing over its head early but has a strong, young nucleus and enough pitching to make it to the postseason.

Tonight the over/under achieving Diamondbacks come to Fenway for the second time since interleague play began and the first time since 2002, and with Boston almost unbeatable at home (save for this last weekend) and Arizona 15-22 away from the desert, a series win is there for the taking for the Sox.

Especially since they won't have to face Webb.

Boston comes into this series having lost two of three to the Cards this weekend and with some serious question marks regarding its pitching staff.

After spending a month on the disabled list Daisuke Matsuzaka looked lost in translation in his return to the mound on Saturday, surrendering seven earned runs in just one inning of work in a 9-3 loss to St. Louis. His ineffectiveness, combined with his inability to consistently throw strikes all season, has got the Nation and presumably Sox management in a quandary as to what is really wrong with him.

As for the other starters Bartolo Colon is on the DL, Curt Schilling is done for the year, and Tim Wakefield has been as hard to get a handle on as one of his patented flutterballs.

The situation in the pen is worse than the rotation.

Hideki Okajima is a shell of his former self, and with every big hit/home run he allows you can sense his frustration and depression with the situation mounting.

Mike Timlin is on the DL with a bum knee, which considering his plus-7.00 ERA and season-long ineffectiveness is a blessing (not) in disguise, and you never know how guys like Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez and now even Jonathan Papelbon (2 blown saves in a week) are going to perform at any given time.

The only consistent pen man has been David Aardsma, who has allowed just 2 earned runs in his last 11 appearances while lowering his ERA from 3.27 to 2.60, and the chrome-domed fireballer struck out the only six Cards batters he faced in two games over the weekend.

Despite all the injuries and inconsistencies Boston still owns the second-best record in the Major Leagues and the best record in the AL thanks to an awesome offense that is 4th in the bigs in runs scored, 2nd in on base and slugging percentage and 3rd in batting average.

What all this means is that the Sox better jump on the D-Backs' pitchers because there's no guarantee the Boston staff will be able to shut down even the anemic Arizona offense.

Without Web the toughest test will come tonight when Haren faces the Sox for the first time since his days with the A's. Fortunately he's never had success against them at Fenway, posting an 0-3 record with a 4.60 ERA in three career starts there.

Boston will be counting on Josh Beckett to step up and produce like he did last season, and with wins in three of his last four decisions and by lowering his ERA from 4.67 to 3.87 in that time, the hard-throwing right hander looks ready to do just that.

With the Rays still breathing down Boston's back for the lead in the East and the streaking Stankees suddenly looming in the background, a series win is a must and a sweep would be even better.

Just as long as they don't drop two of three again or get swept, in which case there would be many fans lighting up the message boards calling for drastic changes to be made to this championship-caliber club.

Deja Youk: Homer wins it in extra innings after Paps blows save

2008-06-22T19:12:00.007-05:00

Sox 5, Cards 3 (13)
WP: Lopez (2-0)
LP: Parisi (0-3)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Youk, 2 (13); STL:None

SUMMARY:
For the second weekend in a row Jonathan Papelbon blew a save with two outs in the 9th against a National League club, and for the second straight Sunday Kevin Youkilis bailed out his dance-impaired teammate with an extra inning homer. This one came with one on in the bottom of the 13th and helped Boston avoid the sweep and remain in first place.

#1 STUNNER: Youk 2-5, 2R, BB, 3BI, 2HR
His second multi-homer game of the season ended with the first walk-off shot of his career, and it's safe to say Paps owes him an expensive steak dinner for the latest save he provided for his closer.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Rick Ankiel 0-6, 2K
Not only did the ex-pitcher, ex-juicer have a lousy day at the plate, but in the 8th inning the Cards' centerfielder fell after over-running a ball hit by Coco Crisp that wound up as a leadoff triple and allowed the Sox to tie the game.

RECAP:
Wow. This game had more going on than a CGI-laden summer blockbuster.

It was a pitcher's duel as both starters, Joel Pineiro and Jon Lester, threw seven solid innings of two-run ball.

It was a pitcher's nightmare, evidenced by Paps' blown save and Mike Parisi's blown game. Also, Hideki Okajima allowed 5 base runners in 1 2/3 innings and Chris Perez walked three straight batters to force in the go-ahead run in the seventh.

It's was a hitter's heaven, with the two team's combining for 29 hits. Seven players had at least two hits, two guys racked up three knocks, Dustin Pedroia ripped four hits and Aaron Miles tallied five base hits on the day.

It was a hitter's hell, as Ankiel went 0-6, Troy Glaus 0-4, and Jason Varitek and red-hot J.D. Drew both suffered through 0-5 afternoons.

It had highs & lows, "ahhhhs" and groans, and a couple of plays that made you sit and scratch your head.

Did I mention it was delayed by rain for nearly an hour at the start and there were 13 pitchers used today?

Let's just hope there's not a sequel in the near future.

The craziest part about the game was that it started out as an ordinary pitcher's duel, with both St. Louis starter/ex-Sox hurler Pineiro (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 0BB, 1K, 1HR, 81P) and Sox lefty Lester escaping numerous jams early to keep the game scoreless for five innings.

With 29 combined hits and just 8 runs scored, you gotta figure there were a lot of men left on base, which there were, but there were also four double plays, a caught stealing and a runner gunned out at the plate that combined to keep the score down and the pitch count up (362 total) in this game.

In fact in the first four innings the teams hit into three double plays and two fielder's choices which killed a few potential rallies, but the Cards finally broke the seal when they scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back doubles and an RBI single by Ryan Ludwick (1-6, BI).

Lester (7IP, 9H, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, 101P) worked his way out of that situation without any further damage, and Boston sliced the lead in half in the next inning when Youk hit a solo shot over the Monster with two outs in the seventh.

And this is when things started to get wild.

Boston finally got Pineiro, who was signed by the Sox prior to last season and was at one point going be the closer for the club, out of the game when Ankiel misplayed Coco's routine flyball into a leadoff triple to start the eighth.

On came reliever Chris Perez, and soon the St. Louis lead would disappear in a sea of bad pitches.

Julio Lugo worked the count to 3-1 before driving a ball to right to score Coco easily, and thanks to Ankiel's blunder the game was tied at two.

After getting Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out for the second out of the inning, Perez allowed a single to Pedroia (4-5, 2 2Bs, R), and after the Little Big Man stole second, the St. Louis righty walked Drew, Manny and Mike Lowell to force in Pedroia with the go ahead run, 3-2.

Perez did strike out Youk with the bases loaded to end the inning, but needing just three outs and with Paps on the mound it appeared as if the game was over.

Ah, not so fast Faithful.

Last Saturday Papelbon entered the game in Cincinnati with Boston leading the Reds 4-3 when Edwin Encarnacion took the closer deep with two outs and two strikes to send the game into extra innings, where Youk and Coco hit back-to-back jacks in the 10th to win the gaame.

Couldn't happen twice in the span of 8 days, right?

Well, it didn't happen exactly like that, but when Papelbon walked Chris Duncan with two outs it did bring up similar feelings of "not again". After all, it was just paps' fifth bases on balls he had issued this season.

Sure enough pinch hitter Adam Kennedy (3-3, BI) drilled a fat fastball into deep center, and this time it was Coco's turn to misplay the ball as he got a bad jump on it, came in first then went back as the ball helplessly bounced off the base of the wall and Duncan came around to score the tying run.

And the park was shrouded in silence.

Paps (1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, 19P) bounced back to get Skip Schumaker to ground out to end the inning, but the damaage was done and it was time for the emotional closer to take out his frustrations on his mitt in the dugout.

After the Sox went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th, the next three innings went simialr to the first three - plenty of baserunners, but nobody scoring.

Hideki Okajima took over for Paps in the top of the 10th, and Oki did his best Timlin impersonation when he gave up a single and a walk sandwiched around an out before retiting the last two batters to escape the jam.

Boston, meanwhile, got a leadoff double from Ellsbury in the bottom of the 10th, got him to third on a sac bunt by Pedroia, but left him stranded when Drew struck out and pinch hitter Sean Casey flew out.

Oki (1.2IP, 4H, BB, K, 28P) was no better in the 11th as he allowed singles to Yadier Molina, Kennedy and Aaron Miles (5-6) before Craig Hansen came in and struck out Ludwick to squelch the rally.

The frustrations continued in the bottom of the inning when Lowell (3-5, R, BI, BB) led off with a two bagger and Youk and Coco walked, but Jason Isringhausen struck out Alex Cora and ellsy to squelch that threat.

Is this thing ever gonna fucking end?!

Hansen tossed a 1-2-3 12th before Boston got yet another leadoff double in the bottom of the inning, but Pedroia was nailed at third on a bouncer back to the mound and then casey hit into a double play to sq....ah screw it.

The game finally wrapped up in spectacular fashion in the 13th inning, which was an unlucky frame for St. Louis but proved to be very lucky for Boston.

After Javier Lopez releived Hansen with one out to face Duncan the slumping Cards' first baseman drove a double into deep center, and one pitch later Kennedy lined a single to right that looked like it would plate the go-ahead run.

But as Drew ran in and scooped up the ball, Duncan barrelled around third, and instead of trying to slide under Tek's tag Duncan tried to plow him over. Bad move.

Tek hung on to the ball and applied the tag and a disgruntled Duncan was out at the plate, and two pitches later Schumaker flied out to set up Youk's heroics.

Lowell led off the frame with a single to left and five pitches later Youk unloaded on a Mike Parisi fastball and drilled it over the Monster for a long-awaited walk-off homer, and finally this 5 1/2+ hour (with delay) marathon was over.

So the Sox avoided what would have been the first Fenway sweep since 2006 and enlatged its lead in the east with the Rays loss to the Astros.

Next up is a series with the slumping Diamondbacks, and its safe to say the Sox could use a herculean effort from Josh Beckett so the rest of the staff can get some rest after this wild and wooly affair.

RECORD: 47-31
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Mon vs. ARI 705 Haren vs. Beckett

Matsuzaka gets blitzed as Sox lose 2nd straight at Fenway

2008-06-21T17:53:00.003-05:00

Cardinals 9, Sox 3
WP: Boggs (2-0)
LP: Matsuzaka (8-1)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Drew (14); STL: Glaus (10), Miles (1), Ankiel (12)

SUMMARY:
Daisuke Matsuzaka made his first start since going on the DL almost a month ago, and he looked as rusty as an old swing set; he allowed 9 baserunners in one+ inning of work, and rookie reliever Chris Smith did him no favors by giving up a grand slam to the second batter he faced after coming in with no outs in the second inning.

The loss was the Sox 2nd straight at Fenway, only the second time this year they've lost two in a row at home.

#1 STUNNER: Troy Glaus 2-4, 2R, 4BI, BB, GS
The surly, burly third baseman has been hot in June, and his seventh homer of the month was a doozy as his second inning granny off Smith blew the game open and turned the last eight innings into yard work time.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Matsuzaka 1IP, 6H, 7ER, 3BB, 1K, HR, 48P
We all knew the guy would need some time to round back into form, especially with just one rehab start under his belt. But this outing could be considered a major step backward for the previously unbeaten starter. He. Had. Nothing.

RECAP:
Well that didn't go too well now, did it?

On a picturesque day at Fenway in front of a national TV audience, with its full compliment of players in the lineup and its winningest starter on the mound, it appeared as if a Sox victory was all but certain.

And then the game started, and it quickly became apparent that not only would Boston probably not win this game, but it might lose it in humiliating fashion.

Less than an hour into the game the Sox trailed 8-0, and any hopes of winning this series and Matsuzaka earning his 9th victory of the season were gone in a barrage of Red Bird base hits and bases on balls.

The Cards opened up an industrial strength-sized can of whup ass on Dice-K and the Sox this afternoon, and by the time the second inning was over the team was in worse shape than before Matsuzaka came back from his shoulder injury.

Suddenly the once solid staff is in a spot of trouble, because in the last few days Bartolo Colon and Mike Timlin have gone on the DL, Curt Schilling has all but called it a career, Hideki Okajima has developed a case of Steve Blass disease, and now it appears Daisuke's problems may be more than what a quick trip to the DL can cure.

Is it too late to trade for Santana?

It was obvious right from the beginning that Matsuzaka was either not fully recovered from his sore shoulder or just real, real, rusty. He walked the first batter of the game, the immortal Skip Schumaker, on five pitches that weren't really close to the strike zone, then surrendered a two-run homer to Aaron Miles for a lightning-quick 2-0 St. Louis lead.

Following last night's theme of the Cardinals scrubs doing the damage it was the light-hitting Miles' first homer since last September.

Unfortunately before he was out of the inning Dice K would let every one get in on the act as he followed the longball by allowing a single to Ryan Ludwick, a one out single to Troy Glaus, and after a ground ball moved the runners into scoring position, a two-run single by Jason LaRue (2-5, 2BI) pushed the lead to 4-0 before the Faithful had downed their first $9.00 beer.

Boston looked like it might jump right back in it when Jacoby Ellsbury dropped a leadoff double down the left field line, but rookie Mitchell Boggs, making his third career start in his fourth career appearance, got Pedroia, Drew and Manny to fly out to left, center and right, and before we knew it Matsuzaka was back on the mound.

But not for long.

Second verse, same as the first. Only worse.

Schumaker walked, again, for the second time in two innings, and then Miles (2-5, 2R, 2BI) dumped a single to center and Ludwick walked and the Cards had the bases loaded with no outs and it was all the fans could do to keep from booing Matsuzaka off the field.

Luckily for him this is the kinder, gentler, more forgiving post-titles Fenway crowd.

Mercifully Francona made the trip to the mound to pull his piss-poor starter, and on came rookie Chris Smith, who had been up and down from Pawtucket three times this year without ever getting into a game.

So he gets to come into a bases loaded, not outs jam with Ankiel and Glaus due up.

Welcome to the bigs, kid.

Things looked promising at first when the 27-year-old righty got Ankiel to strike out on three straight knee-bending breakers, but when he tried a similar tact with Glaus the strapping third baseman caught up to a hanging curve and swiftly deposited it into the seats above the Monster, and at 8-0 this one was all over save for the stat-padding.

Alas Boston couldn't even do that, managing a mere six base hits on the afternoon, and although they did scratch out a couple of runs in the bottom of the second off Boggs (5.1IP, 5H, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, 1HR) on a two-run double by Alex Cora, the only other run the Sox could muster on the afternoon was a solo shot by Drew, aka Juno, to lead off the sixth to slice the deficit to five, 8-3.

Ankiel got that run right back when he took Javier Lopez deep to begin the seventh, and about the only good sign for the Sox on the day was David Aardsma pitching his second consecutive 1-2-3, 3K inning in two days in the eighth.

So we got that going for us.

Thanks to Dice-Ks destruction and another win by the motherlovin' Rays, the Sox lead in the East has been reduced back to a minuscule 1/2 game.

Now Jon Lester will be faced with the task of preventing a humiliating home sweep when he takes the mound tomorrow afternoon, and he doesn't have to pitch another no-no.

Just keep the score under 8-zip after two, please.

RECORD: 46-31
AL EAST: Up 1/2 gm
STREAK: L2
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Sun vs. STL 1:35 Pineiro vs. Lester

Game Preview: Cards @ Sox GM2

2008-06-21T12:50:00.002-05:00

Boggs (1-0, 5.56) vs. Matsuzaka (8-0, 2.53)
Game 2 of 3 3:55 FOX @ Fenway Park

The return of Daisuke Matsuzaka from the disabled list this afternoon is a blessing for Boston's beleaguered rotation, stung by the loss this week of Bartolo Colon and the news that Curt Schilling will not be joining it at all this season, but it is also a bonus for the bullpen as well.

To make room for Dice-K the team placed reliever Mike Timlin on the DL for, of all things, a bad knee. You guys sure it has nothing to do with his noodle arm?

Either way it's another day and another set of moves for the constantly flowing Red Sox roster, which has had more changes to its makeup this season than the cast of "Dancing with the Stars."

When we last saw Dice K on the mound he was pitching in Seattle at the end of May. After pitching four innings and allowing two runs, Matsuzaka grabbed his side while warming up before the fifth inning began and was immediately removed from the game.

Turns out he injured his shoulder reaching for a throw while covering the first base bag earlier in the game, and after nearly a month on the DL and one rehab start, the Japanese righthander stated he is ready to pitch at the big league level again.

That remains to be seen about his tired armed teammate Timlin.

When Matsuzaka went down he was leading the league in wins and was second in ERA. One month later he's still tied for the third most wins in the majors and can jump right back into the ERA leaders with a solid performance today.

You can bet Tito & John Farrell will have a close eye on their stud starter, and should his pitch count get high or he appear to be struggling at all he will probably be on a short leash.

The fact that he's facing rookie righty Mitchell Boggs can only benefit Matsuzaka and the Sox. A veteran of 2 major league starts, the 24-year-old Boggs has pitched fairly well since being being called up on June 7th, but his inexperience combined with pitching in Fenway for the first time against one of the top offensive clubs in baseball should play into Boston's favor.

The Sox hope to rebound from last night's messy loss, in which the hurlers surrendered three homers to three obscure Cards and Julio Lugo was the key offensive contributor but also committed a pair of errors in what was a lackluster performance for the team coming off a solid 4-2 road trip.

So it's no excuses today. The top starter is back. The starting lineup (minus Papi) is intact. And a greenhorn is on the mound to face the World Champs in a national TV game in the ballpark where Boston has lost only 8 games all season.

Let's not eff this one up, fellas.

Miscues and longballs cost Sox against Cards

2008-06-20T22:40:00.003-05:00

Cardinals 5, Sox 4
WP: Lohse (9-2)
LP: Wakefield (4-5)
SV: Franklin (10)
HRs: BOS-Lugo (1); STL: Molina (4), LaRue (2), Schumaker (5)

SUMMARY:
A couple of costly miscues in the 6th inning by Julio Lugo broke a 1-1 tie, and a late home run allowed by Hideki Okajima ended up being the game-winning run as Boston dropped its 8th game at Fenway this season.

#1 STUNNER: Kyle Lohse 6IP, 6H, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 4K, HR, 109P
The St. Louis starter wasn't overpowering but he got the bigs outs when he needed them, including fanning Manny Ramirez with the bases loaded in the 5th, en route to winning his 6th consectuive decision.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Okajima 1IP, 3H, 1ER, 0BB, 2K, HR, 19P
The woes continue for the team's once most reliable set up man as even bringing him in with a deficit couldn't prevent Oki from blowing this game.

RECAP:
Before this series started if you said St Louis would beat the Sox and Tim Wakefield by bashing three home runs in the opening game, nobody would've thought twice about it.

After all Wake has a tendency to give up the long ball, and the Cards have mashers like Pujols, Glaus, Ankiel, and Ryan Ludwick who are capable of hitting the ball out of the park at any time.

But to lose a game when stiffs like Yadier Molina, Jason LaRue and someone named Skip Schumaker go deep off not only Wake but the artist formerly known as Hideki Okajima, well that's a bitter pill to swallow.

To make matters worse clueless Julio Lugo committed two more costly errors, both coming on back-to-back routine plays in the 6th inning with the game tied at one, and even though he atoned for his flubs with a game-tying home run in the bottom of the inning, the Boston pitchers couldn't prevent those unsung Cards hitters from going yard.

The Sox actually had a lead in this one when Lugo (1-2, R, 2BI, BB) hit a sac fly to score Ramirez with the bases loaded in the second inning, but Boston's inability to capitalize on three sacks full situations in the game would come back to haunt them big time.

In fact the Sox had the bases loaded in the second, two on in the third, bases loaded in the fifth and again in the seventh and only managed to score two runs out of all those opportunities; they stranded 11 men total in the game.

Staked to the 1-0 lead Wake (7IP, 7H, 4R, 3ER, 3BB, 4K, 2HR, 111P) made it hold up for a few innings, working out of a bases loaded situation himself in the fourth when he got Molina and Adam Kennedy out after allowing a single and a pair of walks with one out.

But in the fifth the Cards tied the game when LaRue, a backup catcher batting just above the Mendoza line, blasted an 0-1 offering from Wake over the Monster to lead off the inning for his second homer of the year, and after Boston blew the bases loaded sitch in the bottom of the inning St Louis would take the lead in the top of the sixth.

Rick Ankiel (2-5, R) started the inning with a shot off the base of the Wall in left center that went for a double, and on the next pitch Lugo botched Glaus' routine grounder when he threw the ball wide of Youk at first, allowing Ankiel to take third.

A few pitches later Wake got Chris Duncan to tap into a surefire 3-6-3 (or 1) double play, but Lugo's relay from Youk back to first sailed past a covering Wakefield as Ankiel scooted home with the Cards' second run of the night.

It was Lugo's 16th error of the season, the most in the majors for any position, three fewer than he had all of last year and just 9 away from his career high of 25, set with Tampa Bay in 2005.

I'd say right now that number is easily within reach.

As I said he did make up for his butchery (somewhat) when he drove a Lohse pitch high and deep over the Monster for his first home run of the year to tie the game at two in the bottom of the sixth, but unfortunately the glory was short-lived as Wake served up a gopherball to the immortal Skip Schumaker with one on in the seventh to give the Cards the lead for good.

The Sox really had a chance to tale control of the game and earn a come-from-behind win when they loaded the bases with no outs off ineffective reliever Randy Flores in the bottom of the inning on a single by Ellsbury and walks to Pedroia and J.D. Drew (1-3, 2BB), but the ancient Russ Springer got Manny to tap into a double play that scored Ellsy but stopped the game-changing rally right in its tracks.

Still down just 4-3 with two at bats left and Lohse out of the game, a comeback was a definite possibility.

And then awful Oki entered the game, allowed a home run to Yadier Molina with one out in the eighth to tack on the all-important insurance run, and all hope was basically lost.

Compounding the pain was the fact that David Aardsma came in and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, registering three strikeouts of the Cards' most potent hitters - Ludwick, Ankiel and Glaus.

Ouch.

Turns out that run was even more painful than it seemed at the time because Boston did mount one last comeback attempt in the ninth off closer Ryan Franklin when Pedroia hit a one-out double, Manny drew a two out walk and Mike Lowell drove in Dustin with a seeing-eye single up the middle to slice the deficit to 5-4.

Then Franklin, who's subbing for injured closer Jason Isringhausen, got Youk to fly out to right to end the game, and the Sox suffered a rare home loss made all the more frustrating by the way in which they lost.

Game 2 should be interesting as Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his first start since May 27th and puts his undefeated record on the line in a nationally televised game on FOX.

As long as he steers clear of the deadly trio of Yadier, Skip and LaRue, he should be okay.

RECORD: 46-30
AL EAST: Up 1.5 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Sat vs. STL 3:55 FOX Boggs vs. Matsuzaka

Interleague Series Preview: Cardinals @ Sox

2008-06-20T14:53:00.004-05:00

St. Louis Cardinals (42-32)

NL Central: 3.5 GB
Streak: L3
Last 10: 5-5

Batting Stats (NL Rank)
AVG.: .269 (3rd)
OBP: .348 (3)
RUNS: 338 (7)
HRs: 70 (10)
Pitching Stats (NL Rank)
ERA: 4.06 (6)
BAA: .216 (10)
RUNS: 319 (12)
SVs: 23 (t2)

3 Game Series at Fenway Park
Game 1 Friday 7:05
Lohse (8-2, 3.77) vs. Wakefield (4-4, 4.19)
Game 2 Saturday 3:55 FOX
Boggs (1-0, 5.56) vs. Matsuzaka (8-0, 2.53)
Game 3 Sunday 1:35
Pineiro (2-3, 4.02) vs. Lester (6-3, 3.18)

*KEY CARDS (*not including Pujols, who's on the DL):
-RF Ryan Ludwick .305, 16HR, 55BI, 45R, 21 2Bs, .374OBP, .632SLG% the most surprising player on the most surprising team of the season so far, the 29-year-old rightfielder has climbed from an being an undrafted free agent/career minor leaguer to one of the best players in baseball this season.

-3B Troy Glaus .260, 9HR, 43BI, .362OBP, 40BB the big third baseman was brought over from Toronto in a swap of disgruntled players, but so far he isn't making anyone forget about the man he replaced, Scott Rolen. He has heated up a bit in June, hitting 6 of his 9 homers this month, and the 2002 World series MVP with Anaheim is plenty familiar with Fenway Park, where he's batting .313 with 8 homers in his career

-CF Rick Ankiel .251, 11HR, 31BI, 36R, .332OBP the former phenom pitcher turned HGH-using outfielder has slumped quite a bit since being busted as a PED user but he can still put the ball out of the yard, and NO ONE dares run on him after he gunned two men out at third base in one game earlier this season. Batting just .238 away from home and .218 vs. lefties

PREVIEW:
The St. Louis Cardinals return to Fenway tonight for the first time since Game 2 of the 2004 World Series on the same day Curt Schilling announced he will undergo season-ending, and most likely career-ending, surgery.

Ironic, or appropriate?

In case you have been living under a rock for the last four years Schill, while sporting the infamous bloody sock, won that game on October 24th, pitching six innings of one run ball on one good ankle as the Sox won the game, 6-2.

That win gave Boston a 2-0 advantage in the Series, and two games later the Sox won their first championship since 1918, fulfilling a promise Schilling had made to the Boston fans when he signed with the club in the previous off season.

Today the Cards return to the scene of Schill's historic moment, as the town bids adieu to one of its brightest stars and honors the Boston Celtics, which won its first title since 1986 two nights ago at the (new) Garden.

Talk about coming full circle.

But this series isn't about the past, it's about the present and presently the Cards are one of the biggest surprises of the 2008 season. Picked to finish last in the NL Central by many "experts", St. Louis has been better than that all season long, even leading the division for a while before the Cubs heated up and some Cards broke down.

Right now the team is sputtering a bit, losing 5 of its last 7 games, in part because all-everything first baseman Albert Pujols is residing on the DL with a calf injury. But at 10 games over .500 and in the thick of the division and wild card race, the season has already been considered a success in the eyes of Cards fans everywhere.

A series that was not a success for them was that 2004 World Series, as the Sox swept the over matched Birds by a combined score of 24-12, and although the Cards did ultimately win their first title since 1982 when they topped the Tigers in the 2006 Fall Classic, Boston has since gone on to capture another trophy by sweeping the Rockies in 2007.

Alright, enough of the history lesson.

This series will be interesting on a few fronts, mainly for the return of Daisuke Matsukaka from the disabled list on Saturday; J.D. Drew trying to wreak havoc on the club he played his first 6 seasons with; and former Sox swingman and onetime possible closer Joel Pineiro's return to Fenway for the first time since he was let go early last year.

Tonight Tim Wakefield will take his recent hot streak (6 ER, 14H, 2HR in last 21IP) and put it to the test against the Cardinals ace, Kyle Lohse.

The veteran righty has won his last five decisions and has allowed three earned runs or less in his last six starts, so getting to him will be priority one for the Boston batters.

The good news for Boston is that Manny Ramirez (hammy), Coco Crisp (wrist) and Kevin Youkilis (back) should all be back in the lineup for Terry Francona tonight.

The bad news is it's not 2004, and there will be no miraculous 'bloody sock' performances to count on this weekend.

But how 'bout they sweep these guys anyway, just for old time's sake?

Sox Drawer: Schilling done for the season, career may be over, too

2008-06-20T11:16:00.003-05:00

His shoulder unresponsive to rehab, Curt Schilling will go under the knife for what could be a career-ending surgery

We all knew this was a possibility at some point. Schill was sporadically healthy the last few seasons, he's 41 years old with a lot of mileage (3000+ innings) on his right arm and shoulder, and this last setback was severe enough that the entire organization had differing opinions on the treatment for it, but all agreed that it could mark the beginning of the end.

Today, on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan Show, Schill admitted it most definitely is the end of his season and quite possibly of his Hall of Fame career.

With the rehab not having the results he and the team had hoped for, Schill admitted it " got to the point where we had to make a decision." When asked "does this end your season?", Schill responded with a soft but definitive "yeah, yeah it does."

The team brass had originally though rehab was all that would be needed to get Schill back on the mound this year, but after a recent setback this weekend, Curt and several doctors, including the one who will perform the surgery, Dr. Craig Morgan, and the team all agreed to go ahead and have the procedure done.

In what sure sounds like a career-ending operation, Morgan will perform a procedure that involves relocating his biceps muscle (ouch!) and "some other stuff", which presumably doesn't include attaching a bionic limb.

Assuming that doesn't happen, it looks like for all intents and purposes the career of one of the greatest big game pitchers ever to play the game is officially over.

So now the retrospectives can roll in. Schilling has been beloved in Boston and Arizona, where he and Randy Johnson helped bring a championship to the desert, but vilified most everywhere else, mainly for his outspoken opinions and willingness to put his foot directly in his mouth, athlete etiquette be damned.

But there's no denying his impact on the game. He leaves (if he is done pitching) after pitching for 20 seasons with 216 victories, 3,116 strikeouts, 3,261 innings pitched and a lifetime ERA of 3.46.

Throw in an all-time best 11-2 playoff record, two World series Championships, one World Series (co) MVP award and one historic bloody sock, and what you have is simply one of the greatest, gutsiest, clutchest (?) pitchers in baseball history.

Forget about all the other bullshit. Sure he was outspoken, said some things he probably shouldn't have (and he regrets) and had a tendency to rub many people the wrong way.

Bottom line he was a one of a kind, a supremely talented athlete who wasn't prone to speaking in cliches and soundbites, who believed in living life the way he wanted, whether it involved making brash statements or writing a blog that opened him up to even more criticism.

Love him or hate him Schill was a blessing to watch and listen to. He didn't care what people thought, he spoke his mind and he gave it his all every time he was on the mound.

And if the last time he ever pitched in the major leagues was last October 25th in Game 2 of the World Series in Colorado, so be it.

He won that game, by the way, and what a fitting way for a future Hall of Famer to go out.

As a winner on the biggest stage the game knows.

Good luck, Curt, and thanks for everything.

Sox win again thanks to Drew's big bat

2008-06-18T15:28:00.004-05:00

Sox 7, Phillies 4
WP: Masterson (4-1)
LP: Kendrick (6-3)
SV: Papelbon (21)
HRs: BOS-Drew (13), Lowell (11); PHI-None

SUMMARY:
J.D. Drew's sweltering June juggernaut continued today at Citizens Bank Park as the sweet-swinging right fielder had four hits and four RBI, including his 9th home run of the month, and Justin Masterson picked up the win despite pitching just five innings, the shortest stint of his career.

#1 STUNNER: Drew 4-5, 2R, 4BI, 2B, HR
He's looking every bit worthy of that $70 million dollar deal now.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Chase Utley 0-4, 5 LOB
The major league's leading home run hitter is mired in an 0-20 slump (0-13 in this series), dropping his average from .317 to .294.

RECAP:
As the injuries keep piling up so do the wins for Boston, which won its third straight road series to pull within four games of .500 (18-22) away from Fenway.

Coco Crisp left after his first at bat today with a hand injury, temporarily joining fellow hobbled/disabled teammates David Ortiz, Bartolo Colon, Kevin Youkilis, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Manny Ramirez in the trainer's room as the team limps back to Boston to begin a home stand with the Cardinals on Friday.

But even with all the ailments, both nagging and serious, this team just keeps plugging away, taking 2 of 3 from the second best team in the National League after dropping the first game in ugly fashion.

Ironically the common thread throughout all this instability is the man who has been crucified for being as breakable as a fluorescent bulb, David Jonathan Drew.

Since the beginning of June Drew is batting .441 (26-59) with 9 homers, 7 doubles, 22 runs scored and 21 RBI. With Ortiz missing the entire month while recovering from a wrist injury, and Ramirez playing sporadically lately due to a tender hammy, Drew has literally carried the load offensively as the Sox have gone 12-5 and won all six series this month.

Today he inflicted pain on the fans of a city he spurned coming out of college, and each time they booed him he just stood in the box stoically and drove another dagger into their Philthy hearts.

The onslaught began in the very first inning as Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia both singled to right to start the game off Kyle Kendrick (3IP, 6R, 6H, 2BB, 4K, 2HR, 75P) and Drew drove a 1-0 pitch for a majestic three-run blast to deep right center field to give Boston a 3-0 lead before an out was recorded.

Mike Lowell (1-3, 2R, BI, BB) made it 4-0 when he followed with a solo shot, the ninth time Boston has gone back-to-back this year and the fifth time in the last three weeks, and the fans were shell shocked before they even had a chance to line up their batteries.

Masterson (5Ip, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 1K, 92P) gave one right back in the bottom of the inning when he walked Shane Victorino with one out, who then moved to second on a groundout by Utley and scored on a seeing eye single by Ryan Howard (1-4, BI) to cut the lead to 4-1, but for the next few innings it looked like blowout city for Boston.

The Sox plated two more in the third when Brandon Moss, who pinch hit for Coco after he left the game, singled to center to drive in Drew and Lowell, who had doubled and been hit bu a pitch, respectively, and Boston could've blown the game open whe a walk to Julio Lugo loaded the bases with two outs, but Kendrick got Masterson to strike out to end it.

Maybe Baby Steinbrenner was right.

The 6-1 lead soon became 7-1 when Drew (as Mark Jackson would say, mama there goes that man again) singled in Pedroia (3-4, 2R), who had hit a one out double, in the 4th, and from then on with the way Masterson was pitching the rest of the game was rendered garbage time.

Or was it?

Justin left with a 7-2 lead after five innings and nearly 100 pitches, and soon after the shaky Sox pen nearly let the game get away.

Craig Hansen was the main culprit this time, allowing a pair of runs in the seventh inning on an infield single (which could have been another error on Lugo), a walk, a wild pitch and a 2-RBI single by Pedro Feliz, but Manny Delcarmen came in and after giving up a walk to Jimmy Rollins squelched the rally by retiring the dynamic trio of Victorino, Utley and Howard to keep the margin at 7-4.

A 1-23 8th by Delcarmen led to an appearance by Papelbon in the 9th, and after the miscue in Cincy you could bet your ass Paps wasn't gonna let this one get away.

Sure enough he only needed 11 pitches to record three straight outs to end it, and Boston had a hard-fought series win sparked by a former National Leaguer who had dissed the very team the Sox had just trounced.

Now Boston heads home to play the Cards at Fenway on Friday.

Hey, isn't that the team that Drew chose over Philly?

Get your whoopin' stick out J.D.!

RECORD: 46-29
AL EAST: Up 2 gms
STREAK: W2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Thu-Off; Fri vs. STL @ Fenway Lohse vs. Wakefield

Game Preview: Sox @ Philly GM3

2008-06-18T11:36:00.002-05:00

Masterson (3-1, 2.90) vs. Kendrick (6-2, 4.54)
Game 3 of 3 1:05 @ Citizens Bank Park

In my exuberance over the Celtics winning title #17 last night I failed to touch on a significant piece of injury news that rippled through the nation yesterday:

Bartolo Colon was placed on the DL due to a back injury he incurred swinging the bat against Cole Hammels the other night.

The irony here is that the Sportscenter goons were cracking on Colon's less-than-glorious swings against the hard-throwing Phillies southpaw. Little did we know one of those ugly hacks would render Colon unable to perform, although anyone watching could've guessed something wasn't right.

I mean when was the last time you saw someone corkscrew their batting helmet off trying to hit a breaking ball?

The Sox recalled righthander Chris Smith to take Colon's place on the roster, and the good news is that Daisuke Matsuzaka should be able to start Saturday against the Cards at Fenway after completing his rehab Monday night at Pawtucket.

So the injury merry-go-round continues for Boston, but as usual the team will keep plugging away and hope to win its third straight road series with a victory this afternoon in the rubber match with the Phils.

Justin Masterson will make his second straight road start against young Phillies righty Kyle Kendrick in what could be a battle of future staff aces.

After winning his first three decisions Masterson took his first major league loss last Friday in Cincy despite notching a career high 9 strikeouts and only letting up three runs in 6 2/3 innings against the Reds.

Kendrick, meanwhile, has been a pleasant surprise for Philadelphia, winning five games in a row since late April and proving to be a capable backup to aces like Hammles, Moyer and the disappointing Brett The Animal Myers.

If Boston is going to take this series Masterson will have to do what teammate Jon Lester did last night - shut down the powerful trio of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and pat Burrell. Those three boppers went 0-12 with 8 Ks last night, and if you have any hopes of defeating this team you've gotta keep this potent Philly offense in check.

As long as Mike Timlin doesn't enter the game we should be alright.

Or Oki.

Just pitch another Masterpiece, Justin, and then we won't have to worry about the pen men.

Sox strike back as Coco, Lester spark win in Philly

2008-06-17T23:52:00.004-05:00

Sox 3, Phillies 0
WP: Lester (6-3)
LP: Moyer (7-4)
SV: Papelbon (20)
HRs: BOS-Crisp (5)

SUMMARY:
Coco Crisp hit a two run homer off Jamie Moyer in the second inning, Jon Lester made it stand up with seven solid innings of shutout ball and Boston can win the series in the rubber game tomorrow afternoon.

#1 STUNNER: Lester 7IP, 6H, 0ER, 1BB, 5K, 99P
The kid out pitched the vet for his third straight win and the for the 9th time in 16 starts the lefty allowed 2 earned runs or less.

THE BIGGEST LOSER(s): Utley, Howard, Burrell 0-12, 8K
The Phillies' big three took a big dump tonight, none more so than Howard who followed up his two homer, one triple, four RBI game with an 0-4, 4-strikeout Golden Sombrero gag job.

Talk about all or nothing.

RECAP:
The Sox won behind Coco's two-run homer, Lester pitched seven strong innings and Boston can take the series tomorrow afternoon.

That's all I got because the Celtics just wrapped up World Championship #17, and I'm knee deep in Korbel and Heineken and basking in the first title for the Green Machine since my senior year in high school!

So I'm checking out for tonight and will report back in before the businessman's special tomorrow afternoon.

Good night and
CONGRATS CELTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RECORD: 45-29
AL EAST: Up 2 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Wed @ PHI 1:05 Masterson vs. Kendrick

Phillies give Sox a taste of own medicine

2008-06-16T20:52:00.002-05:00

Phillies 8, Sox 2
WP: Hammels (7-4)
LP: Colon (4-2)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Pedroia (6), Drew (12); PHI-Howard, 2 (19), Rollins (6)

SUMMARY:
Coming off a series in which Boston hit six homers and scored 16 runs the Phillies turned the tables on them tonight, slamming a double, two triples and three home runs among their 12 hits in routing Bartolo Colon and the Sox.

#1 STUNNER(s): Ryan Howard & Jimmy Rollins 6-10, 4R, 7BI, 3B, 3HR
Philly's leadoff hitter and super slugger tag-teamed the Sox right from the get-go as Rollins hit a homer to lead off the game, Ryan followed with a two-run blast minutes later and both of them did damage later in the game as well.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Mike Timlin 2/3IP, 4H, 4ER, 2BB, 0K, 22P
Why Tito brought Tired Arm into a game that was still winnable (4-2) in the 6th inning when David Aardsma was ready and willing to enter the game is a question the Nation will ponder for days to come.

This latest awful outing pushed the ancient reliever's ERA over 7.00. Please, for the love of God, either make him retire or DFA this fossil NOW.

RECAP:
I, like most of RSN, had a bad feeling about this series, and this opening game in particular, before it even started.

It didn't take long for Philly to prove us cynics right.

The Red Sox got chewed up and spit out by the offensive juggernaut that is the first place Philadelphia Phillies tonight at Citizens Bank Park, and they wasted little time in flexing the muscle that has allowed them to score 20 runs not once but twice this season.

Philly scored three runs before they had two outs on a pair of first inning homers, and things got so bad for Boston that 260-lb Ryan Howard and cement-footed Pat Burrell both legged out triples before the night was through.

How good is this offense?

Put it this way - their second baseman, Chase Utley, is leading the majors in homers and is second in the NL in RBI and he went 0-5 tonight (with an RBI) and they still scored 8 runs.

That's how good they are.

Tonight's starting pitcher, Cole Hammels, went 1-3 with a single to raise his average to .316 (12-38).

That's how good they are.

With his four ribbies this evening Howard tied teammate Utley for the NL RBI lead with 62, despite the fact that he's only hitting .225.

That's how...well you get the point.

It was apparent right from the start that Colon did not have the same kind of stuff he had in his four previous starts this season when his first pitch to Rollins missed outside badly, and when he put the next one over the plate the reigning NL MVP crushed a fastball off the facade of the upper deck in right for a quick 1-0 Philly lead.

Two pitches later Shane Victorino (2-4, 2B, BB, R) roped a double to deep right center and after Colon got Utley to strike out, Howard hit a 1-0 offering from Bart just over the wall and into the first row of seats in left to give Philly a 3-0 lead before everyone's seats were even warm.

Hammels (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K, 2HR, 110P), meanwhile, kept the Boston batters at bay, escaping jams in the first when he struck out Drew and Manny after Pedroia had doubled with one out, and in the second when he whiffed Colon after Sean Casey (2-4)doubled and Julio Lugo walked with two out.

Colon escaped a two on, two out jam of his own in the bottom of the second when he got Utley to pop out to Casey at first, but he got burned by Howard again in the third when the beefy first baseman hit a 2-1 pitch to the opposite field again, this time making it as far as the third row of bleachers for his second longball of the game and 19th of the season.

He now trails teammate Utley by just three for the league lead in that department.

That's how good...alright, enough of that.

Trailing 4-zip Boston finally cracked the Hammels puzzle when Pedroia (3-4, R, BI, 2B, HR) and Drew hit back-to-back jacks with one out in the fifth, Drew's eighth of the month and sixth in the last nine games and Pedroia's second in two days, and with the lead sliced in half at 4-2 it looked like the Sox could possibly mount a comeback if they could get Hammels out of the game.

Instead it was Colon who exited the game after tossing a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, reportedly due to a back issue, and that's when things got away from the comeback kings.

After Javier Lopez worked around a two out triple to Burrell (2-2, 2BB) to notch a scoreless fifth, Tito inexplicably brought in Timlin to pitch the sixth with the game up for grabs and Aardsma ready in the pen.

Talk about a move that came back to bite someone in the nads.

Timlin went out and tossed his BP fastball to the salivating Philly hitters, and they hammered him like soldiers home on shore leave. Here's a transcript of the destruction of a comeback chance:

-Pedro Feliz walks on 4 pitches
-Carlos Ruiz (who!?) singles to left on 2-1 count
-Hammels sacrifices both runners over
-Rollins hits 2-RBI single to right center, 6-2 Philly
-Victorino singles, Rollins to third
-Utley grounds into fielder's choice, Rollins scores, 7-2 Philly
(here's where Tito might have wanted to remove Tired Arm, preferably with deadly force, if necessary. But no...)
-Howard triples to deep right center on first pitch, Utley scores, 8-2 Philly, game over, Timlin's career officially over as well.

Okay I made that last part up, but one can dream, right?

Things got so bad for Boston that Francona brought in fellow frazzled reliever Hideki Okajima to pitch the 8th inning of an 8-2 ballgame, hoping he'll work out his kinks in a laugher instead of a save situation.

Good news is he pitched a clean inning and even struck out Howard to cap it off.

Bad news is our top setup man and one of the best in the league last year is pitching meaningless innings in blowouts to get his confidence back because lately he has sucked worse than Speed Racer.

Tomorrow night Boston will get a chance to put this ugly loss behind them and even the series at one with Jon Lester on the mound.

Sure the kid will be opposed by 237 game winner Jamie Moyer.

But he's only batting .167.

RECORD: 44-29
AL EAST: Up 2 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Tue vs. PHI 7:05 Lester vs. Moyer

Interleague Series Preview: Sox @ Phillies

2008-06-16T16:04:00.003-05:00

Philadelphia Phillies (41-30)
NL East: Up 3 gms
Streak: L2
Last 10: 6-4

Offensive Stats (league):
AVG: .264 (4th)
RS: 381 (2)
HRS: 100 (2)
Pitching Stats (league)
ERA: 3.82 (4th)
RA: 291(14)
SVs: 20(4)

3 Game Series @ Citizens Bank Ballpark
Game 1 Monday 7:05 ESPN
Colon (4-1, 3.41) vs. Hammels (6-4, 3.27)
Game 2 Tuesday 7:05
Lester (5-3, 3.43) vs. Moyer (7-3, 4.12)
Game 3 Wednesday 1:05
Masterson (3-1, 2.90) vs. Kendrick(6-2, 4.54)

KEY PHILS:

-2B Chase Utley .309, 22HR, 61BI, .401OBP, 55R, .636SLG% not only is the spunky second sacker leading the Phills in every offensive category but he is leading the majors in homers and is second in the NL in RBI. On a team with Ryan Howard. Crazy.

-1B Ryan Howard .217, 17HR, 58BI, 47R, 95K, .319OBP, .464SLG% the average is pitiful but the power numbers are still there for the big first baseman; many think the huge arbitration sum ($10 mil) he was awarded in the offseason has affected his play on the field. Still, he can kill you with the longball at any time and he has 15 RBI in his last 10 games

-LF Pat Burrell .283, 18HR, 47RBI, 56BB, .425OBP, .602SLG% Pat the Bat has been rumored to be traded every year this decade, yet he keeps shrugging off the rumors and criticism and produces; batting .350 (10-35) in his last 10 games with 4 homers and 7 RBI

PREVIEW:
One interleague road series down, one more to go.

But this time instead of facing one of the weaker teams in the National League Boston will take on fellow division leader the Philadelphia Phillies, which possesses a potent offense and solid pitching much like the Sox.

So potent an offense that they scored 20 runs the other night against the St. Louis Cardinals, the most in the majors this season, and it was the second time they had scored 20 this season.

With weapons like ML home run leader Utley, power threat Ryan Howard and versatile Pat Burrell, this team is tough to outscore, and when you add a pitching staff that's one of the top in the league, what you have is the makings of a tough road series before Boston heads home to play the Cards this weekend.

Bailey lives up to his name as Sox hammer Reds

2008-06-15T19:30:00.003-05:00

Sox 9, Reds 0
WP: Beckett (7-4)
LP: Bailey (0-3)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Drew (11), Crisp (4), Ellsbury (4), Pedroia (5); CIN-None

SUMMARY:
After two tight games in this series Boston batters teed off on the ragged Reds pitching staff today, blasting four home runs including three off appropriately-named starter Homer Bailey, as the Sox took the series two games to one.

#1 STUNNER: Jacoby Ellsbury 3-5, 2R, HR, RBI, 2SB
The electric Sox outfielder sparked the offense today when he led off the game with a single, stole second and third base, and came around to score on a sac fly. He also contributed a home run to lead off the 3rd, and his two steals gave him the Red Sox all-time rookie record of 33.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Bailey 2.1IP, 4H, 5ER, 3BB, 0K, 3HR
The only thing worse than a pitcher with the name of 'Walk' is a hurler with a moniker as unfortunate as 'Homer', especially when he lives up, err down, to his handle.

RECAP:
No Manny?

No Papi?

No biggie.

Despite the absence of the team's top two sluggers Boston still managed to club four home runs, three by the most unlikely trio of Coco Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, and inflict an 11-hit, 9-run beatdown on the Reds in the finale of the first Sox series in Cincy since 1975.

And the beneficiary of all the unexpected offensive largess was Josh Beckett, who pitched just well enough (7IP, 6H, 2BB, 6K, 98P) to earn his second win in his last three starts and seventh of the season, helping Boston win its 16th road game as they start to distance themselves from the bottom of the pack in road losses.

But the story in this one wasn't the pitching but the source of Boston's unlikely offense.

It's one thing to have guys step up when your big guns go down. That's what heavy-hitting vets like Mike Lowell, Jason Varitek and J.D. Drew are paid and expected to do.

It's another story entirely when smallish "sluggers" like Coco (2-5, R, 4BI) and Pedroia and fleet-footed rookies like Ellsy power your offense to its most one-sided victory in a season already full of 'em.

What it says is that top to bottom this team is capable of beating any other even when it isn't at full strength, and when guys like Justin Masterson, Bartolo Colon, Coco Crisp and Little Big Man step up and fill a void and lead the Sox to victory, it bodes well for a club hell-bent on going deep in the playoffs this year.

Not that we'd rather go with these guys than Manny, Papi, Dice-K and Schill, but it's like having a comfy security blanket knowing they're there if we need 'em.

I already mentioned above how Boston scored its first run, on those fleet feet of Ellsbury as he stole two bases in the first inning to surpass a team rookie record that had stood since 1908. His 33 steals are 33 off the AL rookie mark, held by Kenny Lofton, but he's got a LONG way to go if he hopes to break the ML mark of 110, set by Vince Coleman in 1985.

Beckett escaped a jam in the second when he struck out Adam Dunn looking with runners on 1st and 2nd, courtesy fo a walk and Julio Lugo's league-leading 13th error, and Boston began its homer barrage in the top of the second when Crisp smacked a 3-2 pitch from Bailey over the wall in right with Tek aboard for a 3-0 lead.

And with that shot, Coco's second in two days, the seal was officially broken.

After Becektt worked out of another 1st & 2nd situation by striking out the pitcher Bailey (gotta love the NL) and then getting phenom Jay Bruce to pop out, Ellsy showed off his versatility and showed up his centerfield counterpart by lining a leadoff homer into the rightfield seats for Boston's fourth run of the day.

Two pitches later, following a fly out by Pedroia, Drew (1-2, 2R, BI, 2BB) knocked another Bailey meatball to nearly the same spot for his 7th homer in June and a 5-0 Boston lead.

When Bailey followed that bombing with a five pitch walk to Lowell, he was out of the game and the game was soon gonna be out of hand for Cincy.

As Becks was in the process of retiring 10 Reds in a row, Boston piled on in the 5th when Youk (1-5, R, BI) hit an RBI single off Jeremy Affeldt to score Drew, who had walked, to make the score 6-0, and Coco followed that with a 2-RBI single off Dan Majewski for an 8-0 lead to make the game an official laugher.

By the time Pedroia (1-4, R, 2BI) took Majewski deep for Boston's fourth homer and ninth run of the game in the 6th the sold out stadium was basically empty as every Reds fan had already headed out to celebrate Father's Day in a more enjoyable fashion.

About the only ones left, aside from the Cincy diehards, were Sox fans and Youk's family, and the last three innings resembled an intimate gathering at the local muni field.

When Mike Timlin retired the side in order in the 9th the game was mercifully over, and Boston had its second straight road series win under its belt as it headed to its next destination, fabulous Philly.

So the Sox say goodbye to the Queen City again.

At least the memories were a lot better this time around.

NOTES:
-Manny's hammy: Ramirez sat out his second straight game with that tender hammy. He played only 7 of a possible 21 innings in the series, including a pinch hit appearance in the 10th inning yesterday

-Drew's back: after going 0-4 yesterday to snap an 11-game hitting streak Drew picked up where he left off by belting his seventh homer of June. He's now batting .446 (21-47) with 7 homers, 19 runs and 16 RBI in the month.

-So is Tek: after missing the last three games with a sore throat Jason Varitek returned to the starting lineup and went 0-2 with a run and two walks. he was removed in the 8th for Kevin Cash.

RECORD: 44-28
AL EAST: Up 2.5 gms
STREAK: W2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Mon @ PHI 705 ESPN Colon vs. Hammels

Youk blasts game-winning home run in return to hometown

2008-06-14T19:43:00.005-05:00

Sox 6, Reds 4 (10)
WP: Papelbon (3-2)
LP: Lincoln (0-2)
SV: Hansen (1)
HRs: BOS-Youk (11), Crisp (3); CIN-Dunn (18), Phillips (13), Encarnacion (11)

SUMMARY:
After the Boston bullpen blew yet another lead, including a rare blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis capped off a successful return to his home town when he hit a home run off Mike Lincoln in the top of the 10th to give the Sox a rare and much-needed road victory.

#1 STUNNER Youk 3-5, 1R, 2BI, 2K
Is there a better way to return home, with 150 family & friends in the stands, than to hit a game-winning extra inning home run against the team you loved growing up, and that snubbed you in the draft just a few years ago?

Thought not.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Lincoln 1.1IP, 3H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, 2HR, 29P
The Reds had all the momentum after tying the game with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but Lincoln put out that fire quicker than you can say "longball" as he surrendered back-to-back homers to Youk and Coco in the top of the 10th.

RECAP:
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUKKKKK!"

The familiar chant that is heard at both Fenway Park and stadiums all over the Nation every time the good-natured, high-strung Sox first baseman comes to bat or makes a great defensive play was never heard in such full throat as it was this afternoon in his return to the city he grew up in.

In a storybook game that could have been penned by George Will Kevin Youkilis came back to the Queen City in grand style this afternoon, clubbing three hits and a pair of RBI with 100+ family members and friends sitting in the stands cheering for him, each hit bigger than the one that came before it.

The scene was made all the more amazing by the fact that he had struck out in his first two at bats of the day against hard-throwing Reds righty Edinson Volquez, perhaps because he was pressing, or perhaps because Volquez is good enough to do that to anyone.

But the stubborn, chrome-domed slugger, who has toned down his post-at bat antics since a dugout scuffle with teammate Manny Ramirez a week ago, fought through the butterflies and stayed patient, and he was rewarded with an experience he will never forget for the rest of his life.

And neither will the Reds.

To give you an idea of how big Youk is in Cincy, where he grew up, went to the University of Cincinnati and owns almost all the major offensive records at the school, when my son and I went to see the Big East college baseball championship a couple of weeks ago, players on the UC team were imitating his unique batting stance while goofing around in the on-deck circle before the game.

Simply put the "Greek God of Walks" is a god a UC and universally beloved in a city that has probably produced more home-grown major league talet than any other metropolis in the country outside of New York.

So for him to do what he did today, in a game that was an awesome, back-and-forth exciting affair right til the very end, was like living out a boyhood fantasy that any kid who's ever dreamed of being a major leaguer has ever had.

But the way things had gone just minutes before his dramatic homer it didn't look like the Sox were going to have anything to celebrate today.

Not after another bullpen implosion that saw three men waste a hard-fought 4-2 lead and a spectacular effort from Tim Wakefield that nearly sent the Sox to their 22nd road loss of the year.

Boston jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead against stud starter Volquez (7IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 9K, 101P) when Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a single, went to second on a wild pitch by Volquez, stole third after one pitch to Dustin Pedroia and trotted home when cather Paul Bako threw the ball into right field trying to gun Ellsbury out.

But Cincy tied it right up when Dunn launched his second homer in two days and 18th of the season off Wakefield in the bottom of the 2nd inning, a blow that was lessened when Brandon Phillips got greedy after stealing second and was gunned down trying to take third when the ball got away from the Boston infield.

The mistakes continued as Boston took the lead in the fourth when J.D. Drew (2-5, 2R, 2B, 3B) tripled over Dunn's head in left field and then waltzed home on another wild pitch by Volquez.

Now the score was 2-1 Boston, although both starting pitchers were pitching brilliantly.

Wakefield (7IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, 2HR, 89P) continued to stymie the Cincy hitters, retiring 10 out of the next 16 Reds batters while Boston added to its lead on an RBI single by Youk, driving in Pedroia who had led off the sixth with an infield single.

Staked to a 3-1 lead Wake's bugaboo - the longball - came back to bit him again when he surrendered an upper-deck shot to Phillips (2-5, R, BI) to lead off the 7th to cut the Sox lead to 3-2.

But Boston quickly recaptured its 2-run lead off reliever David Weathers when Drew led off the 8th with a double, again to the opposite field, and Mike Lowell followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 4-2.

Unfortunately a botched play by third base coach DeMarlo Hale cost the Sox a chance at breaking the game open and preventing the late-inning heroics.

After Lowell's single Youk drove a pitch from Weathers over Jay Bruce's head to deep right center, but instead of settling for runners at second and third and no outs Hale sent Lowell home all the way from first where he was easily thrown out.

Still, a 4-2 lead with just six outs to go seemed pretty solid.

Except Oki shit the bed again.

Things started out bad when Bako hit the first pitch from Oki for a leadoff single, and when Bruce walked on four pitches one out later Tito quickly went to the pen and removed the struggling Japanese lefthander.

But instead of calling on Paps for the five out save, he brought in Manny Delcarmen, who immediately gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Javier Valentin to cut the lead to 4-3.

The only thing that saved Boston from losing the game right there was Ken Griffey Jr (0-4, BB, 2K) swinging at a 3-0 pitch and grounding into an inning-ending double play, yet another in a long line of botched and boneheaded plays in this game.

No worries, though, as all paps had to do was get three outs and this one was in the bag.

Papelbon (1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, 1HR) got Phillips and Dunn to each ground out to second to nearly wrap things up, but then he got sloppy with Edwin Encarnacion and the third baseman ripped a 2-2 offering into the left field stands for a game-tying, shock-inducing home run, and suddenly what looked like an exhilarating victory was resembled a devastating defeat.

And the came Youk.

After Lowell struck out to lead off the 10th, Youkilis pounced on a 2-2 fastball from Lincoln and deposited it into the right field seats for the game winner, and as his teammates and cheering section celebrated Coco cracked the next pitch to almost the exact same spot for a big insurance run, and at 6-4 Sox this one was all but wrapped up.

Sorta.

Craig Hansen relieved Paps and quickly retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 10th before Jolbert Cabrera singled to center and Junior walked, but Hansen got Phillips to fly out to Drew on the warning track for the final out, and the fans piled onto Pete Rose Way knowing they got their money's worth.

And they were all chanting Yooooooouuuuuukkkk!

RECORD: 43-28
AL EAST: Up 1.5 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sun @ CIN 1:35 Beckett vs. Bailey

Road woes continue as Masterson loses first game

2008-06-13T20:48:00.003-05:00

Reds 3, Sox 1
WP: Harang (3-9)
LP: Masterson (3-1)
SV: Cordero (13)
HRs: BOS-None; CIN-Dunn (17), Bruce (4)

RECAP:
Aaron Harang turned in his best performance of the season and Cincy used the solid pitching and a pair of longballs to send Boston to its 21st road loss, third worst in the majors, in its first trip to Cincinnati since the 1975 World Series.

SUPERSTAR: Harang 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 0BB, 7K, 118P
Leave it to the Sox to bring out the best in a guy who hadn't won in a month and who had allowed 16 earned runs in his last three starts. Tonight Harang was an ace again, tossing five 1-2-3 innings and befuddling the Boston batters all night.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: J.D. Drew 0-4, 3K
The league's hottest hitter bottomed-out big time tonight, flying out once and striking out three times, once with the tying run on base in the 9th inning, to snap his hitting streak at 11 games.

Talk about coming down hard.

RECAP:
Thankfully, with the contest taking place in an NL park with NL rules, this game was quick and concise.

So this recap will be, too.

The road weary-ers continued their apocalyptic run away from Fenway, dropping another contest outside of the friendly confines, this time to a team that was 4-28 this season when scoring three runs or fewer coming into this game.

So much for that stat.

Boston played like a team that had forgot how to win, how to hit, or how to play baseball with passion in a game that had all the energy of a Yanni concert.

Coming off an exciting 9-game homestand in which the Sox averaged almost 6 runs per game and leading the AL in most offensive categories, all the blistering Boston bats could muster was one run on a double and four singles against a mediocre Reds team.

Shit the American League leaders in on base percentage and walks didn't even manage a base on balls in this one.

The worse part is Cincy only mustered four base hits, struck out 11 times, and STILL won the game.

Oy!

The loss certainly can't be blamed on starter Justin Masterson, although he was the unfortunate beneficiary of the sudden power outage. He picked up his first major league loss in his first road start despite his excellent effort (6.2IP, 4H, 3ER, 3BB, 9K, 2HR, 98P.)

The 24-year-old held the potent Cincy lineup in check for the most part and absolutely confounded rookie shortstop Paul Janish, who fanned three times against him, but Masterson was burned by a quartet of hard hit balls that ended up spoiling his night.

The Reds wasted no time jumping on the kid right away when fellow phenom, center- fielder Jay Bruce, slammed a 1-2 pitch over the rightfield wall leading off the bottom of the first to give Cincy a quick 1-0 lead.

But after Harang had retired the first nine batters, Boston answered back in the fourth when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double and two outs later Manny Ramirez (1-3, BI) sliced a single to deep right to drive in Ellsy and tie the game at one.

Who knew at the time that would be it as far as scoring for the Beantown boys?

Cincy, meanwhile, countered quickly, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning on a laser home run by Adam Dunn (1-2, R, BI, BB) that took about two seconds to get out and was only about eight feet off the ground, and the next on back-to-back doubles by Edwin Encarnacion and rookie sensation Joey Votto.

So it was 3-1 and all the scoring was done.

The worst part of it was Boston couldn't even come close to mounting a rally until it was almost too late, and when they did their best RBI guy was out of the lineup and sitting on the bench in crunch time.

The only hit the Sox got off Harang after the fourth was a single by fomer Cincy hero Sean Casey, who received a huge ovation in his first game back in the Queen City since leaving as a free agent three years ago.

Ironically it was Casey's 1500th career hit, so it was nice to see the Mayor reach a milestone in a place that means so much to him.

The next Boston hit came when Dustin Pedroia led off the 9th inning with a sharp single to right off closer Francisco Cordero, and with Drew and Manny's spot due up it looked like a game-saving rally could be underway.

But Drew struck out for the third time on the night and Manny was removed from the game after batting in the seventh inning due to his bad hammy, so instead Coco Crsip got the chance to tie the game.

Two outs later the game was over and Boston had its 21st road loss, and now it faces the daunting prospect of countering hard-throwing young ace Edinson Volquez with soft-tossing old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on national television tomorrow.

Didn't I tell you this would be quick and concise?

NOTES:
-Sick Tek: the strep throat that struck Jason Varitek two nights ago kept him out of the lineup again tonight. He was replaced by Kevin cash, who will of course catch Wake tomorrow, giving Tek and extra day of rest

RECORD: 42-28
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sat @ CIN 3:55 FOX Wakefield vs. Volquez

Interleague Series Preview: Sox @ Cincy

2008-06-13T12:56:00.006-05:00

Cincinnati Reds (32-36)

NL Central: 11 1/2 GB
Streak: W1
Last 10: 4-6

NL Batting Stats (rank)
AVG: .251 (13)
RS: 307 (t7)
HRs: 76 (t4)
NL Pitching Stats (rank)
ERA: 4.49 (t12)
RA: 336 (3rd most)
SVs: 12 (13)

3 game series at Great American Ballpark
Game 1 Friday 7:10
Masterson (3-0, 2.59) vs. Harang (2-9, 4.31)
Game 2 Saturday 3:55 FOX
Wakefield (4-4, 4.33) vs. Volquez (9-2, 1.56)
Game 3 Sunday 1:35 TBS
Beckett (6-4, 4.22) vs. Bailey (0-2, 6.30)

KEY REDS:

-RF Ken Griffey Jr .256, 7HR, 30BI, 31R, 40BB, .365OBP he might not be the same "kid" who wowed baseball fans every time he came to the plate or took the field in his heyday, but after becoming just the sixth man to hit 600 home runs last week, the older Jr proved he's still got it

-LF Adam Dunn .229, 16HR, 41BI, 56BB, 66K, .397OBP the country-strong rightfielder has long been rumored to be traded to a contender such as Boston, and if the man they call Donkey has a big series it could be considered an audition for a deadline deal. Despite his hit-or-miss propensity and paltry average Dunn leads the league in walks and the team in OBP, and when he does get a hold of one it's a sight to see

-CF Jay Bruce .391, 3HR, 11BI, 14R, .480OBP, 17GP the phenom was brought up to the big club on May 27th and has been on a tear ever since. He hit 3 doubles and 3 home runs in his first seven games, including a walk off shot in the 10th inning against the Braves in his fifth career game, and should be a star in the league for years to come

-Edinson Volquez 9-2, 1.56ERA, 1.17WHIP, 96Ks, 3HR, .184BAA in 81IP he was the key piece in the trade that sent Josh Hamilton to the Rangers and the young righthander hasn't disappointed. The 24-year-old leads the league in ERA and strikeouts and is second in wins and is a true Cy Young contender on a lousy team

PREVIEW:
After playing the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners for the better part of the season Boston gets to mix it up and head across league lines to take on the Cincinnati Reds in its first trip to the Queen City since the 1975 World Series.

The older members of the Nation will recall that memorable Fall Classic as one of the best of all time, featuring Fisk's historic homer, Dewey's spectacular catch and throw, and Pete Rose being named MVP in what at the time was a devastating 7 game loss for the locals.

But that was 1975 B.C. - before the championships - so the memories are all good now.

This series, the first between the clubs since 2005 when the Sox swept the Reds in three games at Fenway, should be interesting for many reasons.

1.) The Sox have yet to prove they can win on the road
Sure winning three straight in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago helped inch their road record towards respectability, but still a 14-20 mark away from Fenway for a team that supposed to be one of the best in baseball is not acceptable for the fans or the team; they need a sweep here to restore road credibility.

2.) Phenoms, phenoms everywhere
The Sox stud young starter Justin Masterson will try to keep his perfect record intact in the series opener tonight, while Cincy's Cy Young candidate, the electric Edinson Volquez, will put his 9-2 mark and league leading 96 strikeouts on the line against the best team in the American League tomorrow.

When you add in Jay Bruce and Jacoby Ellsbury, two of the brightest young centerfielders in the game and Reds rookie 1B Joey Votto, who has 11 homers 36 RBI, and what you've got is the makings of a Futures All Star team.

3.) History for and between the teams
These are two of the oldest and proudest franchises in baseball history, both located in terrific metropolitan areas with great fan bases and participated in one of the greatest World Series' in history.

Throw in a spectacular new ballpark that will be jam packed with a sea of Red and the fact that Terry Francona played for the Reds, former Boston folk hero Bronson Arroyo now pitches for the Reds, and the former (Sean Casey) and current (Youk) mayors of Cincy now play for Boston, and what you've got is a lot of MLB and cross-team history on the field this weekend.

The job of starting the series off on a good note falls on the strapping live arm of Masterson.

Making his first start away from Fenway, and obviously his first against an NL club, Justin will need to stay focused and use all of his pitches to remain ahead of the slugging but patient Reds hitters.

The rookie will be opposed by the veteran Aaron Harang. The staff ace of the last few years hasn't pitched all that poorly this season, but like Jeremy Guthrie last night has been victimized by terrible run support.

In his 15 starts this tear Cincy has scored 2 runs or less 8 times for the beefy righty and the offense is averaging a minuscule 2.90 RPG for him, good for 107th in the league for NL starters. Yikes.

So if Masterson continues to do what he has been doing, which is holding opponents to about 1 run per game, and JD Drew and Manny Ramirez continue to hit the cover off the ball, all signs point to a win in the opener and a great way to start off the weekend in Great American Ballpark.

Wonder how many times we'll hear the infamous phrase " and there's a long drive...if it stays, fair...HOME RUN!"

Boston's longball barrage buries B-more

2008-06-12T19:55:00.004-05:00

Sox 9, Orioles 2
WP: Lester (5-3)
LP: Guthrie (3-7)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Lowell (10), Drew (10), Youk (10); BAL-None

*Note: sorry I was late posting this but after I started it I watched the Celtics game, and after witnessing one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the NBA playoffs I was in no condition to blog about baseball! GO CELTS!

SUMMARY:
A trio of 10th home runs sent the Orioles out of Beantown on a sour note as Boston used a pair of two-run shots, from Youk and J.D. Drew, a grand slam by Mike Lowell and a solid start by Jon Lester to defeat the O's and take 2 of 3 in the series.

#1 STUNNER: Drew 2-4, 2R, 2BI, BB, 2B, HR
The torrid streak continues as Drew reached base three more times and smacked another two extra base hits, including his 6th homer in his last 11 games. He is now batting .500 in June (18-36) and is creeping up on Milton Bradley for the league lead in on base percentage.

This is the J.D. Drew the Sox expected to see when they laid out $70 mil for him a year and a half ago.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Dennis Sarfate 1IP, 1H, 2ER, 1BB, 1K, 1HR
Starter Jeremy Guthrie didn't pitch well, but he left with a deficit of just 5-1. Chad Bradford chipped in with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief, but then Sarfate let the game get away when he surrendered Youk's two-run homer in the seventh.

RECAP:
Whadda ya know, the game started at six and was over by nine!

Plus the Sox won and there were no fisticuffs or blown saves.

Now that's what I call a sweet win.

Boston dispatched the pesky Birds with a decisive seven-run victory that gave the Sox five wins in their last seven games against Baltimore, a team they (thankfully) won't see again until after the All Star break.

Like the game yesterday the Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but this time instead of the Boston bullpen suddenly letting Baltimore creep back in the game the Boston batters kept adding to the lead to make sure there would be no Bird comeback or blown save tonight.

The Sox got on the board in the second inning against O's starter Jeremy Guthrie (4.2IP, 7H, 5ER, 5BB, K, HR, 107P) when Youk singled sharply to center with one out, moved to second on a groundout by Coco Crisp and came around to score on a single underneath the glove of first baseman Oscar Salazar for a 1-0 Sox lead.

The funny thing about that play is that normally Kevin Millar would have been over there and might have made the play, but he had to come out of the game after fouling a ball off his knee in the top of the second.

Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes the bar eats you, Kevin.

The game stayed at 1-0 for a few innings as Guthrie continued to struggle, but caught a few breaks like when Youk got tagged out at home in the fourth and Kevin Cash, playing in place of Tek who has strep throat, couldn't capitalize with two men in scoring position

Jon Lester, meanwhile, was mowing through the Baltimore lineup, showing no ill effects of having his start pushed back a day due to his Raysbrawl suspension.

Lester (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, 101P) retired 13 of the first 17 Baltimore batters
before running into his only trouble of the night in the sixth inning. But by then the Sox lead had grown to 5-0, and it was another case of deja vu that brought them to that point.

Jacoby Ellsbury (1-5, R) started the fifth inning off with a single to right, then one out later moved to third base on a double to the base of the Wall by white-hot J.D. Drew. And then O's manager Dave Trembley did something that he can't really be blamed for, but it came back to bite him in the nads anyway:

he intentionally walked Manny Ramirez to get to Mike Lowell.

Granted most managers would make the same decision in his situation, what with Manny being a member of the 500 homer club and one of the most feared right handed hitters of all time, but sometimes playing the percentages doesn't always work out.

Just ask Jimmy Gobble.

On My 22nd at Fenway the Royals reliever was also instructed to walk Manny to load the bases and pitch to Lowell, and Lowell responded by taking him over the Monster for what wound up being the game-winning grand slam in an 11-8 Boston win.

Fast forward to tonight and it was deja vu all over again as Lowell (1-4, R, 4BI) took an 0-1 offering from Guthrie and golfed it over the Monster for a back-breaking granny, and from there it was all over but the piling on.

As I said Lester did hit a rough patch when he surrendered three doubles in the sixth inning to cut the Sox lead to 5-2, but when Audrey Huff (2-4, BI) inexplicably failed to score from second on a two-out single by Ramon Hernandez that would have sliced the Boston lead to two runs, the game was all but over.

The Sox put this one away against a pair of Baltimore relievers when Youk (2-2, 2R, 2BI, 2BB) drove the first pitch he saw from Dennis Sarfate over the wall for a two run homer after Manny had walked again, and in the 8th Drew added to his incredible June numbers and put a cap on this game and series when he blasted a two-run shot off Jamie Walker for the final margin of 9-2.

So a lot of things went right for Boston and the Nation tonight. Drew continued to make people forget Papi has been out of the lineup. Youk showed signs of coming out of his month-long slump. Boston blasted three homers for the first time in a couple of weeks. Jon Lester looked great after an unexpected extra day of rest.

And the game ended in less than three hours, allowing all of us to catch a miraculous Celtics comeback to take a 3-1 Finals lead over the hated Fakers.

A good night at the old ballyard indeed.

NOTES:
-Going Streakin': Manny had his 15 game hitting streak stopped with his pair of walks, while Drew extended his to 11 games; he has now hit safely in every game since Ortiz went on the DL

-Lugo-no: the Sox shortstop committed his league-leading 13th error on a routine grounder in the 8th inning. Is he a remake of Rentanerror or what?

RECORD: 42-27
AL EAST: Up 2.5 gms
STREAK: W2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Fri @ CIN 7:10 Masterson vs. Harang

Game Preview: Orioles @ Sox GM3

2008-06-12T13:37:00.004-05:00

Guthrie (3-6, 3.40) vs. Lester (4-3, 3.50)
Game 3 of 3 6:05PM @ Fenway

The Sox will bid adieu to the Birds for a month after this evening's game at Fenway, and the way these last few games have gone it's not a moment too soon.

After trouncing the O's in the first three games of a four-gamer at Camden two weeks ago Boston lost the next two meetings before eeking out a win last night in a game that was a lot closer than it should have been.

The problem with these pesky avians is that a bunch of their hitters have been thriving on Red Sox pitching this season, as Hideki Okijim'a struggles have proven.

Here are some of the numbers for Baltimore batters vs. Boston pitchers this season:

-Luke Scott .462 (12-26), 2 2Bs, 3HRs, 7R, 6BI the 3rd year player acquired from Houston in the Miguel Tejada deal has been the ringleader of the Baltimore Birds of Boston Destruction as he has simply torched Boston pitching all season long; almost a 1/3rd of his 10 homers have come against the Sox

-Audrey Huff .424 (14-33) 3 2Bs, HR, 6R, 4BI the former DRay has had a lot of experience hitting Boston pitching, but never has the surly DH capped them at a .400 clip. His 2-run single off Oki the other night was the back breaker in the come-from-behind win

-Nick Markakis .364 (12-33), 5 2Bs no surprise here as the solid right fielder has hit Boston at a .300 clip for his young career, and though he doesn't have the power numbers against them he still manages to get on base vs. Boston. A lot.

-Adam Jones .303, 3 2Bs, 5BI although he's only hitting .252 overall the second-year center fielder has been having a field day against Boston; his 3-run double off (who else?) Oki won a game for the O's back in late May

This list of Boston bashers doesn't even include Kevin Millar, who's only batting .200 vs. his old mates but has 6 runs batted in and 5 runs scored against them, or Jay Payton, another ex-Sox who's hitting .294 and has driven in 8 runs in only 17 at bats against his old team this season.

Talk about the Boston stranglers.

The task of stopping these maniacs will fall on the shoulders of Jon Lester. Fresh off serving his (unwarranted) five game suspension for his role in the Raysbrawl, whatever his role may have been, Lester should be rested and ready to put brushbacks and beanballs behind him and concentrate on winning games again.

Since tossing his no hitter on May 19th Lester has one win, one loss and one ND on his record and though he hasn't pitched poorly he hasn't been close to unhittable, allowing 22 hits and 7 earned runs in 16 1/3 innings of work.

His mound opponent will be the unlucky righty Jeremy Guthrie. Despite being 10th in the league in ERA Guthrie has often fallen victim to a pitcher's worst nightmare - poor run support.

In half of Guthrie's 14 starts the O's hitters have scored three runs or less including his recent three-game losing streak in which they scored 0, 1 and 2 runs for him.

Since that streak he is 1-0 with one ND, which came in Baltimore's 6-3 win over Boston when Jones hit his game winning double off Oki. For the season Guthrie is 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA against the Sox, striking out a dozen batters while walking only two in 12 1/3 innings.

As long as J.D. Drew, who has a 10 game hitting streak in which he's batting .500 (16-32) with 5 homers and 13 RBI, and Manny Ramirez, who owns a 15-game streak and has homered in 4 of his last 5 games against Baltimore, keep bashing like they have been the Sox should be alright in this one.

But it's up to Lester to calm the Baltimore bats and help the Sox win the series before they head out on a six game interleague road trip beginning in Cincy tomorrow.

Not an easy task they way these guys have been hitting Boston pitching, especially with the game set to start at six o'clock again.

Sox bounce back but nearly blow win vs. O's

2008-06-11T21:07:00.002-05:00

Sox 6, Orioles 3
WP: Colon (4-1)
LP: Olson (5-2)
SV: Papelbon (19)
HRs: BOS- Tek (7), Lowell (9); BAL-Scott (10)

SUMMARY:
The Red Sox pounced on Baltimore starter Garrett Olson for five runs in the first inning and Bartolo Colon made it stand up as he bounced back from his only loss of the season. But the Boston bully made us sweat it out as the tying run came to the plate in the ninth inning before Papelbon closed it down.

#1 STUNNER: Colon 6IP, 5H, 1ER, 1BB, 7K, HR, 93P
After the debacle of his last start, in which he gave up six runs and made a pair of costly errors in an 8-0 loss, it was nice to see the big fella rebound with a solid performance like this.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Olson 5.1IP, 7H, 6ER, 3BB, 0K, 2HR, 98P
The surprise ace of the O's staff got his team off to a horrible start with that putrid first inning, and even though he settled down after that the damage was too much for his club to overcome.

RECAP:
See, I knew if the game didn't start at 6:00 the results would be better.

Boston readjusted nicely to the regular starting time by pounding O's starter Garret Olson for five runs on three hits, two walks a stolen base and an error in the first inning and they never looked back despite some nail biting moments in the 9th when Mike Timlin turned a comfy 6-1 into a shaky 6-3 margin with the tying run at the plate.

But when you have one of the best closers in the game at the ready it was almost anti climatic when Paps came on and calmly got the final out, as if he was saying "sorry, Mike, you had your chance and blew it, now let the big dog take this one home."

Notice Hideki Okajima wasn't anywhere near the field in this one.

With last night's and tomorrow's games starting an hour earlier presumably to accommodate Celtics fans the Sox took full advantage of the usual seven o' clock start after Bartolo Colon tossed a 1-2-3 top of the first.

Jacoby Ellsbury wasted no time starting things off when he singled to center on Olson's third pitch of the game, and after Dustin Pedroia popped out quicker than you can say "watch him go" Ellsy was on third base when Olson's errant pickoff throw on his steal attempt wound up in rightfield.

That miscue meant an easy RBI situation for the league's hottest hitter in June, J.D. Drew, and the rightfielder didn't disappoint as he roped a double down the rightfield line to score Ellsbury with ease for the first run of the game.

Manny Ramirez, the next hottest hitter on the team, managed to move Drew (1-3, R, BI, BB) to third with a groundout, and the extra base proved beneficial when Olson threw a wild pitch on ball four to Mike Lowell and Drew scampered home for a 2-0 lead.

Olson lost it from there as he surrendered another walk, this time to Kevin Youkilis after he had Youk 0-2, and then Captain Tek (1-4, R, 3BI) made him pay for his sloppiness when he blasted a towering shot over the Monster and out of the park for a back-breaking three-run homer that apparently landed on the windshield of a car in the parking lot across the street, according to the NESN cameras.

Staked to a 5-0 lead Colon went about his business, allowing a base hit here and there but never seeming worried or out of sorts like he was in his last start.

A single and a double were negated by a double play in the second inning, and although Sox killer (it's official now) Luke Scott (2-4, R, BI, 2B, HR) touched him for a solo shot to lead off the fourth, Colon responded by retiring six of the last eight batters he faced before exiting the game after six quality innings.

Despite the early success off Olson Boston could only muster one more run against the rookie southpaw, a solo shot by Lowell (1-2, 2R, BI, 2BB) to lead off the sixth, and so it was up to the bullpen to hold the five-run lead.

(gulp)

David Aardsma was first out of the pen and the hard-throwing righty, who's only pitched twice so far this month, fared pretty well, surrendering a two-out double to Adam Jones (1-4) before getting Freddie Bynum to strike out to end the inning.

After Boston blew a great chance to pad the lead when they loaded the bases on three walks in the bottom of the inning, it was Javier Lopez' turn to stifle the comeback-prone Oriole's bats in the eighth.

The lefty, who has allowed just one run in his last 12 appearances, allowed a one-out walk to fellow Sox killer Nick Markakis (1-3, BB), but a 6-4-3 double play by Melvin Mora quickly squelched that potential threat.

And then came the ninth.

With Okajima all but banished from pitching against Baltimore and the game not in a save situation, Francona called upon Tired Arm Timlin to get the last three outs and nail down the win.

Timlin's pitched less than Aardsma this month, ever since he allowed a hit and two walks in the 12th inning of Boston's 5-2 win on May 30th at Camden. So this was a chance at a little redemption for the old timer.

Instead he did his best Oki v. Baltimore imitation and had to leave the game with egg on his face.

The first batter of the ninth, last night's hero Audrey Huff, belted a double to deep right, and suddenly everyone watching had a sick feeling of where this one was heading.

Two pitches later Baltimore's Sox Killer #3, Kevin Millar, scraped a double off the wall to score Huff and the Sox sizable lead was sliced to 6-2 with a runner in scoring position and nobody out.

(GULP!)

Timlin did manage to retire Scott, who is now batting .455 against the Sox in '08, as Millar moved to third, and then a lineout by Ramon Hernandez seemed to get Timlin off the hook.

But Pedroia put his pitcher right back on the hook when for the second time in two games he booted an easy out in the ninth inning on a grounder by Jones, and as Millar crossed the plate the score was cow 6-3 Boston and everyone in the Nation was reaching for the antacids in anticipation of what was gonna happen next.

What happened next was recent callup Oscar Salazar, a former member of the Detoit Tigers who's spent the better part of the last six years in the Mexican league, slapped a single into left, and with the tying run coming to the plate Timlin could've walked off the mound right then, knowing it was time for the close to save the day.

It took five pitches for Paps to get Brian Roberts (0-5) to ground out weakly to Youk, and just like that another crisis was averted and Boston finally had a win against Baltimore after dropping the last two decisions to them by a combined score of 16-9.

The good news is the Rays lost this afternoon so the Sox gained a game in the standings and now lead the east by two games.

The bad news?

Tomorrow's starting time is six o' clock.

NOTES:
-Manny's on a roll: even though he didn't hit a homer, something he's done in four of his last five games against the O's, Manny did manage to extend his hitting streak to 15 games with his infield single in the third inning. It's the longest streak by a Bosox batter so far this season

-Colon 150: the win was career victory #150 for Bartolo Colon, who appeared to be on a fast track to 200+ wins before injuries derailed his promising career. The Sox got a scare when Colon was briefly injured when a liner by Markakis caromed off his wrist in the top of the fourth, but he shook it off and remained in the game, and pitched very well at that.

RECORD: 41-27
AL EAST: Up 2 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Thu vs. BAL 6:05 Guthrie vs. Lester

Sox Drawer: Oki not O.K. when it comes to facing B-More

2008-06-11T11:19:00.003-05:00

Hideki Okajima's mighty struggles against the Orioles highlight a deeper problem with the second year reliever.

I touched on this in my recap last night and the Globe had a piece on this puzzling situation today, but I think it needs to be explored a bit more thoroughly before we move on to Game 2 of this series.

What in the hell has happened to Hideki Okajima?

When he came to the Sox last year as a free agent from Japan it was more to be a buddy to Daisuke Matsuzaka than a dominant set up man. But a funny thing happened after he gave up a home run to Kansas City's John Buck on his first ever pitch in the major leagues - he went on to become a dominant set up man and an invaluable part of the Sox run to the World Series.

After that inauspicious debut Aki didn't allow another run until nearly two months later, and for the season he would wind up allowing 17 earned runs in 69 innings for a 2.22 ERA, compiling 27 holds and finishing 6th in the 2007 Rookie Of the Year voting.

It was as if the combination of his deceiving delivery and array of off speed pitches lulled the hitters of the league to sleep whenever he pitched.

But in 2008 those hitters have woken up.

Especially the Baltimore Oriole batters.

After last night's meltdown against the Birds Oki's ERA climbed from 1.95 to 2.89, but that leap isn't nearly as discomforting as his ghastly propensity for allowing inherited runners to score.

As the Globe article pointed out, but anyone following the team knows, Oki has allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score, and that alarming stat, more that ERA, is as telling a figure as any to the effectiveness of a middle reliever/set up man.

And no team has done more to damage Oki's effectiveness this season than Baltimore.

In five appearances against the Birds this season Oki has allowed 9 hits, 3 walks and 8 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings pitched. Those numbers equate to a 13.50 ERA and a 6.60 WHIP, with the Baltimore hitters batting a robust .375 off the embattled lefty.

The one thing those starts don't take into account is the game-losing grand slam he allowed to Jay Payton at Camden Yards on May 14th, as only one of those runs was charged to him.

All of this turmoil has led to Hideki owning the most blown saves in the major leagues with 6, and while he still has 12 holds, good for 3rd in the AL, his penchant for allowing other people's runs to score and his inability to retire anyone in the Baltimore lineup is adding up to a very disappointing sophomore season.

Although his stuff still seems the same he hasn't been able to consistently throw strikes, and last night he threw a lot more curveballs than anything else, which led to his downfall. It seems to me that right now his problems are more mental than physical, but we know how one thing feeds the other until a situation gets out of hand.

As I said last night I'm sure that if the situation warrants it Tito will toss him right in there again tonight, or tomorrow, just so the guy can get his confidence back and get back to being an integral part of this bullpen.

But if he can't straighten things out against the Baltimores of the league, it's only a matter of time before other, quality teams start hammering him too.

Get well soon,Oki. We need ya.

Oki blows another game against Baltimore as Sox lose at home

2008-06-10T23:13:00.004-05:00

Orioles 10, Sox 6
WP: Sarfate (4-1)
LP: Okajima (1-2)
SV: None
HRs: BOS- Drew (9), Manny (15); BAL-None

SUMMARY:
Despite back-to-back home runs by the team's two hottest hitters and a gritty effort from Josh Beckett Boston dropped its second straight game to Baltimore when Hideki Okajima allowed three runs in the 7th inning, leading to the Sox sixth home loss of the year.

#1 STUNNER: Audrey Huff 4-5, 1R, 2BI
The guy may be an aggravating, arrogant, overrated and overpaid douchebag but he was the difference tonight as it was his 7th inning single that drove in two runs to tie the game and propel the O's to the win.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Okajima 1/3IP, 2H, 3ER, 2BB, 1K, 26P
In his last two outings against the Birds Oki has allowed 6 hits, 3 walks and 7 earned runs in one full inning of work for an ERA of 63.00 and a WHIP of 9.00. Wow.

RECAP:
Maybe it's these damn 6:00 starts that are throwing everything out of whack for the Sox.

Last time it happened a benches-clearing brawl erupted, resulting in the suspension of eight players, and a couple of Boston teammates got into a slap fight on the bench.

Tonight the Sox and O's played "I want the lead, no you take it" for six innings before Baltimore pulled away for good with a pair of three run innings late.

The funniest thing, and by funny I mean absolutely asinine, is that the start times have been moved up an hour to accommodate Celtics fans who don't want to miss any of the NBA Finals games, yet the two six o'clock contests have had run times of 3 hours, 40 minutes and 3 hours, 27 minutes.

So much for that theory.

After the debacle of the first game and the meltdown of the second I say to hell with this experiment. Start the games at the normal time and just put the Sox on the PIP until its over.

And if a brawl breaks out flip it back, or if a Boston reliever melts down flick it off.

Things started out bad for Boston tonight, got worse, then cleared up for a while before a black cloud covered the park in the form of another blown save for Hideki Okajima.

To make matters worse the Celts tantalized us with a potential upset win in Game 4, only to have King Kobe and Co. hag on for a series-saving win.

Talk about a double whammy of doom.

The way the game started it looked like the Sox would cruise to another easy home win. Boston loaded the bases in the first inning before Daniel Cabrera had recorded an out on a single by Jacoby Ellsbury, a double by Dustin Pedroia and a walk to red-hot J.D. Drew.

But Cabrera (5IP, 7H, 6ER, 4BB, 3K, 2HR, 94P) escaped a potential devastating inning when he got Manny Ramirez to ground into a double play, and even though Ellsbury came in to score the damage could have - and should have - been much worse.

The missed opportunity came back to bite Boston in the ass shortly thereafter when Josh Beckett (6IP, 8H, 4ER, 1BB, 3K, 114P) gave up a four-spot to the Birds in the second inning.

After retiring Audrey Huff for the first out (and the only time on the night) Becks allowed a Monster double to original idiot Kevin Millah and then walked new nemesis Luke Scott.

As if that weren't bad enough Beckett then plunked .200-hitting catcher Ramon Hernandez (1-4, R, 2BI) to load the bases, but it appeared he would escape the inning unscathed when he got Adam Jones, the hero of Baltimore's last win over Boston, to pop out to first for the second out of the inning.

Ah, no.

Fellow Mendoza dweller Freddie Bynum promptly stroked an 0-1 offering from Beckett
off the Monster for a shocking 2-out, 2-run double, but unfortunately the hurt didn't end there. Five pitches later Brian Roberts launched another Wall-scraper to score Hernandez and Bynum, and Baltimore had a 4-1 lead on three doubles, a walk and a HBP.

Ugh.

The bottom of the second was eerily similar to the first as Boston got the first two batters on base before a double play killed what could have been a potential rally, but things turned around in the third when the Sox plated a pair of runs to climb right back in it.

Pedroia (2-3, 2R, HBP), who had been mired in a horrid 4-37 slump, started it off with a single to left for his second hit in two at bats, and after Cabrera wild pitched him to second JD drew his second walk of the game. After a single to center by Manny loaded the bases RBI groundouts by Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis cut the Orioles lead to 4-3.

Then the fireworks came in the fifth inning.

Once again Pedroia started the rally when Cabrera hit him with a pitch on the elbow on a 3-2 count, and on the very next pitch Drew (1-2, 2R, 2BI, 2BB) exacted some payback for his teammate when he crushed a fastball over the bullpens for a 2-run homer that gave the Sox a 5-4 lead.

Before the celebrating over Drew's 5th homer in his last nine games had ended Manny Ramirez, who clubbed three longballs in three games against the O's in Baltimore last series, obliterated a another fastball from Cabrera for home run #15 on the season and 505 of his career, and just like that Boston had a 6-4 lead despite Beckett's troubles and their own missed chances.

Ironically, on a night when Manny was honored for joining the 500 club by guys such as Eddie Murray, who joined Rem Dog and Don O in the booth in the previous inning, Manny passed the former Oriole great on the all-time home run list.

Pretty cool.

Unfortunately that would be the end of the good times for Boston; Beckett tossed one more inning before he was replaced in the 7th by Okajima after throwing 113 pitches on the night.

And it quickly became hide the women and children time.

A one-out walk by Roberts (1-4, 1R, 2BI) seemed harmless enough at the time, but that was followed by another Wall double, this time by Nick Markakis, and when Melvin Mora walked on a 3-1 count to load the bases it was lump in the throat time for the Faithful.

The lump came up when Huff slapped a single into right to score Roberts and Markakis and tie the game at six, and then the horrible horrible sense of deja vu was complete going back to the last time Oki pitched against the Os.

And we all remember that game.

Manny Delcarmen came in to relive a discouraged Oki and immediately allowed a sac fly to Millar (1-4, R, BI) to give Baltimore the lead back aat 7-6, and even though Manny D got out of the inning the damage was done, both to the score and Oki's psyche.

My question is why bring him in in the 7th when that inning has been the domain of Lopez, Delcarmen and Hansen in the first place, something I'm sure Tito will be second-guessed about for a few days to come?

Boston had a chance to tie the game up in the 8th but yet another double play quelled that chance, and then Hansen crushed all hopes of a comeback when he allowed three runs in the 9th, although an error by Pedroia on a potential double play grounder was a key factor in the late uprising.

No matter because this one was lost as soon as Oki stepped on the field, and my guess is Tito will throw him right back out there tomorrow so so he can get this orange and black monkey off his back.

Thank god there's no Celtics game tomorrow.

RECORD: 40-27
AL EAST: Up 1 gm
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Wed vs. BAL 7:05 Olson vs. Colon

Game Preview: Orioles @ Sox GM1

2008-06-10T15:06:00.002-05:00

Daniel Cabrera (5-2, 3.98; 1-0, 3.21 vs. BOS in '08)
vs. Josh Beckett (6-4, 4.07; 0-1, 5.40 vs. BAL in '08)
Gm 1 of 3 6:05 @ Fenway Park

Tonight (or should I say 'this evening? thanks, Celtics!) these two AL East foes will renew their "rivalry" as the two staff aces will face off again for the second time in less than two weeks.

In that outing on May 30th in Baltimore both starters pitched well, with Beckett (6IP, 4H, 2ER, 3BB, 10K) barely having the better performance over a surprisingly solid Cabrera (7IP, 6H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K), but the outcome wasn't decided until long after the starters had exited the ballgame.

Stellar lengthy outings by both bullpens were wasted when Baltimore's defense crumbled in the 13th inning as they committed three costly errors, leading to three unearned runs and a 5-2 Boston victory.

This time hopefully the game will end a lot sooner so the nation can watch the Celtics go up 3-0 on the L.A. Fakers in the NBA Finals; in other words no extra innings or benches-clearing brawls allowed.

After a rough stretch where Beckett allowed 30 hits including 7 homers and 16 earned runs over 27 2/3 innings, the near Cy Young winning form of 2007 has returned. Over his last three starts Becks has surrendered just 18 hits (2 homers) and 5 earned runs over 19 innings, walking just 3 batters while striking out 24, although he's just 1-1 with an ND to show for his efforts.

But a vet like him knows that as long as he keeps the ball in the yard and men off the bases, the Boston offense will eventually score enough runs early to get him a win.

Cabrera has long been an enigma for Baltimore management and fans, but this season the former wild child has turned into a more controlled man. Gone is the hairtrigger temper and erratic outings filled with as many walks as strikes, in is an even- keeled pitcher who has walked 2 batters or less in 7 of his 12 starts this season.

Still the lanky righty has not fared well in his career against Boston, posting a 2-9 record with a 6.82 ERA against the Sox in 13 starts including 0-3, 8.41 at Fenway.

Boston should get the services of Jacoby Ellsbury back tonight, and the speedsters presence plus the blazing bats of Manny Ramirez and JD Drew should combine to give Beckett all the support he'll need to get the win and start the series off right.

And if they can get it over with by 9:00PM EST, that would be much appreciated as well.

GO SOX & GO CELTS!

BEAT LA! BEAT LA! BEAT LA!

Series Preview: Orioles @ Sox

2008-06-10T12:16:00.009-05:00

Baltimore Orioles (31-31)

AL East: 7 GB (t-3rd)
Streak: L1
Last 10: 5-5

Season Series: Tied 3-3

3 Game series at Fenway Park
Game 1 Tuesday *6:05
Cabrera (5-2, 3.98) vs. Beckett (6-4, 4.07)
Game 2 Wednesday 7:05
Olson (5-1, 3.86) vs. Colon (3-1, 3.91)
Game 3 Thursday *6:05
Guthrie (3-6, 3.40) vs. Lester (4-3, 3.50)
* note early start times due to NBA Finals

PREVIEW:
After a much-needed off day yesterday it's time for the Sox to play ball again. Too bad it's another series against the hard-to-get-excited-about Baltimore Orioles.

For the third time in less than a month Boston will play a series against the O's, a team with no stars, no cachet, and for what seems like the 20th straight season no chance of making the playoffs.

While the Sox will add this three game set to the two-gamer they played on May 13-14 in Baltimore and the four game wraparound series at the beginning of this month, Boston has still yet to play other AL clubs like the Chicago White Sox and have only played the Indians, Angles and Twins once.

In other words, let's mix it up schedule makers; the Nation gets tired of seeing the same teams every other week.

I guess that's what interleague play is for, huh?

Anyway, since they have to play them again they might as well go and sweep the series, which they very nearly did in that memorable four game set a week and a half ago.

In that series Boston took the first three games by a combined score of 20-9 including a 13 inning win in which Baltimore committed 3 errors in the final frame, and Manny Ramirez hit his 500th (and 501st & 502nd) home run before Baltimore saved face with a 6-4 victory in the finale when Hideki Okajima melted down like Three Mile Island.

The series was also memorable because it was the last time we saw David Ortiz in action. Big Papi injured his left wrist in the game on Saturday night, the same night his partner in bashing hit his historic 500th homer. After MRIs and examinations, Ortiz was diagnosed with a torn tendon sheath and placed on the DL with a tentative timetable of a month set for his recovery time.

Since then Boston has been on an unlikely roll, winning five of its last six games despite the loss of Ortiz and for the last three games Jacoby Ellsbury, mainly because guys like Manny and JD Drew have been hotter than Indiana Jones franchise.

Drew has hit safely in his last 8 games, batting .518 (14-27) with 8 extra base hits and 10 RBIs while Manny has a 13-game streak going in which he's hitting .380 (19-50) with 6 homers and an incredible 19 RBI.

Those streaks have not only helped carry the club in Papi's absence but placed the sluggers in the Top 10 of most of the offensive categories in the AL:

Drew: 5th in AVG (.318), 2nd in OBP (.417), 4th in OPS (.926), 9th in runs (41)
Manny: 3rd in HR (14), 4th in RBI (47), 5th in OPS (.938), 5th in SLG% (.552), 3rd in XBH (29), 3rd in TB (127)

Boston will need that production to continue to make up for the loss of Ortiz and to offset the severe slumps of guys like Dustin Pedroia (4-37), Coco Crisp (7-41) and Kevin Youkilis (10-49).

Luckily they get to play the bad news O's at home this time, and with Ellsbury due back tonight and three solid starters on the mound, a sweep is definitely in their grasp before heading to Cincy for the start of interleague play tomorrow.

And thankfully we can say say by bye to B'More for another month.

Sox Drawer: An off day? At home? WTF to do?

2008-06-09T12:55:00.004-05:00

Believe it or not today is Boston's first off day during a homestand all season.

That's right, 2+ months into the season and the Sox have only had a handful of days off, and all of them have either been on the road or travel days between road trips before starting a series at Fenway.

So what's a first place club full of bored ballplayers to do with a day off in their home city? Let's take a look at some of the activities they might be getting involved in today.

With a little training Coco's positive he can perfect this maneuver before the Sox next series with the Rays

-Coco Crisp is reportedly honing his diamond skills by catching a screening of "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" followed by a personal training session with Kimbo Slice.

-Kevin Youkilis is attending athlete anger management classes, which include gently slamming your bat in the rack and stealthy 'muttering under your breath' techniques.

-Manny Ramirez is getting his hair done, although no one will notice, and bragging to his buddies at the bodega how he "bitchslapped that annoying little bald fucker" in the dugout the other day.

-Justin Masterson is checking out the Commons, the Bull & Finch, Fanueil Hall, the Aquarium and Chinatown, because he's been told that's what all visitors to the Hub must do.

-J.D. Drew is looking at himself in the mirror with the Bible opened in front of him and repeating the mantra "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me" about 150 times.

-Dustin Pedroia is working hard in the batting cages, determined to get out of his wretched 5-49 skid lest someone utter the phrase "sophomore slump" around him.

-Curt Schilling is blogging about the "sweet court side seats" he scored for last night's Celtics game.

-Mike Lowell is sitting poolside with a Tommy Bahama shirt open to the navel, sipping Mojitos and basking in the glow of having movie star looks and primo athlete talent.

-Jon Lester is still responding to the 1000's of fan letters he has received from cancer survivors and other less fortunate people since his no hitter. He's only got three more sacks to go.

-Hideki Okajima and Daisuke Matsuzaka are texting Yu Darvish and bragging about how much they've been embraced by the Japanese community in town. Then they're going to see "Kung Fu Panda."

-David Aardsma, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Mike Timlin and Javier Lopez are taking bets on who will be the next one to implode on the mound. Loser has to buy the first round at The Rack.

-Brandon Moss is sitting on the side of his hotel room bed just waiting for the phone to ring.

Sure enough it does. It's Masterson saying "they call you yet?"

Enjoy the off day, fellas!

Sox win again as Masterson remains undefeated

2008-06-08T15:24:00.003-05:00

Sox 2, Seattle 1
WP: Masterson (3-0)
LP: Green (1-2)
SV: Papelbon (18)
HRs: BOS-Drew (8); SEA-None

SUMMARY:
JD Drew remained hot at the plate, homering for the second straight game and extending his hitting streak to 8 games, and Justin Masterson continued to pitch like a seasoned vet rather than a real rookie as the Sox took the series from Seattle despite netting just five base hits.

#1 STUNNER: Drew 1-3, 1R, 2BI, HR
Not only is the right fielder blazing with the bat, homering for the fourth time in the last eight games, but he is providing spectacular defense in the field, too, as his highlight reel catch of a Richie Sexon blast in the second inning proved.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Sean Green 2.1IP, 3H, 1ER, 0BB, 3K, HR
The league leader in appearances came on in relief of starter Erik Bedard an had just one mission to accomplish: keep the score tied. Instead he allowed a homer to Drew on his 5th pitch which turned out to be the difference in the game.

RECAP:
At the rate these guys are going who needs Ellsbury, Papi and Dice-K?

I know I've joked about this before but it's starting to appear to be true because no matter what lineup combo or starting pitcher Francona runs out there the Sox still have an excellent chance to win every time out.

Especially with Manny, Drew and Masterson as hot as the suddenly summer-like Boston weather.

Drew extended his torrid hitting streak to eight games, in which he's batting an even .500 (15-30) with 6 walks, 4 homers and 12 RBI, while Manny's 6th inning single prolonged his streak to 13 games, raising his average from .280 to .302 in that time.

And Masterson, as corny and cliched and overused as this phrase is, has truly been masterful as he has yet to lose in his young career and continues to astound and impress everyone in baseball every time he takes the mound.

Think the Stankees wish they had someone like this coming up from their farm system to bail them out?

But as well as the 23-year-old Jamaican born phenom has been he still hasn't even secured a spot in this tough-to-crack Red Sox rotation.

With Dice-K due back soon and Buchholz too experienced to leave in the minors for very long, Masterson, who still has plenty of options and minor league seasoning left, would appear to be the odd man out.

Unless he keeps pitching like this. Then there's no way they can keep him at Pawtucket, age and experience level non withstanding.

For the third time in four career starts Masterson (6IP, 3H, 1ER, 3BB, 4K, 88P) allowed just 1 earned run. He went at least six innings for the fourth straight time, and has yet to throw more than 95 pitches in any of his starts.

His ERA is 2.59, his WHIP is 1.07 and batters are hitting less than .200 off of him.

Like I said, gonna be hard to send this kid back down with numbers like that.

Today he got touched for a run early, but the situation could have been a lot worse if not for a superb catch by J.D. Drew. After walking the first two batters of the second inning, slumping Richie Sexson sliced a screaming liner to right center field that looked like it was going to go for a sure bases-clearing double.

But out of nowhere Drew raced over and snared the sinking liner with an awesome over-the-shoulder catch, saving two runs, and even though one runner advanced and came home on a groundout the potential for a big inning for Seattle was snuffed out with that catch.

That was the entire offense on the day as Boston held the M's to a mere three base hits, and once the Sox tied the game in the third you got the feeling that it was just a matter of time before they took control of this one.

Boston finally got to Bedard (5IP, 2H, 1ER, 3BB, 5K, 99P), who had handcuffed them last month in Seattle, in the third when they tied the game on only one base hit.

Coco Crisp started the rally with a one out single to right, then Bedard walked Brandon Moss and Dustin Pedroia to set up a bases loaded, tow out situation for Drew, and the slugger came through with an RBI once again, although this time he didn't get a hit but got hit with a Bedard pitch, tying the game at one.

After both teams traded a couple of scoreless innings Mariner manager John McLaren for some reason removed Bedard after the fifth, despite the fact that he had only allowed the one run and three hits, and Drew immediately jumped at the opportunity to face a new pitcher.

Sean Green came in as the leader in appearances in the American League with 32 and had only allowed one home run all season, April 24th against the Orioles.

Until today.

Green jumped ahead of Drew 0-2 before the rightfielder took a ball and fouled one off, then he blasted a bomb to the black seats in centerfield for his 8th home run and second in two days, and with the score 2-1 it was up to the Sox bullpen to bring the series win home.

Craig Hansen came in to relieve Masterson to start the seventh and after surrendering a leadoff walk the rejuvenated righty, who hasn't allowed an earned run in his last six appearances, set the next three Mariners down in order, the last two by strikeout.

Hideki Okajima, who has also settled down since his meltdown in Baltimore, tossed a 1-2-3 eighth, and then Jonathan Papelbon, who was victimized for an unearned run thanks to a rare Kevin Youkilis error yesterday, needed all of five pitches to dispatch what was left of the Mariners in the 9th for his 17th save and close out the win.

Tomorrow the Sox will enjoy a rare off day at home before taking on the O's on Tuesday, and if all goes well Jacoby Ellsbury should be back for that game, with Matsuzaka and Buchholz soon to follow him back to the big club.

If there's room for those guys.

RECORD: 40-26
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: W2
LAST 10: 8-2
UP NEXT: Mon-Off; Tue vs. BAL @ Fenway 7:05

Game Preview: Mariners @ Sox GM3

2008-06-08T11:16:00.003-05:00

Bedard (4-4, 4.47) vs. Masterson (2-0, 1.95)
Game 3 of 3 1:35 @ Fenway

The rubber game of this series features an enticing pitching matchup, with Seattle's big bucks off-season acquisition Erik Bedard going up against the new kid on the Boston pitching block, Justin Masterson.

For the first time in his young career Masterson did not get sent right back to the minors following his last start. Instead, with Daisuke Matsuzaka still on the mend and Clay Buchholz working on his mechanics in Pawtucket, Masterson was allowed to stick around with the big club after his second career victory last Tuesday, a six inning, four earned run performance against the Rays on Tuesday.

You have to think the experience of palling around with the big boys would only help the 23-year-old's development, although with all the shenanigans that have gone on this week I'm not sure this was the best time to have him hanging around.

Oh well, just like our kids he's gotta learn about the real world someday.

His mound opponent Bedard finally lived up to his offseason hype as the savior of the M's staff in his last outing; unfortunately his breakout performance came against the Sox.

On May 28th in Seattle the hard throwing lefty pitched seven innings of 2-hit, 8-strikeout shutout ball, proving to the Seattle fans and ballclub that he was worth the enormous financial and psychical package the Mariners gave up in acquiring him from Baltimore in the offseason.

The question for them is, can he do it again?

In his next outing following that gem Bedard surrendered 5 runs (4 earned) and seven hits with three walks and one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings in a 5-4 loss to the Angels, looking more like Julian Tavarez than a staff centerpeice.

He was booed off the Safeco mound after that wretched performance, so maybe a start away from home is exactly what he needs.

Let's hope not.

The real question about today's game is what kind of lineup configuration is Tito "the Juggler" Francona going to come out with today. With so many regulars out or nursing injuries, we could almost create a game show out of this new daily routine.

"Who's gonna leadoff for the Bosox" or "Are you stronger at the top or bottom of the lineup" could be a couple of contenders.

As always we'll just have to wait and see.

As long as whomever's out there puts some runs on the board and keeps Masterson's winning streak intact, it's all good.

Sox bounce back with massacre of Mariners

2008-06-07T18:11:00.002-05:00

Sox 11, Mariners 3
WP: Wakefield (4-4)
LP: Batista (3-7)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Manny (14), Drew (7); SEA-None

SUMMARY:
Boston got back to business today - the business of winning at Fenway. Tim Wakefield handcuffed the Seattle hitters for seven innings and the Sox batters took care of the rest, pounding 13 hits including mammoth homers by Manny & Drew in a satisfying rout of the M's.

#1 STUNNER: Drew 3-5, 3R, 2BI, 3B, HR
The Sox right fielder continues to wield a blazing hot bat, ripping a triple ahead of Manny's homer in the first and then blasting a homer of his own to straightaway center in the sixth.

Over his last 15 games Drew is batting .396 (21-53) with 4 doubles, a triple, 4 homers and 12 RBI. Yes, keep those fingers crossed he stays healthy.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Miguel Batista 4.1IP, 6H, 5R, 4ER, 6BB, 1K, 1HR, 85P
The Seattle starter was solid but not spectacular in his start against Boston in their recent series in Seattle, but today the veteran righty was downright awful, walking a half a dozen men including two in the 4th and 5th innings when the Sox broke open a close game.

RECAP:
Wasn't it nice to witness a game in which no punches were thrown, no one got ejected, no fights erupted in the dugout and the Sox came out on top?

Now if they could just get the regular starting lineup back on the field everything would really be kosher.

As it is we'll happily settle for the results put forth by another of Tito's patchwork lineups as the substitute Sox simultaneously slapped Seattle while keeping the Rays at bay in Boston's 24th home victory this season.

For the third straight start Tim Wakefield pitched at least seven innings and allowed 2 earned runs or less, but this time he actually got a win to show for his efforts.

And if Manny Ramirez and JD Drew keep crushing baseballs like they have for the past 10 days or so the Sox might not need Ellsbury, Papi, Pedroia, Lowell in the lineup anyway.

After all the team did pretty well without them today.

With the Mariners having posted 21 consecutive scoreless innings on the Sox over their last three meetings, all Seattle wins, Boston wasted no time in breaking that embarrassing streak.

In the bottom of the first inning Drew smacked a ball off Ichiro's glove and hustled it into a triple, and then Manny followed with a titanic shot that cleared the Monster and landed in a parking lot on Lansdowne for his sixth homer in the last 10 games and 504th of his career.

Seattle tied it in the third when Wake's knuckler wasn't knuckling and the Mariners plated two runs on a pair of singles and a ground rule double by Raul Ibanez, but after he walked Adrian Beltre following the double Wake retired 12 straight batters until Kenji Johjima's one-out single in the seventh.

In the meantime Boston slowly pulled away, thanks to the wildness of Miguel Batista and the timely hitting of the makeshift lineup.

With Ellsbury still nursing his strained wrist and Manny's hammy still too sore for him to play the outfield, plus other myriad situations, Francona went with a lineup that once again resembled a split squad spring training game: Cora subbing for Pedroia at second; Youk taking third in place of Lowell while Casey manned first; Brandon Moss playing left in place of Manny; Cash of course catching Wake; and the odd 1-2 combo of Coco and Lugo leading off at the top.

Even with that odd configuration the Sox managed to pile up the runs against a team that had confounded them for most of their meetings this season, scoring two in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead before blowing it open late in the game.

Boston too the lead back for good in the fourth on a walk to Moss a deep double to left center by Cora (2-4, 2R, BI) and an RBI single by Coco Crisp, his second hit in two innings and the first in a few games that involved his bat and not his fists.

In the fifth the Sox loaded the bases on walks to Moss and Manny (1-2, 2R, 2BI, 3BB) and a single by Casey, chasing Batista from the game, but reliever R.A. Dickey came on to squelch the threat, allowing just one run to score and that was on a passed ball by Johjima.

The lead went to 6-2 when Drew hit a tracer missile off the wall above the camera stand in center field, and after Craig Hansen relieved Wakefield and pitched a scoreless 8th, Boston blew the game open in the bottom of the inning when it sent nine men to the plate and five scored.

Cora got the party started with a leadoff single to right, and after Coco lined out Lugo slapped a single to right as well to set the stage for the team's hottest hitters.

And they didn't disappoint as Drew also laced a single to right for his third hit of the game to score Cora, and after Manny drew his third base on balls pinch hitter Mike Lowell lined a double down the third base line to score Lugo and Drew and push the lead to 9-2.

Kevin Youkilis, who has noticeably toned down his post-at bat antics since the Ramirez dugout incident, provided the final margin when he dropped a double into left that scored both Jacoby Ellsbury, who pinch ran for Manny, and Lowell, and all that was left was for closer Jonathan Papelbon to come in and get some much-needed work.

Unfortunately things didn't go so smoothly for the boys in the 9th as Youk made an error after moving to first base when he botched a throw from Cora, ending his record-setting errorless streak for a first baseman at 238 games.

That blunder, which perhaps was a karmic makeup for the one he should've got last night that went to Lowell, led to an unearned run by Papelbon, but a pair of Ks and a fly out to (appropriately) Drew put a cap on the day and sent the Faithful home happy.

Tomorrow the Sox can take the series from Seattle and put further distance between themselves and the ugly incidents of the Rays series.

Wonder what the lineup will look like.

RECORD: 39-26
AL EAST: Up 1/2 gm
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sun vs. SEA @ Fenway 1:35 Bedard vs. Masterson

Game Preview: Mariners @ Sox

2008-06-07T14:32:00.002-05:00

Batista (3-6, 5.90) vs. Wakefield (3-4, 4.50)
Game 2 of 3 3:55 FOX @ Fenway Park

The Sox will try to regroup after three tumultuous days in which they engaged in an on field brawl with the Rays that resulted in the suspensions of three players, an in-house disagreement between teammates that resulted in numerous denials in the clubhouse, and a shutout at the hands of the Mariners that resulted in the end of their 13-game home winning streak.

All in favor for getting back to winning, Bosox baseball say "aye".

Tim Wakefield will try to right the ship today, although the knuckleballer has had little success historically against the M's, posting a 3-9 record with a 4.15 ERA in 145 career starts (24 appearances.)

But the veteran has been awesome in his last two starts, allowing just 3 earned runs in his last 15 innings, although he's only got a loss and an ND to show for it.

His mound opponent, Miguel Batista, has been equally impressive in his last two starts, allowing 5 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings including a 7 inning, 5-hit, 2 earned run performance against the Sox in Seattle, but he only hasd 2 NDs to show for his efforts.

Boston should have Manny Ramirez back in the lineup this afternoon, but Jacoby Ellsbury will miss his second staright game with his wrist injury. With Sean Casey covering first and Kevin Cash catching Wake it will be another patchwork lineup for Franbcona and the Sox.

No matter. The Sox need to break the 21 inning scoreless stretch against the lowly Ms and take this game to get back on the winning track and put all the craziness of the last few days behind them.

No excuses today.