Beckett steers Boston back on winning track

Sox 5, Detroit 1
WP: Beckett (4-2)
LP: Verlander (1-6)
SV: None
HRs: BOS- Youk (7); DET-None

SUMMARY:
Josh Beckett did what aces do - stop a losing streak by shutting down the opposing team. Becks rode the strength of a 13-hit attack and an early 3-0 lead to stymie the Tigers on six hits and a single run in seven innings as Boston took three of four in Motown.

SUPERSTAR: Youk 1-5, R, 2BI, HR
Hitting in Manny's 4-spot, Youk made like Ramirez when he launched a 2-run homer in the 5th inning that gave the Sox a more comfortable cushion and provided the final margin of 5-1. It was Youk's 4th homer of the series and 8th lifetime at Comerica.

No word if Mike Illitch tried to sign him to a pizza-laden contract after the game.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Curtis Granderson 0-4, 4K
Detroit's sparkplug from the leadoff position had a series to forget - 2-18 with 8 strikeouts - capped by this Golden Sombrero stinker. No wonder the Tiggers had such a horrible offensive series.

RECAP:
Now that's more like it.

After a heart wrenching loss last night, the Sox needed to end this series on a positive note lest they head to play the first place Twins riding a two game losing streak that would have destroyed all the momentum they had built during their five game winning streak.

Have no fear, RSN, because Josh Beckett was here.

Looking more and more like the Cy Young winner he should have been last year, Beckett (7IP, 6H, 1ER, 0BB, 8K) stifled the same Detroit bats that had drubbed Sox pitchers for 18 hits and 10 runs last night, leading his team to a series win as they head into the first place showdown at the Metrodome this weekend.

And it's a good thing he was as solid as he was tonight because Boston had numerous opportunities to blow the game open but they could not capitalize, leaving 10 mean on base including the bases loaded in the 8th inning.

But when your starting pitcher only has one bad inning that results in just one run scored, and your relievers finally come in and don't allow any runs, five runs is enough to win, especially against the reeling Tigers.

Boston would get all the runs it would need in the 2nd inning when eight men came to the plate and three of them scored when the Tigers had a terrible inning that typified their season thus far.

Mike Lowell, who had two more hits tonight and went 8-19 in th series, led off with a single to center against struggling Detroit starter Justin Verlander (6IP, 9H, 4ER, 1BB, 5K, HR), and JD Drew followed with a single to right. A wild pitch moved both runner up a base, and the Jason Varitek lined a shot off third baseman Carlos Guillen that trickled into left field, allowing not only Lowell but Drew to score.

On the ensuing throw to the plate the ball hit Drew and scooted away, allowing Tek to take second base, and then Coco Crisp (3-4) poured gas on the fire when he beat out another bunt hit to set up a 1st & 3rd, no out situation.

Verlander then did what everyone in the Nation would love to do - hit Lugo with a pitch - and when Jacoby Ellsbury lofted a sac fly to make it 3-0, it looked like the rout was on.

But Verlander got Dustin Pedroia to fly out and then fanned David Ortiz to end the threat, and Boston had to settle for a three run lead.

As it turned out, that was plenty.

Beckett worked out of a mini jam in the 3rd when Detroit got two on with two outs, but in the 4th he wasn't so fortunate. After recording two quick outs the Tigers rapped three straight hits off Becks, the last an RBI single by seldom-used shortstop Ramon Santiago, and the Boston lead was sliced to 3-1.

Fortunately for Boston Kevin Youkilis, aka the Comerica Killer, was up in the next inning, and after Ellsbury (2-4, R, BI) led off with a single Youk took the first pitch he saw from Verlander over the left field wall and just out of the reach of rookie Matt Joyce for a 2-run bomb that pushed the lead to 5-1 and let the entire Nation breathe a little easier.

It was Youk's 8th homer at the cavernous ballpark, the most - by a half dozen - that he has hit in any road park.

The rest of the game was a mere formality as Beckett kept mowing down Tiger batters, setting down 10 in a row to end his evening, including a strikeout of Brandon Inge to start the 7th which was the 1,000th K of the young stud's career.

Craig Hansen came in to pitch a 1-2-3 8th in relief of Beckett, and Manny Delcarmen tossed an uneventful 9th (although he did allow a hit, of course), and Boston avenged last night's soul-crushing loss with a decisive win.

Now it's off to that glorious stadium known as the Metrodome for a date with the surprising Twins. I'm gonna have to do some research as to which Sox hits the Teflon cover off that dreary dome.

RECORD: 23-14
AL EAST: Up 3.5 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 8-2
UP NEXT: Fri @ MIN 810 Lester vs. Bonser

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Atrocious pitching, horrible error lead to heartbreaking loss for Sox

Detroit 10, Sox 9
WP: Jones (1-0)
LP: Papelbon (2-1)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Youk, 2 (6), Lowell (2); DET-None

SUMMARY:
Boston came back from deficits of 5-1 and 8-4 to take a 9-8 lead in the 8th inning, only to see all that hard work thrown away. Jonathan Papelbon blew his first save of the year, allowing two runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it was another error by Julio Lugo that prolonged the inning and led to the loss.

SUPERSTAR: Placido Polanco 5-6, 2R, 3BI, GW RBI
The man with the cranium of a T3000 came through in the clutch all night, no more so than when he blooped a broken bat single over Lugo's head to drive in the game winning run in the 9th.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Lugo 1-2, 2B, BB, E
Let's just say there's a certain poetic irony to the fact that the ball Lugo booted for his major league-leading 10th error was hit by the last man who was a complete and unmitigated bust at the shortstop position for Boston - Edgar Rentanerror.

Welcome to the club, Julio.

RECAP:
Boston's five game winning streak and Detroit's five game losing streak both came to a stunning end in a wild game at Comerica Park that had more ups and downs than Robert Downey Jr's career.

If you like horrid pitching and video game-like hitting this game was for you, because it sure had plenty of both. The starting pitchers for both sides, Clay Buchholz and Armando Galarraga, did not pitch nearly up the the level they had been recently, and the relievers for both sides weren't much better.

The result? Detroit slammed a season-high 18 hits, the most Boston has allowed all season, although only two went for extra bases, and Boston clubbed a dozen base knocks, including three more homers and four doubles, in a game that was nearly delayed by rain but still took almost four hours to complete.

I guess the Tigers really are trying to be the new Stankees.

Anyway, I'm too worn out from coaching my son's third baseball game in three nights and then watching this maddening ballagame to write a coherent synopsis right now, so I'm going to head to bed with visions of Julio Lugo bobbling yet another routine ground ball dancing in my head.

Maybe when I wake up I'll read that he's been traded to Chicago for Orlando Cabrera.

Bring back the OC, please Theo!

Goodnight now.
------------------------------------
Well, just as I though, the light of day hasn't made the pain of last night's loss any easier to take. I don't believe Lugo was demoted, traded or castrated overnight either, making matters even worse.

It was a game that resembled one of my son's Little League games in many ways, filled with odd plays, miscues, crazy comebacks and final-inning drama. The only things missing were a pitch count and a "no leading" rule.

As I said both staters were less than impressive, especially Buchholz (4IP, 10H, 5ER, 1BB, 6K), who had his worst outing in almost a month. He was in trouble in every inning, none more so than the 3rd, when he allowed four runs on five hits and a walk.

After a leadoff double by Pudge Rodriguez, Polanco rapped a one-out double to left for the Tigers first run, then Carlos Guillen follwed with a single to center to score Polanco for a 2-0 lead.

Buchholz gave up a single to Magglio Ordonez and walked Miguel Cabrera to load the bases, and slumping Gary Sheffield, who had three hits on the night, singled to left to score Guillen. An RBI groundout by rookie Matt Joyce completed the scoring, and probably should have completed Buchholz' night, but he was allowed to come back for more abuse.

Boston sliced the lead in half when Kevin Youkilis hit a towering homer to left with Mike Lowell aboard with two outs in the 4th, but Buchholz gave one run right back when Detroit got three straight hits with two out in the bottom of the inning to run the score to 5-2.

Boston again cut the deficit in the nexct inning when they parlayed a walk, hit by ppitch, fielder's choice and a stolen base into a pair of runs, the first comeing home on a sac fly by Jed Lowrie and the second on an opposite field bleeder from Big Papi (2-5, BI), and suddenly the score was 5-4 and Boston had hope of winning a game that seemed unwinnable just a few innings earlier.

And then Julian tavarez relieved Buchholz to start the 5th and Julie immediately gave three runs right back as Detroit put together four more hits and a sacrifice, the big blow being a two-run double by Rodriguez that was followed by an RBI single by PPolanco, and with the score 8-4 it looked like it was lights out time for Boston.

Not so fast my friends.

Another longball from Youk cut the deficit to 8-5 in the 6th, and after Galarraga (5.1IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 6K, 2HR) was removed in favor of Zach Miner to start the 7th, Botson got all the way back in the game with one swing of the bat.

Jacoby Ellsbury (2-5, 2R) started the rally with a leadoff single and then he stole second for his 2nd steal of the game and 22nd straight to start his career, and after a couple of outs Manny walked, forcing Leyland to bring rookie righty Francisco Cruceta to face Mike Lowell with the game in the balance.

Lowell made the decision look foolish when he crushed a 2-1 offering from Cruceta deep into the left field seats for a game-tying, crowd-silencing 3-run homer, and just like that it was a new game, 8-8.

Who knew then that the best - and worst - was still yet to come.

The best part happened when Dustin Pedroia lined a clutch pinch hit single off Cruceta in the top of the 9th that scored JD Drew with the go-ahead run that gave the Sox a 9-8 lead with 6 outs to go. Knowing that Boston had Hideki Okajima lined up for the 8th and Papelbon raring to go in the 9th brought a sense of calm to the Nation, and a feeling that the comeback kids would aadd another notch to their belts.

Ah, no.

Oki, who has been shaky lately, barely survived the 8th after he allowed a one-out singles to Ordonez and Cabrera, but fortunatley he got Sheffield to strike out and Leyalnd made a boneheaded decison to send the runners, and Mags was easily gunned out at third to end the inning.

Whew!

Boston had a chance to pad the lead in the 9th when Lowell doubled and Drew walked, but ancient Todd jones escpaed the inning unscathed, setting up the 9th inning dramatics for Detroit.

Papelbon, who had been the only reliable member of the pen all season, had coverted saves in his last two appearances and hadn't allowed a run since April 17th against the Stanks, so there was no fear in the hearts of sox fans that this would be another routine save of a game that was anything but routine.

Turned out that was mere wishful thinking.

Things started ominously when Joyve beat out an infoeld dribbler to short for his first major league hit, and they got worse when one batter later Rentanerror hit a tough hoper to Lugo that might not have been a double play ball but should definitely resulted in an out somehwere.

Instead Lugo got caught up thinking two instead of getting the sure out (another Little League no-no), and after he lost the ball in the transfer, both runner were safe and the tension was suddenly ratcheted up to full peak.

Rodriguez' sacrifice moved the runners up and then Granderson's groundout tied the game, but Boston still had hopes for extra innings if Paps could just retire Bigheado Polanco.

Unfortunately after battling to a full count, Polanco chuncked a broken bat blooper over Lugo's head (appropraitely) and Rentanaerror came around to score the winning run (ditto), and Boston had snuck a loss out of the jaws of victory after fighting so hard to come back and take the lead.

But we just have to put this one behind us and hope Beckett comes out like the Beckett of old tomorrow night and the Sox can at least take the series from the Tigers, and pray that Detroit doesn't use this win as a springboard to a long winning streak that salvages their sinking season.

And pray that Lugo comes up with a sudden injury that will enable Boston to bury him on the DL until they can find a way to unload the latest incarnation of Edgar.

RECORD: 22-14
AL EAST: Up 3.5 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Thu @ DET 705 Beckett vs. Verlander

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Game Preview: Sox @ Detroit GM3

Buchholz (2-2, 3.71) vs. Galarraga (2-1, 1.88)
705 Comerica Park

So far manager Smokey Jim Leyland's ballyhooed shakeup of the struggling Detroit roster - moving slumping slugger Gary Sheffield from 3rd to 6th and making him play the field, switching positions for 3rd baseman Miguel Cabrera and 1st baseman Carlos Guillen - has produced a grand total of 3 runs and 8 hits in two games.

Maybe he should claim he's switching to Nicorette for his next great trick.

The Tigers, who had shown signs of improving recently when they ripped off an 11-5 streak to get back to within one game of .500 and shouting distance of the top of the Central division, have quickly crashed back to Earth thanks to a 5 game losing streak in which they have scored a mere 11 runs and allowed 33.

Hey, at least the futility has been well balanced; their pitching has been as shitty as their hitting.

But tonight the most reliable starter in the rotation takes the mound for Leyland, and it speaks volumes that that title goes to a 26-year-old rookie who has made 5 career starts, four of them coming in the past three weeks.

Armando Galarraga is a spindly righthander who was called up from AAA to take free agent bust Dontrelle Willis' spot in the rotation when the erratic former phenom went down with a knee injury on April 12th.

Since the promotion Galarraga, who was with the Rangers last year, won his first two starts, allowing two runs and 4 hits over 12 innings against Cleveland and Toronto. Although he's cooled down since then, recording a no decision and a loss in his last two starts, he still has as many wins as anyone else on the club and has the lowest ERA among all Detroit starters.

Who'd have thunk this kid would've been the savior of a rotation that included playoff vets Robertson, Verlander and Kenny Rogers plus prized pick up Willis when the season started?

Boston will try to extend its 5-game winning streak when it sends it's own superb rookie Clay Buchholz to the Comerica hill.

After a shaky start to the season, Buchholz has been nails lately, posting a 2-1 record while allowing just 3 earned runs and 13 hits in 19.1 innings over his last three starts. He's also fanned 21 while walking just 8 in that span.

One of the main reasons behind Boston's latest hot streak has been the resurgence of David Ortiz. In his last 10 games Bi Papi is hitting .317 (.13-41) with 5 homers and 11 RBI, raising his average from .188 to .226. It's no coincidence that the rest of the team has followed Papi's lead.

As long as Boston's offense, which has averaged 8 runs and 12 hits per game during the streak, keeps mashing like it has, and Detroit keeps playing like the latest version of the overhyped, overpaid Stankees, this should be another win for Boston.

And if Galarraga should pitch a gem and pick up his team-leading 3rd win? Well they might just put a statue of the kid up there with the big cats in centerfield, as badly as this team needs a win right now.

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Sox streak hits five as Wake handcuffs Tigers

Sox 5, Tigers 0
WP: Wakefield (3-1)
LP: Robertson (1-4)
SV: None
HRs: BOS- Ortiz (7), Manny (7); DET- None (obviously)

SUMMARY:
Tim Wakefield had one of the best outings by a Boston starter this year, holding Detroit to 2 hits over 8 innings while retiring 17 straight batters at one point, and Papi & Manny went back-to-back as the Sox won its second straight game in Motown and 5th straight overall.

SUPERSTAR: Wakefield 8IP, 2H, 0ER, 0BB, 6K, 98P
The best part about wake's performance tonight? NO WALKS!

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Gary Sheffield 0-3, 2K
The surly, slumping slugger, who was dropped from 3rd to 6th in the lineup yesterday, fanned twice tonight, dropping his average to a paltry .178. He has 2 homers and 5RBI this season, well worth the $13 mil he's making, dontcha think?

RECAP:
I missed most of this one due to a LL game (my son pitched a complete game in a must-win contest, BTW) and I DVR'd the Celts game instead, thinking it would only be in the third inning by the time I got home anyway.

Who knew Wakefield would decide to mix in a fastball and curve with his slower than snowfall knuckler, the combination of which baffled the Detroit hitters and helped bring this game in at an NL-like 2 hours and 21 minutes.

By the time I got home at around 8:20 the game was in the top of the 6th inning - at 8:20! - and Boston had already jumped out to yet another early (3-0) lead.

That's what I get for assuming again.

From what I gathered though exhaustive research (i.e. GameCast & SportsCenter), the Sox scored all three runs in the 2nd inning off Detroit starter Nate Robertson (6.1IP, 10H, 4ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR) when the first four batters of the inning reached base, a nice trend the team brought with them from the Rays series.

After Mike Lowell walked to lead off the frame, Kevin Youkilis doubled him over to third, and then JD Drew followed with an RBI single and Kevin Cash (3-4, BI) drove in Youk with another double to make it 2-0 before an out was recorded in the inning.

Julio Lugo killed the big inning with a flyout, and the only other run they managed to score came in on a groundout by Coco Crisp, but as it turned out three runs would be more than enough for Wake.

It's a good thing, too, because Boston blew a few more scoring opportunities after that. The Sox got two men on in both the 3rd and 4th innings and the leadoff man on in the 5th but couldn't get another run home off bend-but-don't-break Robertson, but with Wakefield mowing down the Tigers like a brand new John Deere, it hardly mattered.

Fast forward to the 6th inning, when I came in, and the Sox again got the leadoff man aboard when Cash, who had his second 3-hit game in his last three starts, got a single past Rentanerror at short, but good old Lugo K'd and Coco grounded into a DP to squelch another potential threat.

But in the 7th inning the big boppers struck, and boy was I glad I got home in time to see it live.

First Ortiz, who is finally coming out of his slump despite the gimpy knee, sledgehammered a Robertson pitch high and deep into the right field seats for a titanic blast that pushed Boston's lead to 4-0 and got the Tigers starter removed from the game.

No matter, because Smoky Jim Leyland foolishly brought in a kid named Freddy Dolsi to make his major league debut against Manny Ramirez; I could almost smell how he felt about that decision from my living room.

ManRam promptly welcomed Freddy to the big leagues the only way he knows how, by turning on his first ever MLB pitch and depositing it into the foliage some 420+ feet away from home plate for a demoralizing back-to-back jack that was the final nail in the Tigers coffin on the evening.

It was the 47th time Papi & Manny have homered in the same game.

From there it was merely a formality that Boston would take the win, and not even Wakefield allowing his 2nd hit of the night, a double by Pudge Rodriguez in the 8th, not the return of Tired Arm Timlin to the mound could derail that train.

Indeed the Sox did nail this one down and have now ripped off another five game winning streak, and with two more to play against the clueless Tigers, that number could reach seven by the time they head to Minneapolis to play the surprising Twins this weekend.

I'll be sure to set the DVR for those games.

RECORD: 22-13
AL EAST: Up 3.5 gms
STREAK: W5
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Wed @ DET Buchholz vs. Galarraga

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Sox survive a dicey Matsuzaka outing to beat Tigers

Sox 6, Detroit 3
WP: Matsuzaka (5-0)
LP: Bonderman (2-3)
SV: Papelbon (10)
HRs: BOS-Lowell (1), Youk (4), Ortiz (6); DET-None

SUMMARY:
Boston won despite its pitchers issuing 10 walks thanks to the resurgent offense, which racked up 11 hits, six for extra bases including three long balls, and Daisuke Matsuzaka extended his perfect record, even though his outing was far from perfect.

SUPERSTAR: Lowell 3-5, 2R, 2BI, 2B, HR
How nice was it to see the World Series MVP back in vintage Mike Lowell form tonight?

His 2nd inning homer got the Sox on the board, he doubled in the 4th and came home on Youk's blast, and he narrowly missed a second homer when his 7th inning drive was caught at the wall in left.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Matsuzaka 5IP, 2H, 1ER, 8BB, 1K, 109P
I know it's tough to hang this honor on a guy who actually won the game, but with a linescore as odd as this one I thought it was appropriate. If not for the fact that the Tigers are an absolute trainwreck right now, Matsuzaka easily could've come away with a loss tonight.

RECAP:
I was trying to think of a theme for tonight's post, and it took me about 2.3 seconds to come up with not one but a few:

-Walk on the Wild Side
-Walk This Way
-Walk Like an Egyptian
-Walking in Motown
-I'm Walkin'
-Walk it Out
-Dice-K Walks
-Walking on Sunshine

I nixed those 8 ideas because they were a bit too obvious. But then I came up with a couple more:

-Walk the Line (up)
-Walk Right In

By the 10th "walk" I was tad burned out, though, so I decided to write a normal post, sans theme.

But you get the drift, right?

Somehow the Sox managed to win this game tonight even though its starting pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka, surrendered an astounding 8 free passes and threw 109 pitches in five innings. By comparison, Cleveland starter Cliff Lee, who is also 5-0, has walked only 2 batters ALL YEAR.

Dice-K matched that total in the first inning this evening.

That the Sox managed to win in spite of the erratic effort of Dice-K, who had men on base in each of his five innings yet he didn't surrender a hit until Curtis Granderson laced an RBI single to center in the 4th, is a testament to how well the offense has been playing since that week-long scoring slump led to five game losing streak.

And the offense was led by a few familiar faces.

Manny got the ball rolling when he doubled off Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman (6IP, 7H, 4ER, 2BB, 4K, 2HR) to start the 2nd inning, and two pitches later Boston had a 2-0 lead when Lowell homered to left, his first four bagger since last September.

After escaping a 2-on, 1-out jam in the bottom of the 3rd when Matsuzaka got Magglio Ordonez to strike out and Miguel Cabrera to fly out to center, Boston added another pair of runs in the top of the 4th when Lowell led off with a double and Kevin Youkilis brought him home with aa 2-run blast to left field.

Staked to a 4-0 lead, not even the walking wonder could mess this up, although he sure as hell tried.

In the bottom of the 4th the Tigers finally got on the board when Gary Sheffield led off with a walk and Pudge Rodriguez walked two outs later. That's when Granderson, who has been smacking the ball all over the yard since coming off the DL two weeks ago, ripped a single to center to score Sheffield and give the Tigers hope that they could finally capitalize on all the freebies they had been handed.

But Matsuzaka ended those ideas when he got Placido 'Mr Potato Head' Polanco to pop out to short, ending the threat and keeping the Sox lead at a shaky three runs, 4-1.

It would remain that way until David Ortiz (2-4, R, 2BI), back after sitting out yesterday's game with a sore knee, lined an opposite field single off reliever Clay Rapada after Pedroia had doubled in the 7th to make it 5-1, but Detroit got right back in it in the bottom of the inning thanks to more shaky Boston bullpen work.

Craig Hansen, called up yesterday to take Brandon Moss' roster spot, had a quick 1-2-3 inning in the 6th in relief of Matsuzaka, but he ran into trouble in the 7th when he began the inning giving up a leadoff single to Polanco and then botched a slow roller to the mound by Carlos Guillen for a questionable infield single.

A double play by Ordonez looked like Hansen would escape the jam, but two out walks to Cabrera and Sheffield brought Tito to the mound and Okajima into the game, and he promptly surrendered a 2-run single to pinch hitter Marcus Thames to slice the lead to 5-3, and suddenly it was a game again.

Following a scoreless 8th, Ortiz provided a huge insurance run when he homered off Todd Jones with one out in the 9th, and then it was up to Papelbon to bring it home.

Thankfully the Boston closer has been the one reliable reliever in the pen all year, and he threw another 1-2-3 9th onto his stat sheet to sew this one up, but not before a few "whew"s were uttered in the Nation.

It wasn't pretty in many respects, but as they say, it was effective. Still, Boston has won four in a row, while the reeling Tiggers have dropped four straight.

I guess with the hometown Celts in the midst of the NBA playoffs, it looks like the Sox took a page out of their playbook: survive and advance.

RECORD: 21-13
AL EAST: Up 3.5 gms
STREAK: W4
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Tue @ DET 705 Wakefield vs. Robertson

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Series Preview: Sox at Tigers

Red Sox (20-13, 1st in AL East) at
Detroit Tigers (14-18, 5th in AL Central)
4 game series @ Comerica Park


Game 1 Monday 705 ESPN
Matsuzaka (4-0, 2.52) vs. Bonderman (2-2, 3.86)
Game 2 Tuesday 705
Wakefield (2-1, 4.03) vs. Robertson (1-3, 6.82)
Game 3 Wednesday
Buchholz (2-2, 3.71) vs. Galarraga (2-1, 1.88)
Game 4 Thursday 705
Beckett (3-2, 4.19) vs. Verlander (1-5, 6.28)

What to watch for: can the improved Tigers avenge Boston's early April beatdown?
When Detroit came to Fenway for a three game set April 8th, they brought an 0-6 record and a ginourmous gorilla-like payroll to town. Boston took 2 of 3 in that series, scoring 19 runs, but since then Detroit has gone 13-10 to get right back into the race in the AL Central.

Who to watch for: Curtis Granderson .317/13R/5HR/.440OBP in 11 gms
The speedy center fielder is the offensive catalyst for the Tigers, and the fact that Detroit got off to such a horrible (2-10) start can be directly attributed to Grandy's beginning the season on the DL.

With him back, and mashing the ball better than ever, it's safe to say that the Tiger's recent resurgence can be tied to Granderson's return to the top of the lineup.

PREVIEW:
The Sox embark on their first extended road trip since the season-opening trip from hell, and the three teams they face - Detroit, Minnesota, and Baltimore - all are within striking distance of the lead in their respective divisions. Or in the Twins case, leading its division.

So it would not be a stretch to say this is an important early season trip for the beat up boys from Boston after spending the better part of the past three weeks playing in the cozy (and cold and drizzly) confines of Fenway Park.

And this series against the Tigers should be as good a test as any to see where the club stands right now.

Sure the Sox just got done tearing upstart Tampa Bay a new rayhole, and they did handle the Tigers pretty easily back in early April when Detroit was the laughingstock of the league. But Detroit has been hitting the cover off the ball since then, and even its current three game losing streak might play a factor in why the Sox should be wary of a letdown heading into spacious Comerica Park.

On the heels of this recent skid, Tigers manager Smoky Jim Leyland had promised significant changes to the lineup, and the first of those alterations came this afternoon when Detroit designated outfielder Jacque Jones for assignment.

Jones, picked up in the off season after he spent the past two year with the Cubs, was batting .165 with 1 homer and 5 RBI and a putrid .244 OBP in 24 games when Leyland finally decided he had enough.

The last time the Marlboro Man went on a rampage, during the Tigers dismal start, Detroit went on a run that took them from the worst record in the major leagues to within three games of the Central lead as of today.

Luckily for Boston it will have its top starter on the mound for the opener of this 4-gamer, and this year every time Daisuke Matsuzaka has taken the ball to start his team haas come away with a win.

Dice-K, who skipped a start two weeks ago due to the flu, has jumped out to a 4-0 record, and Boston is 6-0 when he pitches, thanks to Top 10 figures in wins, ERA, strikeouts and WHIP. he has not been overpowering in most of his starts, but he has learned how to minimize his mistakes and keep damage to a minimum when he does get into a jam.

His opponent tonight, Jeremy Bonderman, has had an okay season so far but has probably been their most consistent starter out of the big 3 of him, Justin Verlander and Nate Robertson.

Bonderman did produce the only win of the previous series with the Sox, and he's coming off a victory at Stankee Stadium in which he allowed 2 earned runs and 5 hits in 7 2/3 innings of a 6-2 Detroit win.

Boston will be shorthanded in the outfield tonight as well thanks to Brandon Moss being disabled after having his appendix removed, meaning that Julio Lugo is the emergency outfielder should one of the other three four go down.

Gulp.

So set the DVR for 7PM on ESPN and get ready to see which Tigers team shows up. The one that looked like the second coming of the 119 loss disaster of 2003, or the one that was 4 games from winning the World Series in 2006.

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Sox prevail in long, messy game at Fenway

Sox 12, Tigers 6
WP: Wakefield (1-0)
LP: Robertson (0-1)
SV: Papelbon (3)
HRs: BOS-None; DET: Ordonez (1)

SUMMARY:
The Sox survived what was an interminable and nearly unwatchable debacle of a game tonight when they strung together three 4-run innings to hold off the Tigers. The contest featured 18 runs, 23 hits, 16 walks, a wild pitch, 2 hit batters, an error and a passed ball. And it took 3:45 to complete.

But at least they won.

Superstar: JD Drew 3-3, 2R, 2BI, BB
The hottest hitter on the team is none other than the man who Sox fans were lambasting for being too brittle when he had to miss the first three games of the season due to back issues. After this 3-hit effort, Drew is now batting .440 (11-25) and has hit safely in all 7 games he's played in.

The Biggest Loser(s): 8 of the 9 pitchers who threw in this game
Of the nine hurlers who tossed baseballs tonight, only one, Hideki Okajima, did not allow a hit, walk or a run. Only three did not allow a walk and only two did not allow a run.

Absolutely putrid.

RECAP:
After witnessing the second straight four hour debacle against the steaming mess that is this Detroit Tiger team, on top of a Little League game last night and tossing an hour of BP at practice tonight, I think I am at a loss for words to describe this game.

Let's just say that my kid's game last night was by far more crisp, entertaining and watchable than these last two against Detroit.

Anyway, I'm completely spent from all this baseball, so I'm gonna hit the sack and try to get a better handle on this in the morning.

And whatever you do, don't watch the NESN replay of this game if you want to keep your sanity.
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Okay, I'm back. And it's amazing how in the light of day this game doesn't seem as bad as it did watching it last night. I guess the combination of me being dog tired and the fact that no pitcher on either team could retire the side in order just made the game seem like one long, bad George Clooney sports movie.

Actually there were a couple of 1-2-3 innings, but only thanks to a pair of double plays turned by Detroit; at least one batter reached base in every inning for each team.

What it all added up to was a near 4-hour marathon with 386 pitches thrown, and when the dust settled Boston had to be content with coming out of their first home series with a 5-5 record while the Tigers are left scratching their heads, wondering how a potential World Series squad can already be out of it at 1-8.

Detroit did manage to take an early 2-0 lead when Tim Wakefield (5IP, 3H, 1ER, 5BB, 5K) got wild and allowed a walk, a single, a wild pitch, a sac fly and an RBI single to Placido Polanco in the 4th, but Boston answered with in the bottom of the frame when they roughed up Tiger starter Nate Robertson (5.1IP, 8H, 4ER, 2BB, 6K) for four runs on three hits and two walks.

After Papi (0-3, 2BB), the only Sox player who didn't register a hit, struck out to open the inning, Manny and Youk both walked and Drew followed with an RBI single to right. Hot-hitting Coco Crisp (2-3, R, 2BI, 2BB) then sliced a ball off Pesky's Pole for a double that scored Youk, and a groundout by Sean Casey and single by Kevin Cash each resulted in runs.

The game stayed at 4-2 for a few innings despite the numerous baserunners allowed by each starter, and in the 6th inning both managers called on their pens to keep the score as is. Evidently neither pen got the message.

After pitching scoreless sixths both Zack Miner and Manny Delcarmen came unglued in the 7th. Manny D, who continues to regress from promising set-up man to future Paw Sox mop up man with every outing, gave up a monster shot to the previously homer and RBI-less Magglio Ordonez with one out in the 7th, pulling the Tigers to 4-3, which then prompted Tito to pull him one out later. Okajima got the final out of the inning to keep the lead at one.

Fortunately Miner (1IP, 1H, 3ER, 3BB, 2K) was worse than Delcarmen. After walking Pedroia and Manny with one out in the bottom of the inning, ManRam (1-3, R, 2BI, BB) delivered a booming double to deep left center that scored both runners and gave the team some breathing room at 6-3. Righty Francis Beltran fared no better as he walked Drew and Coco then surrendered a single to Casey (2-5, 3BI) that scored pinch runner Ellsbury and Drew for what seemed like a commanding 8-3 lead.

Long story short Julian Tavarez came on in the 8th (why Tito took Oki out nobody knows) and couldn't get anybody out; he gave up two walks and three hits before a double play grounder killed what could have been an even bigger inning for Detroit, and before we knew what happened the score was 8-6 and Francona had to bring in Papelbon to end the inning, which he did with just two pitches.

Boston put the game away for good in the 8th by scoring four more times, highlighted by a 2-run double by Youk, and by the time Paps got Marcus Thames to ground into a fielders choice to end the game everyone that had witnessed this ugly affair was just glad the Sox came out on top.

And speaking of long, ugly affairs, the Stanks come to town tomorrow night.

Rest up, Nation.

RECORD: 5-5
AL EAST: 1.5 GB
STREAK: W1
UP NEXT: Fri vs. NYY 705 Wang vs. Buchholz

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Game 2 not quite as festive as Opening Day

Detroit 7, Sox 2
WP: Bonderman (1-1)
LP: Lester (1-2)
SV: None
HRs: Bos-None; DET: Thames (1)

SUMMARY:
The Sox pitching was pitiful and the hitting wasn't that much better as the Tigers finally broke their season-opening 7-game losing streak, scoring half as many runs in this game as they had in the previous seven. Throw in the fact that Mike Lowell left the game with a sprained thumb and it all added up to a bad loss for the roller coaster Sox.

Superstar: Edgar Rentanerror 3-4, 2R, 2BI, 2-2Bs, BB,
The 1-year blunder at shortstop was a thorn in Boston's side all night, ripping three hits and opening the floodgates on the Tigers scoring with a key 2-run double in the 4th despite constant harassment from the fans.

Doesn't it figure that a day after the Faithful welcomed back a former goat that a more recent object of the fans' derision would come back to haunt us?

The Biggest Loser(s): Sox pitchers 9IP, 10H, 7ER, 8BB, WP, HBP
From starter Jon Lester (4R, 4H, 4BB in 5.1IP) and middle man Bryan Corey (2R, 2H, BB in 1/3IP) all the way to Javier Lopez, who surrendered a homer and two other base runners in the 9th, the Boston pitching was piss poor again tonight.

RECAP:
Can you say "letdown"?

Coming of the high of yesterday's festive, fun-filled Opening Day display, you had to know that there would be some sort of letdown factor tonight. Kind of like a Tangueray hangover after one of my wife's Christmas parties.

Especially with shaky Jon Lester taking the hill to face a Tiger team so hungry for a win Jim Leyland might even resort to doing something drastic, like threaten quit smoking, if the team didn't get off the schneid soon.

But after jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning thanks to a bases loaded walk to Jacoby Ellsbury and an RBI single by Julio Lugo (a.k.a. Rentanerror 2.0), it looked as if the team might ride the emotional wave of Opening day to another victory over the toothless Tigers.

Unfortunately the wave came crashing down on the Sox in a hurry, starting with an injury to a key player and ending with a miserable loss to the formerly winless Tigers.

It was in that second inning that we learned that Mike Lowell apparently sprained his thumb when he made a diving stop of Miguel Cabrera's grounder in the first inning. Though his replacement, Sean Casey, did have a hit in his first at bat in Lowell's spot to start the rally and later doubled, the 2007 team MVP's absence was a somber reminder that this team is a couple of key injuries away from turning into the D-Rays.

And it was shortly after the Sox took that 2-0 lead in the second that the the game fell apart, too.

Lester retired the floundering Magglio Ordonez to start the 4th, then proceeded to walk Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen to bring the hated former Sox shortstop to the plate with a chance to tie the game.

But this is the same guy who never got a big hit the entire year he was in a Boston uniform, right? Surely he would bounce into a DP or strike out to squelch the threat. Right? Right?!

Instead Rentanerror sliced a double to the wall in left center that sent both runner home and tied the game at two, and if you squinted a bit it was almost as if you could see him standing at 2nd base with a finger to his lips telling the unruly Fenway masses to hush their foul mouths.

It only got worse from there when Lester hung a lazy breaking ball to the next batter, which happened to be Detroit's musclular left fielder Marcus Thames, who turned on the fat pitch and drove it halfway to his namesake river in England to give the Tigers a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish.

That's because Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman (5IP, 5H, 1ER, 4BB, K) and 4 Tiger relievers shut the Sox down the rest of the way, while Boston's bully continued doing their best Eric Gagme imitations as a quartet of hurlers couldn't keep the score where it was and give the offense a chance to get back in the game.

It all added up to a disappointing night at the yard, and now with Lowell's status uncertain, Papi's continued hitting woes (0-4, .091 for the year) and the instability of the pitchers, suddenly the promise of the preseason has turned into the despressing reality that this team could be in last place in the eat when the Stanks come to town tomorrow night.

But at least they've lost two straight to the Royals.

So we got that going for us.

RECORD: 4-5
AL EAST: 3 GB
STREAK: L 1
UP NEXT: Thu vs DET, 715 Robertson v Wakefield

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Welcome back: Sox win in Billy Buck's return to Hub

Sox 5, Tigers 0
WP: Matsuzaka (2-0)
LP: Rogers (0-2)
SV: None
HRs: None

Don't cry, Billy Buck--all's forgiven now

Superstar: Dice K 6.2IP, 4H, 4BB, 7K
He wasn't overpowering, but he was incredibly effective, limiting the struggling Tigers to 4 singles while striking out 7. And when he came out of the game with 2 outs in the 7th, Matsuzaka received a huge ovation from the Faithful, because this is the Dice K we expect to see every time he takes the mound.

The Biggest Loser(s): The Tigers
Combine an anemic offense (5 singles, no runs) with a sloppy defense (2 errors, numerous missed plays) and bad pitching and what you get is an 0-7 team with a $139 million dollar payroll and more problems than a math major.

RECAP:
All that was missing from the Red Sox 2008 home opener was Mike Dukakis, New Kids on the Block, Calvin Schiraldi and a holographic "forgive me" message from Harry Frazee.

Other than that it seemed like every other former hero or goat in the city's history was on hand today as the Sox celebrated the 2007 title team by trotting out familiar faces and championship trophies from all 4 Hub sports franchises, as well as some famous Boston celebrities.

From the moment the pregame festivities began (which of course I didn't get to see live since Extra Innings would never carry that kind of stuff) the entire day had the atmosphere of a gigantic celebration more than a baseball game. It was like Opening Day, Mardi Gras, New Years Eve, Carnival, the Festival of Lights, the Olympics Closing Ceremonies and the Oscars all rolled into one.

Some of the highlights included:

-current and former members of the Patriots, Bruins and Celtics taking the field while wielding their respective trophies

-the unfurling of the 2007 championship banner over the Wall as it replaced the 2004 banner, a cool sight in what hopefully will become an annual tradition

-the handing out of the championship rings to the entire organization, from coaches & trainers to former and current players (hey, a Doug Mirabelli sighting!), all scored to the themes songs of various cinematic classics

-and finally, the most climatic moment of the day - Bill Buckner emerged from Manny's door in the Monster and walked towards to the mound to a chorus of cheers and a long-awaited standing ovation, 22 years after his infamous World Series play became the modern symbol of Sox futility and made him a pariah in throughout New England and the Nation.

It was a moment, despite its contrived and Sox-serving nature, that was both memorable and emotional for all those involved. It was a completion of the cycle from the "woe is us, we're always gonna suck and this is why" sports town to a city of champions chock full of happiness and good will, and it was the ultimate way to say all is forgiven, not just from the fans to Billy Buck but from Billy Buck to the once-bitter fans.

Then Buck threw out the opening pitch, and appropriately it was a perfect strike to Dewey Evans (my all-time fave Sox player, by the way). Following fellow Sox legend Johnny Pesky's cry of "Let's play ball", the pregame pomp & circumstance was over and finally it was time to play ball.

Boston jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead by the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Coco Crisp and a triple by Manny that he scored on when the relay throw went into the Tiger's dugout, but the game felt like an afterthought to the pageantry of the afternoon.

Something that didn't get lost on the crowd was the effort of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Freed from the obligations of pitching in his homeland and starting two of the Sox first three games on two different continents, Dice-K was masterful for much of the afternoon. With the Tiger offense continuing to sputter without its leadoff man/catalyst Curtis Granderson, Matsuzaka mowed through the lineup like Grant through Richmond, allowing just 4 baserunners through the first five innings before escaping a bases loaded jam in the 6th.

By that time it was 3-0 Boston, and when the Sox tacked on another pair of runs in the bottom of the 6th on an RBI double by Youk (3-3, R, 2BI, BB) and a bases loaded walk to JD Drew, the game was all over but the shouting.

And by shouting I mean local boy Steven Tyler's screeching rendition of God Bless America, which sounded like a cat with laryngitis, followed by Neil Diamond's absurd taped offering of Fenway anthem Sweet Caroline, complete with a back up band, dancing Wally and lifeless Sox CEO Tom Werner.

It was about that time that I fast forwarded to the end of this overblown spectacle, just in time to catch Oki blow through the three Tiger hitters, putting the finishing touch on this day of joy and celebration.

So the homecoming was an absolute success. Bucker was feted. Tiger SS and new pariah Edgar Rentanerror was booed. The Sox got back on the winning track, and the now infamous ballpark hawk even made a guest appearance during Youk's at bat in the 6th inning.

Now can we get on with the regular season?

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Series Preview: Home sweet home! Tigers vs Sox

Tigers (0-6) vs. Red Sox (3-4)

Game 1 Today 205 Rogers (0-1, 3.00) vs. Matsuzaka (1-0, 2.31)
Game 2 Wed 705 Bonderman (0-1, 5.68) vs. Lester (1-1, 3.38)
Game 3 Thu 705 Robertson (0-0, 9.00) vs. Wakefield (0-0, 4.50)

What to watch for: two teams with high expectations and even higher payrolls will go toe-to-toe to prove their horrendous start is just an early-season fluke

Players to watch: the Tigers lineup was being compared to the '27 Yankees this spring, but with Gary Sheffield, Miguel Cabrera and Curtis Granderson all hurting, the potential Murderer's Row has resembled Training Room Terrors. 2007 MVP candidate Magglio Roidonez has no homers or ribbies yet this season, so keep an eye on him to bust out. If he's on a cycle right now.

Preview:
To paraphrase the immortal words of the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, home at last, home at last, thank God almighty the Sox are home at last!

After 2+ months abroad, traveling from Florida to Japan to Southern California to Northern California to Toronto, spanning over 16,000 air miles, the World Champion Boston Red Sox finally make their 2008 home debut this afternoon on what will be a chilly day at Fenway Park. But something tells me the players will embrace the spring chill a bit more than the spring rolls of a few weeks ago.

Never in the history of sports has a team had to endure such a grueling schedule to open a season, let alone the defending champs of the sport, so it goes without saying that the boys were a little gassed when they finally reached Toronto on Friday.

That ultimate case of jet lag combined with a hungry Jays squad added up to a debacle of a 3 game sweep at the Rogers Center, lowlighted by games filled with shitty pitching, shoddy fielding and spotty hitting.

But at least the Sox have a legitimate excuse for their doldrums.

Detroit spent lavishly in the offseason to acquire a couple of young Marlins, slugging third baseman Cabrera and struggling former ace Dontrelle Willis, and by the time the shopping spree was finished the Tigers had the 2nd highest payroll in the majors at $139 million, trailing only the Stanks' $208 mil ledger.

Where did all that free spending get them? To the bottom of the division they were supposed to run away with, the AL Central, after a winless first week that featured 6 straight home losses in which they were outscored 39-15.

To be fair they have had a number of unfortunate injuries. Stud relievers Fernando Rodney and Joel the Guitar Hero Zumaya both missed most of spring training, starting centerfielder Curtis Granderson suffered a broken hand at the end of the spring, a rib injury recently sidelined Cabrera and a the perennially injured Sheffield just dislocated his finger the other day.

But the team is still loaded with quality hitters (Ordonez, Guillen, Inge, Polanco, Rodriguez) and pitchers (Bonderman, Verlander, Jones), so there's no reason they couldn't have finished with a Sox like record of 3-3 or 2-4 at least.

Either way the slow starts make this series all the more meaningful. Neither club wants to get into any deeper of a hole, and both want to prove that not only were the lofty expectations of reaching the playoffs and winning it all warranted but absolutely attainable.

All we in the nation care about right now is the fact that our team is finally back on home turf. Back to the cozy confines of the field by the Fens, where the hot dogs are warm and the seats will be as cold as the beer.

Rings will be presented. Banners will be draped. Fighter jets will roar overhead and the packed house will roar in approval for the first game played at home by the defending champs.

Makes me wish I could be there in person instead of having to watch it on DVR later.

All I can say is Play Ball!

And welcome home.

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Series Recap: Sox @ Detroit

GAME	SCORE	WP	LP
GM1	DET 9-2	Miller	Julie
GM2	DET 3-2	Grilli	Paps
GM3	DET 6-5	Robertson	Dice

Series Stats:

STATS	BOS	DET
WINS	0	3
HITS	23	32
RUNS	9	18
HRs	4	5
AVG	.207	.288
ERA	5.65	2.32

Batter's Composite Box:

PLAYER	SERIES STATS	COMMENT
Coco	3-12, R,RBI, 2B, 2BB, K, SB	add 3 awesome catches, too
Pedroia	3-12, R, 2B, 3B, BB, K	2B & 3B in GM2
Papi	2-5, R, 3BI, 5BB, K, 2B, HR	first homer in 15 games
Manny	1-9, 2B, 2BB, 3K	U-G-L-Y series
Lowell	2-13, 2B, BB, K, BI	joined the slump club...
Drew	1-11, 3BB, 3K	...of which he's a charter member
Tek	3-13, BB, 4K	threw out 2 runners in GM3
Lugo	3-8, 3R, 2BI, 2BB, 2SB, 2B, HR	finally a big game from the $36 mil man
Hinske	0-5, 2K	played solid D at 1B
Pena	1-7, 3B, BB, 5K	did not play solid D in LF
Bailey	1-9, R, RBI, HR	1st ML hit is a HR--kudos!
Belli	1-1, HR, R, RBI	PH HR in GM1
Cora	1-5, K	played in GM2
Youk	0-1	PH in GM2

Pitcher's Composite Box:

PITCHER	SERIES STATS	COMMENTS
Tavarez	4.2IP, 10H, 8ER, BB, 4K, 2HR, L	reverting back to bad habits
Gabbard	6.1IP,3H, 2ER, 2BB, 3K	best start of the three
Dice-K	5IP, 10H, 6ER, BB, 4K, 3HRs, L	not a good way to close the half
Lopez	3IP, 2H, BB, 2K	he's been shaky lately
Manny D	2IP, 1H, 2K	he's been nails lately
Snyder	1IP, 2H, 1ER, BB, K	rough 9th in GM1
Timlin	3.1IP, 1H, 2BB	strong GM2 & 3
Oki	2.1IP, 2H, 2BB	not good in GM2
Paps	2/3IP, 1H, 1ER, 1K, L	blew GM2 in the 13th

Recap:

Basking in the glow of a sweep of the Devil Rays and riding high on a four game winning streak when they came into town, the Sox got humiliated by the suddenly surging Tigers, putting a damper on the feel-good experiences from the last week.

The sweep was more damaging because the Tigers beat the Sox in every way possible--a blowout victory in Game 1, an extra-innings heartbreaker in the second game, and a hard-fought battle in the finale yesterday in which they torched Boston's hottest starter, Dice-K, then hung on for a satisfying win.

Three games, three different styles, all adding up to three depressing losses for the Sox and RSN as they hit the All Star Break.

Despite the putrid performances and anemic numbers put up by most of the entire team in this series, there were a few highlights:

• Jeff Bailey hit a home run for his major league hit after spending 11 seasons in the minors
• Julio Lugo continued to break out of his slump with a nice 3-3 game yesterday, including a homer
• Papi hit his first homer in weeks and was walked four times, including three intentionally, in Game 2
• Kason Gabbard continued to put his horrible outing in Seattle behind him, turning in his third straight decent start in the second game
• Coco made at least three stellar catches and probably more, but he makes them look so routine now that it's hard to keep track
• ....I guess that's it.

Like I said, there were a few positives, but all in all it was about as shitty a way to end the first half of what has been a superb season--losing to a team that was in the World Series last year and by the looks of it has every intention of making it back to the Fall Classic this year.

So the Sox players who aren't on the All Star squad will head to their various corners of the country to enjoy a three day respite from slumps, losing streaks, and sweeps, and hopefully they will come back on Thursday relaxed, refreshed, and ready to tackle the always tough dog days of summer, a time when pennants are made or broken, and sweeps like this take on a much more serious meaning.

A certain Boston Massacre II comes to mind...

Enjoy the break, Bosox, and let's come out swinging in the second half.

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Tigers sweep sox as all Stars head West

Detroit 6, Sox 5
WP: Robertson (5-6)
LP: Matsuzaka (10-6)
SV: Jones (22)
HRs: BOS- Bailey (1), Lugo (4); DET- Sheffield (21), Thames (10), Guillen (14)

SUMMARY
The Sox stagger into the All Star break having lost three in a row to the surging Tigers, and if it weren't for the D-Rays the pre-break skid could have been a lot worse.

Daisuke Matsuzaka had his worst outing in a month and a half and although Boston made a nice comeback from down 6-2, the large early deficit proved to much to overcome.

#1 STUNNER: Sheffroid 3-4, 2R, 2BI, HR, 2-2Bs
The man with the quick bat and surly personality clubbed the Sox into submission today, pounding Dice-K to the tune of a homer and two doubles and was a general nusiance to Boston pitchers all seeries long

PAN's FAUN: Dice-K 5IP, 10H, 6ER, BB, 4K, 3HRs
To say Matsuzaka had a bad game would be like saying Roger Federer has a pretty good record at Wimbledon (he won his 5th straight title there today, BTW.)

On a day when the Nation needed their stud rookie to come through with a huge outing, Matsuzaka had his worst game since he gave up 12 hits and six runs in 5.2 innings to Cleveland on May 30th, a span of eight starts.

RECAP
Bring back the Devil Rays!

Following the series against Tampa Bay in which Boston slugged 37 hits and scored 26 runs in sweeping the Rays out of Benatown, the Sox were treated just as rudely by their hosts in Motown as the Tigers completed a three game sweep with today's odd 6-5 victory.

Odd because Daisuke Matsuzaka, who had been on a tremendous roll for the last month, got hammered like chopped meat by the Tigers hitters, and odd for the fact that Detroit hit three homers, had two runners caught stealing and committed a season-high five errors in nearly blowing a four-run lead, yet they still managed to hang on for the win.

And the unfortunate realization for Sox fans is that the man who had looked as if he had put all of his early season wildness behind him with a stellar month of June took a giant step backward at a time that his teammates, and his nations, needed him most.

It was apparent from the early going amid pristine conditions and a capacity bi-partisan crowd that Matsuzaka did not, as they say, have his stuff working. And by early going I mean the third batter of the first inning early.

That's when Gary Sheffield, who had a big night in the opener and was a problem all series long, got hold of a poorly located Dice-K fastball and quickly deposited it over the wall in left field, and before the crowd was even settled in the Tigers had a 1-0 lead.

Turns out that longball would foreshadow the kind of day it would be for Dice, and if the early deficit wasn't enough of a clue, then his failure to hold the 2-1 lead his hitters gave him after the third was a dead giveaway.

The Sox touched up Tiger's starter Nate Robertson (6.1IP, 4H, 4ER, 4BB, 2K) for a pair of runs in the frame, but as has been the case so many times of late, the damage done could have been far greater.

Julio Lugo, who had a huge game (3-3, 2R, 2BI, HR) for the first time in an eon, drew a one-out walk from Robertson, then stole second and went to third when Tigers catcher Mike Rabelo threw the ball into center field.

Coco Crisp followed that gaffe with another walk, and when Pedroia also drew a base on balls to load the bases it looked as if the Sox were going to blow the game wide open and Dice was going to cruise to an easy victory.

Ah, not quite.

The first run came in for Boston when Robertson nicked the fabric of Big Papi's jersey for the always entertaining bases loaded hit-by-pitch (hey, at least it tied the score), and then hot-hitting Mike Lowell contributed with another incredibly exciting scoring play, the sac fly, and the Sox had a 2-1 lead.

But after Captain Tek drew the fourth walk of the inning by Robertson, an intentional job that re-loaded the bases, J.D. Drew hit one of his patented dribblers to the right side of the infield to end the inning, and instead of a major uprising the Sox had to settle for a minor skirmish.

That failure to capitalize on a golden opportunity would, of course, come back to bite Boston in the ass when Matsuzaka couldn't keep the Tigers batters from leaving the yard.

One out into the bottom of the third Dice surrendered the lead right back, allowing the game-tying homerun to moonshot master Marcus Thames, and absolutely titanic blast high and deep to straightaway centerfield that served as a powerful notice that the Tigers would not go down quietly today.

After Sheff followed with a deep double to left that sailed over a perplexed Wily Mo Pena's head and then took third on a wild pitch, Sean Casey flared a single to right to score Sheff with the go-ahead run, 3-2, and when shortstop Carlos Guillen crushed another Matsuzaka fastball for a demoralizing two-run homer to make it 5-2, it was obvious that a win today was going to be tough to come by.

With the bullpen taxed due to the lengthy game last night and the numerous injuries, Tito needed Dice to give him as many innings as possible, apparently regardless if he had anything to give.

When the Tigers put another run on the board in the fourth, once again involving Sheff, whose ground rule double scored Curtis Granderson, who had also doubled, it was obvious he didn't, and it was almost time to start packing for the All Star break destinations.

Matsuzaka finally came out after six painful innings, suffering his worst outing since a 12 hit, six run debacle against the Tribe way back on May 30th, and ironically it was after that when Boston mounted its final attempt to salvage a game-and some dignity-from this series.

And wouldn't you know it was career minor leaguer Jeff Bailey who pulled his team off the mat, joining a select group of players by hitting a home run for their first major league hit, taking a Robertson offering and crushing the ball to left for a big run for him and his new mates.

As if to confirm that miracles do happen, Lugo followed Bailey's blast with a homer of his own, his first longball since June 8th and only his second since May 19th, and just like that the Sox were right back in the game at 6-4.

Boston would creep a run closer in the eighth when Lugo doubled in Drew who had led off the inning with a walk, to slice the deficit to 6-5, but reliever Zach Miner came in and struck out Coco to quell the threat and leave Boston with just one more shot at tying or winning this one.

Damn if they didn't come close, too.

Pedroia led off the ninth with a single of clutch Tigers closer (and former Red Sox reliever) Todd Jones, then got to third on a single by Tek and a careless error by leftfielder Craig Monroe, his second of the game.

But with the game on the line and the ducks on the pond, Jones got Drew to foul out harmlessly to third base, the rally was snuffed out and the members of the Sox who aren't headed to San Fran will have three days to cleanse all memories of this hideous getaway weekend and start the second half fresh.

I mean they still have a 10 game lead at the break, so things could be worse, right?

RECORD: 53-34
AL EAST: Up 10
STREAK: L-3
LAST 10: 4-6
UP NEXT: All Star Game; Thu vs.*TOR @ Fenway

(*not CLE-thx RS Bat Boy!)

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Game Preview: Sox @ Detroit GM3

Matsuzaka (10-5, 3.53) vs. Robertson (4-6, 4.86)
Comerica Park 1:05P

The Sox and Tigers will battle it out again one more time before heading into the much-deserved All Star break following the game, and Boston needs to pull out a win to prevent a demoralizing sweep.

Well, I should say some players will get a much-needed break, except for the 11 All Stars on both teams who will take a cross-country flight to San Fran to engage in the Midsummer Classic festivities.

In the light of day last night's heartbreaking loss doesn't feel any better, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I was coming off an afternoon of Heinekens at the beach and an evening of Grey Goose martinis at dinner afterwards.

Okay, maybe it has a little bit to do with that.

But hey, like I said before, when your son is away the married mice must play.

Reading through the articles about the game (which I mostly missed, save for the horrible extra frames) I cannot believe how many chances Boston had, once again, to put more runs on the board early and/or wrap this thing up in the latter innings.

Time after time the Sox had men on base, and time after time they would come up with some way not to drive them in. Boston was 0-11 with runners in scoring position on the night, an unfathomable stat for a team loaded with professional hitters like Boston.

Manny was a particularly inept participant in these failures, recording multiple instances where he failed to produce a potential run: he flied out after Ortiz doubled in the 6th, grounded into a fielder's choice with two on in the 8th, and most egregiously, he grounded into a double play with men on first and third and one out in the 10th.

Ouch.

There were a few positives to take away from the game though, and what else can you do after a nut-buster like that than take some kind of plus away from the performance?

Kason Gabbard threw six solid innings and continues to improve; David Ortiz busted out of a lengthy power drought with his first homer since June 20th, and also had a double and was walked four times, three intentionally; and the Sox smacked 10 hits and got multi-hit games from Coco, Pedroia, Papi and Tek.

Oh yeah and the bully did a terrific job as well. That is until Papelbon came in and blew the game.

Anyway, with a record of 53-33 and an 11-game lead on the competition today's can't be called a must-win game, but let's just say that closing the first half with a three straight losses to one of the better teams in the AL is not the way Boston wants to head into the break.

Luckily they have their hottest starter throwing the final game. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been nearly unhittable in the last month, making it even more of a mystery why he wasn't added to the All Star game along with fellow countryman Hideki Okajima.

Over his last four starts Dice is 3-0 and has allowed only 15 hits and two runs in 29 innings of work, equating to a mind-boggling 0.62 ERA. Oh yeah, he's also struck out 34 batters in that time, and he has fanned at least 8 batters in six straight starts.

I'd say he's starting to earn some of that $50 million, along with all the preseason accolades and massive media hype.

Matsuzaka will be opposed on the mound by hard-throwing lefty Nate Robertson, who is having a tough season after spending some time on the DL in early June and has yet to fulfill the high expectations Detroit has had for him the last four seasons. His career mark is an underwhelming 37-48.

All of RSN will be rooting for Dice to stop the bleeding and send the Sox into the break on a high note.

Who knows, maybe an AL hurler will suddenly drop out of the game and then he can join his teammates at AT&T Park on Tuesday.

But we'll settle for a win.

GO Sox!

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Unlucky 13: Paps blows game in extra innings

Detroit 3, Sox 2 (13)
WP: Grilli LP: Papelbon
HRs: BOS- Ortiz (14)

At first I was upset with myself when I forgot to set the DVR before I went out for dinner & drinks with the wife after spending a few hours at the beach today, causing me to miss most of the game.

Hey, our son is away, I can't spend every night watching baseball.

Then when I got home and turned on the tube and saw it was 2-2 in the 8th I was really pissed, realizing I probably missed out on a great game (Murphy's Law, of course.)

But after witnessing the Sox blow five scoring chances from the 8th to the 12th innings, and then seeing the Tigers, who had also squandered some terrific scoring opportunities, pull out a gut-punch win against Boston's All Star closer in the bottom of the 13th, well then I was just sorry that I caught any of the game at all.

From what I gathered Papi (2-2, R, 2BI, 4BB) had a big game, blasting a two-run homer in the first (perhaps that day off did him some good) for the only damage done to Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 1BB, 9K) in his seven solid innings.

I also see that Kason Gabbard (6.1IP, 3H, 2ER, 2BB, 3K) had a good outing as well, matching Bonderman by allowing a 2-run double to Craig Monroe in the fifth for his only blemish. He's now put two decent starts together since that debacle in Seattle.

After the starters departed nine relievers on both sides combined to throw all zeroes on the board, at times having to escape tight, tense situations: Detroit had the bases loaded in the 10th but All Star Okajima worked out of it, and Boston had two on in the 10th, one in the 11th, and the bases loaded in the 12th but could not get a run home.

Ugh!

But when Tito was forced to go to Papelbon in the 13th, it looked as if Boston would at least get one more shot at the win.

Except Paps had one of those rare bad outings, which was obvious from the get-go when he plunked Gary Steroidfield with his first pitch of the inning.

Sure enough, after he got MLB leading hitter Maggs Ordonez to fly out and Carlos Guillen to whiff, Ivan Rodriguez sliced an opposite field drive that just eluded Coco's diving try (hey, the guy can't catch everything!), and Sheff, who had stolen second, jogged home with the winning run.

And just like that, one night after getting trounced to break a four-game winning streak the Sox suffered a soul-crushing, one-run, extra inning loss and now own a two-game losing skid.

See, that's why I'm glad I missed (most of) it.

Just one more game left to play before the break, and thankfully the Sox will have Dice-K on the hill, so maybe they can stop this mini-skid and head into the hiatus on a positive note.

Oh one other small, coincidental consolation: the Stanks lost in 13 innings today too, 2-1 at home to the Angels.

So we got that going for us.

RECORD: 53-33
AL EAST: Up 11 on TOR, NYY
STREAK: L-2
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Sun @ DET, 1:05

Go Dice!

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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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