Game Preview: Sox @ Twins GM4

Buchholz (2-2, 4.50) vs. Hernandez (5-1, 3.83)
705 @ The Metrodome ESPN

If the Sox hope to split the series against the Twins tonight, they'll have to do so against one of the better starting pitchers in the league thus far in '08.

Veteran journeyman Livan Hernandez was supposed to be more of a mentor for the young Minnesota starters this season when he was acquired from Arizona in the offseason, but he has decided to let his leadership on the mound speak for itself.

Coming off a brilliant complete game in which he allowed one earned run and scattered 9 hits against the Chisox, Hernandez ran his record to 5-1 and lowered his ERA from 4.43 to 3.83, the best numbers on a staff filled with green starters like Boof Bonser, Nick Blackburn and Scott Baker.

Boston will counter with a green starter of its own, Clay Buchholz, who got roughed up last week in Detroit (10H, 5ER in 5IP) and is still searching for that elusive first road victory of the season.

But the big news of the day for Boston came away from the field, as veteran swingman Julian Tavarez was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for the return of Sean Casey. The Sox now have 10 days to either trade or release him outright.

The Globe has been reporting that the Rockies are interested in acquiring the 57-year-old starter/reliever, but if a deal can't be worked out the club will most likely let Julian go so he can catch on somewhere else and light that team's staff on fire.

Tavarez, who spent the last 2 years with Boston, had an 0-1 record with a 6.40 ERA this year and had given up three earned runs in in 3 of his last 7 appearances.

Also on the roster front, Manny Ramirez should be back in action tonight after sitting out last night with a strained hammy, and with the return of Alex Cora and Casey, the team should have its opening day roster back and active for the first time in a while.

Now if they can juts go out and get a lead, hold it, and get a win to split the series, all will be well in the Nation.

So long, Julie, and thanks for the (mostly horrible) memories.

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Stanks outslug Sox in sloppy game in the Bronx

New York 15, Sox 9
WP: Hawkins (1-0)
LP: Tavarez (0-1)
SV: Bruney (1)
HRs: BOS-None; NYY- Abreu (2), A-Rod (4)

This screenshot says all you need to know about the game

SUMMARY:
Another day, another interminable, near unwatchable Sox/Stanks slugfest, this one featuring 24 runs, 30 hits, 9 pitchers and 341 pitches, all contained in a tidy 4 hours and 8 minutes. The Stankees had 4 innings in which they scored at least 3 runs, or once more than they had done it all season prior to tonight.

Ug-ly.

Superstar: Georgie Posada 2-5, 2-2Bs, 2R, 3BI
He might be too sore to catch, but he can still hit, and he burned the Sox twice tonight. His first double in the 5th brought the Stanks back to within one run at 8-7, and his second double provided plenty of insurance, plating 2 in the 8th to push the NY lead from 11-9 to 13-9.

The Biggest Loser: take your pick-

• Clay Buchholz - gave up back-to-back homers in the 1st inning, and that wasn't the worst part of his night. By the time he was finished he had been charged with 8 hits and 7 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, and miraculously he didn't take the loss


• Chien Ming Wang - fresh on the heels of his 2-hit gem last Friday, Wang was gonged to the tune of 8 runs and 9 hits in 4 innings, and he didn't take the loss


• Julian Tavarez - was handed a 2-run lead after the Sox rallied for 6 runs in the 5th, only to revert back to the Julie of old by allowing 4 runs and 3 hits in an inning and a third; he did take the loss


• Mike Timlin - made sure Boston could not stage another 9th inning comeback when he surrendered 4 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in the 8th. His ERA is now a Fisk-like 27.00.

The list could go on and on, but I guess I'll stop there.

RECAP:
How do you summarize a game like this? I mean without using 4,000 words and 3/4 of them being curses?

I actually missed the first 3 innings because I was at my son's Little League game, which his team won 12-6; by the time I got in the score was 4-3 Stanks, and little did I know the teams were just getting warmed up, or that my son's game would actually be the more entertaining, better played contest I would see this evening.

You've heard of that genre of movies called 'horror porn'? Well the Rivalry has turned into horsehide horror porn, full of disgusting, over-the-top images that make the viewer want to turn their head, only you can't because you are mesmerized by the sickening sights you are seeing in front of you.

Except these major league gross-outs are about 3 times longer than any of the installments of 'Saw' or 'Hostel'.

I can't find the right words to describe what happened, so I'll revert back to an old lazy blogger trick and let the numbers (and bullet points) do the talking:

• The teams combined for 30 hits (Bos-14, NY-16), and 10 players had at least 2 hits apiece


• 17 players scored at least one of the 24 runs with 7 scoring a pair of runs


• 14 batters drove in at least 1 run, and 7 knocked in at least 2 runs


• Boston trailed 3-1 after one inning, tied it at 3 in the 4th, surrendered 4 in the bottom of the 4th to fall behind 7-3, then exploded for 6 in the 5th to take a 9-7 lead


• Not to be outdone, New York countered that 6-spot with 4 of their own in the bottom of the 5th to take an 11-9 lead, then tacked on another 4-run inning to blow the doors off


• Out of the 30 hits, only 10 went for extra bases, and Boston scored all 9 runs without the benefit of a home run


• Jacoby Ellsbury (0-5) was the only starter on either side not to record a hit

It was one of those games that after its over, you can't really remember exactly what happened and when it happened. It comes back to you in bits and pieces, like a bloop single here and an RBI double there, a big hit by Jeter here and a monumental error by Julio Lugo there...

You know, just like the scenes in a horror porn flick. You can't remember exactly what point in the movie the guy got his larynx sliced open with a rusty butcher knife, but you recall it happening at some point in the picture.

Basically that's all I've got to say about this one. I've already snapped at the wife and berated the dog, so now I'm gonna go play a violent video game on the 360 and take some of my frustrations out on a horde of unrelenting alien attackers.

Maybe then I'll rent Turistas and try and forget about this game.

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Double digit delight: Sox set record with 4th straight rout

Boston 11, Chicago 1
WP: Tavarezx (7-9)
LP: Vazquez (11-7)
HRs: BOS-Drew (7), Ortiz (24), Kielty (1); CHI-Dye (25)

SUMMARY
In another stunning display of timely and merciless hitting, the Boston Red Sox did something that hadn't been accomplished by an American League team since 1922: score 10 or more runs in all four games of a series.

#1 STUNNER Boston offense 11R, 9H
Although no one had a monster game like in the first three contests, any time you get a squad that sets modern day records and does something that no team has done in over a decade, well they are all heroes for that.

PAN's FAUN Javy Vazquez 6IP, 6H, 7ER, 3BB, 10K
Much like teammate Mark Buehrle the day before, Vazquez was cruising in the early going, allowing just 3 baserunners through the first four innings. Then the Bosox hung a 4-spot up in the 5th, and from that point on it was goodbye Javy, hello record books.

RECAP
In honor of ESPN's Greatest Home Runs of All Time gimmick, I think I'll quote the late, great Jack Buck in describing the finale of this fantastic series with Chicago:

"I don't belive what I just saw."

For the fourth consecutive game the Red Sox treated the host White Sox more rudely than Leona Helmsley at a tax audit, shredding the horrid Chicago pitching staff for another 11 runs en route to a record-setting series in which Boston outscored Chicago 46-7, outhit the Chisox 52-23, and outclassed the sorry-ass South Siders in every facet of the game.

Coupled with New York losing 2-of-3 to Detroit so far in their series Boston's East lead has swelled back to 7 1/2 games as they head to the Bronx for a three game set beginning Tuesday.

Suffice it to say that life is good in the Nation right now.

Nothing like four straight games of dragging a team through the mud to pick up one's spirits, ey?

The ironic thing about the series is how much damage Boston did to Chicago late in games, a byproduct of an absolutely horrendous White Sox bullpen.

The Bosox scored 35 of their 46 runs in the 5th inning or later, and an incredible 21 of those runs came in the 7th, 8th & 9th innings, the equivalent of a boxer going for the knockout blow in the latter rounds of a prize fight.

Just like yesterday's game this one was a pitchers duel for the first four innings, the only blemish for each starter coming on solo homers in the second inning.

Julian Tavarez (6IP, 2H, 1ER, 3BB, 7K), making his second spot start since returning to the pen, pitched his best game in over two months, allowing just two hits in six innings, his only mistake an opposite field home run by Jermaine Dye with one out in the 2nd inning that tied the game at one.

That shot offset a home run by J.D. Drew in the top of the inning, also an opposite field blast that was Drew's first longball in 51 games which was also, ironically, the last time Tavarez won a game, June 20th in Atlanta.

Other than that both starters were stingier than a wino with a bottle of Cristal as each hurler allowed a hit here or a walk there but never faced any serious scoring threats...

...until the 5th inning.

That fateful frame for Vazquez began with a strikeout of Jason Varitek but ended with Boston scoring four runs on four hits to effectively put the game out of reach.

Following the strikeout Bobby Kielty (2-4, 2R, 2BI), who has become a full-fledged Nation favorite this week, laid down a bunt that hugged the 3rd base line and shocked Vazquez so much he had no play on the slow roller.

Kinda reminiscent of Pedroia's innocuous infield hit that opened the floodgates in yesterday's game.

Coco Crisp then lined a single to right field, but when Julio Lugo forced Crisp out at second on a fielder's choice, it looked as if the rally was going to come to an end.

Not even close.

Lugo added his 28th stolen base of the season despite a couple of pickoff attempts by Vazquez, and then Pedroia (1-5, R, 2BI) laced a solid single to center that brought Kielty & Lugo home with the tie-breaking runs, and the rout was on with Ortiz coming up.

That's when One Pitch Papi launched the very next offering from Vazquez to nearly the identical spot he hit his second homer yesterday, over the wall in left center for a 2-run opposite-field shot that made the score 5-1 Sox and signaled the beginning of the end for Chicago's hopes of salvaging a game in this series.

Tavarez answered that output with his best inning of the day, striking out all three Chisox batters in the bottom of the inning on just 12 pitches, and before anyone knew what happened Boston was putting more runs on the board.

After Drew worked a leadoff walk to start the 6th, two outs later Kielty blasted a deep home run to right, his first as a member of the Sox and first since September 29th of last season when he was with the As.

7-1 now, and every Nation member was now on the edge of their seats hoping the Sox would do something most of us had never seen our team do before--hit the magic double-digit mark for the fourth straight game.

The chances of that happening looked slim for a bit as reliever Ryan Bukvich, who had been hammered in a couple games this series (then again, who hasn't in that pen?), tossed two shutout innings in the 7th & 8th to hold the scoring machine at bay and dampen the chances of us seeing history made.

But then came the 9th, an inning that has not featured a lot of Boston runs this season, until this series that is.

After the first two batters reached base on a single by Tek and an infield hit by Kielty, Ozzie removed Bukvich in favor of former Bosox Mike Myers, and it was like the plantes aligned and history was destined to be made.

A fielders chioce by Crisp forced Kielty at second, but Lugo followed with a sharp single to left to score Tek with run #8, and suddenly the Sox could smell the blood in the water.

Pedroia lined out to second for the second out of the inning, and then Papi lofted a high fly ball to left that Josh Fields camped under, then swerved, stabbed, and missed the ball as it fell harmlessly next to him for a two-run, two-base error, and Boston had the modern mark on, appropriately, another blunder by the South Siders.

Mike Lowell then added his obligatory RBI on a hard single to left, and when Drew popped out to end the inning, Boston had 11 runs on the board and had swept the reeling White Sox in an historic four-game fun fest.

And now Boston will enjoy a much-needed day off in the Big Apple as the Stanks battle the Tigers on Monday in Detroit, waiting patiently for a chance to unleash this new-found firepower on their hated archenemy.

Who's got the best offense between the two? Hard to say. But on the heels of this wild weekend in Chitown, I wouldn't bet against the boys from Benatown.

Bring on the Stanks!

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Halos split series as Boston bats go silent

Angels 3, Sox 1
WP: Saunders (7-1)
LP: Tavarez (6-9)
SV: Rodriguez (31)
HRs: None

SUMMARY
On a glorious afternoon at Fenway the Sox got a quality start from Julian Tavarez, a solid debut from Bobby Kielty, even a three-K 9th from Eric Gagne, but still couldn't defeat the Angels as Joe Saunders stymied the Boston batters to run his record to 2-0 vs. the Sox this season and the Angels earned the split.

#1 STUNNER Kielty 2-3, BB
Not only did the former flaming redhead notch base hits in his first two at bats, his homer-robbing grab of a Casey Kotchman drive in the 1st inning kept the Sox in the game.

Nice way to start your career in Boston. Like the new 'do much better, too.

PAN's FAUN Kyle Snyder 2IP, 2H, ER, 2K
After relieving Tavarez in the 7th, Snyder worked his way into trouble (runners at 1st & 3rd and no outs), then nearly got out of the jam but he threw a wild pitch which allowed the critical 3rd run to score.

RECAP
I had a feeling the day was gonna turn out like this.

Actually I thought it would be a lot worse; I expected Tavarez to give up 4-5 runs, but I hoped the Sox offense would be able to produce that many as well.

But for the second time in three weeks L.A. starter Joe Saunders (7.2IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 7K) shut down the potent Boston offensive attack, limiting the Sox to just six singles and a pair of walks in 7 2/3 innings of work.

The most frustrating part about this game was that after a slight setback in the first inning, when he allowed his only runs on the day, Julian Tavarez went on to have his best start for Boston since tossing seven shutout innings against the Braves in Atlanta on June 20th.

Curiously the game was delayed a bit when Tavarez (6IP, 2H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K) took a little longer than expected to enter the game from the bullpen.

From what transpired in the first I'd say he should have stayed out there a little longer, because as soon as Julie started throwing real pitches, the Angels took advantage.

The first three L.A. batters reached base when Chone Figgins led off with a single to left center, Orlando Cabrera walked and Vladdy (1-3, RBI) hit a sharp single to left to drive the speedy Figgins home from second.

Tavarez got Garret Anderson to fly out to deep center field, with O.C. taking third on the appendage of Coco Crisp, and then fan favorite Gary Matthews got him home with a fielder's choice grounder to deep short.

Just like that the score was 2-0 Angels, and judging from the less-than-full house at Fenway, many local diehards predicted such a beginning.

Those who arrived late missed the early indoctrination of Bobby Kielty into Sox lore just two pitches later, though.

Casey Kotchman, who had four hits in the series opener, scorched a 1-0 offering from Julie high & deep into the air in right, and without the skilled J.D. Drew out there it looked like the score was about to bloom to 4-zip.

But the once Carrot Top-coiffed Kielty got a bead on the blast, streaked in and timed his leap to expertly pick the ball before it went over the bullpen fence, a play that left Kotchman scratching his head, Kielty grabbing his torso in pain, and the Faithful who were in attendance showering him with a Fenway ovation.

Welcome to a real baseball city, Bobby.

The former A kept the applause coming when he singled in his first at bat to put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the 2nd, but Saunders buckled down and got Coco and Lugo to fly out to squelch the threat.

In the top of the third the emotions generated by the best two teams in baseball playing 7 hard-fought contests in the last three weeks boiled over when Tavarez grazed Cabrera with his first pitch with one out in the inning.

O.C. tried to play it cool by taking a page from the Gerald Ice Williams "slowly remove my gloves, then get real pissed" book of brawls, but he quickly started jawing with the nonplussed Tavarez, and both teams gave a token benches-clearing effort while asking "what the fuck was that about?"

Evidently Julie had accused O-Dog of stealing signs while on base in the series in L.A earlier this month, and the brushback/grazing was a little message from Julie to say "don't fuck with me."

I'm sure Papi patched things up after the game by taking them all out for a few Mojitos.

More importantly was how Tavarez settled down after the outburst and despite walking Guerrero, induced Anderson and Matthroids into rally-killing groundouts.

Things stayed quiet for the next few innings as both starters found their groove, and you got the feeling that if Boston could just get Saunders out of there and get to that rattled Angel bullpen, the game, like the other three in the series, could turn around in a hurry.

Except that plan backfired when Boston went to its pen first and once again allowed a key run to score.

Kyle Snyder, whose last outing was the three-hit, three-run debacle in Baltimore a weel ago, took over in the 7th and continued to regress, allowing Kotchman (2-4, BI) to reach on a deep double to center and Sox killer Maicer Izturis on a single to right, sending Kotchman to third, setting up a potential game-killing rally.

But Snyder caught a break when new Sox backstop Kevin Cash nailed Izturis trying to steal second, and one pitch later a called strike three on a check swing by Ryan Budde had the beleaguered reliever on the verge of escaping the jam.

And then he bounced a pitch in the dirt about six feet in front and to the right of Cash, easily scoring Kotchman with the the ever popular insurance run, and suddenly it became that much harder to comeback again.

A two out single by Ortiz (2-4, R) in the 8th finally chased Saunders, and when Scot Shields came in and gave up a walk to Manny and a Wall-rattling RBI single to Lowell, it looked like the comeback kids were back in business.

Until Drew pinch hit for Kielty and stared at strike three, and every fan in the place thought "why are we paying that guy $70 mill and the other the league minimum?"

More groans followed when the horror show that is Eric Gagne rumbled in from the pen to pitch the 9th, and when Anderson singled on his first pith of the inning, the boos reigning down on him were of the variety normally reserved for Stankees and reviled ex-Sox.

It only got worse when Kotchman hit a hard hopper that bounced off Pedroia's chest for a single, but then suddenly Gagne did a miraculous and cliched thing--he turned the jeers into cheers by striking out the side, including Izturis and Budde swinging to exit the field in style.

Welcome to Boston, where if you perform, we love you.

That would be it for the cheers on the day, though, as Francisco Rodriguez came in and set the Sox down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, including a pair of K's of his own, and the Halos escaped Beantown with a split of what could have been a 4-game BoSox sweep.

Ah well, at least the roadie opens in St. Pete.

NOTES:

-Boston lost despite outhitting L.A., 7-6

-Youk, mired in an awful 5-34 (.147) slump, went 0-4 with three Ks

-Fine me?: a quote by Tavarez regarding the plunking of Cabrera will certainly incur the wrath of the MLB. "I say if you are doing it, to stop doing it because I will hit you..." is how Julian explained the how the beaning beagn with a sign-stealing accusation in Anaheim. Paging Bud selig...

QUOTES:

"I was going after the ball. I wasn't focused on the wall."--Kielty. Alright, enough already, we love you!

"I don't know if he was just trying to throw inside but I just took it personally." Cabrera on Tavrez. To which Julie responded "lighten up, Francis."

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Game Preview: Angels @ Sox GM4

Saunders (6-1, 3.50) vs. Tavarez (6-8, 5.12)
Fenway 205

Well it was fun while it lasted.

A shellacking of Lackey, a late-inning comeback (followed by a closer-imposed meltdown), and a grand slamming of Jered Weaver all made for some thrilling highs and one seriously depressing low against the Angles this weekend.

But it could all end with a thud today.

Boston is forced to tap Julian 4 innings, no mas Tavarez to start the finale of the four game set in order to let Tim Wakefield start tomorrow down here at the Trop, aka his personal highlight house, and also to give the other starters an extra day of rest after an especially taxing week.

The end result means that the Boston offense will need to produce a lot of runs to offset Julie's predictable wildness if they plan on winning this series, especially considering Jonathan Papelbon probably won't be available today, and according to Tito in the Globe today, that could mean...

...can't go there, almost gagned up my coffee.

The task of defeating the resilient Halos will be even harder considering L.A. will have the advantage of throwing impressive young lefthander Joe Saunders vs. the Sox.

Saunders, who lost his last start in Toronto following six straight wins, recorded one of those victories against Boston a two weeks ago, when he allowed four runs and 8 hits in 5 1/3 innings of work of a 10-4 Angels win

Lefties are hitting a paltry .200 off the 26-year-old southpaw, and he's keeping batters to a .233 batting average away from the Mouse House, two stats that don't bode well for the BoSox.

One lefty who will not start for Boston today is J.D. Drew. Instead, again from the always-reliable Globe, recent acquisition Bobby Kielty will make his Boston debut.

Kielty was released by the A's a few weeks back and signed to a minor league deal by Boston, all with the intent of bringing him up as soon as they dumped Whiffy Mo.

Now that Pena is adding to his legacy of potential in D.C., the Sox brought up the 6-year-vet to fill the role of reserve outfielder on the bench. Although he's batting just over the Mendoza line, his experience and maturity in dealing with his role should prove valuable coming down the stretch.

To make room for Kielty the Sox sent Jacoby Ellsbury back to Pawtucket (man that Pawsox shuttle is getting a workout this weekend!)

Another new face in the lineup will be catcher Kevin Cash. He was brought up on Friday after Doug Mirabelli injured a calf muscle in Game 1 of the doubleheader, and the vet will give Tek a much-needed couple of days off after he caught 26 innings in the last two days.

They say Cash has experience catching a knucleball, and we'll find that out as he will also get the start tomorrow at the Trop.

But for today the Sox better have some gas left in the tank to defeat the hungry Halos, because two things you can count on happening today: Tavarez will be gone by the sixth, and Tito won't hesitate to use you-know-who again in the lattter innings.

Here comes the coffee!

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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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Time to panic? Sox drop another game to Royals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyone notice the differences?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Whistling loudly)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the party would be short lived.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Last year that occurred on the 3rd of August.

Right on track for deja vu all over again.

NOTES

Too pissed.

QUOTES

Too tired

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

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Game preview: Royals @ Sox GM3

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

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

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

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

Ouch.

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

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

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

Go Sox--let's ream these Royals!

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See saw game sees Jays pull out the win

Toronto 6, Sox 5
WP: Marcum (5-3)
LP: Snyder (1-2)
SV: Accardo (12)
HRs: BOS-Manny (12)

SUMMARY
Boston survived another shaky start by Julian Tavarez and overcame an early two-run deficit to take a one-run lead after three innings.

But after Julie left the game Kyle Snyder couldn't hold the lead, surrendering two runs with two outs in the sixth and the Jays would hang on for the win.

#1 STUNNER Alex Rios 3-4, 2-2B, R, GW RBI
Talk about riding an All Star high.

The HR Derby runner up continued to feast on Boston pitching, notching his second three-hit game in a row including a double that knocked in the go-ahead run in the sixth, and with two of the hits coming off Julian Tavarez, who he absolutely owns (see bleow.).

PAN's FAUN Snyder 1.2IP, 2H, 2ER, 1BB
Things started out okay for Kyle when he retired the first four batters he faced in relief of Tavarez, but Toronto scored two runs with two outs in the sixth to turn what looked like a nice Sox win into a tough-luck loss.

RECAP
I got one thing to say about this game:

What the hell happened?

I spent the day getting toasted at the beach, in more ways than one of course, and after I got home, grilled the wife & I some dinner and plopped down on the couch for the game, I was more than a little bit spent.

So I was thrilled to see the Sox take another early lead when Manny followed a two-out single single by Ortiz by ripping an offering from Jays starter Shaun Marcum (6IP, 7H, 3ER, 1BB, 6K) over the Monster for a two-run jack and a quick 2-0 Boston lead.

And I was still coherent enough to remember Tavarez, who allowed at least two base runners in each of the first four innings, coughing up the lead in the third when Toronto strung together four hits, a hit batter and a walk to plate four runs and grab the lead back from Boston.

The damage could have been worse, but the Sox cut down a run at the plate when Manny & Lugo sent perfect relay throws to Tek on a double by Gregg Zaun to nail Aaron Hill trying to score, keeping the game at 4-2.

But it was in the bottom half of the inning that I started to get a little drowsy from a devastating combo of sun, beer and my big comfy couch, so I was happy to see Boston slap three runs on the board to take a 5-4 lead before I completely nodded off.

J. D. Drew got the inning started with a hustle double to left on a ball that got between Troy Glaus and the bag at third and trickled into the outfield. Unfortunately Drew would leave the game later after re aggravating his balky hammy on the play. Figures.

Anyway, Dustin Pedroia did his duty by grounding out and getting Drew to third, and with Papi coming up it looked like a run in the books for sure for Boston.

Except this David Ortiz isn't the same Ortiz that would capitalize on a situation like this time and time again over the past few seasons thanks to his myriad ailments, and when Marcum got him to line out to short on a check swing it looked like the scoring chance would be wasted.

It was up to Manny, who like Rios is another member of the All Star team riding high since his return to action, to pull out a clutch two-out hit. He had already driven in five runs in the series, and with first base open you would think Marcum would be careful with him.

Nope. Manny (2-5, R, 3BI) roped Marcum's third pitch for a solid single to left center, scoring Drew for his third RBI of the game and slashing the Sox deficit to 4-3. Still, there were two outs and a man on first, so it looked like they'd have to settle for just the one run.

Not so fast my friend.

The Sox got a gift when Troy Glaus butchered Kevin Youkilis' grounder for an inning-extending error, and Mike Lowell, the Sox other hot All Star and leading RBI man went to work on erasing the deficit completely.

Lowell, he of the team-leading 64 ribbies, worked the count to 3-1 before uncorking a towering drive to straightaway center that bounced high off the wall, along with center fielder Vernon Wells, scoring Ramirez & Youk easily on the veteran's 2nd three bagger of the season.

Okay, his name change is now official: Mike Lowell, Professional Hitter/RBI Guy.

Although Tek would fan to end the inning, the damage was done, the Sox had a 5-4 lead, and now I could start to relax a little bit more.

This is when I started to fade in & out of consciousness. I remember Julie working into and out of trouble in the fourth, the Sox go down meekly in the bottom of the frame, and then Tavarez get pulled after allowing a leadoff single to Glaus (2-4, R, RBI, BB) in the fifth.

And then I blacked out.

When I awoke I was wondering what day & time it was, then I looked at the set and saw that it was the bottom of the sixth and Toronto had pulled ahead, 6-5.

What the hell happened?

Thankfully (or not) through the magic that is the DVR I was able to find out what happened, and as you can surmise, it wasn't good for Boston.

Snyder came in to relieve Julie in the fifth and induced a fly out and then a line-out double play to escape the inning unscathed, then he retired the first two batters in the sixth before allowing a two-out walk to Vernon Wells (0-4, R,BB.)

No biggie, right?

Wrong again. Pesky Reed Johnson (2-4, 2R, BI) sizzled a 2-2 pitch from Snyder into right for an RBI double, and suddenly the game was tied, the go-ahead run was in scoring position and Toronto's hottest hitter, Rios, was at the plate.

Three pitches later Rios had his third hit of the evening, a wall-scraper double that plated Johnson with the lead run, and Snyder was out of the game, one batter too late and not able to get that elusive final out.

Mike Timlin did, though, when he got Frank Thomas to fly out to deep center to end the inning, and the Sox had to feel confident about their chances to score one run over the next four innings.

Wrong again.

A combination of relievers Scott Downs and Casey Janssen shit down the Sox in the 7th and 8th, and when Janssen allowed a two-out double to Cap'n Tek in the 8th, Jays manager John Gibbons brought in closer Jeremy Accardo to get the increasingly common four-out save.

Accardo, who has filled in nicely with high-priced bust BJ Ryan on the DL again, got Coco to pop out harmlessly to short to end the threat, then all he had to do was set down the Sox in the 9th to preserve the win.

That wasn't as easy as it sounds. Wait, that doesn't even sound easy. Ah fuck it...

Julio Lugo (1-4) led off the ninth with a sharp single to right to get the tying run on board, and after Wily Mo, who replaced Hinske who replaced Drew, whiffed (of course), Lugo stole second and Pedroia followed with a gritty 3-2 walk.

So the scene was set. The potential tying run was in scoring position, the potential winning run (in the form of pinch runner Alex Cora) was on first, and the Big Boppers were coming to the plate--a golden opportunity for a seldom seen (this year) walk-off win for the Sox.

Only it wasn't meant to be.

Papi, who must be hurting from the way he missed this pitch, flied out harmlessly to center, and once again it was up to Manny to come through with two outs to save the day.

Although he did hit a solid drive to right the ball was easily caught by Rios (appropriately), and the Sox still cannot seem to put together a decent winning streak unless they are playing the D-Rays.

Speaking of, the Rays knocked off the Stanks and his highness Roidger Clemens tonight down at the Trop.

So we got that going for us.

NOTES

• The Sox tallied 10 hits while the Jays had 12 base knocks
• Drew was replaced by Eric Hinske in the fourth, went 0-1, and was then replaced for pinch hitter Wily Mo in the seventh; Pena singled in that at bat, his first pinch hit in 11 tries this season
• Timlin had another terrific outing (2.1IP, 0H, 0R, K) and has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances
• Joel Pineiro came off the DL and pitched the ninth; he got two quick outs before allowing a double to Thomas and a walk to Glaus, giving way to Javier Lopez, who struck out Overbay to end the inning
• Manny's homer was #582 of his career and 54th against the Jays, his most vs. any team
• As I mentioned above, Rios absolutely owns Tavarez. The slugger is 10-14 lifetime against Julie with two doubles, a triple and a homer. Yikes.

QUOTES

"He may take it to a new level now that he's played in that All-Star game. I think he probably enjoyed that."--Gibbons on Rios

"I'm seeing the ball good. The first couple games I've felt great."--Rios. Thanks Captain Understatement!

"We've seen David [win games] so often. Then Manny rifles the ball to right but it didn't find the outfield grass. It was a great swing."--Tito on the disappointing ending

RECORD: 54-35
AL EAST: Up 10 on TOR, NYY
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Sat v TOR 7:o5

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Tigers slam Sox back to reality

Detroit 9, Sox 2
WP: Miller (4-2)
LP: Tavarez (5-7)
HRs: BOS-Mirabelli (3); DET- Granderson (12), Thames (9)

SUMMARY
Boston got a taste of its own medicine tonight as the Tigers used a big inning and a game-breaking grand slam (stop me if this sounds familiar) to halt the Sox four game winning streak.

Just one night after Boston racked up 21 hits and 15 runs, rookie lefty Andrew Miller shut the Sox offense down, and Julian Tavarez got lit up like a Montecristo en route to his third straight defeat.

#1 STUNNER Marcus Thames 1-3, GS, 5RBI
Not only did the giant left fielder break the game open with his 5th inning grand slam, but two of his other fly outs were long enough to be gone in most major league ballparks.

All told I'd say he hit roughly a thousand feet worth of outs tonight, and if it weren't for Coco he would have had 10-12 total bases on the evening. Not a bad game.

PAN's FAUN Tavarez 4.2IP, 10H, 8ER, BB, 4K, 2HRs
I already renamed this category in honor of Julie's otherworldly, goat-like tendencies, and now I might have switch the name again, to Tavarez' Twisted

RECAP
Just when you think it safe to believe that the Sox had put the rough patch of poor pitching and spotty hitting behind them, along comes a game like this to act like a slap in the face from a co-worker who didn't appreciate your happiness hugs.

One night after dismantling the Devil Rays, Boston got its lunch handed to them in the form of a D-Town beatdown as the Tigers scored eight runs in the fourth and fifth innings combined, fueled by a monster granny from Marcus Thames, and coasted to an easy victory from there.

And unfortunately for Boston the flammable material known as Julian Tavarez who hastened his ouster from the pen last season due to his knack for blowing games wide open has reared his ugly head again, and who knows if 'dependable 5th starter Julie' will ever make an appearance again.

Tavarez has seemed to implode both psychically and mentally over his last few starts, displaying more tics than Rain Man on crack and suffering from a sudden inability to make it past the fifth inning without having at least one horrendous episode where the other team circles the bases like video game characters.

Tonight Julie was generous; he spread the carnage over two innings. Detroit sent seven men to the plate in the fourth and had four hits and scored three runs, then topped that by batting eight times in the fifth, with five of those men coming around to score as Detroit blew the game wide open and took an 8-2 lead.

At least none of them got two hits in an inning.

Ironically the Sox struck first on a glorious Detroit summer evening in front of a packed house, but the way Boston had to fight to score that run should have given an inkling as to what kind of night it would be.

Wily Mo (playing left field in place of Manny, who was DHing) hit a drive to right center that dropped in front of Curtis Granderson and the talented center fielder mistakenly allowed the ball to get past him; as it skidded all the way to the wall, Wily Mo raced around the bases for a leadoff triple.

Sweet. Whiffy Mo finally got a big hit!

But what would follow next wasn't so sweet (for Boston fans), and in the blink of an eye Granderson would have his revenge for his minor fielding miscue.

New addition Jeff Bailey, called up today to play first base and making his big league debut, lofted a ball high to center that Granderson camped under; perhaps with the blunder in mind, third base coach DeMarlo Hale sent Wily Mo to the plate.

Granderson's throw was right on the money, and so was Mike Rabelo's tag and Wily was a dead duck, and just like that a man on third and no outs turned into no one on, no one home and two outs, and it was time for that queasy feeling to start taking root in the stomachs of RSN.

The agita was temporally erased when Lugo followed the play with a walk, then stole second and came around to score on Coco's clutch RBI single to give the Sox a 1-0 lead, but the advantage would be short lived and it would not return.

That's because Tavarez, who had been pitching pretty decently up to that point, came unglued in the bottom of the fourth.

The whole mess started when Gary Steroidfield hit a hard grounder to third and Lowell tossed it into the stands for a single and an error, and Detroit had a man in scoring position just three pitches into the inning.

Magglio Ordonez, the leading hitter in the majors, then muscled a Tavarez pitch into shallow center that scored Sheff with the tying run, but after Carlos Guillen hit a sharp single to center (very busy position tonight), Coco made a pair of back-to-back spectacular catches that appeared to save the game.

Sean Casey tested Crisp first as he launched a Tavarez fastball into the cavernous centerfield region that Coco easily tracked down and hauled in, making the awesome look merely routine, but it was his grab of Thames' moonshot that followed that had to impress even the most jaded Coco watcher.

Thames, who's built like Wily Mo but is more flexible, drove a deep shot that was curling away from Crisp and appeared would score both runners with ease. But the Amazing Coco charged in on his cloud of magic dust and snagged the ball just before the wall for as dazzling a sacrifice fly as you'll ever see, and Detroit had to settle for three runs and a 3-1 lead.

Just like Granderson, Thames would get his revenge, though.

Miller (7IP, 3H, 1ER, 4BB, 6K) retired Boston on 11 pitches in the top of the fourth, and Detroit immediately got started on removing Tavarez from the game in the bottom of the frame.

Immediately, as in Granderson (3-5, BI) hit Julie's first pitch of the inning deep into the seats in right for a momentum-building homer, and suddenly the guy who nearly allowed a run to score for Boston earlier had taken one away from them and added one for his own team.

I should've named him the player of the game I guess.

Wait a minute, I know why I didn't. After Tavarez loaded the bases on a single, HBP and walk (was Tito just fucking with everyone by leaving him in there to roast or what?), Thames stepped to the plate and made sure that the next pitch he hit would not be hauled in by any circus-like catch.

Thames destroyed Julie's fifth pitch for a demoralizing grand slam, and much like the night before the Sox knew what it felt like to have a game torn wide open by a back-breaking granny.

Except last night's version of the experience was way more fun, I thought.

Tavarez would leave after that having allowed a season high 8 earned runs, and although Boston did muster a couple of meek scoring chances off Miller, including back-to-back walks to Drew & Pena in the sixth and the promise of walk and ground rule double by Lowell in the eigth, but each opportunity was quickly snuffed out.

By the time Doug Mirabelli hit a leadoff homer in the 9th it was time to start thinking about tomorrow's game, especially like which lineup will Tito employ, and who will be the first man to come out of the pen when Gabbard gets in trouble?

NOTES

• Hit & miss: for all his awesome offensive exploits, Lowell's declining defense remains a mystery. The Gold Glover committed his 13th error on the season, and to put that into perspective, his career high is 14 errors for an entire season. Baffling.
• Defensive gems: along with Coco's catches and Granderson's dart, Wily Mo made a nice running catch of an Inge rocket in the fourth; Pedroia snagged a hot liner that saved a run in the fifth; Polanco snared a hot shot by Lugo in the seventh; and Coco made a circling, over the shoulder catch of another Thames scud in the seventh. He's starting to resemble a circus freak out there!
• Flip side: a sign of how things went for Boston--a pop up by Polanco dropped in between three Sox fielders for a cheesy bloop double in the bottom of the 8th. Check please!
• No Papi: Ortiz was told he would have the night off on the plane ride to Detroit last night, according to the Globe
• Hello, Jeff: Bailey is an incredible story, having struggled through 11 minor league seasons and a position change (from catcher to 1B/DH) due to a shoulder injury that led to a sudden inability to throw the ball from the plate to the mound; he follows PawSox teammate Jacoby Ellsbury as the only position players to make their MLB debuts for the Sox this season
• Boston managed just five hits, one each by Coco, Lowell, Manny, Belli and Lowell; Pedroia (0-4) had a nine-game hitting streak snapped
• As I predicted (pat pat) don't think about Youk taking the field in this series, and expect Papi to get another game off as well

QUOTES

"We were down 4-1, and we didn't want to go to the pen in the fifth, so we walked Casey to try to get Julian against Thames. That worked out about as badly as it could have."--Francona, clearing up my question as to why the fuck he left Tavarez in there

"This was my worst outing."-- Tavarez. My question: How can you tell?

"He's got a tremendous arm with good stuff. As he progresses and learns command, he's going to be a special kid."--Francona on Miller

RECORD: 53-32
AL EAST: Up 11 on TOR, NYY
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Sat @ Det 7:05

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Another day, another disheartening loss

Texas 2, Sox 1
WP: Loe (5-6)
LP: Tavarez (5-6)
SV: Gagne (10)
HRs: None


SUMMARY
The Sox lost yet another one-run game as Julian Tavarez turned in a quality start, but the Boston offense continues to be stuck in neutral; the team has scored just eight runs in its last four games.

#1 STUNNER Kam Loe 6IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 1K
Add Loe's name to the pile of pitchers who have gone from obscurity to All Star abilty against the Sox. To his credit, Loe has now won four straight after a putrid 1-6 start.

PAN's FAUN the whole Boston team
No one person is to blame for this current crop of god-awful games. From poor defense (two errors and a number of sloppy plays) to an uncanny knack for leaving a ton of men on base (11 more yesterday), this team is struggling in a big way right now.

Thankfully they have that large division lead to soften the severity of the problems.

RECAP
After a few hours of playing video games (XBOX 360's The Darkness-RENT!), watering the lawn & garden and watching a terrible movie ("The Messengers"-don't rent!), my perspective has returned and I find I'm able to rationally discuss the game and what has happened to our once awesome Sox.

Nothing like playing a video game that has a demon-possessed mafioso traipsing around NYC on a bloodthirsty, murderous rampage, devouring the hearts of all the goons and goombahs who dare challenge him to clear the head after a loss like that.

The Sox sudden inability to put runs on the board, and consequently win some of these close games they have been involved in over the past few weeks, may have reached Level Orange with today's loss to the (not so lowly) Rangers.

Stop me if you've heard this before: a struggling/no name pitcher shuts down the potent Sox offense, while the Boston starter does a good enough job to get the win but the lack of run support makes it virtually impossible to do so.

Sound like a broken record? That's because of the 27 games Boston played in June, an astonishing 12 of them were one run affairs, and of those dozen the Sox won only half.

Not exactly a stellar percentage for a championship-caliber club.

Even more amazing is the fact that they have been involved in two 1-0 games (won both), one 2-0 game (won) and five 2-1 contests (3-2.)

That's a lot of low-scoring close games to be involved in in one month, especially for a team that supposedly possesses one of the best offenses in the majors.

Right now anyone would be hard pressed to believe that this team has a better offense than the D-Rays as once again a slew of missed scoring opportunities doomed the Sox on Sunday afternoon.

Tavarez (5.2IP, 7H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 2K), coming off a nightmare outing in Seattle, gave his team every chance to pull this one out by holding the high-powered offense to just one earned run (2 runs) through 5 2/3 innings.

The first run Texas scored was no fault of Julie's though, as Texas scored once in the fourth thanks to a single and two Boston errors.

Saturday night's hero Sammy Sosa started the inning with a single to right, and then Sox nemesis Frankie Cat reached on a throwing error by Alex Cora, starting in place of Who?-lio Lugo again.

Another Saturday stud, Marlon Byrd, then muscled a Tavarez offering into right that crossed up J.D. Drew and young CF Jacoby Ellsbury, and as Drew glanced to avoid Ellsbury the ball glanced off his glove, and Sosa raced home with a gift-wrapped run.

Tavarez limited the damage when he induced a DP later, but with the way the Sox have been playing, one run feels like friggin 10!

Boston would overcome the huge deficit when they strung together singles by Cora, Pedroia and then RBI machine Youk drove in the tying run in the fifth, but much to the crowd's dismay, Loe would retire Papi on a long flyball to the Monster and Manny on a groundout, and two men were left standing on base, wondering what it would be like to touch home plate.

Unfortunately the warm & fuzzy feeling of scoring a run and tying the game would not last long, because in the top of the sixth Texas would take the lead for good when the Cat (dam him!) led off with a walk and Brad Wilkerson doubled him in with a shot high of the monster.

The fact that he was allowed to take third on a couple of piss-poor relay throws didn't really a matter much at that point, nor did the fact that Julie would exit the game after two more batters.

Because at 2-1 the damage was done, and all that was left was for Boston to strand almost a half a dozen more runners, including two in the seventh when Papi whiffed against Frankie Francisco, two in the eigth when Cora grounded out against Eric Gagne, and one more in the ninth as Gagne got Ortiz to meekly pop out to the infield with pinch runner Lugo standing on first base to end it.

And so it will now be up to the youngster Kason Gabbard to stop the bleeding tomorrow night, but who's kidding who? Even if he throws a 1-hit shutout, the way things are going for this team, they'll still find a way to lose.

I'll say it again--thank Christ for that 10-game bulge!

NOTES

• Boston had nine hits, six (2 each) from Tek, Youk and Pedroia
• Varitek hurt his ankle when Akinori Otsuka stepped on his ankle on a play at first in the 8th. Otsuka would leave the game, and Gagne was summoned before the 9th inning for the first time in three years
• Paging Eric Gagne: when Gagne was called to replace Otsuka, he did not want to come to the mound to warm up, per rules when a pitcher leaves due to injury. Despite jeers from the fans and the pleading of his bullpen coach and umpires, it took the Seth Rogen lookalike a good four minutes to enter the field
• Lugo got his third night off in a row, one day after his boneheaded baserunning blunder cost Boston a potential tying run
• Cora went 1-4 in his absence and made a spectacular play behind second in the second inning, but then made two or three horrible plays later. Must be the position
• Drew extended his hitting streak to nine games with a single in the 8th and in that time he's batting .444 (12-27) to raise his average from .236 to .260
• Captain Clutch? Papi latest homerless streak has reached nine games and he's hit just two longballs in his last 20 games. Plus, according to the Globe, he's a less-than-spectacular 7-28 in late innings of close games, with no homers and just one ribbie. Yikes
• Youk played third while Lowell had the night off and had a pair of hits; his RBI was his ninth in the last eight games. Hinske took first base
• Kenny Lofton continues his audition for a mid-season trade to a contender as the 40-year-old speedster had another pair of hist and he is now 8-13 in the series, though he hasn't scored a run-hmmm.

QUOTES

"If our starting pitching continues to perform like it has, there's light at the end of the tunnel." -- Rangers manager Ron Washington; if they keep playing Boston, there is!

"You go through times when it seems like you're whacking it all over the ballpark. We'll straighten it up and we'll put a bunch up."--The Power of Positive Thinking by Tito Francona

RECORD: 49-31
AL EAST: Up 10.5 on TOR
STREAK: L-2
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: Mon vs. TEX 7:05

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