Series Preview: Mariners @ Sox

Seattle Mariners (21-39)
AL West: 15.5 GB
Streak: L4
Last 10: 3-7

3 game series @ Fenway Park
Game 1 Friday 7:05
Hernandez (3-5, 3.29) vs. Colon (3-0, 3.50)
Game 2 Saturday 3:55 FOX
Batista (3-6, 5.90) vs. Wakefield (3-4, 4.50)
Game 3 Sunday 1:35
Washburn (2-7, 6.56) vs. Masterson (2-0, 2.95)

PREVIEW:
Had to cut the normal preview post short to bring the updates on the suspensions from the Raysbrawl game last night.

According to the Globe Coco Crisp, or Cock-o as I have now taken to calling him for obvious reasons, rightfully received the harshest penalty with a 7-game suspension. Fellow Sox Jon Lester (5 games) and Sean Casey (3) were the only other members of the Boston team to get suspended, curious because neither player appeared to be active participants in the melee.

The Rays on the other hand were hit pretty hard as starters James Shields (6 games) and Edwin Jackson (5) received the equivalents of one missed start each, while Jonny Gomes (5), Carl Crawford (4) and Aki Iwamura (3) got lighter sentences.

The punishments will be staggered so everyone doesn't sit at once, and Crisp has stated he will appeal his, allowing him to play tonight. Expect him to get maybe one game shaved off, but that's about it.

All in all a pretty costly evening for both clubs.

As for the undercard of the Friday night fisticuffs between Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis, ESPN is reporting that Manny took exception to Youk tossing some equipment around the dugout following an out he made in the bottom of the fourth.

This is unsubstantiated by the ball club but is easy to believe that even his own teammates are tiring of Youk's ultra-sensitive intensity regarding balls, strikes and outs.

There is some good news amidst all this brawl-filled bullshit: Jacoby Ellsbury's wrist injury appears to be minor and he should only miss a game or two.

So we got that going for us.

As for this series Seattle staggers into town having lost four in a row and 12 of its last 15 games, with two of those wins coming against the Sox in Seattle a week and a half ago.

Since taking the final two games of that series and a game against Detroit two nights later the Mariners were swept by the Angels, prompting a post-game expletive-laced tirade by manager John McLaren Wednesday night.

So basically the Ms are the one team that might be more of a mess than the Sox are right now, but with a lot worse record. As in the worst record in baseball worse.

The roster for the game tonight, when Bart Colon goes for win #4 in four starts since being called up, will feature Coco Crisp in center but Manny will not be in left. he tweaked his already tender hammy in the 7th inning last night, leading to a rare pinch running performance by Kevin Cash, so he will sit out tonight.

In his place Brandon Moss, who was called up after the game when Chris Carter was shipped back on the PawSox express, will start in left while Mayor Casey takes over the DH duties.

Moss had been on a tear since coming back from his appendectomy, so his bat will be a welcome addition with Papi and now Manny and Ellsbury missing time.

Anyway it will be nice to get back to talking about baseball instead of fights and bickering.

At least for a day.

Read More......

Sox Drawer: Brawlgame - The Aftermath

Let's get ready to ruuuummmbbbble!!!!

Believe it or not there was actually a ball game that took place at Fenway last night.

It's just that it got lost amid all the rumbling, tumbling and stumbling that went on both on the field and in the dugout in what will be remembered as one of the wildest, weirdest and costliest games in Boston history.

Set aside the fact that Boston did sweep the series with the Rays and jumped back into first place in the East by a game and a half in doing so. The real story here is twofold, and as I stated last night, the repercussions of last night's brawlgame will be felt for a while to come.

1.) How long are the Sox going to be without Crisp, who is sure to get a hefty suspension and fine for his foolishness, and Ellsbury, who was injured bad enough to have to come out of the game

2.) Will the dugout confrontation between Manny and Youk fracture the clubhouse and cause a possible season-imploding rift in the chemistry of this team, or will it be forgotten about as soon as tonight's game?

The whole thing about the Crisp situation would be meaningless if it weren't for Ellsbury's injury. Had Ellsy not gone down, Coco would have sat out his 4-6 games, played sparingly upon his return, and been shipped to another team before the July 31st trade deadline.

As it stands now the team might need Coco back on the field ASAP if Ellsbury has to miss significant time, and that means a whole lot of roster shuffling and hand-wringing for Tito, Theo and the brass.

Either way Coco is as good as gone for his mentally retarded actions of the last two nights, and the Nation will finally get what it has wanted all along - Ellsbury as its everyday centerfielder.

As far as the Youk/Manny situation, the consensus is that the two were arguing over Ramirez' late participation in the brawl and since emotions were running high Manny just reacted in the heat of the moment to something Youkilis said and that's all there is to it.

Whether that's true or not one thing's for sure: Youk had to say something pretty bad to get Manny fired up like that, and chances are it's not just the one thing that sent him over the edge. Ramirez and Youkilis couldn't be more opposite, and I have a feeling that this is something that might have been simmering below the surface and in the locker room before this incident brought it to the surface.

In fact I noticed onthe night of Manny's 500th home run that Youk didn't seem to thrilled to congratulate Ramirez like everyone else did. Perhaps it was my imagination, or a sign that things aren't so rosy between the team's most laid-back and hair-trigger hitters.

Who knows. Only time will tell if the events of last night affect this team well into the summer, but as of right now it was certainly a dark day for the team and the town in what has been an otherwise mostly sunny season.

Stay tuned.

Read More......

Sox and Rays go MMA in an ugly, costly win for Boston

Sox 7, Rays 1
WP: Lester (4-3)
LP: Shields (4-4)
SV: None
HRs: BOS- Manny (13); TB-None

Umpire: "Batten down the hatches, this shit is going down NOW!"

SUMMARY:
A wild game at Fenway saw the Sox engage in fisticuffs with the Rays on the field and then between each other in the dugout as Boston completed the sweep but lost two center fielders.

Coco Crisp charged the mound after James Shields hit him with a pitch in the second inning, inciting a benches-clearing brawl, and later Manny Ramirez was seen slapping & shoving Kevin Youkilis in the Boston dugout. In between the brawling Jacoby Ellsbury left with a sprained wrist, but at least Jon Lester pitched well enough to get the win.

#1 STUNNER: Manny 2-3, BB, 1R, 5BI, HR
He did damage with his bat - belting a 3-run bomb over the Monster in the first inning and a 2-run single in the fourth - and with his hands when he bitch slapped Youk in the dugout at the end of the fourth inning. He also left with a potential knee injury in the seventh.

Busy night for ManRam.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Crisp 0-0, HBP, ejected
He started this whole mess when he package-punched Aki Iwamura last night because he was mad at Jason Bartlett, and then after James Shields appropriately plunked him on the leg, instead of taking his base he took it to the mound, touching off an ugly incident that could linger long into the summer.

RECAP:
Nothing like a little on-field battle royale and off-field infighting to divert attention from the Celtics/Lakers NBA Finals Game 1 taking place across town.

The Sox and Rays renewed long standing hostilities that trace back to Pedro Martinez plunking Gerald 'Ice' Williams in 2000, but to find the origins of this latest incident one only has to look back to last night's game.

When Coco Crisp clocked Akinori Iwamura in the johnson in retaliation for Jason Bartlett dropping a knee in front of the bag as Crisp attempted to slide into second base earlier in that game, everyone knew there would be ramifications in tonight's ballgame.

What we didn't know was how swiftly and severely those repercussions would play out, and the end result of all this misplaced hostility could end up costing Boston dearly in the near future, especially in light of the injury to Jacoby Ellsbury.

The game, which was moved up an hour to 6:05 to accommodate everyone who wanted to watch the Celts play in its first Finals game in 21 years, started out with a bang and just got louder from there when Rays starter James Shields plunked Dustin Pedroia with a pitch one out into the first inning.

JD Drew, who has been scorching the ball since Papi went down, then doubled to deep left center, and up stepped Ramirez, who has also been mashing the ball of late.

After taking ball one from Shields (1IP, 3H, 4ER, 2K, 1HR, 2HBP, 27P), Manny uncoiled his patented silky swing and drove the ball high and deep over the Monster and out of the park, and the Sox had a 3-0 lead before most of the late-arriving crowd had, well, arrived.

Shields went on to get out of the inning, but little did anyone know it would be the only inning he would complete on the night.

Lost in all the wackiness was the fact that Jon Lester (6.1P, 8H, 1ER, 0BB, 5K, 109P)pitched a solid game, the only run he allowed coming in the top of the second when Willy Aybar hit a double high off the Wall with two outs, and after running the count full Jonny Gomes singled him in to cut the lead to 3-1.

Little did we know it would be the last time Jonny would come to bat tonight, but definitely not the last swing he would take.

The real action started as soon as Coco came to bat to lead off the bottom of the second. After throwing him a ball, Shields nailed Crisp with a little message pitch on the thigh, a play Coco himself would have to brush off by admitting it was just "tic for tac."

Only Coco wouldn't take his punishment like a man and walk to first base, and after thinking about it for a second or two, he decided to charge the mound and attempt his best Kimbo Slice imitation.
But Shields was ready for him, and lucky for Coco he dodged the first punch thrown by the Rays starter or Crisp would have been in the BI emergency room having his face reconstructed right now.

The melee then turned into a full scale brawl, complete with sucker punches, cheap shots, rolling around and pig-piling by members of both clubs and coaching staffs, and when the dust settled Shields, Crisp, Gomes and Sox third base coach DeMarlo Hale were ejected, and the only reason there wasn't more is because it was too hard for the umps to get a clear picture of who was really beating on whom.

After the fracas and things settled down Boston scored another run when rookie Cris Carter, who came in for Crisp, came home on a sac fly by Pedroia, but by this point the score was almost irrelevant.

What wasn't irrelevant was what happened during and after the fourth inning.

First Ellsbury suffered a scary injury when he dove and caught a sinking liner off the bat of evan Longoria to lead off the inning, bending his wrist under his body as he hit the ground. The rookie had to leave the game and tests show it's probably just a sprain, but with Coco already gone that meant Boston had to go with an outfield of Carter, making his first major league start, Drew in center and Youk in left.

Ugh!

In the bottom of the frame Boston blew the game open when Carter recorded his first career hit, Lugo followed with a hit, and after JP Howell relieved Grant Balfour, Pedroia (0-2, 2R, BI, BB) walked to load the bases.

Drew (1-3, 1R, 1BI, 2BB) then drew a walk to force in Carter and when Manny dropped a single to left to score Lugo and Pedroia to make it 7-1 Boston, it was all over but the shouting.

Literally.

Following the inning Manny apparently had an altercation with Youk, first backhanding the bald first baseman/third baseman/outfielder and then shoving him against the dugout railing before teammates and coaches separated the two.

As Youk walked away to take his spot on the field he appeared to be clueless as to what set Ramirez off, but something tells me the hot-tempered Youk said something about Manny's lack of participation in the brawl, touching a normally untapped nerve in the eternally placid slugger.

To make a long story shorter (so much for that early start time) the rest of the game was pretty uneventful until Manny possibly injured his knee on a swing in the 7th inning; after drawing a walk he was pinch run for by Kevin Cash of all people, making Manny the third outfielder to be removed from the game due to injury and/or idiocy.

Mike Timlin and David Aardsma combined to keep the score the same despite allowing five baserunners in the last two innings, but the real story of the night wasn't the win, or the second Sox sweep of the Rays at Fenway, or the fact that Boston once again owns a 1 1/2 game cushion in the AL East.

No the talk of this game will be all about the brawls, both on the field and off, and something tells me the ripple effects are going to be felt for many weeks and months to come.

By the way, Celts won Game 1, 99-88.

RECORD: 38-25
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: W3
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Fri vs. Seattle 705 Hernandez vs. Colon

Read More......

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.

Read More......