Game Preview: Sox @ Baltimore GM2

Lester (2-2) vs. Cabrera (3-1)
GM 2 of 2 305 PM @ Camden Yards

Beware: Do not try and reach base against this man - he is armed with an unpredictable cannon and could go off at any time!

Finally the Sox catch a break with the MLB schedule makers.

After two consecutive 4-game road series ended with night games necessitating red eye's for the Sox both in the air and on the ground, Boston gets a businessman's special this afternoon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards before the team heads into its first off day in 17 days.

And it's a great thing for all the Nation's unemployed/laid off workers/lazy asses, who get to watch their favorite ballclub play in the daytime, thus providing a convenient excuse to start drinking early(er).

Another bonus for myself, er I mean those guys I mentioned above, is that the game is on MLB InDemand HD, a new for 2008 channel my local cable provider conveniently added to my high def tier last week.

Thanks, BrightHouse Networks! (plug plug, honey)

Unfortunately I'll be exposed to the annoying tones of Mssrs. Gary 'let me rephrase that' Thorne and Jim 'paint dry' Palmer instead of Rem Dog and Don-O, but still.

As for the Sox they better get things going in the right direction today because what started out as a terrific road trip, with a series win in Detroit coming on the heels of a sweep of the Rays at home, has turned into a roadie from hell as the team has dropped four of its last five games, including last night's 5-4 defeat to these Os.

If the Sox hope to split this mini series it will be up to Jon Lester to pull off the difficult feat. On this trip the starters have been less-than spectacular, evening factoring in Wake's 2-hit, 8 inning gem in Game 2 in Detroit.

In the 9 games of the trip thus far the Boston starting pitchers have combined to throw 49 innings while allowing 60 hits, 22 walks and 30 earned runs, which equal out to sub-par stats of a 5.51 ERA and 1.67 WHIP.

Considering the Sox have dropped four of its five losses by only one run, many after the hitters had either handed them an early lead or come back after falling behind, and it's easy to see how starting pitching has been the main downfall of the club on this trip.

Unfortunately Lester will be opposed by the always erratic, most of the time psychotic Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera.

The hard throwing right has made a name for himself over the years by being a supremely talented pitcher who cannot control his lively heater, thus leading to a multitude of high strikeout, high walk games. He is also renowned for his high strung temperament and idiotic antics on the mound.

I'm sure all you in the Nation remember last September's game against the Sox in which the animated Dominican native went all Chuck Norris when Coco Crisp had the gall to try and bunt his way on base in the 4th inning of a game at the Yards, an incident that was well documented here at the Sock.

God forbid the Sox get a lead today and then attempt to keep getting on base or Hairtrigger Cabrera might channel Tito Ortiz and try and take out thew whole team, not just mites like Coco and Little Big Man.

It might have something to do with the fact that he is 1-9 with a 7.84 ERA in 49.1 innings over 11 career starts against the Sox.

Should be a good one this afternoon the combo of day baseball, HD, brews and the threat of a nuclear mound meltdown looming on the horizon making for a memorable contest at Camden.

For all you working folk, I will try and recap it by the time you finish dinner.

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Bye Bye Birds! Beckett & Coco help dispatch O's

Sox 3, Baltimore 2
WP: Beckett (18-6)
LP: Bradford (2-7)
SV: Papelbon (35)
HRs: BAL-Mora (14), Markakis (18)

SUMMARY
On the day the Pats began their march to another title, Josh Beckett and the Sox made sure no one forgets about the other potential championship club in town.

Beckett tossed seven solid innings and Boston got a pair of RBIs from Mike Lowell and a clutch hit from Coco Crisp along with another save from Paps to finish the season series off with Baltimore.

#1 STUNNER Beckett 7IP, 7H, 2ER, 0BB, 8K, 2HR
The All Star ace continued to do what he has done all season long--put the team on his back and pitch them to victory, although he needed a little help from his friends when two longballs jeopardized his 18th 'W'.

PAN's FAUN Chad Bradford 1.1IP, 2H, ER
The former Sox sidearmer got the job done when he induced Mike Lowell to ground into a double play to end the seventh, but then the journeyman allowed a leadoff single to start the 8th and then surrendered a single by Coco that scored the winning run.

RECAP
They didn't go down without a fight.

Then again overdone fowl never does.

The Sox finally dispensed with the blasted orange & brown birds from Baltimore this afternoon at Fenway South, err Camden, and even though the series record will stand at 12 games to six for the Boston, it sure seemed a lot closer than that.

To make sure I wasn't on crack (again) or something, I did some intense fact checking (aka the season summary panel on the ESPN box score of the game) and found that of the 18 contests only six were decided by three runs or more but the other 12 games came down to one, two or three run margins.

And what's even more amazing is that the two teams, sharing the same division but at opposite ends of the spectrum record-wise, played seven games that were decided by just one run.

Fitting that today's finale fell into that category (also ties in nicely with what I'm trying to do here).

For the third consecutive game the Sox jumped out to an early lead against the Baltimore starter, this time striking for a a pair of runs in the third off promising Oriole righty Jeremy Guthrie.

The inning began innocently enough when Guthrie (5IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K) retired Alex Cora and Jacoby Ellsbury on six pitches to open the frame. Then Dustin Pedroia (3-5, R) pushed a single into center, and Big Papi followed that with a double past the dreaded shift to set up men at second & third for team MVP Mike Lowell.

Instead of walking the league's 5th leading RBI guy with first base open and Manny Ramirez in Florida, Guthrie and manager Dave Trembley decided to pitch to the Sox third baseman.

Lowell drove the first pitch he saw from Guthrie into short left center, a hit that not only was just hard enough to get through the infield but just soft enough to allow the big fella to score all the way from second, but also forced center fielder Tike Redman to overthrow the cutoff man so Lowell could get into scoring position as well.

I'm beginning to believe he absolutely can do this shit when ever, where ever and however he wants.

Beckett did allow at least one baserunner in each of the first three innings, but he also struck out the side in the third, so even though Boston blew another scoring chance in the fourth by stranding Tek & Ellsbury on the bases, everyone assumed Becks would make the runs hold up until the Sox could tack on a few more and cruise to victory.

Well this being the blasted brown birds we should have realized things wouldn't be that easy.

Melvin Mora cut the lead in half when he launched a one-out solo shot off Josh in the fourth, and when Boston failed to produce a run despite getting the first two batters on base in the sixth off Guthrie, things started to tighten up a bit.

Nick Markakis took it to sphincter level tightness when he rocked a leadoff homer to deep left center to open the bottom of the sixth, and suddenly that "easy" victory and series win just got a lot more difficult to attain.

But the snakebit Orioles lost their second young hurler in a matter of weeks when Guthrie had to be removed due to a strained ribcage muscle, the same injury that ended the season of ace Eric Bedard, and we all know what happens when the Os dip into that pen.

Good things happen. For the other team.

Pedroia led off the seventh with a single off Jamie walker, then Trembley brought in Bradford to pitch to Lowell. The strategy worked when Lowell hit into an inning-killing double play on a 1-2 count, but the Sox would get the las laugh next inning.

But not before Beckett worked his way into and out of a major jam in the bottom of the seventh.

He started his trouble by plunking Baltimore catcher Ramon Hernandez to open the inning, a not-too subtle retaliatory strike for the Cabrera/Pedroia fiasco and Hernandez' subsequent diarrhea of the mouth during the ensuing fracas I'm sure. A sac bunt and groundout got his pinch runner, Brandon Fahey, over to third with two outs, and the game was on the line with Brian Roberts coming up.

The plucky Roberts had been a thorn in Boston's side all season, so most of the Nation had fingers crossed that Becks could retire the resilient second sacker one more time.

After staring at the first pitch for strike one Roberts took the next two pitches for balls and then proceeded to foul off six more pitches while the entire Nation was ready to turn the PIP off and watch the Pats unhindered.

And then Beckett threw one of his sick splitters in the dirt, inside and low, and Roberts hacked at it like an over matched Little Leaguer, and from there it was up to his offense to bail the pitcher out and earn him that league-leading victory.

That task got off to a good start when Drew singled off Bradford to start the eighth, stole second after Youk was robbed of a hit by Roberts and went to third on a fly out to center by Tek for out number two.

So Boston was in the same position Baltimore was in just an inning earlier--man on third, two outs, base hit could win the game.

Only difference was Coco came through.

The object of Cabrera's ire the other night gave Baltimore and its beleaguered fans another reason to piss and moan when he hit a Bradford pitch sharply into center to plate Drew with the go-ahead run, and with the Beckett win in the bag and Papelbon warming in the pen, it was all over but the Baltimore cryin'

Papelbon actually made things interesting when he allowed his first baserunner in his last 25 batters, a one-out single by Mora, but then things returned to normal as he whiffed both last night's hero Scott Moore and unheard off rookie Freddie Bynum to end the game, the season series, and probably officially ended the season for any remaining Orioles fans out there.

After all, the Ravens kick off their season tomorrow night.

And I know the fans in the Inner Harbor are definitely ready for some football.

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Sliced & Diced: Orioles maul Matsuzaka, Sox

Baltimore 11, Sox 5
WP: Leicester (1-1)
LP: Matsuzaka (14-12)
HRs: BOS-Papi (28); BAL-Redman (1), Moore (1), Markakis (17)

SUMMARY
Slumping Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka got filleted like a blue tuna, allowing 8 earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings of work, the lowlight coming when recently acquired Scott Moore blasted a grand slam for his first hit with the Birds, and Baltimore snapped an 11-game home losing streak with an emphatic win over Boston.

#1 STUNNER Moore 2-4, R, 4BI
He was 0-13 on the season and 0-8 since coming to Baltimore from the Cubs in the August 31st trade of Steve Trachsel, but his first hit in that hideous uniform was certainly a memorable one.

PAN's FAUN Dice-K 2.2IP, 6H, 8ER, 3BB, 2K, 2HR
Not only was this his shortest start of the season, but in his last five starts the fact that Matsuzaka is 1-4 and has allowed 34 hits and 28 earned runs in 27 1/3 innings for a 9.22 ERA has alarm bells and warnings lights going berserk all over Yawkey Way.

Warning! Warning! Your $101 million investment is melting down!!

RECAP
This one's gonna be a quick hitter because I missed the early part of this one due to my son's LL practice and the latter parts due to stomach-turning content viewed after joining the game in-progress.

For the fourth time in his last five starts Dice-K got lit up like the burning man sculpture, and this time it wasn't the Stanks or high-scoring Jays or Rays that inflicted the wounds, it was the artists formerly known as the Baltimore Orioles, a team that has been so sorry in recent weeks that its pitchers resort to beaning other players as payback for their own fuck ups.

But Matsuzaka made some middling, meandering miscreants seem like the second coming of the Blake St. Bombers. Not only did he blow a 4-1 lead when he gave up seven runs in the third inning, but he surrendered home runs of the season to a pair of guys who hadn't hit any longballs all year.

From the highlights I saw Big Papi hand Dice-K a 2-0 lead when he jacked his 28th homer of the season with Dustin Bullseye Pedroia aboard in the first, but Matsuzaka let B-More halve that lead when the immortal Tike Redman slammed a solo shot in the bottom of the frame.

Redman's last homer in the bigs? May 2nd, 2005 at Houston for Pittsburgh.

Boston worked to get Matsuzaka a couple more runs in the second when two runs scored on doubles by Drew, Lugo and Ellsbury, and Matsuzaka-san obliged them with a 1-2-3 bottom half.

After the Sox failed to score against the other Jon Leicester (pronounced Lester) in the top of the third, Baltimore decided to go ballistic on Boston in the bottom half of the inning.

Unfortunately this is where i came in.

Things went from bad (single, double, walk to the first three batters) to worse (bases-loaded walk, RBI single, bases-loaded walk to the next three) to "close your eyes, hide the kids, and get out the bottle of tequila" gruesome, but this resembling a bad Creature Double Feature flick, the pain was extended a little bit for effect.

That's because the next batter, Audrey Huff, nearly hit a granny but his long, deep shot went a scootch foul, and when Dice fanned Huff and got Jay (im) Payton to pop up to get to the unheard of Moore with two outs, it looked he had put the worst of the damage behind him.

Not even close.

Moore, a 23-year-old third baseman who has only played five games in the majors this season, took a 2-2 offering from Matsuzaka and deposited it into the first row of seats in right for a less-majestic but more-damaging drive than Huff's, and as the flock of Birds circled the bases Dice-K stayed in a bent over position with his hands on his knees as if to say, "so this is what it feels like to get fucked in the ass."

And that was the end of my viewing.

That's when I turned to the USF/Auburn football game, a contest that has been a pretty big deal down here in the Bay Area and one that definitely turned out to be a much better and entertaining game (USF won 26-23 in OT, in case you missed it) than the one I avoided.

I guess a combination of Tavarez pitching and Lugo's defense gave the Birds three more runs in the next inning, and it appears that the only positives for Boston were Papi's 3-3 performance, three shutout innings of relief from Devern Hansack, and the fact that they only have to play these turds one more time this season.

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Sox hand Os 11th straight home loss, and things got ugly

Sox 4, Baltimore 0
WP: Lester (4-0)
LP: Cabrera (9-15)
HRs: None

SUMMARY
Jon Lester remained unbeaten by defeating the Orioles for the second time in a week and Boston got enough offense to salvage a win thanks to the erratic Daniel Cabrera, whose weak pitching and wild temper nearly ignited a benches-clearing-brawl in the top of the fourth inning.

#1 STUNNER Lester 7IP, 4H, 0ER, 2BB, 4K
The young lefty tossed his second straight quality start, both vs. the Birds, lowering his ERA by a full run and proving the Sox have another full-fledged young major league arm to bolster the staff.

Also, Jon, I officially apologize for mentioning you and Cabrera in the same breath in my preview post.

PAN's FAUN Cabrera 3.2IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 4K, BK, Melee
It's bad enough this disappointing 26-year old can't get his shit together on the mound, but now he's going to try and take his frustrations out on the smallest players on best team in the game?

Way to stay classy, Daniel.

RECAP
Must be football season--my pregame prediction sucked worse than a Mr. Bean movie.

Having seen these two clubs beat each others brains out for most of the 16 games between them so far this season and with two potentially shaky hurlers starting, I had some bad vibes that this was going to be another one of those "pray the offense scores enough runs to get ahead and then hold on" type of games.

Wrong again, piss-poor prognosticator. One starter was steady as a rock, while the other was an embarrassment to his team and the league.

Jon Lester handled the flightless Birds like an expert ornithologist, holding the Os to a mere four hits in seven innings without allowing a runner to get past second base, and it turned out the only kind of fight Baltimore could give Boston on the field had to do with head-hunting pitches and cheap intimidation tactics.

For the sake of wordcount let me cut right to what was really the only excitement in an otherwise mercifully uneventful contest between these two familiar foes.

Boston grabbed an early 2-0 lead when Kevin Youkilis walked and J.D. Boo doubled him over to third base to begin the second inning. Captain Clutch followed up his late-inning heroics of the past two nights with a money shot early tonight when he drove a single into right field to easily score Youk, and then Coco, who would soon find himself embroiled in all the controversy, lofted a sac fly that brought Drew home and set the stage for the fireworks to follow.

Boston let another bases-loaded opportunity slip away without so much as a single run scoring in the top of the third and then Lester set the Birds down in order in the bottom of the frame, but things got out of hand quickly in the top of the fourth.

Coco started the inning, as he so often does, by trying to bunt his way on, a move that apparently didn't sit well with Cabrera, who must think you have to play the game by his rules so he has a better chance to win.

Crisp then grounded a seemingly harmless single to right field, and even though consecutive groundouts by Lugo and Ellsbury moved him around to third, with two outs it didn't appear as if anything major was going to happen here.

Wrong again, dickwad.

As Cabrera got ready to pitch to Dustin Pedroia, Coco was dancing around over at third like Eddie Griffin on speed, and by the time Pedroia looked at ball one Cabrera was flustered to the point of doing something foolish.

Like balking Crisp in on a cockamamie attempt to scare him back to the bag.

Having been humiliated by a man about as intimidating as Arthur Ashe and obviously realizing that he is once again saddled with a losing record, sky-high ERA and on a horrid team, Cabrera retaliated the only way he could--by throwing the next pitch at the littlest guy on the team's skull.

Luckily Inch High Pedroia ducked out of the way and only took the assassination attempt off the shoulder, but if he wasn't quick enough that pitch could have "split him in two" as teammate Mike Lowell so aptly put it after the game.

Needless to say no one on the Boston bench took too kindly to that reprehensible act of cowardice, and a stream of players from both teams emerged from the dugouts and bullpens to air their discrepancies in an open forum.

To add insult to ignorance Cabrera waited until his teammates restrained him, then proceeded to wave his arms in an apparent invitation to take on all comers, but by that time the man had embarrassed himself and his team so much that I don't think anyone wanted anything to do with him, including his manager.

After a lengthy delay and the ejections of Cabrera, Os manager Dave Trembley and Sox catcher Kevin Cash, who wasn't even in the game, order was restored without any real punches being thrown, and Boston would tack on one more run in the seventh on a single and stolen base by Ellsbury and an RBI single from Youk before the latest chapter in a wild season series was in the books.

After the game Cabrera reportedly said the pitch "slipped out of his hand", yet even his beleaguered but classy manager knew better.

"I think he lost his cool," Trembley said. "I can tell you very honestly it's going to be addressed. I'm just glad Pedroia didn't get hurt. He didn't do anything."

And that's how bad things have gotten in B-More. The team has lost 11 in a row at home for the fist time in half a century and 15 of 17 overall, their ace Eric Bedard has just been shelved for the season, and the once glorious Bird's nest of Camden has turned into MASN--Mid Atlantic Sox Nation--and the manager won't even back his pitcher in a feud with a division rival.

The Mother's Day Miracle, the Labor Day No-No, Millar's 10th inning walkoff and the Kevin Garnett-inspired comeback game are a few of the memorable contests these clubs have played this season, and now we can add the Daniel Cabrera Beanball Classic to the list of interesting events that have populated this series.

The only questions left are can we get an encore, and do we want more?

One things for sure, I can't fucking wait to be done with these filthy free-falling fowl.

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Game Preview: Sox @ Baltimore

Lester (3-0, 5.26) vs. Cabrera (9-14, 5.06)
Camden Yards 705

The Sox will send another young hurler to the hill in hopes of defeating the fading-yet-still-fighting Orioles when Jon Lester tries to keep his unbeaten streak alive tonight at Camden Yards.

But for some reason putting this forgettable flock of floundering foul out of its misery for has proved to be a somewhat difficult task for the best team in baseball.

Even with a 10-0 no-hitter and a 13-4 early April beatdown thrown in, most of the games between these two teams have been close.

And with a couple of erratic young pitchers starting tonight, another barn burner is entirely possible.

Although Lester does boast an undefeated record in seven starts this season, he has allowed at least six hits and four earned runs in four of those starts, and throw in a couple of four-walk outings and you end up with a lot of baserunners and a high ERA.

Last time out though Lester got healthy against these very Birds, tossing six innings of two-run ball and helped his team hang in for a 3-2 win last Sunday, a.k.a the day after the no-no.

Baltimore starter Cabrera has been an enimga for his entire brief career. Possessed with a live arm and lanky body, the 26-year-old Dominican righty has been more wild than a spoiled hotel heiress and despite his massive talent has a career record of 40-45 and an ERA approaching 5.00.

So you have two young starters with high ERAs and a tendancy to be with, and with Millar attempting to blast off every at bat against his old mates, pesky Markakis and Roberts lingering around every corner and a stadium half full of Sox fans pissing off what few loyal Oriole fans there are left in Camden, this game scares me.

But something tells me the starters might be long gone when this one is decided, and hopefully tonight the Sox bully will be able to come through and prove they don't have to rely on Papelbon to get them through every game.

Just as long as Gagne's still out. We all remember what happened last time he was here.

Go Sox!

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1st ND for Wake but Tek helps beat Birds

Sox 7, Baltimore 6
WP: Buchholz (3-0)
LP: Baez (0-6)
SV: Papelbon (34)
HRs: BOS-Coco (6), Papi (27); BAL-Millar (15)

SUMMARY
One night after a bullpen collapse led to a heartbreaking loss the Sox rallied from three separate deficits and then pulled the rug out from under the reeling Birds when Jason Varitek knocked in the winning run in the 9th and Jonathan Papelbon closed it out in style to earn his 34th save.

#1 STUNNER Varitek 1-1, 2B, RBI
The Captain keeps getting clutcher and clutcher. For the second night in a row the ballsy backstop had a big hit to give the Sox a late lead, but this time his pinch hit RBI double wasn't wasted like last night's 2-run 6th inning blast.

PAN's FAUN Kevin Millar 1-5, HR
The original idiot did hit another homer off his former team, but other than that the king of Cowboy Up choked like a chicken; he struck out to end three innings, none worse than when he watched a Papelbon heater bisect the plate to end the game.

RECAP
I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sick and tired of playing these pluckin' Birds.

This is the fourth series between the two AL East competitors in the last six weeks, and even though the Sox own a 10-5 advantage over these foul fowls, the majority of the games have been close.

Aggravatingly, gratingly, keep-sedating-me close.

Yesterday Baltimore surrendered 17 runs to the Devils Rays and lost by 15.

Today they took the Sox to the brink again as the game was a one-run affair for the 6th time in the 15 meetings this season.

These teams are 40 friggin games apart in the standings and aside from the occasional blow out and no-hitter, the Sox can't seem to shed this shitty, sorry excuse for a team.

Which is exactly why I'm dreading these next three games.

Tonight the Sox and Birds played a cute little game of "which starter sucks worse?" While Boston was sending 16-game winner Tim Wakefield to the mound for the first time since his back spasms forced him to miss a start which indirectly led to Buchholz's no hitter, Baltimore was relying on shaky young lefty Garrett Olson, the O's hard-luck starter in the no-no, to right a sinking ship.

Hmmm, anyone else smell a slugfest?

To say Wake didn't have his best knuckler working would be a more than adequate statement as the Birds touched him for six runs and nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings, his shortest stint in three months and the most hits he'd given up since July 17th against Kansas City.

Christ he hadn't even allowed a run in his last 22 innings coming into this game, a streak that ended in a hurry when Baltimore pushed a run across in the first inning tonight.

But it wouldn't take long for Boston to jump on the beleaguered Olson, who in between rides on the minor league shuttle has gotten hammered like a Lohan in five of his seven his MLB appearances.

The Sox tied the game when Coco, Mirablli and Julio Lugo hit consecutive singles to start the third, then took the lead on an RBI groundout by Big Papi one out later.

One negative to come out of the inning was that Mirabelli, in his first start since coming off the DL for a pulled quad, apparently pulled a hammy running the bases and was replaced by pinch runner Royce Clayton. Let's just say Kevin Cash better practice catching the knuckler a lot in the offseason.

With Wake's flutterball looking more like a dead fish than a lively sprite it didn't take long for the Birds to strike back, and of course it was everyone's favorite idiot Kevin Millar who was right there to provide the punishment.

After allowing a one-out double to Nick Markakis in the bottom of the thitd, Millar ripped a lazy offering from his former teammate into the left field seats to give Baltimore a 3-2 lead, and when Audrey Huff followed that blast with a deep double and then scored on a single by Melvin Mora, it was obvious that Wakefield was either still hurt or just incredibly rusty.

Olson upped the ante in the fourth when he walked J.D. Boo and Youk and then surrendered a three-run jack to Crisp (3-4, 3R, 3BI), his first homer in two months since his Coke bottles grand slam on July 5th against the Rays, and suddenly the score was in Boston's favor again, 5-4.

But Wake (3.2IP, 9H, 6ER, 2BB, 0K) topped him when he handed the lead right back to the bloody Birds in the bottom of the inning on RBI hits by Miguel Tejada and Markakis, and with the score now 6-5 I was starting to feel like I was watching a match at the US Open.

Baltimore manager Dave Trembley had to remove Olson after he injured a muscle following Coco's homer (how conveeenient), and replacement Rocky Cherry (actual name) joined right in on the action when he gave up a solo homer to Ortiz with one out in the fifth.

Not only was Papi's 27th longball of the season his 8th in his last 20 games, but the classic Papi shot was his 200th as a member of the Sox, and does it surprise anyone that it tied the game at six?

After a scoreless inning from Kyle Snyder Tito brought Buchholz in for his first relief appearance against the team who provided him with his best starting memory ever, and although he didn't hold them hitless, he did prevent the Birds from taking the lead in the sixth.

Two walks and a single loaded the bases for B'More, but then Buchholz got Tejada to ground into your classic 5-2-3 double play, and when he whiffed Millar to end the threat you got the feeling this team could turn out to be Buchholz' special bitch.

Just like last night Boston blew another late-inning bases loaded situation when a walk to Lowell and consecutive singles by Youk and pinch hitter Jacoby Ellsbury went to waste when Boo needed just one pitch to ground into a double play to end the 8th, and when Buchholz tossed a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning it looked like this one could be headed into extra innings.

Wait a minute, I forgot how bad the Baltimore bullpen is.

D-Rays reject Denys Baez came on for the 9th and wasted no time in reminding me when Coco reached on a swinging bunt to lead off stole second, and then Varitek, the man who has come up with more clutch hits than anyone on the team this year save for Mike Lowell, came in cold and laced an RBI double to left that gave his team its 3rd and final lead of the night, 7-6.

Last night Varitek's two-run homer in the sixth could have been the game-winner if not for the shoddy relief work, but with Papelbon available tonight and as dominant as he has been lately, this one was as good as in the bag even though the Sox failed to tack on an insurance run.

Didn't matter as Paps wrapped up his 14th straight scoreless outing in style, freezing the ever-smirking Millar with a filthy fastball to end the game, then punctuating his 34th save with a primal scream and glove smack as if to say "not tonight you dirty frigging birds!"

Not it wasn't meant to be for Baltimore tonight, but something tells me the last three games of this season series aren't going to be so easy.

NOTES: Wakefield's streak of 26 consecutive starts with a decison came to an end...Ellsbury's pich hit single was his first of his career and extended his hitting streak to all six games he's played in since his recall...Mike Lowell (0-4) and Dustin pedroia (0-5) had rare off-nights...

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"Best" bully blows another as Gagne continues to gag

Baltimore 6, Sox 3
WP: Bradford (1-4)
LP: Snyder (2-3)
HRs: BAL-Millar (11), Tejada (11)

SUMMARY
Boston ended its 10 day road trip on a major down note when Eric Gagne gave up a 2-run homer to Miguel Tejada to tie the game in the 8th, then Kevin Millar hit a 3-run jack off Kyle Snyder in the bottom of the 10th to win it for Baltimore.

And the Sox lead in the East now sits at a slim 4 games...

#1 STUNNER Millar 3-5, 2R, 3RBI
The original idiot did a number on his former mates, notching two of the five hits Curt Schilling allowed and then pummelling a Snyder fastball for the game-winning homer.

PAN's FAUN Gagne 2/3IP, 1H, 1ER, 1K, 1HR
The supposed bullpen savoir has been a bullpen sinker as the former Ranger closer has been absolutely horrid in his brief stint with the Sox; he's now allowed 10 hits and 7 earned runs in 4 innings with Boston for a 15.75 ERA.

Worse than his performance, however, is the fact that his stunning awfulness is rubbing off on the rest of the bullpen.

RECAP
Raise your hand if you're starting to get that sickening, 2006 feeling again, Red Sox fans.

If you're hand's not raised right now you're either lyin' or denyin', cause all of a sudden a season that had World Series written all over it is looking more and more like last year, when the Sox broke out to a promising start only to collapse like Lindsay Lohan after one too many 8-balls.

Boston's AL East lead was sliced to a minuscule 4 games thanks to the Stanks' sweep of the Tribe this weekend, all that separates them from a Boston Massacre redux is the fact that they might already be out of first place by the time the two rivals hook up again in two weeks in the Bronx.

Which begs the question, would it be better to give up the division lead this week and go into that series trailing the Stanks, or do we really want to undergo the soul-crushing humiliation of letting our arch enemies ruin our season once again?

Discuss.

I know, I know, I can hear all you eternal optimists out there saying "hey, we've still got a four game lead, we're playing the D-Rays next, and the Stanks embark on a tough road trip themselves this week, so don't give up hope yet."

What I say to that is most of you glass-half-full people are under the age of 30 and are judging the chances of the Sox success on the mere fact that they came back to stun the Stanks in the 2004 playoffs, not the numerous heartbreaking collapses the team has undergone over the last, oh, seven decades before that.

To break it down scientifically, the score stands History 1,487, Sox 1.

Look I'm definitely not ready to throw in the towel and I realize that this band of talented veterans and confident youngsters isn't about to pack it in either, but when things start happening to a team like what happened on this trip, it's hard to ignore the familiar, ominous signs of a season on the brink.

Blown saves, terrible baserunning, awful errors, mental gaffes and lack of timely hits were all staples of the sliding Sox on this roadie, and all of those factors came into play in the finale today.
The worst part about it is that for the third straight game Boston got a great effort from its starter, yet they lost 2 of the 3 contests.

Curt Schilling, in his second start since coming off the DL, held the Baltimore lineup in check, surrendering just 5 hits and 1 unearned run over 6 innings while hitting 90+ regularly on the gun, although for the first time in his storied career he didn't allow a walk or a strikeout.

The only blemish on his linescore came when Millar hit a 1-out single in the 2nd, then went to third on a Buckner-esque error by Julio Lugo and came home on a groundout by Melvin Mora for the game's first run.

The error, which should have been an inning-ending double play, was Lugo's 14th of the season and 3rd on this trip, although he made numerous other mental miscues in the field.

The Sox bounced right back with two runs in the 3rd, but much like seemingly every other game this season the team had a zillion chances to blow the game wide open early but couldn't capitalize.

After getting one runner on in the 1st and two on in the 2nd against struggling Baltimore starter Steve Trachsel (6.1IP, 10H, 3ER, 3BB, 1K) Boston finally broke through in the third, but once again the damage could have been worse.

Kevin Youkilis (1-3, R, 2BB) began the rally when he drew a one-out walk, then went to third on a double off the right field wall by Big Papi, who came within a few feet of a home run if not for his ailing shoulders.

Manny followed with a liner to the right center field gap that scored both runners to give Boston a 2-1 Boston lead, and it looked a big inning was at hand.

Then another untimely edition of Manny Being Manny reared its ugly head, and that was all she wrote.

With J.D. Drew at the plate Baltimore catcher Paul Bako mishandled a Trachsel pitch that squirted a few feet away from him. For some reason only beknownst to Manny, the loopy right fielder broke for third and was thrown out by a country mile, a play that stung that much more when Drew promptly laced a single to right that would have scored Ramirez anyway.

Boston added to its lead when Tek and Lugo doubled in the 4th, but from then on it was same shit, different inning for the Boston offense.

6th inning: Lowell & Tek singled, Hinske grounded into a double play
7th inning: Youk singled, Ortiz walked, Manny grounded into a double play

By the time the 8th inning rolled around both starters were on the bench and it was up to Boston's bullpen to nurse that slender 3-1 lead instead of the 6 or 7 run bulge it should have been had the team been able to get one friggin big hit in any of those innings.

I think you know what happened from there.

Okajima, who seems to have acquired some of Gagne's bad mojo by sitting near him in the pen, walked Corey Patterson to open the 8th, and after Markakis moved him to second with a grounder, Tito did something that made every Sox heart skip a beat:

he summoned Gagne from the pen.

Seven pitches later Tejada launched a blast into the left field seats, and just like that Schill's yeoman effort, much like Dice-K's on Friday night, was gone in the blink of an eye, much to the chagrin of the thousands of Nation members who had invaded Camden for the series.

To make a long and depressing story a little shorter, Boston wasted baserunners in the 9th & 10th, and after Kyle Snyder got the call for the 10th and allowed a leadoff single to Patterson, we all knew the game was about to end, it was just a matter of how.

Markakais singled Patterson over to third and one out later Millar sent a Snyder fastball into the seats for the game winner, and at just that moment if you listened real closely you could hear the sound of millions of tv sets clicking over to the PGA Championship as well as loud exclamations of "FUCK!" coming from every RSN househould across the land.

And so the Sox will limp back to Fenway after a humiliating 4-5 road trip in which its East lead was cut in half and its aura of invincibility was shattered like an egg.

Hey, at least we got the D-Rays next, right?

Maybe they can take two of three from them.

As long as Gagne stays nailed to the fucking bench.

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Game Preview: Sox @ Baltimore GM3

Schilling (6-5, 4.31) vs. Trachsel (5-7, 4.88)
Camden Yards 1:35

The Sox will try and win the rubber match of this series and head back home on a positve note after a long, arduous cross country treak that started in Seattle 9 days ago and ends in the newest road headquarters of RSN, Baltimore, Maryland.

The number of Sox fans who have packed Camden Yards has been absolutely staggering, even by Nation standards, and the standing ovation the team received in the 9th inning of yesterday's game was downright embarrassing for the city and fans of the team.

Curt Schilling will hope to benefit from all the love when he takes the hill today for his second start since returning from the disabled list.

His first start contained a lot of positives for the aging ace: his velocity was there, his pitch location was decent, and he enjoyed an early 2-0 lead thanks to a Kevin Youkilis homerun.

Then came the bad.

He tried to barehand a ball up the middle by Vlad Guerrero that nearly took his finger off, then failed to cover first base on what could have been a rally-killing double play.

Throw in some horrible fielding by young Brandon Moss and it all added up to a disappointing 4-2 loss for Schill and the Sox, but like I said there were some encouraging signs to take from his first start in seven weeks.

Another encouraging sign for Boston is they will be facing mediocre mound man Steve Trachsel today.

The 36-year-old had a decent start against the Sox on August 1st, allowing 1 run and 5 hits in a 5-4 Baltimore loss, but since June 2nd Trachsel is 1-4 and has seen his ERA rise by a full run, from 3.89 to 4.88, an encouraging sign for these hungry Sox hitters.

Key for Schill today will be getting his splitter working and keeping pesky sparkplugs Brain Roberts, Corey Patterson and Nick Markakis off the bases.

Oh and if he can keep Eric Gagne from entering the contest that would be a bonus.

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Sox bounce back as Beckett bests Birds

Sox 6, Baltimore 2
WP: Beckett (15-5)
LP: Olson (1-1)
SV: Papelbon (27)
HR: None

SUMMARY
The Sox got just what they needed from ace Josh Beckett today--a dominating performance in which the righty came within one pitch of a shutout and kept the surging Stankees at bay for one more day.

#1 STUNNER Beckett 8.2IP, 8H, 2ER, 0BB, 8K
If it weren't for a foul tip by Miggy Tejada with two outs in the 9th Becks would have had his first complete game shutout since April of 2005. Instead he had to settle for becoming the majors first 15 game winner.

PAN's FAUN Garrett Olson 6.1IP, 8H, 4ER, 6BB, 6K
The rookie did his best against the potent Sox lineup, but 14 baserunners in 6+ innings isn't going to cut it against most major league clubs, let alone the best team in baseball.

RECAP
In my preview post I half-joked that the only way the Sox would be assured of a victory today, due to recent bullpen struggles and offensive woes, was if Josh Beckett pitched a complete game shutout.

Little did I know how close I would come to impersonating Miss Cleo.

Beckett came within one strike of making me the newest seer on the block, but those pesky Os wouldn't go down easy and managed to not only spoil the shutout and complete game but forced Tito to use two members of the beleaguered pen just to escape the game with the victory.

Did I mention that my power went out shortly after Manny Delcarmen came in to relieve Becks?

Eerie otherworldly incidents aside Boston got the performance it needed from its ace at just the right time--coming on the heels of last night's late-inning meltdown by Eric Gagne and Hideki Okajima that marked a rare bad outing for baseball's best pen.

And for more than 8 innings it looked as if the bully wouldn't get the chance to repeat the feat today.

Although it didn't look that way from the beginning. After the Sox squandered leadoff walks to Pedroia and Youk in the top of the first, Baltimore countered right back with a pair of baserunners off Beckett in the bottom of the inning.

Corey Patterson reached on an excuse me check swing single that Beckett mishandled, then Nick Markakis (2-4) followed with a soft single to left that put runners at first and third with one out.

But Beckett got Tejada to ground into a double play to escape the jam, and it turned out to be the last scoring threat the Birds would have until the final inning.

On the other side of the spectrum the Boston batters were getting on base with regularity against young Garrett Olson, putting at least two runners on in each of the first four innings, but despite myriad baserunners they only managed to plate a pair of runs in the second and third frames.

Jason Varitek got the ball rolling when he led off the second with a single to right, and J.D. Drew (3-5, R, 2BI) moved him to third with the first of his three hits on the day, a sharp double to right field.

After Coco's grounder to Olson kept the runners in place, Julio Lugo drove them both home with a double to deep left, and the Sox had an early 2-0 lead on the recently recalled lefty.

The third inning had a similar ring to it: Manny worked a one-out walk, Mike Lowell laced a double down the third base line, and after an intentional walk to Tek loaded the bases, Drew looped a ball that landed right on the right field line for a 2-run single that gave Boston a 4-0 lead.

A double play grounder by Coco would end the inning, but the way the Sox hitters were getting to Olson it looked to be a matter of time before they blew the game wide open.

Unfortunately for the thousands of Nation members who flooded Camden that blowout never happened as the Sox would kill rallies in each of the next two innings with groan-inducing double plays, leaving the door open for another Baltimore comeback.

Luckily for those thousands of Faithful fans who made the trek down to the Inner Harbor Josh Beckett was on his game and made sure there would be no such miraculous comebacks.

Beckett was working his heater with nasty accuracy all day, placing 97 mph cheese on every corner of the plate, and when he wasn't blowing his gas by the Baltimore batters he was baffling them with 77 mph off speed stuff.

How good was he? He didn't allow a leadoff batter to reach base until the 9th and had thrown only 83 pitches through seven innings, with no walks and six Ks up to that point.

Boston once again got two batters on base in the seventh when Youk walked and David Ortiz (1-5) singled to center, but Paul Shuey came on to relieve Olson and got Manny to strike out and Lowell to fly out to squash yet another Sox scoring threat.

But in the 8th the onslaught of Sox baserunners finally resulted in a couple more runs, aided by three consecutive walks, and RBI single by Pedroia (2-4, BI) and a bases-loaded free pass to the walking man, Youkilis.

Staked to a 6-0 lead and cruising along it was obvious everyone associated with the sox wanted Becks to complete his gem, and if it weren't for the never-say-die Birds we might have had our wish.

But when the man who started last night's game winning rally, Brian Roberts, led off the 9th with a ground rule double to deep left center, something in the gut screamed "bring in Papelbon" before this thing got too close for comfort.

Sure enough after Beckett retired Patterson on a foul pop to Tek and whiffed Markakais with 95+ heat, Tejada barely foul tipped what would have been strike three to end the game, then deposited a single to left to score Roberts, breaking the shutout and spoiling Becks afternoon of near-perfection all in one swing.

When old buddy Kevin Millar followed with an RBI double to score Tejada Tito summoned Manny D from the pen, and Beckett raced off to a standing O, ran down the dugout steps to the clubhouse and most likely took out his frustration on an unsuspecting tray of food or a water cooler.

As Delcarmen battled Audrey Huff in an epic 12-pitch at bat my power went out, nearly causing me to blow a gasket, and by the time it returned I got to see Papelbon get Melvin Mora to pop out to Pedroia and put an end to any thoughts of a second straight miraculous comeback.

So the ace did his job and got the team back on track and became the first Sox to lead the league with 15 wins since Pedro in 1999, and now it's up to Curt Schilling to keep the ball rolling tomorrow and end this long road trip on a high note.

As for my prediction on tomorrow's game....

...stay tuned...

...or for just 9.95 per minute you can dial my 1-800 number...

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Game Preview: Sox @ Baltimore GM2

Beckett (14-5, 3.31) vs. Olson (1-0, 3.86)
Camden Yards 3:55 FOX

The Sox will try to put the bitter memories of last night's late inning collapse behind them today, and they get just the right pitching matchup necessary to make it possible to do so.

ML co-wins leader Josh Beckett will try and right the ship for Boston, which has lost 3 of its last 4 games; Becks bounced back from a two-game losing skid with a 1-run, 9K gem in Seattle last weekend, but he has still dropped 4 of his last 6 decisions after starting the season 9-0.

His mound opponent will be rookie lefty Garrett Olson; Olson was just recalled from AAA to replace struggling starter Brian Burres and will be making just his 3rd career start, and Boston needs to capitalize on the combination of playing a horrible team with a young starter on the mound.

Last night's gut-punching loss left the Sox with a slim 5-game lead over the streaking Stanks, who after knocking off the Indians in Cleveland have now won 9 of 11 games and 21 of 29 since the break.

It's up to the horse of the Sox rotation to get the team back on track and stop this latest slide from becoming a division lead-imploding funk.

And with the way the quote/unquote best bullpen in baseball has fared recently and the offense has struggled to score runs, he might just have to hurl a complete game shutout to do so.

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Birds beat up baseball's best bullpen

Baltimore 6, Sox 5
WP: Hoey (1-0)
LP: Okajima (3-1)
HRs: None

SUMMARY
A beautiful pitcher's duel ended in a wild way as Boston scored five runs in the 8th to take a 5-1 lead, but Baltimore bounced back with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning against Eric Gag-me, then scratched the winning run off Hideki Okajima in the bottom of the 9th to stun the Sox.

#1 STUNNER Brian Roberts 2-4, 2B, R
The pesky second sacker has been a thorn in Boston's side this season, none more so than when he led off the 9th with a double and came around to score the winning run on a sac fly

PAN's FAUN Gagne 1/3IP, 3H, 4ER, BB
To say the trade for the former Cy Young winner has been a disaster would be an understatement. Not only is the bullpen NOT better with him as the setup man, it has become decidedly worse, screwing with Oki's psyche and altering what had been the perfect 1-2 late inning punch.

RECAP
You know what they say, payback's a bitch.

Nearly 3 months to the day after the Sox laid one of the most embarrassing losses in Baltimore history, known as the Mother's Day Miracle, on the Orioles, the Birds returned the favor with a stunning late comeback that snatched a victory out of the jaws of defeat.

The fact that they accomplished the feat against the best bullpen in baseball made the loss sting that much more.

While I was at Raymond James Stadium witnessing a brief cameo by Tommy B. and very few recognizable Patriots in a 13-10 preseason loss to the Bucs, the Sox were engaged in an expected pitchers duel for eight innings before an Arena Football-esque scoring binge broke out in the final two frames.

The Pats could have used some of that firepower.

After I got home and shed my sweat-soaked Brady jersey, I plopped down on the couch and fired up the DVR and for seven innings I was treated to exactly what I had expected would take place with two of the AL's best hurlers on the mound.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (7IP, 4H, 1ER, 4BB, 7K) gave up one run in the first inning after Corey Patterson walked, stole second, then came around to score on a single by Miguel Tejada.

That would be the only blemish on the rocking rookie righthander, who has allowed just 5 earned runs with 28 strikeouts in his last 27.1 innings for a scintillating 1.65 ERA over that period.

Although Dice would get into a few jams over the course of his outing, including 2 men on situations in the 2nd & 5th innings, he had control of his pitches and was able to work his way out of any jam he created.

Meanwhile Baltimore starter Eric Bedard, who has been the AL's hottest hurler while ripping off an 8-0 streak since early June, held onto that 1-run lead like it was a historic home run ball, allowing just 3 baserunners in the first seven innings, and using a pair of double plays to escape any potential damage.

Then came the 8th inning.

Bedard (7.2IP, 4H, 3ER, 2BB, 7K) began the frame by fanning Kevin Youkilis but followed with a walk to Mike Lowell, and the wheels proceeded to fall off from there.

Captain Tek singled sharply to left to get runners at first and second with one out, but when Coco's grounder to short forced Lowell at third for the second out, it looked as if Bedard and the Birds would escape the inning unscathed.

Not quite.

Whiffy Mo Painful, who earlier this week expressed his desire to be traded, hit a slow rolling single to left center that scored Tek with the tying run and chased Bedard from the game.

On came ex-Sox Chad Bradford, and Julio Lugo (2-5, R, BI) promptly greeted him with a sac bunt that eluded all the Baltimore infielders and scored Coco with the go-ahead run, much to the delight of the mass of RSN that had packed Camden Yards.

After Dustin Pedroia reached on an infield single to load the bases, Bradford was relieved by Jamie Walker, and Big Papi jumped on Walker's first offering an lined a single past the shift in right to score two more runs, and suddenly Boston enjoyed a 4-1 lead in a game that looked like 1 or 2 runs would be enough to win.

So when Manny stroked a single to left two pitches later to score Pedroia with Boston's 5th run, and the Boston bullpen troika of Gagne-Oki-Paps chomping at the bit to get into the game, it looked like this one was all but over.

Not so fast, Sox fans.

Reliever Jim Hoey (who?!) came in to retire Youk on a fly to center, and then Boston trotted out struggling setup man Gagne for the bottom of the frame.

That's when things really got ugly, and I'm not just talking about the Seth Rogen lookalike's mug.

Patterson (1-2, 2R) got the rally started with a double to deep right on Gagne's second pitch, then came around to score on a single by Nick Markakis to slice the lead to 5-2. No biggie, right?

Wrong.

After walking Tejada and inducing idiot Millar to tap back to the mound, former D-ray Audrey Huff roped a double to the wall in right to plate two more runs, and after Okajima relieved Gagne, Melvin Mora lined a single to left to score pinch runner Brandon Fahey, and just like that the game was tied.

Wow.

As if that turn of events wasn't bad enough, what happened in the next inning was enough for the visiting chowderheads to spit out their crab cakes in disgust.

Boston managed to get two men on in the top of the 9th against Hoey but failed to get one home, and then in the bottom of the inning the end came as quickly as a mid summer thunderstorm.

Brian Roberts, who has torched Boston to the tune of a .316 average (12-38) with 6 doubles, a homer and 7 runs scored this season, drilled a ground rule double to deep center to lead off the frame, then was sacrificed over to third one pitch later by Patterson.

On Oki's very next pitch Markakis lofted a ball to shallow center, and with Coco Crisp possessing the arm of a 12-year-old girl, every Boston fan in the building knew the game was over right there.

Sure enough Roberts scampered home with the winning run, touching off a celebration that had a certain "in your face" quality to it, and the Birds had given the Bosox a taste of their own comeback medicine and sent the thousands of Nation members home with a disgusting feeling in their guts.

Maybe it was from the crab cakes.

Now the Sox will have to shake off the loss and get ready for today's nationally televised game on FOX at 4:00, and luckily for us we have AL co-winds leader Josh Beckett on the hill against rookie callup Garrett Olson.

Which should spell a Boston win.

As long as Beckett pitches a complete game.

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Series Preview: Sox at Orioles

Red Sox (69-45) at Baltimore Orioles (52-61)
Standings: Sox up 6 on NYY, 16.5 on BAL

Season Series: Sox lead 6-2

Probable Pitching Matchups:
GM1 Fri 7:05 Matsuzaka (13-8, 3.70) vs. Bedard (12-4, 3.09)
GM2 Sat 3:55 Beckett (14-5,3.31) vs. Burres (5-5, 4.61)
GM3 Sun 1:35 Schilling (6-5, 4.31) vs. Trachsel (5-7, 4.88)

Keep an eye on: Eric Bedard 12-4, 3.09, 192Ks--the lanky lefty has quietly developed into one of the best starters in the league, and his recent hot stretch (8-0 in his last 9 starts) has put him in the top 10 in nearly every important pitching category in the AL.

Preview:
The Sox are back on the east Coast (thank god!) and will take on their division rival in a three game set this weekend before returning to Fenway for a much-needed 7 game homestand on Monday.

But just being back on the right coast (and you can take that two ways) and playing a lousy team doesn't ensure success for our struggling club.

In fact despite having its three aces lined up to pitch in a series for the first time since early June, this series will be a tough one for the Sox to win.

First off you have tonight's contest, which will feature two of the best pitchers in the AL and promises to be another pitchers duel that could be decided by one fluke play or one bad pitch.

Matsuzaka and Bedard are both hotter than the current heatwave sweeping the Northeast and only the lack of run support Dice-K has received (or not received) over the last few weeks has prevented him from having more wins than he has.

Bedard, meanwhile, merely leads the league in strikeouts, is 4th in ERA & WHIP (1.10) and hasn't lost since June 10th. This game promises to be a doozy.

After tonight the matchups definitely slant in Boston's favor as co-AL wins leader Beckett will face young lefty Brian Burres in Game 2, and Schill will oppose aging vet Steve Traschsel in the finale.

Burres did beat the Sox back in May but has lost 3 of his last 4 decisions and has allowed 28 hits and 19 earned runs in his last six starts for an 8.55 ERA. Decided advantage for Becks.

Schilling will be making his second start sice returning from the DL and although he pitched well enough to win in Anaheim, a boatload of boneheaded plays including a couple by him contributed to the loss, and no one knows how his hand will respond to the ball that nearly broke his finger in that fateful game.

Trachsel pitched well last time out against Boston, allowing just 1 run (none earned) and five hits in six innings on August 1st, but his bullpen let him down and he was saddled with an ND.

Bottom line is Boston is going to have to work hard to take two of three or (hopefully) sweep the series, and with Big Papi still nursing his achy shoulder and
likely to miss tonight's game, guys like Pedroia, Manny and Drew are going to have to step it up to help deflock the Birds before heading back home to face the putrid Rays.

Ironically despite the early start tonight I will be watching the game later this evening because I will be at the Pats/Bucs preseason game. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do!

Go Sox!

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Happy B-Day, Tim: Wake joins AL wins leaders

Sox 7, Baltimore 3
WP: Wakefield (13-9)
LP: R. Bell (3-2)
HRs: BOS-Hinske (5), Mirabelli (4)

SUMMARY
In a game that featured to a number of wacky plays Tim Wakefield earned his 13th victory on his 41st birthday, Doug Mirabelli nearly blew the game then won it, and Eric Gange made his Sox debut as Boston took 2-of-3 from the Birds.

#1 STUNNER Belli 3-3, 2R, 2BI, BB, HR
His base running gaffe nearly doomed the Sox in the sixth, but the veteran catcher made up for it with an RBI single in the seventh that gave him his first 3-hit game in nearly three years.

PAN's FAUN Rob Bell 2/3IP, 4H, 4ER, BB
What do you expect from a former Devil Ray castoff with a career ERA of 5.61? The 30-year-old righty was plain awful in the 7th, turning a tie game into a Red Sox rout.

RECAP
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Timmy, happy birthday to you."

I'm sure that's the tune that Tim Wakefield's teammates serenaded him with in the locker room following this game, along with the mandatory beer shower of course.

On the day the knuckleballer turned a robust 41 years old the 15-year vet showed the rest of the league that he's still got what it takes to be a top pitcher in the major leagues, and he's got the record to prove it.

By tossing seven solid innings and lasting just long enough to benefit from another Sox uprising, Wake (7IP, 6H, 3ER, BB, 5K) joined teammate Josh Beckett as well as four other hurlers atop the AL leader board in wins, one behind ML leader Carlos Zambrano's 14.

Not bad for a guy who broke into the league when fellow starter John Lester was 8 years old.

But for a while it looked as if Wake would not join the 13-win club, and he had no one to blame but himself for the missed opportunity.

Well himself and his personal caddy, Doug Mirabelli.

After blowing a bases loaded situation in the second, the Sox jumped out to a lead in the third courtesy of a couple of strange plays by left fielder Jay Payton.

The disgruntled former Sox sub misplayed a high fly from David Ortiz (1-5, R) that landed on the warning track in front of the Monster for a sun-aided double, and three pitches later Manny lined a Jeremy Guthrie offering directly over Payton's head for a sharp single that scored Papi and put the Sox on the board first for the first time in the series.

Boston then put on a nice little power display in the 4th, and the wattage came from two unlikely sources.

Eric Hinske, starting in place of J.D. Drew who was still dealing with his son's illness, launched a 2-0 pitch from Guthrie (5.1IP, 9H, 3ER, 4BB, 3K) over the bullpens and into the bleachers for a quick 2-0 lead, then on the very next pitch Belli blasted a bomb into the first row of the Monster seats to give his buddy Wake a comfy 3-0 advantage.

But faster than you can say "where's my Geritol?" Wake blew the early b-day present, surrendering a three-spot to the Os in the 5th on a triple, a sac fly, two singles and a double and all of a sudden the game was back to square one.

Showing his age, I guess you could say.

Boston wasted a leadoff single by Manny (2-5, BI) in the bottom of the inning when Lowell grounded into a double play, then they really screwed the pooch when Belli had a major brain fart in the last half of the sixth.

The catcher culminated a 7-pitch at bat with a solid single to center to lead off the frame, then advanced to second on a sac bunt by Alex Cora. After Pedroia (2-3, 2BI, 2BB) walked on four pitches, Youk lofted a lazy fly ball to right that tricked Nick Markakis, who dropped the popup for an error that loaded the bases with one out.

Guthrie was replaced by Jamie Walker, and when he allowed a DEEP drive to center field by Big Papi, it looked like the Sox would regain the lead and hand the game over to its awesome bully.

Except Belli messed up the timing of his tag, and by the time he went back and re-touched third, the Orioles had enough time to get the ball in to infield and Doug was gunned down by a good 10 feet for a head-scratching inning ending double play.

Needless to say Papi wasn't happy, and neither was anyone watching the game who had no idea how a guy could get thrown out on a ball that traveled nearly 400 feet.

Luckily for Mirabelli, Wake and all of RSN, he would get a chance to redeem himself in the next inning.

Enter Rob Bell.

Bell got Manny to ground out to begin the 7th, then Lowell (1-4) followed with a single off the Wall, and after Coco forced Mike at second base and stole second, Bell walked Hinske to set up a double play with crappy feet coming to the plate.

After his horrendous miscue the inning before, Belli wasn't about to blow his best buddy's birthday, and he took the first pitch he saw from Bell and dropped it into center to score Coco and atone for his blunder and put the Sox back on top, 4-3.

Cora and Pedroia tacked on RBI hits after that, and all that was left was for the newest member of the Sox pen to make his Red Sox debut.

Hideki Okajima pitched a 1-2-DP 8th, and then it was time for one of the best closers in the history of the game to take the mound for the first time in a Boston uni.

After fanning Millar & Tejada to start the 9th, things didn't exactly follow the Disney script for Gagne when Lowell lost a wind-blown popup by Audrey Huff for a double and Payton followed with an RBI single to right, but he shrugged it off and retired Jay Gibbons on a lazy fly to left, and the birthday boy got his present, hand delivered by his batterymate.

The rate he's going, we might see Wake pitching when he's 50.

NOTES

• Doug's day: this was Mirabelli's first three hit game since Aug. 25th, 2004
• Decision '07: Wake extended his incredible streak to 22 consecutive games with a decision
• Drew didn't make it for the start of the game, but he did pinch run for Hinske in the seventh and stayed in the game
• The Sox celebrated the career of legendary second baseman Bobby Doer before the game
• Markakis' error was his first this season and first in 148 games dating back to last Aug 15th
• The sun wreaked havoc on numerous plays in the outfield, but didn't affect Coco, who made a spectacular leaping catch against the wall to rob Gibbons of extra bases in the 7th
• Cora started in place of Lugo sporting a freshly shaved dome
• Big Hit Hinske strikes again: of Hinske's 24 hits this season, 14 have been for extra bases-- 6 doubles, 3 triples and 5 homers
• 7th heaven: Boston scored four runs in the seventh for the second consecutive game

QUOTES

"To go back and tag and try to come home like that was the second mistake and it's embarrassing."--Mirabelli

"It was awesome. I was a little nervous. But the adrenaline kicked in and the fans really got me going."--Gagne. Welcome to Beantown.

RECORD: 66-42
AL EAST: Up 8 on NYY
STREAK: W-2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Fri @ SEA, 10EST

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Sox comeback to knock off plucky Birds

Sox 5, Baltimore 4
WP: Lopez (2-1)
LP: Parrish (2-2)
SV: Papelbon (24)
HRs: BAL-Markakis (11), Tejada (8)

New setup man Eric Gagne's arrival in the pen brought a standing O from the Fenway Faithful

SUMMARY
On a night Boston fans were introduced to its two newest stars, the Sox appeared to be headed to its third consecutive defeat until a four-run uprising in the bottom of the 7th catapulted the Sox to another come-from-behind victory.

#1 STUNNER Youk 1-4, 2RBI, 2B
He hasn't had a lot of hits lately, but boy has he made them count. For the third time in five games the chrome-domed first baseman ripped a run-scoring extra base hit that played an important part in a Boston win.

PAN's FAUN Chad Bradford 1IP, 2H, BB
Although he wasn't charged with a run the ex-Sox sidearmer allowed Youk's 2-run double that turned the game around and gave the Sox their first lead of the series.

RECAP
Yooooooooooouuuukkk!

That familiar serenade that echoes down from stadiums all over the Nation never sounded sweeter than in the seventh inning tonight when Boston's latest Dirt Dog turned a game full of frustration and missed opps into a cause for jubilation and celebration.

For six innings Baltimore stymied the suddenly slumbering Boston bats, holding the Sox to just five hits and one run a day after limiting the fifth best offense in the majors to a mere four hits and three runs in a disappointing 5-3 defeat.

And it's not like the Birds had a top-flite starter like Eric Bedard on the hill tonight, either.

Aging veteran Steve Trachsel held Boston to one run on five hits and five walks in six innings of work, his best outing in over two months, and despite the Sox racking up baserunners like Lindsay Lohan racks up DUIs, it wasn't until the 67-year-old righty left the game that Boston could put together a multi-run inning.

For the second straight night things got off to a bad start when an Oriole homered in the first inning. And even though Nick Markakis' Monster shot wasn't hit on the first pitch of the game, the fact that spot-starter Julian Tavarez allowed a run right from the get-go sent the message that it was gonna be an uphill battle against these blasted Birds yet again.

Boston went right to work filling the LOB category of the stat sheet in the bottom of the inning when Dustin Pedroia (3-4, R, BI, SF, SB) hit a one-out single and Papi followed with a walk but Manny killed the rally when he grounded into a double play.

As has been the case for the past few weeks (or is it months now?) that blown chance immediately came back to haunt Boston when Baltimore plated a couple more runs in the second on a single by Jay Gibbons and back-to-back doubles by Chris Gomez (1-2, R, BI) and Brian Roberts to push the lead to 3-0 after two.

The Sox finally cracked Trachsel in the third thanks to a walk by Coco Crisp (0-0, R, 4BBs!), an infield single by Lugo combined with a throwing error by Miggy Tejada, his second in two nights, that got Coco to third and a sac fly from Pedroia.

But after Ortiz walked again, Manny (0-4, R)flied out to right and another potential scoring chance went by the boards.

The game followed this maddening pattern for the next three innings; Boston would get a couple of men on base, then find a way NOT to get them home. Against Steve friggin' Trachsel, a guy the Devil Rays gave up on years ago.

Tavarez (5IP, 7H, 3ER, BB, 0K) exited after giving the team a decent start in place of traded Kason Gabbard, and after Kyle Snyder tossed a 1-2-3 sixth, Boston had another golden opportunity to seize control of the contest when Lowell singled off the Monster and Coco walked in the bottom of the inning.

Except Wily Mo Pena was up next, and after he hit a weak grounder to short it was beginning to look like another miserable night for the frustrated & silent Faithful.

And then Trachsel came out of the game, and suddenly it was as if a great weight had been lifted off Boston's shoulders.

Paul Shuey came on to begin the 7th and Lugo (1-4, R) led off with a four pitch walk, then Pedroia rapped his third knock of the game up the middle, and quickly the energy returned to the ballpark as the Big Boppers waited to take their licks against the weak Baltimore pen.

Shuey was replaced by John Parrish, and three pitches later Papi roped an opposite field double off the Wall that scored Lugo easily to cut the lead to 3-2 and set up a 2nd & 3rd situation with no outs, and with Manny coming up it soon became bases loaded and no outs as Ramirez drew his 12th intentional free pass of the season.

That brought Bradford into the game and Youk to the plate, and after a typical lengthy Youkilis at bat the Mr. Clean doppelganger sliced a double to deep center field that scored Pedroia and Ortiz and gave Boston its first lead since the 12th inning of Saturday night's game at Tampa Bay.
Jason Varitek added an RBI single to center to run the score to 5-3, and it was up to the new & improved (?) Boston bullpen to bring the win home.

With newly acquired set up man Eric Gagne already in the pen (he trotted out there between the 5th & 6th innings, to a rousing ovation of course), All Star Hideki Okajima came in for the eighth and surrendered his third longball of the year, a massive shot by Tejada (1-3) that cleared the Monster and landed on Lansdowne, before handing the game over to JP in the 9th.

Coming off his second blown save of the year (of course it was the game I went to), you could tell Paps had that extra determination in his menacing glare, and the All Star closer quickly dispatched the pesky Birds on a groundout and two Ks, the last one punctuated by his patented fist pump that closed the door on what could have been another disheartening loss.

Instead it went in the books as another comeback win.

And Boston didn't even need to trot out its new toy to get it.

NOTES:

• Easy money: After relieving Snyder with two outs in the 7th, Javier Lopez came in and got Markakis to ground out to end the inning and earned the win for his two-pitch effort
• Manny's 12th intentional walk places him third in the AL, behind Bad Vlad (20) and Pronk Hafner (14)
• Coco's four-walk oddity was the first such game of his career, and the intentional pass was his first of the season
• 7th heaven: Baltimore used 3 pitchers who surrendered four hits, four runs and three walks (2 intentional) in the fateful 7th inning
• NESN reported that J.D. Drew was not at the park due to a family emergency with his son; thus Whiffy Mo (0-4) got his second straight start in right, and he didn't even strike out
• Heads up/heads down: when Ortiz walked in the first inning Pedroia was already in the process of stealing second, so when he saw the Papi Shift had left third base uncovered, Dusty raced all the way to the bag before anyone on Baltimore even knew what happened
• Oki okay? After not allowing a home run since Opening Day, Okajima has now surrendered two dingers in his last 7 appearances. The solo shot raised his ERA over 1.00 (1.03) as well
• After singling off the monster in the sixth Mike Lowell was nearly knocked off first base by an over-zealous Kevin Millar; Mike then playfully yet forcefully jabbed his former Marlins teammate in the ribcage
• New Celtic Kevin Garnett threw out the first pitch, then watched the game from a luxury box

RECORD: 65-42
AL EAST: Up 7 on NYY
STREAK: W-1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Thu vs. BAL 105

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Game Preview: Orioles @ Sox GM2

Trachsel (5-7, 5.24) vs. Tavarez (6-8, 5.12)
Fenway Park 705

Rather than move Tim Wakefield up a day Tito has elected to tap Julian Tavarez to start tonight's contest in place of the dearly departed Kason Gabbard.

So after a couple of weeks relegated back to spot bullpen duty, Julie finds himself right back where he wants to be, and where every Sox fan cringes when they see him: in the starting rotation.

Wait a minute, that's not true--we hate to see him in any situation, starting or relieving (couldn't Theo have found a way to ship him back to St. Louie in the Pineiro giveaway, err deal?)

With his recent starting performances bordering on the obscene (28 hits, 16 earned runs in 13 1/3IP) maybe his recent solid stretch in the pen (3H, 0ER in 3 2/3IP) will help his confidence as a starter.

Or he could just shit the bed entirely.

Luckily for us he will be opposed by another mediocre mound man, Baltimore's Steve Trachsel.

After a couple of successful seasons in New York with the Mets, the 36-year-old vet is showing signs of wearing down as he has allowed at least four earned runs in 7 of his last 8 starts.

He's also allowed 9 homers in that time, covering a span of 36 1/3 innings.

Needless to say it doesn't take a Mensa member to figure out that this should be a high-scoring affair tonight, with a high probability of a bunch of balls exiting the Fens and a low probability of newly acquired set-up man Eric Gagne entering a close game in the 8th inning.

Unless the score is 12-11.

Go Sox!

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Ex-Sox conspire to burn Boston, Beckett

Baltimore 5, Big Papi 3
WP: Bedard (11-4)
LP: Beckett (13-5)
SV: Walker (4)
HRs: BOS-Papi, 2 (18); BAL-Roberts (9)

SUMMARY
Josh Beckett was not sharp from the get-go, allowing a homer on his first pitch of the game, and a trio of former Sox players had big contributions as the Os knocked off the Sox for just the 5th time in the teams' last 24 meetings.

#1 STUNNER Brian Roberts 2-5, 2R, 2BI, 2B, HR
The solid second baseman got the Birds off to a good start by plopping Beckett's first pitch of the game off the top of the padded wall in right, then doubled to plate Baltimore's second run in the 3rd.

PAN's FAUN Beckett 8IP, 9H, 5ER, 2BB, 6K
The Cy Young is slowly slipping away for the All Star ace as he lost for the fourth time in his last six starts.

I wonder if it's just a coincidence that the two guys my son got autographs from on Sunday, Becks & Gabbard, had lousy days today?

RECAP
So this is how the Sox celebrate on of the biggest days in Boston sports history?

Following an afternoon filled with exciting announcements and arrivals as well as one bittersweet departure, Boston should have taken advantage of playing its first home game in a week and a sub-.500 squad and parlayed it into the start of another winning streak.

Instead all it got was a second consecutive disheartening loss and another shaky outing from onetime Cy Young shoo-in Josh Beckett, who has now dropped 5 of 9 decisions since opening the season 9-0.

The worst part of it all is that the loss unfolded slowly and deliberately, like a bad horror movie, and the carnage began in the very first scene.

Make that the very first line.

That's when Brian Roberts, who is quietly having another excellent season, ripped Beckett's first offering of the game down the right field line and off the top of the wall behind Pesky's Pole for a crowd-silencing solo shot mere minutes into the game.

Not that a one-run first inning deficit is anything to worry about, especially for an offensive juggernaut like Boston, but things only got worse after that.

In the bottom of the frame Julio Lugo (0-5) was robbed of a sure double on a diving catch by center fielder Corey Patterson, and even though the next two batters reached (Pedroia on an error by Miggy Tejada, Ortiz on a bloop single to center), the rally died when Manny popped out to second and Youk fanned to end the inning.

After both pitchers enjoyed 1-2-3 second innings, Baltimore commenced Act II of Beckett's fright night when it scored three runs in the third, an uprising sparked by former Boston player Jay Payton.

The disgruntled outfielder had a cup of coffee with the Sox in '05 but was quickly dealt when he groused over playing time, but he wasted no time jumping on Beckett's first pitch and ripped a one-out single to right.

Two pitches later Roberts laced a double off the base of the Wall to score Payton all the way from first, and after Roberts swiped third, Patterson walked and stole second, then old friend and longtime idiot Kevin Millar skidded a ball just past the sliding Lugo for a two-run single and a quick 4-0 Baltimore lead.

Told you it was a horror show.

At least Papi (3-4, 2R, 3RBI) provided some temporary relief when he launched a two-run bomb into the seats in right to cut the lead in half in the bottom of third, but the inning could have been even bigger if Lugo hadn't grounded into a double play immediately after Wily Mo led off the frame with a walk.

Bedard (6IP, 2H, 2ER, 5BB, 6K), who leads the majors in strikeouts and had won five consecutive starts coming in, worked his way out of another jam in the fourth.

Youk walked to lead off the inning, then after retiring Lowell on a fly out, Bedard hit Tek and then after wild pitching them both over a base, walked Coco to load the bases with one out.

But he buckled down and got Whiffy Mo to strike out, then after running the count full, froze Lugo on a pitch at the knees to escape the jame with the lead intact.

As usual that missed opp would come back to bite Boston in the nads when the Os tacked on another run in the sixth, this time without the aid of Roberts or an ex-Bosox.

Tejada got the rally started with an infield single that travelled roughly 20 feet, and after former D-Ray Audrey Huff singled him over to second, catcher Ramon Hernandez doubled Miggy home with a drive that landed just over the outstretched glove of Manny and ricocheted back towards the infield, and Baltimore's lead was now 5-2 with four more innings to go.

Bedard came out after the sixth in favor of another D-Ray castoff, Rob Bell, who after tossing a 1-2-3 seventh promptly surrendered a laser shot by Papi into the Boston bullpen to lead off the eighth and was immediately replaced by former Sox reliever Chad Bradford.

For the third time tonight Boston was done in by an ex-castmate when Bradford retired Manny (foul out), Youk (ground out) and Lowell (ground out) to escape the inning unscathed, and although he couldn't close the deal after he surrendered a one-out single to Coco in the 9th, temporary closer Jamie Walker got Lugo to ground into a fielder's choice and Pedroia to tap back to the mound to end it, and a day of celebrating in Beantown ended with a night of frustration and misery courtesy of a bunch of former friends.

Can't wait to see what happens when Gabbard comes back to town.

Luckily we won't have to worry about that till next year.

NOTES:

• Papi not only notched three of Boston's paltry four hits, but he also had his 26th multi-homer game of his career, his first this season since April 8th in Texas
• According to ESPN.com, Beckett went on an expletive-filled tirade following the game and took out some of his frustrations on a water cooler
• Agressive Os: out of the first 20 batters, half of them swung at the first pitch
• Bullpen flux: not only was Gagne not in town yet, but Mike Timlin was dealing with a sore shoulder and Boston announced that disabled reliever Brendan Donnelly will have to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery
• No support: after averaging 8+ runs/game of support for most of the season, Boston batters have totalled just 16 runs in Beckett's last four starts, and that includes a 10-run effort against the White Sox
• The Orioles tallied 10 hits, 9 off Beckett and 1 on Manny D., who gave up a walk and a single before being replaced by Javier Lopez in the 9th
• Lousy Lugo: on top of the 0-fer he misplayed the single by Millar and muffed a grounder to deep short by Payton that was ruled a hit in the fifth. Oh and he was nearly tossed after arguing his strikeout with the bases loaded in the fourth (in his defense, it was ball 4)
• Bedard was said to be suffering from dehydration cramps for much of the game

QUOTES:

"He might be the best pitcher in baseball right now." --Baltimore pitching coach Leo Mazzone on Bedard

RECORD: 64-42
AL EAST: Up 7
STREAK: L-2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Wed vs. BAL 705

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