Hey there...as you probably didn't notice I haven't been blogging since the Manny trade...I wasn't happy with it, and was in a little funk afterwards...don't get me wrong, I still love the Sox...I haven't missed a night of the season and am watching Masterson try to get out of trouble here in the 7th of game 2 in the ALDS...but the blog was lost for the season. I kept thinking about a Manny piece that would allow me to move on and get back to business, but I couldn't write it. Maybe someday I will, but for now I'll rely on an old stalwart...here's Simmons' piece on the Manny trade. It's pretty much the position I've held all along and if you know me than you know this is true...if you don't, believe it...thanks to Mr. Simmons for having the job and the motivation to write it...
It's a long one, so grab a drink and sidle on up...enjoy...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=manny
Friday, October 3, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Catching Up Part 3 - Bring on the Second "Half"
Coming out of The Break the Sox had the daunting challenge of going out to play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and California Plantations, who sported the best record in baseball at the time...how does that team do so well I ask you? The pitching is ok...the offense is ok...the bullpen is strong as usual and K-Rod is saving games at an absurd rate, but does that add up to the best team in baseball? Time to find out I guess...
This is how the 3-game set in LA from 7/18-7/20 went down...
Game 1 featured the second start for Clay Buchholz after his recall from the minors...last time out he didn't do so well, and this time wasn't much better...young Clay couldn't get through the 5th against a lineup with Meicur Izturis in the 3-hole...the Halos threw up 3 in the bottom of the 1st on 4 hits and walk, so right away Buchholz wasn't fooling anyone...the Sox answered back with 2 in the 2nd courtesy of a Youk 2-run shot, and they tied it in the 4th with a solo run, but that was the last time the game would be close...the Halos chased Clay with a couple of hits (and a costly error by Cora) and Aardsma came in to finish the inning, but before he could he surrendered a 2-run single to Howie Kendrick...4 runs in the inning for an 8-3 edge...that would have done it as the Sox couldn't get anything going off of the Angel pen but they decided to add on another 3-spot in the 6th for good measure (thank you Javy Lopez)...an ugly 11-3 final to get the second "half" of the season going...let's hope this isn't a sign...
Game 2 put Josh Beckett back on the hill against the team he dominated in last year's ALDS...opposing him would be Joe Saunders, having one of the surprisingly good seasons being enjoyed by so many of the Angels at this point in the season...still, on paper you had to like the matchup...Youk popped another 2-run shot to get is the lead and Beckett was cruising, looked like this might be a nice little stopper game, since the Angels had taken 3 straight regular season games from the Sox to this point...but our ace ran into trouble in the 7th and couldn't get away from it...the big inning started (apparently as most big innings do- look it up) with a solo shot from Vlad Guerrero...then Hunter and Anderson (who hits us really well in spurts anyway) singled and Reggie Willits sacrificed them over for 2nd at 3rd with 1 out...Beckett intentionally walked Kendrick to set up the DP but the EVER POWERFUL Erick Aybar tripled by finding a seam down the right field line...3 runs in and a 4-2 lead that the Angel pen again held, to keep that the final score...
Game 3 was even worse believe it or not...again the Sox blew a late lead and couldn't avoid being swept by a team that they swept our of the playoffs just 9 or so months ago...Tim Wakefield and Jon Garland each gave up two through the 6th, and in the 7th Coco Crisp stole second and scored when Vlad Guerrero misplayed a Jacoby liner...this game suddenly took on a the feeling of one of those games we luckily eke out to avoid a sweep and maybe get the Baseball Gods on our side, but once again we snatched defeat from he jaws of victory...Wake gave up back to back doubles to score the tying run and Manny Delcarmen threw a meatball to Casey Kotchman (after walking Figgins) who gladly doubled it to right scoring Kendrick and Figgins...once more the bullpen can't get us out of anything...is it just me or does everyone in the pen allow a walk and a hit for every out they record? It's just a matter of the timing and how many runs score...pathetic...safe to say that the Sox should be looking for relievers since everyone out there right now is a Jeklyl/Hyde type mystery...and that includes Pap to a lesser degree...scary, and reminiscent of the 2003 Sox who ultimately had that fatal flaw exposed in the form of Grady Little leaving Pedro in too long...
Horrible series...already sporting an awful road record the Sox had late leads in two of three of these games, games that they would have closed out last year but just can't this year...not against any decent teams, and so here we have answered our question...don't ask me how they do it, but the Angels are a very good team, and much better than the Red Sox apparently...5 straight regular season wins is enough of a sample size to make that statement...the only good news about being out in LA is that it's close enough to Seattle that the MLB schedulers thought "hey, while you're out there, head north and play the Mariners." This year that's a good thing...
And the Seattle series, also a 3-gamer, was the exact opposite story...a sweep for the Red Sox...since it's only the Mariners let's not get too excited here, and since they're the Mariners they're not worth a game-by-game discussion so we'll just gloss over the highlights...
Game 1 was all Jon Lester, 7.1 innings, 0 ER and 6 Ks against 0 walks...the Washington native makes good and is backed up by 2 2-run innings, Pap was flawless, 4-0 Sox...
Game 2 was more of the same, with Dice pitching a dominant game (see what you can do against a crappy offensive team) and taking a shutout into the 8th...they did get to him for 2 in the frame but the Sox already had 4 up there (Drew hit his 18th in this one, already 7 more than he had last year...you figure it out) and Oki and Pap tossed a perfect 1.2 combined, 4-2 Sox win...
Game 3 held a little more suspense as the Sox had to wait until the 12th inning to claim their sweep...Clay was a little better this game, allowing 3 in 5.1 and King Felix was hurt buy a couple of errors, so at the end of 6 it was 3-3...the top of the 12th started with the same score but the Sox doubled up their side of it in that frame...Jacoby led off with a single and Dusty moved him over...Drew was walked intentionally and then the key play was a bit of a gift as Bloomquist misplayed a Youk shot to center, allowing 2 runs to score...Sean Casey drove in an insurance run and then we brought in Hansen because we decided that we didn't want the game to end yet...but unfortunately for the Sox and their fans Hansen DID pick up his second save after trying to give it away...out, single, out, single, walk and the bases were loaded for Jose Vidro, but Vidro smacked one right to Dusty to get the save for Hansen...why won't we trade this guy again?
Hey, a sweep is a sweep, and after being on the wrong side of one we did what we're supposed to do and beat a bad team badly...and on the road too...and we got to go home, but guess what awaited us at Fenway after the off-day? The Bronx Bombers...
And so we arrive at the game and the series that enraged me enough to hop so quickly and energetically back onto the keyboard...of course it would be the Yanks, right? Had to be...especially because isn't this supposed to be the year that they faded? Isn't this the Mussina is done and the young pitchers just aren't there yet year? The year that those insanely expensive free agent signings and the overspending finally caught up to them? It was...I know it was...but here we are, in a late July series, and the Yanks are right there with us...that we both trail the Rays at this point is the only change (ok, that's quite a change) but with their mammoth offense and the resurgences of Mussina and Giambi (both of whom I hate...a lot) the Yanks are putting themselves into position to make a run...
GOD DAMN IT...
And if Game 1 of this series wasn't enough to piss Red Sox fans off I don't know what is...there was no waiting for the marquee pitching matchup of the set, game 1 was Beckett versus Joba...the bona fide ace (perhaps in all of baseball) versus the young, confident up-and-comer...Joba is having a great year making the transition from the pen to the rotation...he's been protected a little, but not much, and tonight would be a real test for him...and for Beckett too...the Yankee lineup is daunting for any hurler, and Beckett needs to show them what an ace is...
The matchup lived up to its billing...on paper anyway...if you read the box score for this one you'd see that Beckett and Chamberlain each went 7 and Beckett was out dueled...he gave up a run, and Joba didn't...Joba struck out 9 and Beckett 6, so both guys must have pitched well, and both pens were flawless...so you'd think that it was just a tough-luck loss on a night where a good young pitcher had it going...but you'd be WRONG...dead wrong...the truth of this one is that Beckett's run was garbage...it was a Giambi "single" hit towards SS against the shift...so Lowell had to field it and everyone was out of position...no play anywhere and Abreu, on third after a single and another single by A-Rod, all with two outs...so whatever, a little back luck there but not too much to complain about...the real complaint could be leveled against Marty Foster. Who the bleep is Marty Foster you might ask? He was the home plate umpire on this night, and if there is any justice in baseball he'll never get behind the plate again...this guy was AWFUL!!!! Everything Joba threw was a strike...I mean everything...I was going to write "everything close" but the truth is that the pitches didn't have to be close...high strikes were called, low strikes were called, outside, inside...it didn't matter...the Sox hitters kept looking back at Foster like he was high...who knows, maybe he was...and worse yet, not only did Beckett not get the same courtesy, but it also extended to Farnsworth and Rivera! It was a sham...and it got almost embarrassing for Foster on TV since he K-Zone kept getting chucked up there and showing how terrible his pro-Yankee calls were...it was a disgrace...the final straw came with Rivera on the hill in the 9th and Mike Lowell at bat...down just the one run, Youk had singled with one down against Mo bringing up Lowell...ball, called strike, foul had the count 1-2, but from there Mikey valiantly kept the AB alive with 2 fouls, a ball and another foul...he was then called out on a pitch that was high and inside, and I mean waaaaay high and inside...little league umps wouldn't have called this a strike in a mercy-rule blowout, that's how bad it was...and you know it's bad if Lowell, the consummate pro and a baseball gentleman by all accounts, argues the call...he threw his helmet and bat down and got his time in before getting chucked, but to get one of the all time good guys that upset you know some crap had to be going on...believe me, it was...horrible calls all night, and a game 1 gift for Joba and the Yanks...this one left a bad taste, and inspired at least one blogger to break out the keyboard...
Games 2 and 3 were less emotional, exciting, worthy, you pick the adjective...the two teams traded blowouts, as the Yanks lit up Wake to take game 2 10-3 and the Sox avoided the sweep by pounding Sidney Ponson to take the finale 9-2...only thing of note in either if these games is BIGGGG PAPI!!!! In game 3 he hit his first HR off of the DL (see, I was so pissed about game 1's pitching travesty that I forgot to mention the return of Big Papi) and I don't think I need to say any more about that...he's the man for the Sox, and seeing his big swing launch one was a true sight for sore eyes...
So a little bit of a bumpy stretch here, but not all too atypical for the Sox at this time of the year...the middle always seems to be the hardest time for the Sox to stay consistent, so hopefully they're ready to get past July and into a groove...
One more series before August and the dog days get here, again against the Halos but this time at home...I'll be back soon to discuss that one, and until then...
GOOOOO SOXXXXXX!!!
This is how the 3-game set in LA from 7/18-7/20 went down...
Game 1 featured the second start for Clay Buchholz after his recall from the minors...last time out he didn't do so well, and this time wasn't much better...young Clay couldn't get through the 5th against a lineup with Meicur Izturis in the 3-hole...the Halos threw up 3 in the bottom of the 1st on 4 hits and walk, so right away Buchholz wasn't fooling anyone...the Sox answered back with 2 in the 2nd courtesy of a Youk 2-run shot, and they tied it in the 4th with a solo run, but that was the last time the game would be close...the Halos chased Clay with a couple of hits (and a costly error by Cora) and Aardsma came in to finish the inning, but before he could he surrendered a 2-run single to Howie Kendrick...4 runs in the inning for an 8-3 edge...that would have done it as the Sox couldn't get anything going off of the Angel pen but they decided to add on another 3-spot in the 6th for good measure (thank you Javy Lopez)...an ugly 11-3 final to get the second "half" of the season going...let's hope this isn't a sign...
Game 2 put Josh Beckett back on the hill against the team he dominated in last year's ALDS...opposing him would be Joe Saunders, having one of the surprisingly good seasons being enjoyed by so many of the Angels at this point in the season...still, on paper you had to like the matchup...Youk popped another 2-run shot to get is the lead and Beckett was cruising, looked like this might be a nice little stopper game, since the Angels had taken 3 straight regular season games from the Sox to this point...but our ace ran into trouble in the 7th and couldn't get away from it...the big inning started (apparently as most big innings do- look it up) with a solo shot from Vlad Guerrero...then Hunter and Anderson (who hits us really well in spurts anyway) singled and Reggie Willits sacrificed them over for 2nd at 3rd with 1 out...Beckett intentionally walked Kendrick to set up the DP but the EVER POWERFUL Erick Aybar tripled by finding a seam down the right field line...3 runs in and a 4-2 lead that the Angel pen again held, to keep that the final score...
Game 3 was even worse believe it or not...again the Sox blew a late lead and couldn't avoid being swept by a team that they swept our of the playoffs just 9 or so months ago...Tim Wakefield and Jon Garland each gave up two through the 6th, and in the 7th Coco Crisp stole second and scored when Vlad Guerrero misplayed a Jacoby liner...this game suddenly took on a the feeling of one of those games we luckily eke out to avoid a sweep and maybe get the Baseball Gods on our side, but once again we snatched defeat from he jaws of victory...Wake gave up back to back doubles to score the tying run and Manny Delcarmen threw a meatball to Casey Kotchman (after walking Figgins) who gladly doubled it to right scoring Kendrick and Figgins...once more the bullpen can't get us out of anything...is it just me or does everyone in the pen allow a walk and a hit for every out they record? It's just a matter of the timing and how many runs score...pathetic...safe to say that the Sox should be looking for relievers since everyone out there right now is a Jeklyl/Hyde type mystery...and that includes Pap to a lesser degree...scary, and reminiscent of the 2003 Sox who ultimately had that fatal flaw exposed in the form of Grady Little leaving Pedro in too long...
Horrible series...already sporting an awful road record the Sox had late leads in two of three of these games, games that they would have closed out last year but just can't this year...not against any decent teams, and so here we have answered our question...don't ask me how they do it, but the Angels are a very good team, and much better than the Red Sox apparently...5 straight regular season wins is enough of a sample size to make that statement...the only good news about being out in LA is that it's close enough to Seattle that the MLB schedulers thought "hey, while you're out there, head north and play the Mariners." This year that's a good thing...
And the Seattle series, also a 3-gamer, was the exact opposite story...a sweep for the Red Sox...since it's only the Mariners let's not get too excited here, and since they're the Mariners they're not worth a game-by-game discussion so we'll just gloss over the highlights...
Game 1 was all Jon Lester, 7.1 innings, 0 ER and 6 Ks against 0 walks...the Washington native makes good and is backed up by 2 2-run innings, Pap was flawless, 4-0 Sox...
Game 2 was more of the same, with Dice pitching a dominant game (see what you can do against a crappy offensive team) and taking a shutout into the 8th...they did get to him for 2 in the frame but the Sox already had 4 up there (Drew hit his 18th in this one, already 7 more than he had last year...you figure it out) and Oki and Pap tossed a perfect 1.2 combined, 4-2 Sox win...
Game 3 held a little more suspense as the Sox had to wait until the 12th inning to claim their sweep...Clay was a little better this game, allowing 3 in 5.1 and King Felix was hurt buy a couple of errors, so at the end of 6 it was 3-3...the top of the 12th started with the same score but the Sox doubled up their side of it in that frame...Jacoby led off with a single and Dusty moved him over...Drew was walked intentionally and then the key play was a bit of a gift as Bloomquist misplayed a Youk shot to center, allowing 2 runs to score...Sean Casey drove in an insurance run and then we brought in Hansen because we decided that we didn't want the game to end yet...but unfortunately for the Sox and their fans Hansen DID pick up his second save after trying to give it away...out, single, out, single, walk and the bases were loaded for Jose Vidro, but Vidro smacked one right to Dusty to get the save for Hansen...why won't we trade this guy again?
Hey, a sweep is a sweep, and after being on the wrong side of one we did what we're supposed to do and beat a bad team badly...and on the road too...and we got to go home, but guess what awaited us at Fenway after the off-day? The Bronx Bombers...
And so we arrive at the game and the series that enraged me enough to hop so quickly and energetically back onto the keyboard...of course it would be the Yanks, right? Had to be...especially because isn't this supposed to be the year that they faded? Isn't this the Mussina is done and the young pitchers just aren't there yet year? The year that those insanely expensive free agent signings and the overspending finally caught up to them? It was...I know it was...but here we are, in a late July series, and the Yanks are right there with us...that we both trail the Rays at this point is the only change (ok, that's quite a change) but with their mammoth offense and the resurgences of Mussina and Giambi (both of whom I hate...a lot) the Yanks are putting themselves into position to make a run...
GOD DAMN IT...
And if Game 1 of this series wasn't enough to piss Red Sox fans off I don't know what is...there was no waiting for the marquee pitching matchup of the set, game 1 was Beckett versus Joba...the bona fide ace (perhaps in all of baseball) versus the young, confident up-and-comer...Joba is having a great year making the transition from the pen to the rotation...he's been protected a little, but not much, and tonight would be a real test for him...and for Beckett too...the Yankee lineup is daunting for any hurler, and Beckett needs to show them what an ace is...
The matchup lived up to its billing...on paper anyway...if you read the box score for this one you'd see that Beckett and Chamberlain each went 7 and Beckett was out dueled...he gave up a run, and Joba didn't...Joba struck out 9 and Beckett 6, so both guys must have pitched well, and both pens were flawless...so you'd think that it was just a tough-luck loss on a night where a good young pitcher had it going...but you'd be WRONG...dead wrong...the truth of this one is that Beckett's run was garbage...it was a Giambi "single" hit towards SS against the shift...so Lowell had to field it and everyone was out of position...no play anywhere and Abreu, on third after a single and another single by A-Rod, all with two outs...so whatever, a little back luck there but not too much to complain about...the real complaint could be leveled against Marty Foster. Who the bleep is Marty Foster you might ask? He was the home plate umpire on this night, and if there is any justice in baseball he'll never get behind the plate again...this guy was AWFUL!!!! Everything Joba threw was a strike...I mean everything...I was going to write "everything close" but the truth is that the pitches didn't have to be close...high strikes were called, low strikes were called, outside, inside...it didn't matter...the Sox hitters kept looking back at Foster like he was high...who knows, maybe he was...and worse yet, not only did Beckett not get the same courtesy, but it also extended to Farnsworth and Rivera! It was a sham...and it got almost embarrassing for Foster on TV since he K-Zone kept getting chucked up there and showing how terrible his pro-Yankee calls were...it was a disgrace...the final straw came with Rivera on the hill in the 9th and Mike Lowell at bat...down just the one run, Youk had singled with one down against Mo bringing up Lowell...ball, called strike, foul had the count 1-2, but from there Mikey valiantly kept the AB alive with 2 fouls, a ball and another foul...he was then called out on a pitch that was high and inside, and I mean waaaaay high and inside...little league umps wouldn't have called this a strike in a mercy-rule blowout, that's how bad it was...and you know it's bad if Lowell, the consummate pro and a baseball gentleman by all accounts, argues the call...he threw his helmet and bat down and got his time in before getting chucked, but to get one of the all time good guys that upset you know some crap had to be going on...believe me, it was...horrible calls all night, and a game 1 gift for Joba and the Yanks...this one left a bad taste, and inspired at least one blogger to break out the keyboard...
Games 2 and 3 were less emotional, exciting, worthy, you pick the adjective...the two teams traded blowouts, as the Yanks lit up Wake to take game 2 10-3 and the Sox avoided the sweep by pounding Sidney Ponson to take the finale 9-2...only thing of note in either if these games is BIGGGG PAPI!!!! In game 3 he hit his first HR off of the DL (see, I was so pissed about game 1's pitching travesty that I forgot to mention the return of Big Papi) and I don't think I need to say any more about that...he's the man for the Sox, and seeing his big swing launch one was a true sight for sore eyes...
So a little bit of a bumpy stretch here, but not all too atypical for the Sox at this time of the year...the middle always seems to be the hardest time for the Sox to stay consistent, so hopefully they're ready to get past July and into a groove...
One more series before August and the dog days get here, again against the Halos but this time at home...I'll be back soon to discuss that one, and until then...
GOOOOO SOXXXXXX!!!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Quick Recap Part 2...Getting Through the Break...
Luckily, after a crap-tastic stretch where we blew game after game against AL East teams (games that could cost us in September), we had the Twins and O's coming to Fenway. Two things about this news...1) The Twins and O's are both terrible...the Twins somehow magically put together 1 year in 4 that they compete with spare parts and young guys, but the other 3 years they're nothing, and this is one of those years...and the O's are, well, the O's...they're owned by Angelos...'nuf ced...2) We're good at home...like MLB-best good at home...we just stink on the road...so getting these two teams into Fenway for a quick 6 before The Break is a good thing I told myself...
And I was right...
In the Twins series we showed them that, in Boston at least, we can beat them just about any way possible...game 1 was a pitcher's duel, with Dice and Scott Baker firing zeros at each other while they were out there...the only O on either side came in the 8th, Manny singled in Pedroia, and that was it...Oki and Pap were nearly flawless, 1-0 Sox...game 2 was a 6-5 win which was of the comeback variety...the Sox put up 4 in the 8th to take the lead, again with the big damage coming from Manny...a game-tying 2-run dinger...this time Aardsma set up Pap who gave up a hit but nothing more...for the finale it was all about the offense...the Sox put a legit hurting on the Twins, 18-5 was the final...I'd give you details but the numbers would take up a paragraph and a third, so let's just say that a 7-run 7th put it away and the sweep was complete...
We have to love Minny, don't we? I mean, it's almost a cliche at this point but that's the state that just keeps giving to Boston, don't they? Papi to the Sox, KG to the Celts and Randy Moss to the Pats (this one with a detour to Oakland, but hey)...we'll take it I guess...I almost feel bad for them, it's a good sports state too, not like they don't love their teams...oh well...thanks Minny...we love ya...
One pretender down...one to go...
Baltimore sneaked into Fenway sporting a sub-.500 record, but in game 1 of this series we tried to help them get over the hump...the game marked the return of Clay Buchholz, after two months away, so we can allow a mulligan here...the kid wasn't sharp and the O's put up 7 runs, enough to beat us on that night (you didn't think we'd get 18 back-to-back, did you?)...the Baltimore bullpen was (gasp) good...wow...can't believe I just typed that, but it was...let's forget that happened, on to game 2...which was a lot more like what we were expecting out of this series...Wake had the knuckler dancing and didn't even need it to be, since the boys threw 12 runs up on the board against a slew of O's hurlers...Drew hit his 17th on the season, Manny his 18th and Youk had the big big fly with his first career grand slam to highlight his 6 RBI on the night...good old fashioned whoopin'...so of course game 3 in the series would be a tight one...this one was all about the arms since the Sox only managed single runs in the 1st and 4th...but Dice, Oki and Manny Delcarmen got it to Pap without allowing a run...Pap did allow one, but just one, and the Sox held on 2-1 to take 2 of 3 from a team that they should ALWAYS take 2 of 3 from...and on this day that W was also enough for first place in the AL East heading into the break...
So a 5 of 6 stretch before The Break catapulted the Sox into 1st...time for some R&R and then hopefully an even better second half of the season...I like where this team is considering that the Rays have been pitching over their heads, the Yanks are also up and down and that we haven't played our best ball yet...if we put it together in July and August we could very well have the kind of September that will see us hit the top and stay there...
The All-Star Break really deserves only one item of discussion here...we'll mention the same thing everyone else was buzzing about after the HR Derby...JESUS, Josh Hamilton can hit...the ball just sounds different coming off of that kid's bat, doesn't it? IN-sane...nice to see him back on top after his personal struggles...he was drafted 1-2 with Josh Beckett, and those two were "can't miss" prospects back in 1999, Hamilton was number 1 for the Rays and Beckett number 2 for the Marlins...Beckett soon lived up to his hype and has become a legit ace for a perennial contender...Hamilton traveled a longer, darker road to the majors, but he's now finally where he belongs...generating the same kind of buzz he did in baseball back in 1999...welcome Josh, you've arrived again...
The actual All-Star game was pretty lame...but the AL won, great, so if we do get back to The Series we'll have home field...someone pointed out that the AL skipper, Terry Francona, looked super giddy after winning the game and then realized that it was probably because Terry knows we can't win on the road, so if we're gonna win The Series, better have 4 games at Fenway!
Ok, getting closer to actual current events...the next blog (tomorrow night or Wednesday at the latest) will get us through the two series before this last Yanks series...that would be the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Disney The State of California with those Annoying Thunder Sticks and That Stupid Rally Monkey (I think that's their official name now, right?), who are really good, and the Seattle Mariners, who I think just might decide to follow the Sonics to Oklahoma City if this season gets any worse...quick comment on the NBA, if you want to read about an injustice, check out the Sonics move to Oklahoma...google it or read the Sports Guy (see link to the right)...all that's missing to make this deal any shadier is the new owner (Clay Bennett) letting David Stern have sex with his wife (Indecent Proposal style)...it's a real travesty, and the Seattle fans are being raped by Stern and the NBA, plain and simple...
GO SAWX!
And I was right...
In the Twins series we showed them that, in Boston at least, we can beat them just about any way possible...game 1 was a pitcher's duel, with Dice and Scott Baker firing zeros at each other while they were out there...the only O on either side came in the 8th, Manny singled in Pedroia, and that was it...Oki and Pap were nearly flawless, 1-0 Sox...game 2 was a 6-5 win which was of the comeback variety...the Sox put up 4 in the 8th to take the lead, again with the big damage coming from Manny...a game-tying 2-run dinger...this time Aardsma set up Pap who gave up a hit but nothing more...for the finale it was all about the offense...the Sox put a legit hurting on the Twins, 18-5 was the final...I'd give you details but the numbers would take up a paragraph and a third, so let's just say that a 7-run 7th put it away and the sweep was complete...
We have to love Minny, don't we? I mean, it's almost a cliche at this point but that's the state that just keeps giving to Boston, don't they? Papi to the Sox, KG to the Celts and Randy Moss to the Pats (this one with a detour to Oakland, but hey)...we'll take it I guess...I almost feel bad for them, it's a good sports state too, not like they don't love their teams...oh well...thanks Minny...we love ya...
One pretender down...one to go...
Baltimore sneaked into Fenway sporting a sub-.500 record, but in game 1 of this series we tried to help them get over the hump...the game marked the return of Clay Buchholz, after two months away, so we can allow a mulligan here...the kid wasn't sharp and the O's put up 7 runs, enough to beat us on that night (you didn't think we'd get 18 back-to-back, did you?)...the Baltimore bullpen was (gasp) good...wow...can't believe I just typed that, but it was...let's forget that happened, on to game 2...which was a lot more like what we were expecting out of this series...Wake had the knuckler dancing and didn't even need it to be, since the boys threw 12 runs up on the board against a slew of O's hurlers...Drew hit his 17th on the season, Manny his 18th and Youk had the big big fly with his first career grand slam to highlight his 6 RBI on the night...good old fashioned whoopin'...so of course game 3 in the series would be a tight one...this one was all about the arms since the Sox only managed single runs in the 1st and 4th...but Dice, Oki and Manny Delcarmen got it to Pap without allowing a run...Pap did allow one, but just one, and the Sox held on 2-1 to take 2 of 3 from a team that they should ALWAYS take 2 of 3 from...and on this day that W was also enough for first place in the AL East heading into the break...
So a 5 of 6 stretch before The Break catapulted the Sox into 1st...time for some R&R and then hopefully an even better second half of the season...I like where this team is considering that the Rays have been pitching over their heads, the Yanks are also up and down and that we haven't played our best ball yet...if we put it together in July and August we could very well have the kind of September that will see us hit the top and stay there...
The All-Star Break really deserves only one item of discussion here...we'll mention the same thing everyone else was buzzing about after the HR Derby...JESUS, Josh Hamilton can hit...the ball just sounds different coming off of that kid's bat, doesn't it? IN-sane...nice to see him back on top after his personal struggles...he was drafted 1-2 with Josh Beckett, and those two were "can't miss" prospects back in 1999, Hamilton was number 1 for the Rays and Beckett number 2 for the Marlins...Beckett soon lived up to his hype and has become a legit ace for a perennial contender...Hamilton traveled a longer, darker road to the majors, but he's now finally where he belongs...generating the same kind of buzz he did in baseball back in 1999...welcome Josh, you've arrived again...
The actual All-Star game was pretty lame...but the AL won, great, so if we do get back to The Series we'll have home field...someone pointed out that the AL skipper, Terry Francona, looked super giddy after winning the game and then realized that it was probably because Terry knows we can't win on the road, so if we're gonna win The Series, better have 4 games at Fenway!
Ok, getting closer to actual current events...the next blog (tomorrow night or Wednesday at the latest) will get us through the two series before this last Yanks series...that would be the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Disney The State of California with those Annoying Thunder Sticks and That Stupid Rally Monkey (I think that's their official name now, right?), who are really good, and the Seattle Mariners, who I think just might decide to follow the Sonics to Oklahoma City if this season gets any worse...quick comment on the NBA, if you want to read about an injustice, check out the Sonics move to Oklahoma...google it or read the Sports Guy (see link to the right)...all that's missing to make this deal any shadier is the new owner (Clay Bennett) letting David Stern have sex with his wife (Indecent Proposal style)...it's a real travesty, and the Seattle fans are being raped by Stern and the NBA, plain and simple...
GO SAWX!
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Yankees Made Me Do It...and other confessions...
Hi there. Nice to see you. Um...yeah, things have been good. Can't complain...you been good? Ok...this is awkward...we said it wouldn't be awkward, but it is...look...I'm really sorry...I've neglected you...and, it's not right. I'll be better...I promise...no, really...I will...I...yeah...let's hug...
And there you have it, my official "Sorry I've been gone so long" apology. Now, the chances that any of you (except my number #1 fan) have been around long enough to know that there's even been a hiatus are slim to laughable, but hey, that doesn't make my absence less excusable! But I'm back, and of course it would be a good, old-fashioned Sox-Yanks clash to inspire me, wouldn't it? Before we get to tonight's RIDICULOUS game I need to recap the last month...usually I go game by game, sometimes pitch-by-pitch on here, but since we're talking 28 games or so and nothing incredibly catastrophic has happened (i.e. we're still near the top of the AL East) we'll just go with the highlights...and we'll take this in chunks...Yanks and part 2 of the recap to follow...
We left off in the NL, about to clash with an NL "Power" in the D-Backs. Hard to call them a power when they can't really hit, but their pitching is formidable...so the series went about as you might think...we took 2 of 3 scoring 11 total runs but holding them to 6...Haren beat Beckett 2-1 in the first game, we got to the Zona starter Davis and then pen late in the second game scoring 4 in the 8th to win 5-4 and Wake had the knuckler dancing in game 3 as we rolled 5-0 with all of the RBIs coming from Brandon Moss and Kevin Cash...how sweet is that? Good series, strong pitching and 1 total error over the three games (and that on a pickoff attempt)...solid baseball all around, nice job taking it...
From there, off to Houston...a hitter's heaven that little teeny field...so you had to figure there'd be at least one crazy game. Sox took the first game behind the return from the DL of the Dice man...5 scoreless though he was a little off overall, but we'll take it...JD homered for all the O we'd need, 6-1 final...Game 2 was the crazy game...11-10…21 runs, 27 hits and just garbage pitching all around…each starter (Lester and Backe) gave up 6 runs and both pens were terrible…Delcarmen killed us allowing 3 in the 8th and though Lowell homered off of Valverde, Youk and Tek struck out to end it…the last game was a brutal one to watch as another Beckett gem was wasted...Aardsma and Oki couldn’t keep ‘em off the board in the 8th and we dropped it 3-2…losing 2 of 3 to anyone sucks but to an NL team that’s not even contending? So far the 2008 Sox are just too inconsistent…weak in the pen and on the offensive side just too streaky…
So, back to the AL for the AL East leading…TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS!!! Boy does that sound nuts or what? But true…I didn’t think they’d last into June, forget July, but here were are starting a 3-game set with them on top of the division on 6/30…game 1 was looking like a possible catapult game…a comeback win was looking sweet in the 9th but it wasn’t to be as Julio Lugo lined out to end it with the tying run on 3rd…game 2 was EXCRUCIATING to watch…Wake allowed 2 runs, 1 earned and both scored on wild pitches!!! Mirabelli…where are you? In fairness Cash is actually doing pretty well…Hansen allowed another but it actually didn’t matter since we mustered a whole run off of Matt Garza…yeah, THE Matt Garza…and did nothing against the pen…3-1 bad guys was the final. Game 3 – we HAVE to salvage a game right? It’s the FRIGGING RAYS??? Nope, no we don’t…not this Rays team… break them up! Another bullpen meltdown…are we sensing a theme here this season kids? Not that hard to pick up…this time it was Delcarmen and Hansen and you saw it coming…3 runs allowed EACH thank you very much, and a 4-1 lead behind Dice became a 7-4 deficit…again we fought back getting 1 in the 8th and another in the 9th but this one ended on one of the ALL TIME dumbest decisions I’ve ever seen by a manager in a regular season game. With 1 out and Lowell on first, Tek at the plate, Francona puts on the hit and run. Know what, ok…why not? Tek has been looking awful at the plate but part of that has been his decision-making up there. If he has to swing with the play on maybe he gets a good pitch and puts it in play…at least moves the slow Lowell over…sure, it’s a gamble, but it’s worth a shot from time to time. Lowell takes off, Tek swings at a decent pitch, but fouls it off…ok, nice try, shelf the play and move on, right? No, not this night…Francona decides to gamble again, and make the exact same bet no less…he puts it on AGAIN!!! Now I’m pissed…are you kidding? With a guy that strikes out as much as Tek does and knowing that he’s in one of his trademark “I’m up here but I’m not sure if I can see and swing a bat at the same time” funks, you put it on twice in a row??? No f-ing way…but he did and the obvious happened…strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out…game OVER. Inexcusable…you should think about that play when you HAVE a base-stealer out there, with Mike Lowell running, trying that twice is insane…a K is a guaranteed game-ender…so kids, if we finish less than 3 games back in this division race, remember that we got swept by the Rays in a mid-summer series where we had a chance to win all 3 games…these things get forgotten in the second half, but this series just might deserve some mention later on…
And no rest for the weary…still on the road and heading to…the Bronx! Hadn’t been in a while so it was “nice” to get back there…sorta…gotta claim a little ignorance on this series as I was off in no-man’s land celebrating birthdays and laying on the beach for the first two games…we all need a break, right? Yeah, so what if I haven’t blogged in a month…I’ve been busy…
Super quick recap, of the first two…Lester gem, Beckett strong, Sox up 2-0 in a best of 4…yay…
Now for the crappy part…game 3 was the classic “If we win this one it would really hurt the Yanks” game…so of course, we blew it…pitcher’s duel all the way to the 9th with Mussina, who just owns us when he’s on (which is far less often these days) allowing zippo and Masterson giving up 2. The brutal part came in the 9th…Mo Rivera, who’s been nigh unhittable this year, took the hill…we all know the history…Sox vs. Mo is classic…we’re just not afraid of him…he’s not of us, and he’s going to get us more than we get him, but we’re not afraid, and that makes us dangerous. Drew singled and Mo hit Manny…Lowell then singled also, driving in JD…so we have 1st and 2nd nobody out…at this point I’m still not that optimistic…it’s Brandon Moss on 2nd (pinch running) and this is still Mo…I’d feel better with him at 3rd…and cue the Youk hit-by-pitch…bases loaded, NOBODY OUT!!! Talk about a chance to put the nail in the coffin…take the first 3 of the 4 game set by coming back off of the unhittable Mo this year…things like that propel teams (hell, it propelled THIS team back in 2004)…so all Coco has to do is make some decent contact…somewhere…that’s all…1-2-3 strikes he’s out…nice work…he did foul off the first pitch so do we call that a success? If Ellsbury were playing any better I’d gripe…but I can’t…so now Tek needs to do the job, but he’s still in la-la land, looking lost up at the plate…gets ahead in the count 2-0 but then pops it up to 1st…UGH!!! And now you just know there’s not a chance in hell that Lugo’s getting it done…did take him 5 pitches this time, but Mo got him swinging…Yanks win…do you get the idea that sometimes Mo just loads ‘em up with 0 outs to see if he can still get out of it? Anyway…another chance to hurt the Yanks, wasted…but, there is game 4 of the set, right? And for fear of actually seeing my own head explode I’m not going into all of the details for this one…let’s just say we had a lead, the pen blew it and Brett Gardner (yes, THE Brett Gardner to borrow my line from earlier) got Papelbon (our Mo, you know that, right?) for a walk-off single in the 10th inning…so, just to paint a pretty picture for you, we have a comeback in line, their HOF closer comes in and puts out the ultimate fire…we have a chance to take 3 of 4 and the pen, anchored by our hopefully HOF closer gives it back to Brett Gardner…I think I’d rather Brett Favre came in and got the hit…I’d feel better about it…like I said, we can never seem to put the nail into these guys, can we? Even in the blowout game 7 of the 2004 ALCS (that always makes me feel better) we just HAD to bring in Pedro to give them a little life, didn’t we? Maybe someday we’ll get the killer instinct…but maybe not…continuing with my theme from the TB series, if we’re close or hurting in September, remember this set too…we had a chance in all 7 games against the other top guys in the division, and only won 2 of them combined…needless to say we’ll need to be playing better ball in August and September…
Ok, that's enough to make you go blind, so we'll halt here...recap part 2 coming soon...before we need a recap part 3, I promise...
And there you have it, my official "Sorry I've been gone so long" apology. Now, the chances that any of you (except my number #1 fan) have been around long enough to know that there's even been a hiatus are slim to laughable, but hey, that doesn't make my absence less excusable! But I'm back, and of course it would be a good, old-fashioned Sox-Yanks clash to inspire me, wouldn't it? Before we get to tonight's RIDICULOUS game I need to recap the last month...usually I go game by game, sometimes pitch-by-pitch on here, but since we're talking 28 games or so and nothing incredibly catastrophic has happened (i.e. we're still near the top of the AL East) we'll just go with the highlights...and we'll take this in chunks...Yanks and part 2 of the recap to follow...
We left off in the NL, about to clash with an NL "Power" in the D-Backs. Hard to call them a power when they can't really hit, but their pitching is formidable...so the series went about as you might think...we took 2 of 3 scoring 11 total runs but holding them to 6...Haren beat Beckett 2-1 in the first game, we got to the Zona starter Davis and then pen late in the second game scoring 4 in the 8th to win 5-4 and Wake had the knuckler dancing in game 3 as we rolled 5-0 with all of the RBIs coming from Brandon Moss and Kevin Cash...how sweet is that? Good series, strong pitching and 1 total error over the three games (and that on a pickoff attempt)...solid baseball all around, nice job taking it...
From there, off to Houston...a hitter's heaven that little teeny field...so you had to figure there'd be at least one crazy game. Sox took the first game behind the return from the DL of the Dice man...5 scoreless though he was a little off overall, but we'll take it...JD homered for all the O we'd need, 6-1 final...Game 2 was the crazy game...11-10…21 runs, 27 hits and just garbage pitching all around…each starter (Lester and Backe) gave up 6 runs and both pens were terrible…Delcarmen killed us allowing 3 in the 8th and though Lowell homered off of Valverde, Youk and Tek struck out to end it…the last game was a brutal one to watch as another Beckett gem was wasted...Aardsma and Oki couldn’t keep ‘em off the board in the 8th and we dropped it 3-2…losing 2 of 3 to anyone sucks but to an NL team that’s not even contending? So far the 2008 Sox are just too inconsistent…weak in the pen and on the offensive side just too streaky…
So, back to the AL for the AL East leading…TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS!!! Boy does that sound nuts or what? But true…I didn’t think they’d last into June, forget July, but here were are starting a 3-game set with them on top of the division on 6/30…game 1 was looking like a possible catapult game…a comeback win was looking sweet in the 9th but it wasn’t to be as Julio Lugo lined out to end it with the tying run on 3rd…game 2 was EXCRUCIATING to watch…Wake allowed 2 runs, 1 earned and both scored on wild pitches!!! Mirabelli…where are you? In fairness Cash is actually doing pretty well…Hansen allowed another but it actually didn’t matter since we mustered a whole run off of Matt Garza…yeah, THE Matt Garza…and did nothing against the pen…3-1 bad guys was the final. Game 3 – we HAVE to salvage a game right? It’s the FRIGGING RAYS??? Nope, no we don’t…not this Rays team… break them up! Another bullpen meltdown…are we sensing a theme here this season kids? Not that hard to pick up…this time it was Delcarmen and Hansen and you saw it coming…3 runs allowed EACH thank you very much, and a 4-1 lead behind Dice became a 7-4 deficit…again we fought back getting 1 in the 8th and another in the 9th but this one ended on one of the ALL TIME dumbest decisions I’ve ever seen by a manager in a regular season game. With 1 out and Lowell on first, Tek at the plate, Francona puts on the hit and run. Know what, ok…why not? Tek has been looking awful at the plate but part of that has been his decision-making up there. If he has to swing with the play on maybe he gets a good pitch and puts it in play…at least moves the slow Lowell over…sure, it’s a gamble, but it’s worth a shot from time to time. Lowell takes off, Tek swings at a decent pitch, but fouls it off…ok, nice try, shelf the play and move on, right? No, not this night…Francona decides to gamble again, and make the exact same bet no less…he puts it on AGAIN!!! Now I’m pissed…are you kidding? With a guy that strikes out as much as Tek does and knowing that he’s in one of his trademark “I’m up here but I’m not sure if I can see and swing a bat at the same time” funks, you put it on twice in a row??? No f-ing way…but he did and the obvious happened…strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out…game OVER. Inexcusable…you should think about that play when you HAVE a base-stealer out there, with Mike Lowell running, trying that twice is insane…a K is a guaranteed game-ender…so kids, if we finish less than 3 games back in this division race, remember that we got swept by the Rays in a mid-summer series where we had a chance to win all 3 games…these things get forgotten in the second half, but this series just might deserve some mention later on…
And no rest for the weary…still on the road and heading to…the Bronx! Hadn’t been in a while so it was “nice” to get back there…sorta…gotta claim a little ignorance on this series as I was off in no-man’s land celebrating birthdays and laying on the beach for the first two games…we all need a break, right? Yeah, so what if I haven’t blogged in a month…I’ve been busy…
Super quick recap, of the first two…Lester gem, Beckett strong, Sox up 2-0 in a best of 4…yay…
Now for the crappy part…game 3 was the classic “If we win this one it would really hurt the Yanks” game…so of course, we blew it…pitcher’s duel all the way to the 9th with Mussina, who just owns us when he’s on (which is far less often these days) allowing zippo and Masterson giving up 2. The brutal part came in the 9th…Mo Rivera, who’s been nigh unhittable this year, took the hill…we all know the history…Sox vs. Mo is classic…we’re just not afraid of him…he’s not of us, and he’s going to get us more than we get him, but we’re not afraid, and that makes us dangerous. Drew singled and Mo hit Manny…Lowell then singled also, driving in JD…so we have 1st and 2nd nobody out…at this point I’m still not that optimistic…it’s Brandon Moss on 2nd (pinch running) and this is still Mo…I’d feel better with him at 3rd…and cue the Youk hit-by-pitch…bases loaded, NOBODY OUT!!! Talk about a chance to put the nail in the coffin…take the first 3 of the 4 game set by coming back off of the unhittable Mo this year…things like that propel teams (hell, it propelled THIS team back in 2004)…so all Coco has to do is make some decent contact…somewhere…that’s all…1-2-3 strikes he’s out…nice work…he did foul off the first pitch so do we call that a success? If Ellsbury were playing any better I’d gripe…but I can’t…so now Tek needs to do the job, but he’s still in la-la land, looking lost up at the plate…gets ahead in the count 2-0 but then pops it up to 1st…UGH!!! And now you just know there’s not a chance in hell that Lugo’s getting it done…did take him 5 pitches this time, but Mo got him swinging…Yanks win…do you get the idea that sometimes Mo just loads ‘em up with 0 outs to see if he can still get out of it? Anyway…another chance to hurt the Yanks, wasted…but, there is game 4 of the set, right? And for fear of actually seeing my own head explode I’m not going into all of the details for this one…let’s just say we had a lead, the pen blew it and Brett Gardner (yes, THE Brett Gardner to borrow my line from earlier) got Papelbon (our Mo, you know that, right?) for a walk-off single in the 10th inning…so, just to paint a pretty picture for you, we have a comeback in line, their HOF closer comes in and puts out the ultimate fire…we have a chance to take 3 of 4 and the pen, anchored by our hopefully HOF closer gives it back to Brett Gardner…I think I’d rather Brett Favre came in and got the hit…I’d feel better about it…like I said, we can never seem to put the nail into these guys, can we? Even in the blowout game 7 of the 2004 ALCS (that always makes me feel better) we just HAD to bring in Pedro to give them a little life, didn’t we? Maybe someday we’ll get the killer instinct…but maybe not…continuing with my theme from the TB series, if we’re close or hurting in September, remember this set too…we had a chance in all 7 games against the other top guys in the division, and only won 2 of them combined…needless to say we’ll need to be playing better ball in August and September…
Ok, that's enough to make you go blind, so we'll halt here...recap part 2 coming soon...before we need a recap part 3, I promise...
Thursday, June 26, 2008
2 for 1 Part 2...
The title of the last blog said "2 for 1 specialS," plural...so here's the second installment...we come from taking 2 of 3 from Cincy thanks to some late offense...now the "mighty" Phillies would attempt to take a series from an AL team...they topped the NL East at the time of this meeting and sport some strong offense (and a hitter's park) led by Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, not to mention a resurgent Pat Burrell...Utley in particular is ON FIRE this year, with 20+ dingers already, and out of the 2B position...now that's an offense...
Game 1 was over early even if we didn't know it...Colon was clearly off and left the game with a stiff back after giving up 4 early runs over 4 innings...clearly not liking the 9.0 ERA pace and concerned for his health, we yanked him, but Mike Timlin may finally be on the down side...seems like someone said that every year but this year it really might be true...4 ER in this one over 2/3 of an inning...ouch...a lofty 7+ ERA for Mike this season...on our end we had back-to-back jacks provide ALL of the offense (Dusty and 2008 JD Drew) and other than that Cole Hamels earned his "ace" moniker...8-2 final and for the second series in a row we dropped game 1 to an NL squad...
But since the title of now 2 blogs would clearly indicate, that's all the Phils would get...
Game 2 was a flat-out dominant performance by someone we're becoming more familiar with these days, the consistently good Jon Lester. All he did was pitch 7 scoreless, striking out 5 and most importantly for him, walking 1...maybe this kid finally realized he's good enough that he should make hitters beat him and not let them beat him...6-3 on the year right now and it's not too bold to say that his performance, if it keeps up, will mean that we might not miss Schill this year (more on that later)...the offense threw up 3 tough runs, 2 from a Coco HR off of the crafty Jamie Moyer and one on the Philly pen courtesy of a Lugo 2-out RBI...Lugo's D has been awful, but we knew that all along and at least he's hitting more this year...still can't believe the Sox brass loved him THAT much, but I like having the speed in the lineup so as long as he hits .270 or so I won't cry too much about him... that was more than enough O since both Oki and Pap were on...2 IP, 1 hit allowed and 5 Ks for their 6 outs...definition of lights out...
Game 3 was basically the 2008 JD Drew show...and I've decided from now on to call him "The 2008 JD Drew" for the rest of the year, and into next year, until he puts up numbers in two consecutive seasons...as well as he's playing this year (not worth his absurd contract, but still) it's hard to imagine that he can suck as much as he did last year...but look at his numbers over his career:
Ok, you can argue that the first 4 years he was getting better, up to his 2001 season...but from there on you'd expect some consistency, right? Now we all know he's the glass man...for all of his 5-tool talent the man just can't stay on the field if things aren't feeling so good, and therefore part of the performance can be judged on time played, but how the hell do you explain 2002 and 2007? Pressure? Adjustments? I dunno...all I know is I'll take the 2004, 2006 and so far 2008 JD Drew and pray that somehow he gets a daylight savings year for 2009 and misses the changeover...or something...
Back to game 3...JD's line, 4 for 5 with 4 RBI, 2 runs scored...and we needed them since the Phils put 4 up themselves...he was a triple short of the cycle and had 8 TB on the night...nice game...Masterson was good, giving up 2 in his 5 innings, and the Phils put up 2 n our favorite whipping boy, the Craig-ster...0 IP for him, 1 BB and 2 hits...ERA north of 5.7 again...and just when we thought we might be able to adjust the formula...too bad...7-4 Sox was the final and that's about all the press the Phils deserve...they're not a bad team, but the pitching is young and shallow...not sure they have the arms to make some noise in the NL playoffs nor even to hold off the Mets/Braves in the East...plus their fans should basically all be in prison (this goes for Eagles fans too, though they're probably the same mob) so I'd rather move on to a place where there aren't thugs and felons all over the stadium...wait...what...off to St. Louis...OH CRAP...
And WELCOME to lovely St. Louis for another 3-game set...yuck...the Cards weren't expected to be all that good this year but have played well despite the pessimism...timely hitting and pitching and a 43-32 record is keeping them close to the MLB-leading Cubbies in the NL Central...and as we all know, this is a rematch of the 2004 series, with basically none of the players on either side being the same and no real drama since the Cards won a WS in 2006 and we got number 2 in 2007, and we didn't play each other in either of those...so...yay...
Game 1, Shaky Wake against Kyle Lohse...one thing about the Cards since 2004, it's unreal how many formerly good pitchers have pitched for them, and with mixed results...their rotation has just been a mind-numbing mess for yeas and I have no clue how half of these guys win games...but they do...somehow Lohse keeps us to 2 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings while Wake gave up his obligatory longballs...with a little help from a Lugo error it was 4-2 Cards going into the bottom of the 7th, and this is where this game turned into the "almost" game. You know, the game we "almost" won but didn't thanks to unlikely scenario A or crazy play X...in this case it was just a little untimely hitting...Jacoby led off with a single and Dusty and JD both walked on 4 pitches each...so you've got a wild pitcher with the bases loaded and no outs and Manny coming up...career 2nd in Grand Slams Manny...but Larussa goes and gets Russ Springer from the pen, who gets Manny to hit into the DP...1 run in, but danger basically over...he got Lowell via the K and probably did a little mental dance as he walked off the mound...only 1 run in and one golden opportunity wasted (Flashback alert: for those old enough to remember, this was classic, pre-2004 Sox...somehow we LIVED like this ALLLLL the time in the 80s and 90s...seems like a distant memory but we used to lead the league in LOB every year and watch things like this happen to us constantly...it wasn't just the 86 year WS drought, it was crap like this that made us hate the baseball gods...anyway...)...the even more painfully, Oki gave up the insurance run with a Yadier Molina HR...if you give up a HR to a Molina it's just not your day...and of course to complete the "almost" game we get a run in the 9th off of Franklin (their post-Isringhausen implosion closer) and leave the tying run on 3rd...like I said...AL-MOST...
Game 2 was over before the Sox got up...a SUPER rusty Dice gave up 7 runs in his 1st inning back from the DL...6 hits, 3 walks...ouch...we'll summarize the good (bullpen gave up 2 over 8 and JD hit a bomb, number 14) and then let's just not talk any more about this game, agreed? Welcome back Dice, glad that's out of your system, straighten it out...agreed?
So, could it be, the reverse meaningless sweep in 2008 after we swept the 2004 WS? Cards take the first 2 and send a surprisingly effective Joel Pinero to the hill...I had the good fortune of listening to this one on the radio for a ride up to VT, and let's just say that based on the timing, the game shouldn't have lasted the full ride, but if they played 13 just for me, I appreciate it...this game had a bunch of twists and turns...too many to highlight for a June game (we'll save the super over analysis for September and hopefully the playoffs)...so we'll hit the biggies...Lester was strong again, pitched brilliantly and had one rough inning, giving up 2 in the 6th...Pinero was just as good, gave up 2 over his 7...Youk touched him with a solo HR and then the Sox put together a rally in the 8th that gave them a 3-2 lead...started with a Crisp triple that Ankiel misplayed and Lugo sac flyed him in...then the Sox patience paid off...not having drawn a walk all game the Sox drew three in a row (Manny, JD, Lowell) after a Dusty single to steal the lead...Pap was warming and you had to like our shot to snag this one late...BUT, Pap was a little sloppy this time...sounded like he had life on his pitches and he struck out the first two he faced...sounds like a typical Pap save so far, right? But like blown saves before, the walk hurh him again...he walked Chris Duncan and then gave up a long double over Coco's head (returning the misplay in center favor) from the always pesky Adam Kennedy...I swear if Kennedy would only get to hit under pressure he'd be a .400 hitter...3-3 ballgame...the next 3 innings were nuts...relievers all over the place, the Sox leading off every bottom of each inning with a double but unable to score and most insanely Craig Hansen coming in to pitch in a bases loaded 2-out situation...he promptly threw 3 straight (no pun intended) pitches by the .300 hitting Ryan Ludwick for the clutch K...finally in the 13th, Lowell led off with our 4th straight leadoff hit in extras (is that a record) and Youk sent us home happy with a large walkoff dinger to left center...the first Sox walkoff homer of the year believe it or not! And so, we salvaged a game and avoided the mini-revenge sweep...whew...sad that we dropped 2 of 3 to any NL team but given the way this one played out I'll take it, all the way to...Arizona...
Where I'll see you next blog...great pitching coming up (supposedly) which usually means letdowns and balls flying all over the place, but we shall see...
GO SAWX!!!
Game 1 was over early even if we didn't know it...Colon was clearly off and left the game with a stiff back after giving up 4 early runs over 4 innings...clearly not liking the 9.0 ERA pace and concerned for his health, we yanked him, but Mike Timlin may finally be on the down side...seems like someone said that every year but this year it really might be true...4 ER in this one over 2/3 of an inning...ouch...a lofty 7+ ERA for Mike this season...on our end we had back-to-back jacks provide ALL of the offense (Dusty and 2008 JD Drew) and other than that Cole Hamels earned his "ace" moniker...8-2 final and for the second series in a row we dropped game 1 to an NL squad...
But since the title of now 2 blogs would clearly indicate, that's all the Phils would get...
Game 2 was a flat-out dominant performance by someone we're becoming more familiar with these days, the consistently good Jon Lester. All he did was pitch 7 scoreless, striking out 5 and most importantly for him, walking 1...maybe this kid finally realized he's good enough that he should make hitters beat him and not let them beat him...6-3 on the year right now and it's not too bold to say that his performance, if it keeps up, will mean that we might not miss Schill this year (more on that later)...the offense threw up 3 tough runs, 2 from a Coco HR off of the crafty Jamie Moyer and one on the Philly pen courtesy of a Lugo 2-out RBI...Lugo's D has been awful, but we knew that all along and at least he's hitting more this year...still can't believe the Sox brass loved him THAT much, but I like having the speed in the lineup so as long as he hits .270 or so I won't cry too much about him... that was more than enough O since both Oki and Pap were on...2 IP, 1 hit allowed and 5 Ks for their 6 outs...definition of lights out...
Game 3 was basically the 2008 JD Drew show...and I've decided from now on to call him "The 2008 JD Drew" for the rest of the year, and into next year, until he puts up numbers in two consecutive seasons...as well as he's playing this year (not worth his absurd contract, but still) it's hard to imagine that he can suck as much as he did last year...but look at his numbers over his career:
Ok, you can argue that the first 4 years he was getting better, up to his 2001 season...but from there on you'd expect some consistency, right? Now we all know he's the glass man...for all of his 5-tool talent the man just can't stay on the field if things aren't feeling so good, and therefore part of the performance can be judged on time played, but how the hell do you explain 2002 and 2007? Pressure? Adjustments? I dunno...all I know is I'll take the 2004, 2006 and so far 2008 JD Drew and pray that somehow he gets a daylight savings year for 2009 and misses the changeover...or something...
Back to game 3...JD's line, 4 for 5 with 4 RBI, 2 runs scored...and we needed them since the Phils put 4 up themselves...he was a triple short of the cycle and had 8 TB on the night...nice game...Masterson was good, giving up 2 in his 5 innings, and the Phils put up 2 n our favorite whipping boy, the Craig-ster...0 IP for him, 1 BB and 2 hits...ERA north of 5.7 again...and just when we thought we might be able to adjust the formula...too bad...7-4 Sox was the final and that's about all the press the Phils deserve...they're not a bad team, but the pitching is young and shallow...not sure they have the arms to make some noise in the NL playoffs nor even to hold off the Mets/Braves in the East...plus their fans should basically all be in prison (this goes for Eagles fans too, though they're probably the same mob) so I'd rather move on to a place where there aren't thugs and felons all over the stadium...wait...what...off to St. Louis...OH CRAP...
And WELCOME to lovely St. Louis for another 3-game set...yuck...the Cards weren't expected to be all that good this year but have played well despite the pessimism...timely hitting and pitching and a 43-32 record is keeping them close to the MLB-leading Cubbies in the NL Central...and as we all know, this is a rematch of the 2004 series, with basically none of the players on either side being the same and no real drama since the Cards won a WS in 2006 and we got number 2 in 2007, and we didn't play each other in either of those...so...yay...
Game 1, Shaky Wake against Kyle Lohse...one thing about the Cards since 2004, it's unreal how many formerly good pitchers have pitched for them, and with mixed results...their rotation has just been a mind-numbing mess for yeas and I have no clue how half of these guys win games...but they do...somehow Lohse keeps us to 2 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings while Wake gave up his obligatory longballs...with a little help from a Lugo error it was 4-2 Cards going into the bottom of the 7th, and this is where this game turned into the "almost" game. You know, the game we "almost" won but didn't thanks to unlikely scenario A or crazy play X...in this case it was just a little untimely hitting...Jacoby led off with a single and Dusty and JD both walked on 4 pitches each...so you've got a wild pitcher with the bases loaded and no outs and Manny coming up...career 2nd in Grand Slams Manny...but Larussa goes and gets Russ Springer from the pen, who gets Manny to hit into the DP...1 run in, but danger basically over...he got Lowell via the K and probably did a little mental dance as he walked off the mound...only 1 run in and one golden opportunity wasted (Flashback alert: for those old enough to remember, this was classic, pre-2004 Sox...somehow we LIVED like this ALLLLL the time in the 80s and 90s...seems like a distant memory but we used to lead the league in LOB every year and watch things like this happen to us constantly...it wasn't just the 86 year WS drought, it was crap like this that made us hate the baseball gods...anyway...)...the even more painfully, Oki gave up the insurance run with a Yadier Molina HR...if you give up a HR to a Molina it's just not your day...and of course to complete the "almost" game we get a run in the 9th off of Franklin (their post-Isringhausen implosion closer) and leave the tying run on 3rd...like I said...AL-MOST...
Game 2 was over before the Sox got up...a SUPER rusty Dice gave up 7 runs in his 1st inning back from the DL...6 hits, 3 walks...ouch...we'll summarize the good (bullpen gave up 2 over 8 and JD hit a bomb, number 14) and then let's just not talk any more about this game, agreed? Welcome back Dice, glad that's out of your system, straighten it out...agreed?
So, could it be, the reverse meaningless sweep in 2008 after we swept the 2004 WS? Cards take the first 2 and send a surprisingly effective Joel Pinero to the hill...I had the good fortune of listening to this one on the radio for a ride up to VT, and let's just say that based on the timing, the game shouldn't have lasted the full ride, but if they played 13 just for me, I appreciate it...this game had a bunch of twists and turns...too many to highlight for a June game (we'll save the super over analysis for September and hopefully the playoffs)...so we'll hit the biggies...Lester was strong again, pitched brilliantly and had one rough inning, giving up 2 in the 6th...Pinero was just as good, gave up 2 over his 7...Youk touched him with a solo HR and then the Sox put together a rally in the 8th that gave them a 3-2 lead...started with a Crisp triple that Ankiel misplayed and Lugo sac flyed him in...then the Sox patience paid off...not having drawn a walk all game the Sox drew three in a row (Manny, JD, Lowell) after a Dusty single to steal the lead...Pap was warming and you had to like our shot to snag this one late...BUT, Pap was a little sloppy this time...sounded like he had life on his pitches and he struck out the first two he faced...sounds like a typical Pap save so far, right? But like blown saves before, the walk hurh him again...he walked Chris Duncan and then gave up a long double over Coco's head (returning the misplay in center favor) from the always pesky Adam Kennedy...I swear if Kennedy would only get to hit under pressure he'd be a .400 hitter...3-3 ballgame...the next 3 innings were nuts...relievers all over the place, the Sox leading off every bottom of each inning with a double but unable to score and most insanely Craig Hansen coming in to pitch in a bases loaded 2-out situation...he promptly threw 3 straight (no pun intended) pitches by the .300 hitting Ryan Ludwick for the clutch K...finally in the 13th, Lowell led off with our 4th straight leadoff hit in extras (is that a record) and Youk sent us home happy with a large walkoff dinger to left center...the first Sox walkoff homer of the year believe it or not! And so, we salvaged a game and avoided the mini-revenge sweep...whew...sad that we dropped 2 of 3 to any NL team but given the way this one played out I'll take it, all the way to...Arizona...
Where I'll see you next blog...great pitching coming up (supposedly) which usually means letdowns and balls flying all over the place, but we shall see...
GO SAWX!!!
Friday, June 20, 2008
2 for 1 Specials, Sox vs. the NL, get your 2 for 1, right here...
Round two of Interleauge play was here, let the AL rejoice! The last several years, this happy experiment, created by Bud and the gang to spice up baseball and bring in some extra cash, has meant one thing...the AL teams all get hot at the same time...the Sox especially as they've POUNDED the Senior Circuit since this whole mess started...they're something like 3242-22 against them...ok, that's a bit high on the win side, but it's not as nuts as you might think!
First up this time around, Cincy...the formerly proud Reds (remember 1976) are stumbling to rebuild their franchise and losing a lot of games in the process...why not give them the World Champs for AL opponents this year?
Game 1 featured the Reds' ace Aaron Harang against the surprising rookie, Justin Masterson (an Ohio native like Youk and Sean Casey). Harang has had a pretty rough year so far, and sported a 2-9 record before this one got started, but the Sox found out what this guy can do when he's right...Manny drove in the lone Sox run and they could manage only 4 hits over Harang's 7 innings, versus 7 Ks and 0 BBs...Masterson pitched ok, giving up 3 ER over his 6.2 and showing us his K potential, ringing up 9 Reds...Rookie phenom Jay Bruce and homer fiend Adam Dunn each went deep and that was enough for Harang to get his 3rd win of the season...so the Reds took game 1 in a pitchers' duel and you basically had the feeling that the Sox O wasn't going to put up with that any more...
And they didn't...game 2's Cincy starter was Edison Volquez and we threw the Wake out there...remember how I mentioned the Reds rebuilding? Well aside from Bruce, Johnny Cueto and this kid Volquez are the keys...filthy stuff...we only managed 3 runs (2 earned) off of him and he was dominant in general...1 BB, 9 Ks against a Manny and Papi-less offense (but still)... nasty...this youngster has gas and a couple of out pitches, and he should be a star in the NL for a while...we held a normally roomy 4-2 lead (thanks to an 8th inning double and single from Drew and Lowell) going into the bottom of the 8th and then this turned into bizarro game...Oki and Delcarmen gave up the extra cushion on the dreaded single-walk-single combo, making it 4-3 after 8...then Pap came in to lock it down, but didn't...another iffy Pap outing...he got Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn on two groundouts but unlike the last couple of years he's just not always finishing games and pitches this year...the 3rd batter of the inning was Edwin Encarnacion, not a bad little player for sure, but not the caliber hitter that should be beating Pap...but Pap hung a splitter (first pitch called by Moss, not Tek...wonder if that has anything to do with this...going to have to watch more closely) and Encarnacion lined it out of that hitter-heaven...tie game...Pap just doesn't seem invincible this year...his 3rd blown save before the break...not catastrophic, but bothersome...luckily for him he was able to pick up the sneaky W as Youk and Coco decided we weren't losing this one...they teed off on Mike Lincoln for back to back jacks, giving the Sox a 6-4 lead, and Craig Hansen, yes THE Craig Hansen got the save...and before you ask, yes I was nervous and no it wasn't easy...got the first two outs quickly (grounder, K) and then gave up a single and a walk, but got a weak fly to end it...EXHALE...gotta say, and this is by no means an endorsement that he should EVER be in a close game, but he looks better...he seems to be learning to mix pitches and hit spots better, and that 96 with movement is better than 98 without any...let's hope...and pray...hard...
Rubber match! Josh Beckett on the hill versus Homer Bailey, and that's all you need to know about that game...Beckett is starting to settle in a little while Homer is having a disastrous year...I mean awful...and it continued this night with Coco, Jacoby and JD going deep (again it's a TINY ballpark) before Bailey's 2.1 innings were up...5 ER...ouch...and their pen wasn't much better, giving up 4 ER themselves including Dusty's 5th of the year...if Coco, Jacoby and Dusty are hitting bombs, you know you're in a hitter's park...Beckett threw 7 shutout innings for the laugher W...and just like that, a 2 for 1 special in Cincy...off to Philly for 3 against our NL counterparts, the NL East leading Phillies...
Stay tuned for that blog as it's getting late and I'm tired...2 for 1 part 2 coming soon and GO SAWX!!!
First up this time around, Cincy...the formerly proud Reds (remember 1976) are stumbling to rebuild their franchise and losing a lot of games in the process...why not give them the World Champs for AL opponents this year?
Game 1 featured the Reds' ace Aaron Harang against the surprising rookie, Justin Masterson (an Ohio native like Youk and Sean Casey). Harang has had a pretty rough year so far, and sported a 2-9 record before this one got started, but the Sox found out what this guy can do when he's right...Manny drove in the lone Sox run and they could manage only 4 hits over Harang's 7 innings, versus 7 Ks and 0 BBs...Masterson pitched ok, giving up 3 ER over his 6.2 and showing us his K potential, ringing up 9 Reds...Rookie phenom Jay Bruce and homer fiend Adam Dunn each went deep and that was enough for Harang to get his 3rd win of the season...so the Reds took game 1 in a pitchers' duel and you basically had the feeling that the Sox O wasn't going to put up with that any more...
And they didn't...game 2's Cincy starter was Edison Volquez and we threw the Wake out there...remember how I mentioned the Reds rebuilding? Well aside from Bruce, Johnny Cueto and this kid Volquez are the keys...filthy stuff...we only managed 3 runs (2 earned) off of him and he was dominant in general...1 BB, 9 Ks against a Manny and Papi-less offense (but still)... nasty...this youngster has gas and a couple of out pitches, and he should be a star in the NL for a while...we held a normally roomy 4-2 lead (thanks to an 8th inning double and single from Drew and Lowell) going into the bottom of the 8th and then this turned into bizarro game...Oki and Delcarmen gave up the extra cushion on the dreaded single-walk-single combo, making it 4-3 after 8...then Pap came in to lock it down, but didn't...another iffy Pap outing...he got Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn on two groundouts but unlike the last couple of years he's just not always finishing games and pitches this year...the 3rd batter of the inning was Edwin Encarnacion, not a bad little player for sure, but not the caliber hitter that should be beating Pap...but Pap hung a splitter (first pitch called by Moss, not Tek...wonder if that has anything to do with this...going to have to watch more closely) and Encarnacion lined it out of that hitter-heaven...tie game...Pap just doesn't seem invincible this year...his 3rd blown save before the break...not catastrophic, but bothersome...luckily for him he was able to pick up the sneaky W as Youk and Coco decided we weren't losing this one...they teed off on Mike Lincoln for back to back jacks, giving the Sox a 6-4 lead, and Craig Hansen, yes THE Craig Hansen got the save...and before you ask, yes I was nervous and no it wasn't easy...got the first two outs quickly (grounder, K) and then gave up a single and a walk, but got a weak fly to end it...EXHALE...gotta say, and this is by no means an endorsement that he should EVER be in a close game, but he looks better...he seems to be learning to mix pitches and hit spots better, and that 96 with movement is better than 98 without any...let's hope...and pray...hard...
Rubber match! Josh Beckett on the hill versus Homer Bailey, and that's all you need to know about that game...Beckett is starting to settle in a little while Homer is having a disastrous year...I mean awful...and it continued this night with Coco, Jacoby and JD going deep (again it's a TINY ballpark) before Bailey's 2.1 innings were up...5 ER...ouch...and their pen wasn't much better, giving up 4 ER themselves including Dusty's 5th of the year...if Coco, Jacoby and Dusty are hitting bombs, you know you're in a hitter's park...Beckett threw 7 shutout innings for the laugher W...and just like that, a 2 for 1 special in Cincy...off to Philly for 3 against our NL counterparts, the NL East leading Phillies...
Stay tuned for that blog as it's getting late and I'm tired...2 for 1 part 2 coming soon and GO SAWX!!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Sleep, the Celtics and a whole lot of missed blogging...
No, I didn't die...not yet anyway. I wasn't in another country (though it did feel like that a few times) and I didn't suddenly think it was 1987, a pre-blog year, just because the NBA seems to think it is...there is a pretty rational reason for this prolonged absence...well, several of them actually, but in the interest of now boring you to death I'll be concise. Last I blogged was 5/28...the Sox were up and down but more personally relevant at the time was that my daughter was up...as in awake...and ALLLLLLL the time...so excuse number 1 is that I started to sleep a lot, at home and on the road, and blogging paid the price. So, what were you doing while not sleeping, you might ask? Working and watching the Boston Celtics...I'm not going to talk about them any more now since I may end up with a full blog about it, but I will briefly mention the idiotic, revenue-driven decision to start all of these games sometime between Leno and dawn every night...are you kidding me David Stern??? Anyway, bottom line is I'm back, and we have a lot of catching up to do...in the interest of doing just that and not killing your eyes with 15000 words we'll summarize the missed time with a hybrid game-by-game, series-summary method...
We pick up with the rubber match of the May 26th - 28th Seattle series...Sox took game 1 behind Bartolo and the Mariners took game 2 after Dice got hurt, Manny hit number 499 and Timlin blew it (yes, I realize Manny has like 8 HRs since then, IT'S BEEN A WHILE)...
Game 3 was a tough loss...Wake pitched one of his rare gems, a complete game allowing 1 ER on a Betancourt HR...Bedard was strong over 7 full and we never really threatened the pen...nobody hit all night, it was gross...we dropped 2 of 3 to the lousy Mariners and that dropped us to 1-5 on the road trip (swept by Oakland the series before)...I know it's early but we can't lose series to bad teams, we just can't...it'll hurt us later if the Yanks and Rays are for real...now off to Baltimore, who is playing surprisingly well for the team they have...and for some reason these guys give us trouble even when they stink, so I was feeling awful about heading there to end the trip...
Which shows how much I know about anything as we stormed in there and took the first 3 games of the series, and pretty easily too...
Game 1 was the toughest of them, as it took 13 innings to get...Beckett pitched well but the bats couldn't put up more than 2...luckily the boys sent us home happy, putting up 3 in the top of the 13th followed by Pap nailing it shut (our 7th pitcher of the night)...gotta hope a win like that carries over (nice "foreshadowing" eh?)...
Game 2 was tied in the 7th when up stepped Manny Ramirez with a man on...Manny took a first pitch fastball from Chad Bradford and crushed it to the opposite field...the perfect Manny HR for number 500...the game was effectively over and this one will get it's own blog shortly, so just enjoy the official site video for now:
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Game 3 was in June, so, hey, we're getting current! This one was a joke all the way as Colon pitched a solid if not spectacular game but taking Manny's momentum from 500 the bats took this one away from Baltimore early...7 runs on the board through the 4th and the most relevant of those were the 2 that came from number 501...you kind of thought it might not be long before number 501 after 500 took a while, and he wasted no time...this had the feel of a patented Manny streak a soon as he hit number 500...guess we'll see if it continues...9-4 Sox was the final...
Looked like we had the sweep this time in Camden Yards, leading 3-2 and handing the ball off to Oki...but the O's had a rally in them I guess, knocking a clearly rusty Oki all over the place and putting up 4 runs on 4 hits...as long as that's not a trend it doesn't really bother me at all...off to a 1-5 start on the trip the Sox salvaged it taking 3-4 in Baltimore and finishing it 4-6...not great, but this isn't August yet, so we'll build on it...time to go back to the Friendly Confines to greet our sudden rivals in the standings, the Tampa Bay Formerly Devil Rays...
As it turned out the results were friendly, but the Rays were anything but...this one was a Sox 3-game sweep, and none of the games were close...as we all know the big story in this one was Coco vs. The Rays...I know I'm a little biased on this one, but here's how I see it...the Rays are a bunch of upstart Punks, and while you have to somewhat respect their willingness to defend their own, you can't respect their opinions on how this all started and when it should end. The whole thing ACTUALLY started when the Rays SS used a bush league knee drop to block 2nd on a Coco slide...now, is this the most bush league play in the majors, no...but it is bush league, and the Rays own manager admitted that Bartlett used to do that when he played against them, and that the way to handle it is to slide spikes first into second...that's cure it...ok, fair enough...so the next time Coco got to head towards 2nd base he slid hard, spikes first and made some contact with the Rays 2nd baseman, Aki Iwamura...was it a little excessive, maybe...but if your manager admits that there may have been a dirty play out there and then there's some retaliation, doesn't that end it right there? Iwamura didn't get hurt, there was no extra kick or punch in the hard slide...some leg contact and that was all...should have been the end of it...but I guess the upstart Rays are trying to prove that they belong in the AL East instead of AAA but going about it the wrong way, because instead of letting it go there, the Rays started jawing at Coco and making threats...apparently they didn't like how Coco retaliated...oh, I get it now, you get to employ the first dirty play AND pick the retribution...my bad, missed that one in the honor code...sorry gents, that ain't how it works...so you had the sense as this one ended that Coco might be in for it in the finale...his first at bat in that one, to no one's surprise, Coco got hit by James Shields...in the thigh, to their credit, but still, that's a bunch of garbage...they obviously felt that Coco had started something with his slide, basically not admitting that they started the whole thing even though their manager SAID IT WAS A DIRTY PLAY...f-ing Rays, stop trying to make it, you suck! Have you ever had winning season? Please, we know you're trying to get legit but trying to win arguments you've already lost is IDIOTIC...do it by winning games and championships...the Marlins have 2 WS already...it's possible...rightly feeling wronged, Coco charged the mound and dodged an ABSOLUTE HAY MAKER from Shields...he's be in a coma if that had landed, but hey, he's speedy, right? Coco got in a light right before the Rays gang-tackled him and showed just what kind of punks they are...from the dugout, Johnny Gomes, who outweighs Coco by 60 pounds, got there after Coco was being held down and tried to unload on him...Carl Crawford tried to throw some sneaky blows, and even Iwamura looked like he was pulling hair or something (aren't the Japanese supposed to be polite?)...the Sox looked mostly like peacemakers, pulling people off of the pile, and while Casey and Lester were suspended I still don't know what they did...anyway, the Sox got the best revenge, winning this one easily with Manny hitting another bomb, 502 and number 13 on the season...drove in 5 and basically told the Rays to shove it...he also was apparently jacked up from the fight because he and Youk got into it in the dugout...I was ok with this since you know it's probably no big deal and it proves that Manny cares...about anything...or something...see, I told you...and to finish this series off with a quick flash forward, today (actual today, 6/13) Pap said this is to be continued with the Rays...so...stay tuned!
Most importantly the Sox were building some mo and sitting in 1st place...love it...just in time to welcome back the Mariners and Os for 6 games on a 7-day homestand...
Since you're getting tired now, we'll summarize the two series quickly in random semi-haiku format:
Seattle:
Game 1 bad. Colon rocked, Sox can't hit King Felix...8-0 final
Game 2 good. Wake shuts them down, Manny and JD dingers...11-3 W
Game 3 awesome. Masterson masters Ms in Fenway, JD both RBIs (1 HR)...2-1 final
Love to see Manny staying hot and JD continuing his 2008 even-year play...why the hell can't he do this in odd years? What's the phobia name for odd-year phobia? He has it...whatever it is...
Baltimore:
Game 1 YUCK! Manny and JD en fuego...Oki rocked and Hansen pitched...Sox fall 10-6
Game 2 Sweet. Bartolo strong again. Tek and Lowell clutch! Sox win 6-3
Game 3 BAM! Lowell GS aftr Manny IBB. Lester looks awesome! 9-2 final...
Manny and Youk seem to be ok too, as Manny was waiting for Youk after his HR in game 3 with a playful welcome...Drew hit another too...those two guys each have 10 on the season already...they keep this up and we'll get through this stretch without Papi...how did I forget to mention that!!! Papi went down and landed on the DL...shouldn't be out too long and we've played well enough in the meantime, so I forgot to include it in one of the super mini recaps...ugh...we get Dice back soon and this team is starting to play more consistent ball...looks like we have something in Colon and Masterson and you know what they say, you can't have too much starting pitching!
Time for more interleague play and hopefully the Sox continue their NL dominance while Tamps and NY struggle...hahahahaha...ok, the AL should romp again, which is great for the league comparisons but doesn't do too much for us in the standings...first up a homecoming for Youk and Casey in Cincy...a bad team overall and let's hope they play like it...
Sorry to play crazy catch up...should be back in the swing for a while...more specialized blogs and better game watching/recaps in the near future...
GO SAWX!!! And a special...GO CELTS!!!
We pick up with the rubber match of the May 26th - 28th Seattle series...Sox took game 1 behind Bartolo and the Mariners took game 2 after Dice got hurt, Manny hit number 499 and Timlin blew it (yes, I realize Manny has like 8 HRs since then, IT'S BEEN A WHILE)...
Game 3 was a tough loss...Wake pitched one of his rare gems, a complete game allowing 1 ER on a Betancourt HR...Bedard was strong over 7 full and we never really threatened the pen...nobody hit all night, it was gross...we dropped 2 of 3 to the lousy Mariners and that dropped us to 1-5 on the road trip (swept by Oakland the series before)...I know it's early but we can't lose series to bad teams, we just can't...it'll hurt us later if the Yanks and Rays are for real...now off to Baltimore, who is playing surprisingly well for the team they have...and for some reason these guys give us trouble even when they stink, so I was feeling awful about heading there to end the trip...
Which shows how much I know about anything as we stormed in there and took the first 3 games of the series, and pretty easily too...
Game 1 was the toughest of them, as it took 13 innings to get...Beckett pitched well but the bats couldn't put up more than 2...luckily the boys sent us home happy, putting up 3 in the top of the 13th followed by Pap nailing it shut (our 7th pitcher of the night)...gotta hope a win like that carries over (nice "foreshadowing" eh?)...
Game 2 was tied in the 7th when up stepped Manny Ramirez with a man on...Manny took a first pitch fastball from Chad Bradford and crushed it to the opposite field...the perfect Manny HR for number 500...the game was effectively over and this one will get it's own blog shortly, so just enjoy the official site video for now:
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Game 3 was in June, so, hey, we're getting current! This one was a joke all the way as Colon pitched a solid if not spectacular game but taking Manny's momentum from 500 the bats took this one away from Baltimore early...7 runs on the board through the 4th and the most relevant of those were the 2 that came from number 501...you kind of thought it might not be long before number 501 after 500 took a while, and he wasted no time...this had the feel of a patented Manny streak a soon as he hit number 500...guess we'll see if it continues...9-4 Sox was the final...
Looked like we had the sweep this time in Camden Yards, leading 3-2 and handing the ball off to Oki...but the O's had a rally in them I guess, knocking a clearly rusty Oki all over the place and putting up 4 runs on 4 hits...as long as that's not a trend it doesn't really bother me at all...off to a 1-5 start on the trip the Sox salvaged it taking 3-4 in Baltimore and finishing it 4-6...not great, but this isn't August yet, so we'll build on it...time to go back to the Friendly Confines to greet our sudden rivals in the standings, the Tampa Bay Formerly Devil Rays...
As it turned out the results were friendly, but the Rays were anything but...this one was a Sox 3-game sweep, and none of the games were close...as we all know the big story in this one was Coco vs. The Rays...I know I'm a little biased on this one, but here's how I see it...the Rays are a bunch of upstart Punks, and while you have to somewhat respect their willingness to defend their own, you can't respect their opinions on how this all started and when it should end. The whole thing ACTUALLY started when the Rays SS used a bush league knee drop to block 2nd on a Coco slide...now, is this the most bush league play in the majors, no...but it is bush league, and the Rays own manager admitted that Bartlett used to do that when he played against them, and that the way to handle it is to slide spikes first into second...that's cure it...ok, fair enough...so the next time Coco got to head towards 2nd base he slid hard, spikes first and made some contact with the Rays 2nd baseman, Aki Iwamura...was it a little excessive, maybe...but if your manager admits that there may have been a dirty play out there and then there's some retaliation, doesn't that end it right there? Iwamura didn't get hurt, there was no extra kick or punch in the hard slide...some leg contact and that was all...should have been the end of it...but I guess the upstart Rays are trying to prove that they belong in the AL East instead of AAA but going about it the wrong way, because instead of letting it go there, the Rays started jawing at Coco and making threats...apparently they didn't like how Coco retaliated...oh, I get it now, you get to employ the first dirty play AND pick the retribution...my bad, missed that one in the honor code...sorry gents, that ain't how it works...so you had the sense as this one ended that Coco might be in for it in the finale...his first at bat in that one, to no one's surprise, Coco got hit by James Shields...in the thigh, to their credit, but still, that's a bunch of garbage...they obviously felt that Coco had started something with his slide, basically not admitting that they started the whole thing even though their manager SAID IT WAS A DIRTY PLAY...f-ing Rays, stop trying to make it, you suck! Have you ever had winning season? Please, we know you're trying to get legit but trying to win arguments you've already lost is IDIOTIC...do it by winning games and championships...the Marlins have 2 WS already...it's possible...rightly feeling wronged, Coco charged the mound and dodged an ABSOLUTE HAY MAKER from Shields...he's be in a coma if that had landed, but hey, he's speedy, right? Coco got in a light right before the Rays gang-tackled him and showed just what kind of punks they are...from the dugout, Johnny Gomes, who outweighs Coco by 60 pounds, got there after Coco was being held down and tried to unload on him...Carl Crawford tried to throw some sneaky blows, and even Iwamura looked like he was pulling hair or something (aren't the Japanese supposed to be polite?)...the Sox looked mostly like peacemakers, pulling people off of the pile, and while Casey and Lester were suspended I still don't know what they did...anyway, the Sox got the best revenge, winning this one easily with Manny hitting another bomb, 502 and number 13 on the season...drove in 5 and basically told the Rays to shove it...he also was apparently jacked up from the fight because he and Youk got into it in the dugout...I was ok with this since you know it's probably no big deal and it proves that Manny cares...about anything...or something...see, I told you...and to finish this series off with a quick flash forward, today (actual today, 6/13) Pap said this is to be continued with the Rays...so...stay tuned!
Most importantly the Sox were building some mo and sitting in 1st place...love it...just in time to welcome back the Mariners and Os for 6 games on a 7-day homestand...
Since you're getting tired now, we'll summarize the two series quickly in random semi-haiku format:
Seattle:
Game 1 bad. Colon rocked, Sox can't hit King Felix...8-0 final
Game 2 good. Wake shuts them down, Manny and JD dingers...11-3 W
Game 3 awesome. Masterson masters Ms in Fenway, JD both RBIs (1 HR)...2-1 final
Love to see Manny staying hot and JD continuing his 2008 even-year play...why the hell can't he do this in odd years? What's the phobia name for odd-year phobia? He has it...whatever it is...
Baltimore:
Game 1 YUCK! Manny and JD en fuego...Oki rocked and Hansen pitched...Sox fall 10-6
Game 2 Sweet. Bartolo strong again. Tek and Lowell clutch! Sox win 6-3
Game 3 BAM! Lowell GS aftr Manny IBB. Lester looks awesome! 9-2 final...
Manny and Youk seem to be ok too, as Manny was waiting for Youk after his HR in game 3 with a playful welcome...Drew hit another too...those two guys each have 10 on the season already...they keep this up and we'll get through this stretch without Papi...how did I forget to mention that!!! Papi went down and landed on the DL...shouldn't be out too long and we've played well enough in the meantime, so I forgot to include it in one of the super mini recaps...ugh...we get Dice back soon and this team is starting to play more consistent ball...looks like we have something in Colon and Masterson and you know what they say, you can't have too much starting pitching!
Time for more interleague play and hopefully the Sox continue their NL dominance while Tamps and NY struggle...hahahahaha...ok, the AL should romp again, which is great for the league comparisons but doesn't do too much for us in the standings...first up a homecoming for Youk and Casey in Cincy...a bad team overall and let's hope they play like it...
Sorry to play crazy catch up...should be back in the swing for a while...more specialized blogs and better game watching/recaps in the near future...
GO SAWX!!! And a special...GO CELTS!!!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Seattle Slew
As you may or may not recall we'll be picking up in the 5th inning of game 1 of a 3-game set with the Ms...Bartolo was out dueling King Felix thus far and Felix held down his end of the bargain in the top of the 6th...the bottom came and Colon couldn't hang on to the shutout...the damage started with a single by Ichiro (no shame in that) but then the big pitcher made his only real mistake of the night hitting Lopez with a pitch, and putting runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out...a sacrifice followed and then with the potential go-ahead run in scoring position, Dusty Pedroia helped out his pitcher with a fantastic diving stop on a hard shot up the middle...Ichiro scored to tie it but the out made 2 and Bartolo got Beltre to ground out, ending the threat...a couple of more 0s on both sides and Bartolo left after the 7th having pitched a very string game...7 full, 4K and only 1BB having thrown a total of 84 pitches on the night...nice work...the Ms brought Felix back out for the 8th (his pitch count was under 100 also, not a bad call) and he looked to be in charge...after giving up a leadoff single to Casey, Lugo forced him out and Jacoby grounded out, though it was just softly enough to move Lugo over...if you've been paying attention you know how much 2-out damage the Sox have been doing this year, and some more was one the way, we just didn't know it yet...Dusty came up and crushed a first-pitch fastball over Ibanez who was playing way too shallowly in left...has he not seen Pedroia swing? Not exactly a soft swing he's got there...can't be fooled by the little package, you have to play him straight up...anyway, bad scouting or bad luck, whatever it was it turned into a ground-rule double and Lugo trotted home with the lead...with 1st open Big Papi got the free pass and it would be righty power against righty power with Manny vying to continue the inning...Manny ended the suspense quickly lacing a first-pitch heater (think the Sox had the scouting report right this inning) into right field (uh-oh, Manny's hitting to the opposite field...could be time to heat up) and bringing home Pedroia with an insurance run...the hit parade would continue with Lowell and Drew singles, and all in all the Sox would bat around (10 men actually) and put up a 4-spot...now, normally this would be more than enough with Oki and Pap coming up...Oki didn't look super sharp in the 8th but got out without allowing any pain, it was Pap again that really struggled...he just doesn't seem in rhythm yet this year even though his numbers are solid, you can tell he's just a little less consistent so far this year...the Ms offense hasn't been beating anyone up, so you'd think this would have been an easy one, but instead they threw up 2 before Pap could get out of the inning...granted Pap himself contributed on a non-pitch by botching an easy out with a throwing error, but still, he had it where he needed it with 2 on but 2 out...Ichiro got a hit, again, not the worst thing in the world but obviously you want your closer to nail the door shut right there...then a wild pitch to make it 5-3...just un Pap-like...got a ground out to end it...I'm sure Pap will be ok, but it'll be nice when these struggles are behind him...so, game 1 in the books, 5-3 Sox...nice way to get off the snide on the West Coast, with another strong outing from Bartolo and some late offense...
Game 2's significance is minor in the standings today compared to what it could mean for the Sox pitching staff...the story of this game happened in the 4th inning, when Dice K left the mound with something...I say "something" because we still don't know what "it" is...there was some speculation that "it" happened when Dice made a play off of the mound, or when he landed awkwardly after a pitch, but whatever "it" is "it" can't be good...today looked like it might be a back or a hip thing, but word today is that he might have the ever vague shoulder stiffness...needless to say that with the year Dice has had so far we'll be paying close attention to "it." He wasn't sharp from the beginning last night and gave up 3 early runs, putting the O in a hole against Miguel Batista, who for some reason looked like a world-beater through 5...in the 6th he did make a mistake though, the 499th mistake that Manny Ramirez has punished...I don't need to do the math for you, we're on the verge of a historic HR for one of the best righties of this generation...I think there'll be some Bonds-esque Manny watching for, well, hopefully not too long...not only that the blast tied the game at 3...but the Sox could muster no more offense and we brought in Timlin to try to extend the game into extras, and he just can't seem to get it done this year...we still have more time to work this out but it might be time to start being more careful with the close games until we do...as a reliever you have to get the 1st guy...it's the hardest out because it's the "hope" out for most teams...if they get on they have hope, if you get that out every strike starts to make them doubt...some clubs get into a zone where they never doubt and hope is there until the last pitch, but it takes a special team to get there...and even with those teams the relievers job is the same...get the 1st out!!! As you may have guessed, Timlin did NOT get the 1st out last night...base hit for Wladimir Balentien (go ahead, say it...who???)...the mandatory sacrifice followed and then a groundout, so the winning run was 90 feet away but with 2 down, so Timlin had a shot to get out of it...worse yet, he got ahead in the count 1-2 but left a fastball over too much of the plate and Jose Lopez delivered the win for Seattle...so, the big news is really that Manny got 499 and the bigger news is that we need to join hands and pray that Dice stays healthier than not...rubber match tonight...
GO SAWX!
Game 2's significance is minor in the standings today compared to what it could mean for the Sox pitching staff...the story of this game happened in the 4th inning, when Dice K left the mound with something...I say "something" because we still don't know what "it" is...there was some speculation that "it" happened when Dice made a play off of the mound, or when he landed awkwardly after a pitch, but whatever "it" is "it" can't be good...today looked like it might be a back or a hip thing, but word today is that he might have the ever vague shoulder stiffness...needless to say that with the year Dice has had so far we'll be paying close attention to "it." He wasn't sharp from the beginning last night and gave up 3 early runs, putting the O in a hole against Miguel Batista, who for some reason looked like a world-beater through 5...in the 6th he did make a mistake though, the 499th mistake that Manny Ramirez has punished...I don't need to do the math for you, we're on the verge of a historic HR for one of the best righties of this generation...I think there'll be some Bonds-esque Manny watching for, well, hopefully not too long...not only that the blast tied the game at 3...but the Sox could muster no more offense and we brought in Timlin to try to extend the game into extras, and he just can't seem to get it done this year...we still have more time to work this out but it might be time to start being more careful with the close games until we do...as a reliever you have to get the 1st guy...it's the hardest out because it's the "hope" out for most teams...if they get on they have hope, if you get that out every strike starts to make them doubt...some clubs get into a zone where they never doubt and hope is there until the last pitch, but it takes a special team to get there...and even with those teams the relievers job is the same...get the 1st out!!! As you may have guessed, Timlin did NOT get the 1st out last night...base hit for Wladimir Balentien (go ahead, say it...who???)...the mandatory sacrifice followed and then a groundout, so the winning run was 90 feet away but with 2 down, so Timlin had a shot to get out of it...worse yet, he got ahead in the count 1-2 but left a fastball over too much of the plate and Jose Lopez delivered the win for Seattle...so, the big news is really that Manny got 499 and the bigger news is that we need to join hands and pray that Dice stays healthier than not...rubber match tonight...
GO SAWX!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Sweep And Be Swept
So we pick up with our boys after sweeping the Brew Crew (yeah, yeah...I know, that's like a week ago...I'm catching up, ok?)...momentum your name is Interleague Play, and with the not-so-terrible KC Royals coming to town we'll actually take it however we can get it...since there is no suspense at this late date about game 1 of this series, I'll just get on with it and I'll save the "ado" for the game itself...
Game 1 featured Jon Lester against some KC pitcher, and well, who cares exactly who he was, because all we'll remember is that Jonny Lester tossed a no-no at the Fens on Monday, 5/19/2008. Does this kid have a flare for the dramatic, or what? I'm not sure what kind of long-term pitcher he'll be...he still has all the upside in the world, but is also wildly inconsistent from start to start, but one thing I will see, I won't be scared if he ends up on the mound in a big game (caveat - at least as long as Tek is catching...that was his record-setting 4th no-no caught...this blog is Lester's but Tek has a biggie coming someday) . Not when he's capable of winning game 4 of a WS sweep and when he has the stuff and concentration to no-hit a decent-hitting club in the middle of May. This Lester is the Lester we've been anticipating since the hype began several seasons ago...he's the kid we wouldn't trade with Manny to make the A-Rod trade work out and he's the one that we'd have been nuts to include in a Santana deal...he's the kid that can go out there and allow only 2 walks in 9 innings while striking out 9...who can throw a mid 90s heater and a knee-buckling curve with accuracy pitch-to-pitch...he's the kid that should throw 130 pitches if and only if he's tossing a complete game...and he's a special pitcher, even if he never wins another game. We all know the story, Sox fans and non Sox fans at this point...diagnosed with cancer at an age that most of us are as carefree as we ever will be, he fought and beat it, returning to help the Sox to a title and now beyond...because of his plight the old adage about this start only meaning something if he builds on it is irrelevant...this start means something to anyone battling something over which they have no control...it means that people can overcome their greatest fears and challenges, and it means that there is such a thing as hope for those who may not dare to believe it...
Games 2-4: So, did anyone think the Royals would win a game after that? I mean, I guess they had to play the games, league rules and all, but there really wasn't a chance...yes, hindsight is 20-20 and I have the benefit of that thanks to my blogging tardiness but it just makes sense that the Sox swept, right?
Game 2 was another pitchers' duel with Justin Masterson deciding that he needed to congratulate Lester by tossing a gem of his own...1 ER over 6.1 innings did the trick and the pen was tight, only 2 runs scored (both in the 2nd, Lugo and Crisp with the RBI) but 4 relievers made them hold up, with Pap getting 3 Ks out of his 4 outs, recording his 13th save of the season...
Game 3 was significant since it was Bartolo Colon's 1st start with the Sox, a highly anticipated debut since we're all wondering what we have here...did we steal a big-time pitcher for peanuts or did we get an over-the-hill, gasless former ace for more than we'd spend on a Fenway Frank? So what's the verdict? Way too early to say of course, but his first start could only be described as a success...5 innings, 2 ER (scattered singletons) and a 2-1 K to BB ratio...me likey...he left with a 5-2 lead and got the W as the two offenses could only trade solo runs after the 5th...Craig Hansen pitched a perfect inning...worth mentioning since it lowered his ERA to 6.14, and Delcarmen also pitched a lockdown inning...Timlin gave up a harmless run in the 9th but that raised his ERA to 8+...we all know Tito will stick with him but this is starting to get a little worrisome...all in all, solid game and nice to see Bartolo getting a W first time out...if this keeps up we can get Schill really right before making a decision on him, and as we all know, you can never have too much starting pitching (Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena = awesome!)...
Game 4 was a slugfest that the Sox pulled out 11-8...this was a pretty fun one since there was not one but two Sox grand slams...JD hit the first and Mikey Lowell the second...everybody was getting on base and doing their things, and unfortunately the bullpen maestros did their things as well...this was an 11-3 game heading into the 7th, but then Tito decided to get the Craig-ster a little more work after his perfect inning the other day...now, in Tito's defense, the formula's corrolary would have said it was safe to throw him - as you may recall, the Hansen Formula states the following:
Innings Remaining in Game + Runs Ahead - (Planned Hansen Innings * Hansen's Current ERA) - Desired Lead in 9th (3 constant) = Safe to Pitch Hansen (if result is > 0)
In this game, that would be: 3 + 8 - (2 * 6.14) - 3 = -4.14
BUT, there is the 6 run lead exception...allowing him to pitch this game...and of course he gave up 2 ER in his inning of work...a HR surrendered to Jose Guillen who basically only hits obvious and super straight fastballs, so can we all guess what he crushed? Tough call eh? Aaaaaaaaaaardsma did WORSE than that...3 ER in his inning, including another bomb, and suddenly we're in a Save situation...this bullpen thing is getting less funny...a few more outings like this and I may stop joking and start getting mad...luckily we have Pap and a 3-run lead, which means, game over...2 hits, no Ks so it wasn't vintage Pap but a W is a W...time to head to Oakland with a 7-game win steak in tow...
And you just had to know that all of that good juju would get lost on the way to Oakland...it's a long friggin' flight out there...and along the way we lost ALL of the momentum, as the offense was barely awake in the 3 game set out there...we scored 6 runs in 3 GAMES...ouch...Wake got shelled in game 1, an 8-3 loss, Beckett pitched ok but we almost had the no-hit favor returned to us, with Papi's legit single being our only hit over 9 innings...Justin Duchscherer was lights-out and Manny hasn't found a groove since his mini-break last week, so the boys just didn't get anything going...we did hit some balls hard for what that's worth, but it's not worth much...finally Lester took the mound again and pitched ok, giving up 3 ER (4 overall) in 5 innings, and frankly after tossing 130 pitches last time out I'm ok with that...I'm not ok with the bats staying asleep against Joe Blanton, he of the 3-6 record and 4+ ERA (before this game)...I'm not even sure what this guy has that gets people out, but he got us out enough to win...and it was nice to have both Alan Embree and Keith Foulke pitch against us in this one...hi 2004 boys, hope you're enjoying the West Coast...so, blah blah blah, Sox get swept and for some reason I'm not that upset about it...maybe because I think we were due for a little letdown after the win streak and Lester's work...I won't be psyched if we continue this crappy road play...a bunch more in a row on the road too, starting with Seattle...not sure I'll be able to stay up to see all of these with my 6 month-old around, but I'll be checking in for sure and if we don't take 2 of 3 out there I'm going to be a little perturbed...
Game 1 out there is underway with Bartolo on the hill and so far he's out-dueling King Felix...1-0 Sox in the 5th with the run coming on Papi's solo shot (oh, one thing I didn't mention, can't blame Papi for Oakland, he kept up his ways...still on fire)...only 52 pitches through 5 for Colon too, which I like...nice and efficient, and that includes 3 Ks...maybe we DO have something here...
GO SAWX!!!
Game 1 featured Jon Lester against some KC pitcher, and well, who cares exactly who he was, because all we'll remember is that Jonny Lester tossed a no-no at the Fens on Monday, 5/19/2008. Does this kid have a flare for the dramatic, or what? I'm not sure what kind of long-term pitcher he'll be...he still has all the upside in the world, but is also wildly inconsistent from start to start, but one thing I will see, I won't be scared if he ends up on the mound in a big game (caveat - at least as long as Tek is catching...that was his record-setting 4th no-no caught...this blog is Lester's but Tek has a biggie coming someday) . Not when he's capable of winning game 4 of a WS sweep and when he has the stuff and concentration to no-hit a decent-hitting club in the middle of May. This Lester is the Lester we've been anticipating since the hype began several seasons ago...he's the kid we wouldn't trade with Manny to make the A-Rod trade work out and he's the one that we'd have been nuts to include in a Santana deal...he's the kid that can go out there and allow only 2 walks in 9 innings while striking out 9...who can throw a mid 90s heater and a knee-buckling curve with accuracy pitch-to-pitch...he's the kid that should throw 130 pitches if and only if he's tossing a complete game...and he's a special pitcher, even if he never wins another game. We all know the story, Sox fans and non Sox fans at this point...diagnosed with cancer at an age that most of us are as carefree as we ever will be, he fought and beat it, returning to help the Sox to a title and now beyond...because of his plight the old adage about this start only meaning something if he builds on it is irrelevant...this start means something to anyone battling something over which they have no control...it means that people can overcome their greatest fears and challenges, and it means that there is such a thing as hope for those who may not dare to believe it...
Games 2-4: So, did anyone think the Royals would win a game after that? I mean, I guess they had to play the games, league rules and all, but there really wasn't a chance...yes, hindsight is 20-20 and I have the benefit of that thanks to my blogging tardiness but it just makes sense that the Sox swept, right?
Game 2 was another pitchers' duel with Justin Masterson deciding that he needed to congratulate Lester by tossing a gem of his own...1 ER over 6.1 innings did the trick and the pen was tight, only 2 runs scored (both in the 2nd, Lugo and Crisp with the RBI) but 4 relievers made them hold up, with Pap getting 3 Ks out of his 4 outs, recording his 13th save of the season...
Game 3 was significant since it was Bartolo Colon's 1st start with the Sox, a highly anticipated debut since we're all wondering what we have here...did we steal a big-time pitcher for peanuts or did we get an over-the-hill, gasless former ace for more than we'd spend on a Fenway Frank? So what's the verdict? Way too early to say of course, but his first start could only be described as a success...5 innings, 2 ER (scattered singletons) and a 2-1 K to BB ratio...me likey...he left with a 5-2 lead and got the W as the two offenses could only trade solo runs after the 5th...Craig Hansen pitched a perfect inning...worth mentioning since it lowered his ERA to 6.14, and Delcarmen also pitched a lockdown inning...Timlin gave up a harmless run in the 9th but that raised his ERA to 8+...we all know Tito will stick with him but this is starting to get a little worrisome...all in all, solid game and nice to see Bartolo getting a W first time out...if this keeps up we can get Schill really right before making a decision on him, and as we all know, you can never have too much starting pitching (Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena = awesome!)...
Game 4 was a slugfest that the Sox pulled out 11-8...this was a pretty fun one since there was not one but two Sox grand slams...JD hit the first and Mikey Lowell the second...everybody was getting on base and doing their things, and unfortunately the bullpen maestros did their things as well...this was an 11-3 game heading into the 7th, but then Tito decided to get the Craig-ster a little more work after his perfect inning the other day...now, in Tito's defense, the formula's corrolary would have said it was safe to throw him - as you may recall, the Hansen Formula states the following:
Innings Remaining in Game + Runs Ahead - (Planned Hansen Innings * Hansen's Current ERA) - Desired Lead in 9th (3 constant) = Safe to Pitch Hansen (if result is > 0)
In this game, that would be: 3 + 8 - (2 * 6.14) - 3 = -4.14
BUT, there is the 6 run lead exception...allowing him to pitch this game...and of course he gave up 2 ER in his inning of work...a HR surrendered to Jose Guillen who basically only hits obvious and super straight fastballs, so can we all guess what he crushed? Tough call eh? Aaaaaaaaaaardsma did WORSE than that...3 ER in his inning, including another bomb, and suddenly we're in a Save situation...this bullpen thing is getting less funny...a few more outings like this and I may stop joking and start getting mad...luckily we have Pap and a 3-run lead, which means, game over...2 hits, no Ks so it wasn't vintage Pap but a W is a W...time to head to Oakland with a 7-game win steak in tow...
And you just had to know that all of that good juju would get lost on the way to Oakland...it's a long friggin' flight out there...and along the way we lost ALL of the momentum, as the offense was barely awake in the 3 game set out there...we scored 6 runs in 3 GAMES...ouch...Wake got shelled in game 1, an 8-3 loss, Beckett pitched ok but we almost had the no-hit favor returned to us, with Papi's legit single being our only hit over 9 innings...Justin Duchscherer was lights-out and Manny hasn't found a groove since his mini-break last week, so the boys just didn't get anything going...we did hit some balls hard for what that's worth, but it's not worth much...finally Lester took the mound again and pitched ok, giving up 3 ER (4 overall) in 5 innings, and frankly after tossing 130 pitches last time out I'm ok with that...I'm not ok with the bats staying asleep against Joe Blanton, he of the 3-6 record and 4+ ERA (before this game)...I'm not even sure what this guy has that gets people out, but he got us out enough to win...and it was nice to have both Alan Embree and Keith Foulke pitch against us in this one...hi 2004 boys, hope you're enjoying the West Coast...so, blah blah blah, Sox get swept and for some reason I'm not that upset about it...maybe because I think we were due for a little letdown after the win streak and Lester's work...I won't be psyched if we continue this crappy road play...a bunch more in a row on the road too, starting with Seattle...not sure I'll be able to stay up to see all of these with my 6 month-old around, but I'll be checking in for sure and if we don't take 2 of 3 out there I'm going to be a little perturbed...
Game 1 out there is underway with Bartolo on the hill and so far he's out-dueling King Felix...1-0 Sox in the 5th with the run coming on Papi's solo shot (oh, one thing I didn't mention, can't blame Papi for Oakland, he kept up his ways...still on fire)...only 52 pitches through 5 for Colon too, which I like...nice and efficient, and that includes 3 Ks...maybe we DO have something here...
GO SAWX!!!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Welcome National League!!!
It's been a long time (long time) I shouldn't have left you (left you)...
But I'm back from my mini-break and the Sox are apparently back in form. When last I left you we had just been mini-swept by some team from Baltimore that apparently still plays baseball, and that after losing 3 of 4 up in Minny...overall the Sox had lost 4 straight, 5 of 6 and 6 of their last 8...bad timing all around in terms of hitting when not pitching and vice versa, not to mention a shaky pen had sent us reeling a little bit...so what were we to say on our much-needed off day? WELCOME NATIONAL LEAGUE!!!
That's right, our favorite AL slump buster came to town in the form or Interleague Play. That fantastic experiment instituted several years back that basically guarantees the entire AL a winning month while conversely destroying half of the NL's hopes...it's really sort of sad at this point, since you can almost see the looks on the NL teams' faces as they leave the AL towns...they're thinking "Crap, even if we win our division and playoff rounds, we get to face this???"
And so the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly an AL squad lest we forget) came marching into Fenway, probably determined not to be AL doormats, but unknowingly really arriving just in time to fuel a Sox rebound. A little bit of fortune also grabs an assist, as the first game of the Brewers series was scheduled for Friday, May 16th, but Mother Nature decided the boys needed some more rest, and so she brought the rains. This meant, we're playing 2 on Saturday! May 17th...Happy Birthday MCF...
Game 1 featured Dice against our old friend and whipping boy Jeff Suppan, who somehow still pitches and for a team considered an NL contender no less. Always nice to see Jeff...not so nice for Dice to see the Brewers lineup, which is stacked. Rickie Weeks and Mike Cameron lead it off, and then the real firepower...young studs Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in the 3 and 4 holes, followed by some legit hitters in Corey Hart and JJ Hardy. No joke these guys, but somehow (ahem, pitching) these guys were 2 games under .500 coming into this one. Dice was strong, gave up 2 runs, both unearned thanks to a RARE fielding error by Youk...luckily by the time that happened (7th inning) we had 4 on the board...didn't take long to get them either, 1st inning it was some patient 2 out hitting getting it done (have you noticed all of the 2 out runs we're scoring lately? If not, you should...it's happening a lot) and then the big blow, a 3 run bomb by Papi in the 2nd, with how many outs? 2...Lugo and Ellsbury got on with singles and took the ride with the big fella...oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, Papi is still lighting it up (since the whole Yankee stadium jersey debacle)...Ryan Braun did hit a HR off of a still not perfect Pap in the 9th to cut the lead but Pap got Fielder to pop out to end it...good solid win to break the 4 game loser and hey, anyone up for a nightcap?
Game 2 was Wake time, against the ever unpredictable Dave Bush on the other side...this one looked to be done early with the Sox taking a 5-0 lead by the 5th...more 1st inning damage (after Wake struck out the side to open the game...DANCING knuckler) got it done with how many outs? 2...Jacoby and Dusty went down easy but the Manny-less heart of the lineup showed some heart again...Papi walked, Youk followed with a double to put men on 2nd and 3rd for Lowell, and Mikey ripped a double of his own to plate the runs...in the 3rd it was Mikey again, drilling a 2-run homer over The Monster for 4 RBI in 3 innings...obviously both Youk and Mikey Lowell are playing great ball right now...Youk has been hot all season and since coming back off of the DL Lowell has just been his usual self...no way Youk can play like this all year, but if these guys have spurts like this and Papi and Manny are healthy we should at least avoid big losing streaks and stay near the top of the division...anyway, Wake cruised through 5 but the 6th was his obligatory shaky inning...Corey Hart homer, Gabe Kapler single (welcome back Kap - he got a well-deserved ovation for his 1st AB in game 1, and thereafter too) wild pitch, hit-by-pitch and there's some trouble...brought in Aaaaaaaaaaaardsma (to out out the fire, really?) and he got a K before a hit-by-pitch of his own and giving up a single to Weeks, scoring 2...another walk to load the bases and the blood pressure started to rise a little at the Fens, but he somehow got Braun to pop up and end the HUGE inning possibility...sigh of relief...of course that sigh was a short one since Tito thought it a bright idea to bring in Craig Hansen to start the 7th...TITO, APPLY THE FORMULA!!!! I don't even need to reiterate it here, read the previous blog for the details of the Hansen Formula, but needless to say a 2 run lead in the 7th is NO TIME FOR HANSEN!!! But, in he came nonetheless...I can't completely kill him this time since 2 errors played a HUGE part in this one, but still, before getting 3 outs there was a single, a double and a wild pitch in there...maybe he just makes the guys that much more nervous too...the errors were by Lowell and Cora, who basically never make errors...it's the Hansen effect, I'm telling you...and the Hansen effect turned a 5-3 lead into a 6-5 deficit heading into the bottom of the 7th... thankfully the Hansen effect seems to have hit the Brewers too, since a couple of errors on their end led to us taking the lead right back, with 2 runs scoring thanks to some more awful baseball...I guess the baseball gods were trying to even this one out, and before you knew it, Timlin was shutting the door with a perfect 9th...the nightcap was ours and in one day our losing streak became a winning streak!
Game 3 was just nuts...had to think going in that it would be a Beckett-dominated game...he was due for a strong start and even with a strong NL offense you just had to think he'd lock it down...wasn't the case...but hey, with Carlos Villanueava on the other side we weren't in for a pitcher's duel...balls were flying out of Fenway all day...4 homers on EACH SIDE...the Sox damage came from Dusty (2nd) Papi (hit 2, numbers 9 and 10) and Youk (9th...um, is he hitting for more power this year, or is it me?)...the big boys for the Brew Crew did it there Braun hitting 2, Fielder 1 and Hart another...the Sox were able to outslug overall though, putting up 11 on the Brewers staff, which let's face it, is going to have to get stronger for them to seriously contend...they were a great story last year, but we all know that pitching wins championships, and though that offense keeps them dangerous they won't really get it done until a couple of their vets pitch better and the young arms develop...the worrisome thing about this one from the Sox side was the return of the gopher-ball Beckett...granted this game may have been an anomaly but that does make 9 HR allowed in 8 games...much more like the 2006 JB than the 2007 JB...as is his current ERA...hopefully it's just a blip but worth mentioning...Pap came in and nailed the door shut with solid 9th...allowed a hit but Kd Tony Gwynn Jr. to close it out, Sox win 11-7...
Nice little sweep over two days at the Fens...the rest seemed to help and the bats got it done with a little help from the baseball gods when needed...pitching was up and down, Pap still looking a little off but not disastrously so...unfortunately the NL creeps away for a while now and it's back to some AL competition...the Royals were next up and while they used the be some guaranteed wins when they came to town they've played tough this year (so far)...you probably already know how this series went down since I'm so absurdly late getting these blogs in...since this one's getting long and one of those Royals games just miiiiiiight require special attention, we'll stop this one here with a simple...GO SAWX!!!
But I'm back from my mini-break and the Sox are apparently back in form. When last I left you we had just been mini-swept by some team from Baltimore that apparently still plays baseball, and that after losing 3 of 4 up in Minny...overall the Sox had lost 4 straight, 5 of 6 and 6 of their last 8...bad timing all around in terms of hitting when not pitching and vice versa, not to mention a shaky pen had sent us reeling a little bit...so what were we to say on our much-needed off day? WELCOME NATIONAL LEAGUE!!!
That's right, our favorite AL slump buster came to town in the form or Interleague Play. That fantastic experiment instituted several years back that basically guarantees the entire AL a winning month while conversely destroying half of the NL's hopes...it's really sort of sad at this point, since you can almost see the looks on the NL teams' faces as they leave the AL towns...they're thinking "Crap, even if we win our division and playoff rounds, we get to face this???"
And so the Milwaukee Brewers (formerly an AL squad lest we forget) came marching into Fenway, probably determined not to be AL doormats, but unknowingly really arriving just in time to fuel a Sox rebound. A little bit of fortune also grabs an assist, as the first game of the Brewers series was scheduled for Friday, May 16th, but Mother Nature decided the boys needed some more rest, and so she brought the rains. This meant, we're playing 2 on Saturday! May 17th...Happy Birthday MCF...
Game 1 featured Dice against our old friend and whipping boy Jeff Suppan, who somehow still pitches and for a team considered an NL contender no less. Always nice to see Jeff...not so nice for Dice to see the Brewers lineup, which is stacked. Rickie Weeks and Mike Cameron lead it off, and then the real firepower...young studs Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder in the 3 and 4 holes, followed by some legit hitters in Corey Hart and JJ Hardy. No joke these guys, but somehow (ahem, pitching) these guys were 2 games under .500 coming into this one. Dice was strong, gave up 2 runs, both unearned thanks to a RARE fielding error by Youk...luckily by the time that happened (7th inning) we had 4 on the board...didn't take long to get them either, 1st inning it was some patient 2 out hitting getting it done (have you noticed all of the 2 out runs we're scoring lately? If not, you should...it's happening a lot) and then the big blow, a 3 run bomb by Papi in the 2nd, with how many outs? 2...Lugo and Ellsbury got on with singles and took the ride with the big fella...oh, and in case you hadn't noticed, Papi is still lighting it up (since the whole Yankee stadium jersey debacle)...Ryan Braun did hit a HR off of a still not perfect Pap in the 9th to cut the lead but Pap got Fielder to pop out to end it...good solid win to break the 4 game loser and hey, anyone up for a nightcap?
Game 2 was Wake time, against the ever unpredictable Dave Bush on the other side...this one looked to be done early with the Sox taking a 5-0 lead by the 5th...more 1st inning damage (after Wake struck out the side to open the game...DANCING knuckler) got it done with how many outs? 2...Jacoby and Dusty went down easy but the Manny-less heart of the lineup showed some heart again...Papi walked, Youk followed with a double to put men on 2nd and 3rd for Lowell, and Mikey ripped a double of his own to plate the runs...in the 3rd it was Mikey again, drilling a 2-run homer over The Monster for 4 RBI in 3 innings...obviously both Youk and Mikey Lowell are playing great ball right now...Youk has been hot all season and since coming back off of the DL Lowell has just been his usual self...no way Youk can play like this all year, but if these guys have spurts like this and Papi and Manny are healthy we should at least avoid big losing streaks and stay near the top of the division...anyway, Wake cruised through 5 but the 6th was his obligatory shaky inning...Corey Hart homer, Gabe Kapler single (welcome back Kap - he got a well-deserved ovation for his 1st AB in game 1, and thereafter too) wild pitch, hit-by-pitch and there's some trouble...brought in Aaaaaaaaaaaardsma (to out out the fire, really?) and he got a K before a hit-by-pitch of his own and giving up a single to Weeks, scoring 2...another walk to load the bases and the blood pressure started to rise a little at the Fens, but he somehow got Braun to pop up and end the HUGE inning possibility...sigh of relief...of course that sigh was a short one since Tito thought it a bright idea to bring in Craig Hansen to start the 7th...TITO, APPLY THE FORMULA!!!! I don't even need to reiterate it here, read the previous blog for the details of the Hansen Formula, but needless to say a 2 run lead in the 7th is NO TIME FOR HANSEN!!! But, in he came nonetheless...I can't completely kill him this time since 2 errors played a HUGE part in this one, but still, before getting 3 outs there was a single, a double and a wild pitch in there...maybe he just makes the guys that much more nervous too...the errors were by Lowell and Cora, who basically never make errors...it's the Hansen effect, I'm telling you...and the Hansen effect turned a 5-3 lead into a 6-5 deficit heading into the bottom of the 7th... thankfully the Hansen effect seems to have hit the Brewers too, since a couple of errors on their end led to us taking the lead right back, with 2 runs scoring thanks to some more awful baseball...I guess the baseball gods were trying to even this one out, and before you knew it, Timlin was shutting the door with a perfect 9th...the nightcap was ours and in one day our losing streak became a winning streak!
Game 3 was just nuts...had to think going in that it would be a Beckett-dominated game...he was due for a strong start and even with a strong NL offense you just had to think he'd lock it down...wasn't the case...but hey, with Carlos Villanueava on the other side we weren't in for a pitcher's duel...balls were flying out of Fenway all day...4 homers on EACH SIDE...the Sox damage came from Dusty (2nd) Papi (hit 2, numbers 9 and 10) and Youk (9th...um, is he hitting for more power this year, or is it me?)...the big boys for the Brew Crew did it there Braun hitting 2, Fielder 1 and Hart another...the Sox were able to outslug overall though, putting up 11 on the Brewers staff, which let's face it, is going to have to get stronger for them to seriously contend...they were a great story last year, but we all know that pitching wins championships, and though that offense keeps them dangerous they won't really get it done until a couple of their vets pitch better and the young arms develop...the worrisome thing about this one from the Sox side was the return of the gopher-ball Beckett...granted this game may have been an anomaly but that does make 9 HR allowed in 8 games...much more like the 2006 JB than the 2007 JB...as is his current ERA...hopefully it's just a blip but worth mentioning...Pap came in and nailed the door shut with solid 9th...allowed a hit but Kd Tony Gwynn Jr. to close it out, Sox win 11-7...
Nice little sweep over two days at the Fens...the rest seemed to help and the bats got it done with a little help from the baseball gods when needed...pitching was up and down, Pap still looking a little off but not disastrously so...unfortunately the NL creeps away for a while now and it's back to some AL competition...the Royals were next up and while they used the be some guaranteed wins when they came to town they've played tough this year (so far)...you probably already know how this series went down since I'm so absurdly late getting these blogs in...since this one's getting long and one of those Royals games just miiiiiiight require special attention, we'll stop this one here with a simple...GO SAWX!!!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
We're losing how...and to whom???
Clearly I can't take a week off from blogging...I was so enraged after the Tiger loss where we battled and battled only to lose on some crap luck from the baseball gods, that I figured I'd take a day or two off...bad idea apparently...we've played 7 games since that junk fest and we're 2-5...we lost 3 of 4 to the everything challenged Twins and then 2 straight to the Orioles...I'm not even sure what division they're in...what...AL East you say??? Prove it...
Sad part is we're losing with our strengths...things the Sox don't usually do to lose, we're doing...ugggggly...here's the quick recap of the past week or so to get that out ot the way...
Final game of of the Tigers series was a nice bounce back after the crap fest...Beckett was in control all game after a 3 run lead was given to him early (Tek with a big single and Youk added a dinger later)...the Tigers managed 1 run in 7 innings off of the ace, the pen work was solid from Hansen and Delcarmen (for a change...probably a sign that the world was about to shift) and that was that...we took 3 of 4 from the Tigers and they got lucky not to be swept...feeling pretty good waking up May 9th...but we're heading to Minny, which isn't traditionally a kind place for us...
And game 1 of that series reminded us of that very fact...Lester got the start and was pretty typical...5 runs, 3 earned, surrendered over 5.1 long innings (94 pitches) but hey, we're leading when he leaves, 6-5...Aaaaaardsma and Oki got their holds, but Pap, in his first action since the Tiger debacle, clearly wasn't himself...2 hits a walk and 2 runs later the Twins walked off with a win...and friggin Mike Lamb did it...are you serious??? Mike Lamb walked off on Pap (ok, it was a single, but still)...Pap actually didn't pitch too bad, just missed a couple of spots and got some good pitches hit, at least they were more solid than last time out, but still, not vintage Pap...hopefully he's watched the tape and made some adjustments...
Game 2 of the Twins series we'll call "The good one." Dice K was pretty strong...2 runs over 7, allowed 3 BB but struck out 7 and was in command all game...good outing...solo HRs were the offensive order of the day, with 4 ordered and served...Youk (EN FUEGO in case you haven't noticed) Coco (welcome back), Lowrie and Mikey Lowell hitting them out...tacked on the insurance run in the 9th, a nice little 5-2 win with Pap coming right back to get the S...2 Kk in his inning, it's really not hard to spot when he's on...if they're swining and missing, he's on...
Game 3 was the long overdue Shaky Wake game...shaky to the tune of 7 runs, 6 earned, in 2.2 innings...OUCH...they were just all over the knuckler, which usually moves in a dome, but not that day...this one ended 9-8 thanks to us getting to Joe Nathan in the 9th...nice that we battled back and if not for a crazy play in the 9th we might have completed the comeback...Papi led the inning off with an out, but then the bats got going...singles for Youk and Lowell put men on 1st and 2nd with JD Drew up...now, we all know that last year that was game over right there, but the 2008 even year JD Drew ripped a double to center that Gomez couldn't play and Youk came around to score, Lowell making it to 3rd...Coco was next up, and he's been hot since returning, including a 2-run bomb earlier in this game...so I'm actually feeling pretty good at this point...2nd and 3rd, down 2, one out with Coco up there...to add a little intrigue, Manny, who didn't play in this one earlier thanks to a sore hammy, was out on deck to pinch hit...but, back to Coco and the crazy play...Coco rips a shot towards the hole up the middle but Nathan somehow gets a hand on it, knocking it up in the air and towards the 3rd base side of the mound...Lowell is running all the way so he scores easily, but the deflection by Nathan causes Drew to pause between 2nd and 3rd...after the pause he takes off for 3rd, but Nathan sees this, recovers the ball and throws him out while twisting/falling/tossing...I dunno...can't blame Drew much, great play by Nathan, and a killer...now it's Coco on first, Manny up with 2 out as opposes to 2 on 1 out...Coco steals the bag to get to and and Manny hits it hard, but his hard luck against Nathan continues (0-7 I think) as the SS gobbles it up and ends the game...UNREAL...the other night Pap does everything right and loses a game, tonight Nathan does almost everything wrong and gets a save...really makes you wonder if they need to change the definition of save...not that it's ever been good, but how this all makes sense I don't know...there should be style points or something, cause neither of those results is fair...
Final game of the series was no mystery...Manny hit number 498 for the only highlight and Buchholz just sucked...he's GOT to stop throwing that curve so much...yeah, it's an awsome pitch, but only if you have the fastball working to make it more effective...if they're expecting it then it's just not that good no matter how much break it has...these guys are good enough to hit slow pitches when they know they're coming...7 runs allowed in 4.1 and Livan "Junkball" Hernandez threw enough garbage to only allow 3 runs, so that's easy math...7-3 Sox lose...awful series, but we always suck in Minny and you have to be happy that the next two are against the Orioles, right???
Nope, can't be happy about that...mini-sweep by Baltimore...I don't want to talk about these in detail because I'm ashamed...Beckett was off in the first one allowing the Os 5 runs and the bats couldn't get the clutch hit late, 5-4 was the final yesterday...today, we (being Tito) left the pen in too long and brought in Oki with the bases loaded in the 7th to try to get Sox killer Jay Payton...I think he still holds a grudge from when we had him and didn't let him play every day, since he's left he HURTS us...and he did again, touching Oki for a GS to give the Os a 6-3 lead they wouldn't relenquish...
Tomorrow is an off day, and hopefully a recoup day...a couple of the boys are dinged up (Crisp out with a stomach and Drew with lord knows what) so we need the day and interleague is starting up...hopefully the NL, me back in the blogosphere and the off day set things straight and we knock Jeff Suppan (who still pitches, giving you an idea of just how bad the NL can be) all over Fenway...
Celtics are on right now, and have finally showed a pulse to take the lead in this crucial game 5...since we can only win at home it seems, this is a MUST win for the Cs...nice to see them face a little adversity (down early by 13) and not let it kill them...a little over a quarter to go, HOLD THAT LEAD!!!
GO SAWX!!!
Sad part is we're losing with our strengths...things the Sox don't usually do to lose, we're doing...ugggggly...here's the quick recap of the past week or so to get that out ot the way...
Final game of of the Tigers series was a nice bounce back after the crap fest...Beckett was in control all game after a 3 run lead was given to him early (Tek with a big single and Youk added a dinger later)...the Tigers managed 1 run in 7 innings off of the ace, the pen work was solid from Hansen and Delcarmen (for a change...probably a sign that the world was about to shift) and that was that...we took 3 of 4 from the Tigers and they got lucky not to be swept...feeling pretty good waking up May 9th...but we're heading to Minny, which isn't traditionally a kind place for us...
And game 1 of that series reminded us of that very fact...Lester got the start and was pretty typical...5 runs, 3 earned, surrendered over 5.1 long innings (94 pitches) but hey, we're leading when he leaves, 6-5...Aaaaaardsma and Oki got their holds, but Pap, in his first action since the Tiger debacle, clearly wasn't himself...2 hits a walk and 2 runs later the Twins walked off with a win...and friggin Mike Lamb did it...are you serious??? Mike Lamb walked off on Pap (ok, it was a single, but still)...Pap actually didn't pitch too bad, just missed a couple of spots and got some good pitches hit, at least they were more solid than last time out, but still, not vintage Pap...hopefully he's watched the tape and made some adjustments...
Game 2 of the Twins series we'll call "The good one." Dice K was pretty strong...2 runs over 7, allowed 3 BB but struck out 7 and was in command all game...good outing...solo HRs were the offensive order of the day, with 4 ordered and served...Youk (EN FUEGO in case you haven't noticed) Coco (welcome back), Lowrie and Mikey Lowell hitting them out...tacked on the insurance run in the 9th, a nice little 5-2 win with Pap coming right back to get the S...2 Kk in his inning, it's really not hard to spot when he's on...if they're swining and missing, he's on...
Game 3 was the long overdue Shaky Wake game...shaky to the tune of 7 runs, 6 earned, in 2.2 innings...OUCH...they were just all over the knuckler, which usually moves in a dome, but not that day...this one ended 9-8 thanks to us getting to Joe Nathan in the 9th...nice that we battled back and if not for a crazy play in the 9th we might have completed the comeback...Papi led the inning off with an out, but then the bats got going...singles for Youk and Lowell put men on 1st and 2nd with JD Drew up...now, we all know that last year that was game over right there, but the 2008 even year JD Drew ripped a double to center that Gomez couldn't play and Youk came around to score, Lowell making it to 3rd...Coco was next up, and he's been hot since returning, including a 2-run bomb earlier in this game...so I'm actually feeling pretty good at this point...2nd and 3rd, down 2, one out with Coco up there...to add a little intrigue, Manny, who didn't play in this one earlier thanks to a sore hammy, was out on deck to pinch hit...but, back to Coco and the crazy play...Coco rips a shot towards the hole up the middle but Nathan somehow gets a hand on it, knocking it up in the air and towards the 3rd base side of the mound...Lowell is running all the way so he scores easily, but the deflection by Nathan causes Drew to pause between 2nd and 3rd...after the pause he takes off for 3rd, but Nathan sees this, recovers the ball and throws him out while twisting/falling/tossing...I dunno...can't blame Drew much, great play by Nathan, and a killer...now it's Coco on first, Manny up with 2 out as opposes to 2 on 1 out...Coco steals the bag to get to and and Manny hits it hard, but his hard luck against Nathan continues (0-7 I think) as the SS gobbles it up and ends the game...UNREAL...the other night Pap does everything right and loses a game, tonight Nathan does almost everything wrong and gets a save...really makes you wonder if they need to change the definition of save...not that it's ever been good, but how this all makes sense I don't know...there should be style points or something, cause neither of those results is fair...
Final game of the series was no mystery...Manny hit number 498 for the only highlight and Buchholz just sucked...he's GOT to stop throwing that curve so much...yeah, it's an awsome pitch, but only if you have the fastball working to make it more effective...if they're expecting it then it's just not that good no matter how much break it has...these guys are good enough to hit slow pitches when they know they're coming...7 runs allowed in 4.1 and Livan "Junkball" Hernandez threw enough garbage to only allow 3 runs, so that's easy math...7-3 Sox lose...awful series, but we always suck in Minny and you have to be happy that the next two are against the Orioles, right???
Nope, can't be happy about that...mini-sweep by Baltimore...I don't want to talk about these in detail because I'm ashamed...Beckett was off in the first one allowing the Os 5 runs and the bats couldn't get the clutch hit late, 5-4 was the final yesterday...today, we (being Tito) left the pen in too long and brought in Oki with the bases loaded in the 7th to try to get Sox killer Jay Payton...I think he still holds a grudge from when we had him and didn't let him play every day, since he's left he HURTS us...and he did again, touching Oki for a GS to give the Os a 6-3 lead they wouldn't relenquish...
Tomorrow is an off day, and hopefully a recoup day...a couple of the boys are dinged up (Crisp out with a stomach and Drew with lord knows what) so we need the day and interleague is starting up...hopefully the NL, me back in the blogosphere and the off day set things straight and we knock Jeff Suppan (who still pitches, giving you an idea of just how bad the NL can be) all over Fenway...
Celtics are on right now, and have finally showed a pulse to take the lead in this crucial game 5...since we can only win at home it seems, this is a MUST win for the Cs...nice to see them face a little adversity (down early by 13) and not let it kill them...a little over a quarter to go, HOLD THAT LEAD!!!
GO SAWX!!!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory
Well, it was only a matter of time before a game annoyed me enough so as to require and immediate post-game blog...let the record show that the inspirational game was against the Detroit Tigers in Detroit on May 7th...
It was right there set up for us...this had the potential to be one of those thrilling games that keeps a win streak alive and takes one level of momentum to another...this could have been a game that saw a great comeback give the boys a hard-earned W and put us one win away from a road sweep against a tough AL opponent...not a make or break series or even a game, but a nice feather for the cap early in a long season...instead, our loss may pump a little life into our less-than-worthy opponents, who thus far have underachieved...I call it our loss because after battling back all night, the Red Sox and the baseball gods GAVE this one back to the Tigers...truthfully, it might have been theirs all along...they beat up on Clay and held the Sox bats at bay with their terrible bullpen for a while...but their major (and maybe fatal) flaw finally got them...Mikey Lowell tied the game up with the 3 run bomb in the 7th...love having him back...then in the next inning the boys took the lead on a great pinch-hit by Dusty...coming in cold he worked the count to 3-0 against Horrible Tiger reliever X and then got hooked on two strikes looking to make it a 3-2 count...he finally busts a single just through the hole on the left side, a gritty typical Dusty at-bat, and he deserved to be the hero in this one...
But this 9th inning knew nothing about "deserved"...this 9th inning was just plain absurd...there was NOTHING right about it...our half went pretty normally...with a 1-run lead and Pap available who cares about a wasted insurance run...not a biggie, right...so we begin the bottom of the 9th...first batter is some kid names Joyce...apparently he really plays for the Tigers...he gets up there and looks overmatched, because, well, he was...but he somehow hits an "oh crap" roller towards Lugo...here's where the irony begins...Lugo makes a great play on the ball but it's hit too slowly and Joyce beats it out...Tigers insert a pinch runner and Pap falls behind to Renteria but makes a tough pitch and gets the grounder to Lugo...WHO BOOTS IT...and it gave him a room service hop too! He tried to rush the throw to maybe turn 2 and he just flat out muffed it...that gives him 10 errors on the season, and while he's hitting this season, if this keeps up I might be willing to sacrifice that .290, 2, 25 and 30 SB for a little defense...on the only legit play of the inning, Pudge-Rod bunts the guys over, Tek making the play to 1st for the out, correctly so...we now need Pap to get a K...which we all know he's capable of, especially against Curtis Granderson who'd already struck out like 47 times in this game...but Grander-suck makes contact and rolls one to 2nd...making an out but tying the game...up next, Placido Polanco with Renteria on 3rd waiting to stick it to us one more time (he was our crap-tastic SS for the 2005 season...very forgettable)...Pap starts overthrowing, I should say overthrowing more because he was a little over the top all night, even for him...but anyway...he overthrows three straight heaters, the first of which almost ties the game by going to the backstop on the fly...the count is 3-0 and here's where the irony continues...the next pitch is another heater, and it's high...there's no debate...it's high...ball 4...take your base...harmless enough, especially since the guy at the plate had 4 hits already on the night...except the stupid-ass ump who has already been pissy with Youk tonight, calls it a strike...you know, the obligatory 3-0 strike that umps give to respected pitchers even if it's clearly a ball...love that...how about you trained monkeys just call the damn game as it happens, not as you want to call it...so that gives Placido a 3-1 pitch...luckily, we get teased for a second (I'm not blowing the outcome here...if you haven't figured it out already you're just not too perceptive) and Pap throws a 3-1 splitter that Placido chases...3-2...the 3-2 pitch is a nasty fastball that tails in...it's a pitcher's pitch...it's usually either missed completely or grounded harmlessly somewhere...but Placido is obviously Superman today and the Sox are obviously not supposed to win this game, because this time that pitch hits his bat, which SHATTERS, and the ball lofts juuuuuust over...who else...LUGO, into left field for the walkoff loss...ARE YOU FRIGGING KIDDING ME???? It didn't matter what we would have done...the baseball gods weren't going to let us steal this one...I feel cheated after they worked so hard to pull that game even and scrape into the lead...but baseball is a funny game that way...to recap the inning check swing dribbler, error, bunt, groundout, broken-bat floater...and that's how you lose a major league baseball game...awesome...
Awful loss...and it kills any fun I would have had rooting for tomorrow's game...now it's just Beckett versus Verlander...it could have been for a 4-game sweep and a 7-game win streak...now it's just an early May, mostly meaningless game...nice that we battled back in this one and that we have a shot at 3 of 4, still pretty good, but that 9th inning SUCKED to watch...hopefully the baseball gods are watching another game tomorrow...
GO SAWX!!!
It was right there set up for us...this had the potential to be one of those thrilling games that keeps a win streak alive and takes one level of momentum to another...this could have been a game that saw a great comeback give the boys a hard-earned W and put us one win away from a road sweep against a tough AL opponent...not a make or break series or even a game, but a nice feather for the cap early in a long season...instead, our loss may pump a little life into our less-than-worthy opponents, who thus far have underachieved...I call it our loss because after battling back all night, the Red Sox and the baseball gods GAVE this one back to the Tigers...truthfully, it might have been theirs all along...they beat up on Clay and held the Sox bats at bay with their terrible bullpen for a while...but their major (and maybe fatal) flaw finally got them...Mikey Lowell tied the game up with the 3 run bomb in the 7th...love having him back...then in the next inning the boys took the lead on a great pinch-hit by Dusty...coming in cold he worked the count to 3-0 against Horrible Tiger reliever X and then got hooked on two strikes looking to make it a 3-2 count...he finally busts a single just through the hole on the left side, a gritty typical Dusty at-bat, and he deserved to be the hero in this one...
But this 9th inning knew nothing about "deserved"...this 9th inning was just plain absurd...there was NOTHING right about it...our half went pretty normally...with a 1-run lead and Pap available who cares about a wasted insurance run...not a biggie, right...so we begin the bottom of the 9th...first batter is some kid names Joyce...apparently he really plays for the Tigers...he gets up there and looks overmatched, because, well, he was...but he somehow hits an "oh crap" roller towards Lugo...here's where the irony begins...Lugo makes a great play on the ball but it's hit too slowly and Joyce beats it out...Tigers insert a pinch runner and Pap falls behind to Renteria but makes a tough pitch and gets the grounder to Lugo...WHO BOOTS IT...and it gave him a room service hop too! He tried to rush the throw to maybe turn 2 and he just flat out muffed it...that gives him 10 errors on the season, and while he's hitting this season, if this keeps up I might be willing to sacrifice that .290, 2, 25 and 30 SB for a little defense...on the only legit play of the inning, Pudge-Rod bunts the guys over, Tek making the play to 1st for the out, correctly so...we now need Pap to get a K...which we all know he's capable of, especially against Curtis Granderson who'd already struck out like 47 times in this game...but Grander-suck makes contact and rolls one to 2nd...making an out but tying the game...up next, Placido Polanco with Renteria on 3rd waiting to stick it to us one more time (he was our crap-tastic SS for the 2005 season...very forgettable)...Pap starts overthrowing, I should say overthrowing more because he was a little over the top all night, even for him...but anyway...he overthrows three straight heaters, the first of which almost ties the game by going to the backstop on the fly...the count is 3-0 and here's where the irony continues...the next pitch is another heater, and it's high...there's no debate...it's high...ball 4...take your base...harmless enough, especially since the guy at the plate had 4 hits already on the night...except the stupid-ass ump who has already been pissy with Youk tonight, calls it a strike...you know, the obligatory 3-0 strike that umps give to respected pitchers even if it's clearly a ball...love that...how about you trained monkeys just call the damn game as it happens, not as you want to call it...so that gives Placido a 3-1 pitch...luckily, we get teased for a second (I'm not blowing the outcome here...if you haven't figured it out already you're just not too perceptive) and Pap throws a 3-1 splitter that Placido chases...3-2...the 3-2 pitch is a nasty fastball that tails in...it's a pitcher's pitch...it's usually either missed completely or grounded harmlessly somewhere...but Placido is obviously Superman today and the Sox are obviously not supposed to win this game, because this time that pitch hits his bat, which SHATTERS, and the ball lofts juuuuuust over...who else...LUGO, into left field for the walkoff loss...ARE YOU FRIGGING KIDDING ME???? It didn't matter what we would have done...the baseball gods weren't going to let us steal this one...I feel cheated after they worked so hard to pull that game even and scrape into the lead...but baseball is a funny game that way...to recap the inning check swing dribbler, error, bunt, groundout, broken-bat floater...and that's how you lose a major league baseball game...awesome...
Awful loss...and it kills any fun I would have had rooting for tomorrow's game...now it's just Beckett versus Verlander...it could have been for a 4-game sweep and a 7-game win streak...now it's just an early May, mostly meaningless game...nice that we battled back in this one and that we have a shot at 3 of 4, still pretty good, but that 9th inning SUCKED to watch...hopefully the baseball gods are watching another game tomorrow...
GO SAWX!!!
2 Down in Motown...
So, as it turned out, Dice didn't pitch so great a game, but, like Lester before him, somehow managed to avoid getting hurt...he gave up 1 ER in this game, but did that while issuing 8 BB and striking out 1...no, that's not a mistake...I don't have Sox dyslexia...that's not backwards in any way whatsoever...he pitched 5 innings...walked 8...struck out 1...gave up 1 run...I didn't get to watch much of this one (did I mention I have a 5 month-old daughter...great time to start a blog that requires daily attention, huh?), so I'll stop the bewilderment there (it doesn't translate as well in writing either...if you could see my face right now...bug eyes...slack jaw...I dunno....)...I really don't know how it's possible to even do that...he's walking 2 guys an inning and somehow getting out of it...it's becoming more and more clear to me that Dice and Lester are long lost brothers...seriously, they have to share some genes somewhere, because they pitch the same games...they're either attacking the strike zone with 2-3 great pitches and piling up the Ks or they can't throw a strike and have to rely on magic to get out of innings...which, luckily they seem to be able to conjure lately...look, they're both young and still trying to adjust to big AL bats...not an easy thing I would imagine, but these cardiac kids need pitch a little more to contact and trust the D or else we're in for some long nights and and overtaxed bullpen...
Speaking of the bullpen, we come to Craig Hansen again...been here once before, it's worth expounding...1.2 IP in this one, 2 ER...yes, Tito, he throws hard, but you say you like his "stuff." You're probably saying that to keep the kid's spirits up because I would think that by now you know the difference between gas and stuff...Hansen throws gas, no doubt there...kid hits 98+ on the gun...but he doesn't have stuff...stuff has life...it has character...it moves, it bobs, it weaves...anyone that saw Pedro throw his fastball in his prime knows what stuff is...it's a fastball that starts out in one vector and then somehow (whether this is perception or not is irrelevant) darts to another...sometimes the ball seems to actually leap to another path on the way to the plate...sometimes it's just the mythical late life or late action where the ball stays on the same line but seems to get a turbo boost as it nears the catchers mitt...describe it how you like, it's not easy to explain, but it's easy to see...the first time I saw Petey's fastball I just stared pop-eyed afterwards and thought "What the hell was that???" Now, granted, his stuff included gas...it was flying in there at 97 with late movement and a little special Pedro attitude to go along with it, so I don't expect that kind of stuff from everyone...everyone's stuff is different, but one thing's for sure, you need stuff to make it in this game unless you're the rarest of the rare...the guys like Maddux, Hoffman and maybe now Schilling who are so accurate and so smart about the art of pitching that they can use guile to get outs...Hansen doesn't have great stuff...as I've said before, the kid throws it hard but it's about as straight as can be...as a hitter, that's cake...you see the guy once and it's done...and I don't mean one at-bat...I mean one pitch...any big league hitter can get a pitchers timing down...that's what they do...you've seen one 98 mph fastball, you've seen them all, so one pitch might remind you "hey, I need to swing earlier" and then you do, bam...it's that easy...the kid's got a decent curve and slider but he can't get them over consistently, so it always comes to having to throw an arrow of a fastball at 98 right down the pike...so, Tito, you're a smart guy...this game was 5-1 when you brought him in...no no no...let's apply a formula, and since I'm a helpful guy, here it is:
Innings Remaining in Game + Runs Ahead - (Planned Hansen Innings * Hansen's Current ERA) - Desired Lead in 9th (3 constant) = Safe to Pitch Hansen
Simply, if "Safe to Pitch Hansen" is negative, you don't pitch him...applying that formula to last night's game would give us:
4 + 4 - (2 * 5.4) - 3 = -5.4
DON'T PITCH HANSEN!!!
That simple...sure enough, it's a 5-3 game when he gets out of there with a couple of innings left...we just happened to tack on the extra run to feel good about the 9th, but ya just never know...a couple of things about the formula...you may have noticed that Runs Ahead, if less than 3 and including if we're trailing (i.e. - Runs Ahead) pretty much means don't pitch him (his ERA would have to be in the low 1s to make that work at all)...yes, that's right...this means that he should NOT PITCH IN CLOSE GAMES UNTIL HIS ERA IS TINY!!! The only exception to this formula is if Runs Ahead is -6 or less, then we can pitch him to see if he can lower that ERA a bit for the next time...
So, there you go Tito and Mr. Farrell...it's that simple...use the handy dandy Craig Hansen formula from here on out and we should be all set...like I said, we took him out, tacked on a run and got the 6-3 win...the pop came from the corners with Youk and Mikey Lowell providing 2-run HRs in this one...
Saw more of the second game and this was a trademark "The knuckler is dancing tonight!" game from the Wake...Tigers hitters were baffled and became more and more aggressive as they were more and more baffled which only makes them worse hitters (it really is a vicious circle)...Papi and Manny went back to back, Manny's 497th on the way to Cooperstown, and that right there was more than we'd need after some small ball runs early...5-0 Sox win including a pretty easy 9th from Timlin, and we're half-way to a road sweep in Motown...not going to count those chickens since their better pitchers (of late and overall) are coming up, but I'll take the first two in hand...Sox 5th win in a row and let's hope they have a little mo building here...Buchholz on the hill tonight against some angry Tigers...
GO SAWX!!!
Speaking of the bullpen, we come to Craig Hansen again...been here once before, it's worth expounding...1.2 IP in this one, 2 ER...yes, Tito, he throws hard, but you say you like his "stuff." You're probably saying that to keep the kid's spirits up because I would think that by now you know the difference between gas and stuff...Hansen throws gas, no doubt there...kid hits 98+ on the gun...but he doesn't have stuff...stuff has life...it has character...it moves, it bobs, it weaves...anyone that saw Pedro throw his fastball in his prime knows what stuff is...it's a fastball that starts out in one vector and then somehow (whether this is perception or not is irrelevant) darts to another...sometimes the ball seems to actually leap to another path on the way to the plate...sometimes it's just the mythical late life or late action where the ball stays on the same line but seems to get a turbo boost as it nears the catchers mitt...describe it how you like, it's not easy to explain, but it's easy to see...the first time I saw Petey's fastball I just stared pop-eyed afterwards and thought "What the hell was that???" Now, granted, his stuff included gas...it was flying in there at 97 with late movement and a little special Pedro attitude to go along with it, so I don't expect that kind of stuff from everyone...everyone's stuff is different, but one thing's for sure, you need stuff to make it in this game unless you're the rarest of the rare...the guys like Maddux, Hoffman and maybe now Schilling who are so accurate and so smart about the art of pitching that they can use guile to get outs...Hansen doesn't have great stuff...as I've said before, the kid throws it hard but it's about as straight as can be...as a hitter, that's cake...you see the guy once and it's done...and I don't mean one at-bat...I mean one pitch...any big league hitter can get a pitchers timing down...that's what they do...you've seen one 98 mph fastball, you've seen them all, so one pitch might remind you "hey, I need to swing earlier" and then you do, bam...it's that easy...the kid's got a decent curve and slider but he can't get them over consistently, so it always comes to having to throw an arrow of a fastball at 98 right down the pike...so, Tito, you're a smart guy...this game was 5-1 when you brought him in...no no no...let's apply a formula, and since I'm a helpful guy, here it is:
Innings Remaining in Game + Runs Ahead - (Planned Hansen Innings * Hansen's Current ERA) - Desired Lead in 9th (3 constant) = Safe to Pitch Hansen
Simply, if "Safe to Pitch Hansen" is negative, you don't pitch him...applying that formula to last night's game would give us:
4 + 4 - (2 * 5.4) - 3 = -5.4
DON'T PITCH HANSEN!!!
That simple...sure enough, it's a 5-3 game when he gets out of there with a couple of innings left...we just happened to tack on the extra run to feel good about the 9th, but ya just never know...a couple of things about the formula...you may have noticed that Runs Ahead, if less than 3 and including if we're trailing (i.e. - Runs Ahead) pretty much means don't pitch him (his ERA would have to be in the low 1s to make that work at all)...yes, that's right...this means that he should NOT PITCH IN CLOSE GAMES UNTIL HIS ERA IS TINY!!! The only exception to this formula is if Runs Ahead is -6 or less, then we can pitch him to see if he can lower that ERA a bit for the next time...
So, there you go Tito and Mr. Farrell...it's that simple...use the handy dandy Craig Hansen formula from here on out and we should be all set...like I said, we took him out, tacked on a run and got the 6-3 win...the pop came from the corners with Youk and Mikey Lowell providing 2-run HRs in this one...
Saw more of the second game and this was a trademark "The knuckler is dancing tonight!" game from the Wake...Tigers hitters were baffled and became more and more aggressive as they were more and more baffled which only makes them worse hitters (it really is a vicious circle)...Papi and Manny went back to back, Manny's 497th on the way to Cooperstown, and that right there was more than we'd need after some small ball runs early...5-0 Sox win including a pretty easy 9th from Timlin, and we're half-way to a road sweep in Motown...not going to count those chickens since their better pitchers (of late and overall) are coming up, but I'll take the first two in hand...Sox 5th win in a row and let's hope they have a little mo building here...Buchholz on the hill tonight against some angry Tigers...
GO SAWX!!!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sweep, I Got Yer Sweep, RIGHT HERE...
For the first time this season I'm checking in after a series not due to procrastination (which is a much better term than laziness, wouldn't we agree) or incredible business surrounding work and/or family (the latter of which supersedes blogging any day), but solely because I wanted to post THAT headline...after the humiliating sweep in Tampa last week, which I was too disgusted to face as you may recall, we needed to send a little message that this is still our division, and if the Rays want into this decade plus two team battle, they're going to have to earn it...
The Rays came to town riding a wave that included that 3 game sweep of our boys, and they must have been feeling pretty good about themselves...sure, they beat some of our second string arms, and sure, we were missing a few guys in the lineup, but a sweep is a sweep, and even in early in the season I'm sure they were happy with themselves after winning those games...their little post game 3 congratulations seemed more enthusiastic that usual...something I noticed (I think it happened, I really do...but perception is a funny thing...who knows, maybe I was just pissed) and hoped would be shoved back at them, and soon...
We didn't have to wait long, as redemption was a dis served up by the Red Sox offense...the bats awoke for this series and order was restored in the AL East universe...before getting to the game action, which I won't spend too much time on since there was very little actual "action," just a good old fashioned whomping, I'll illustrate the point with these numbers:
4-5, 1-2, 0-3, 7-3, 12-4, 7-3
What are the scores from the last 6 Red Sox - Rays games, Alex? That is correct...notice that the pitching was just fine all along, even when trotting out the David Pauleys and Justin Mastersons of the world...so let's add that up quickly, first three games we scored 5 runs total...lost them...last three games, 26 runs...theeeeeeere we go...talk about a correction...I apologize to the Rays organization and their fans for the false hope, but the Red Sox are back in the swing of things, and your pitchers had to take the punishment...here are the brief synopses since there wasn't much drama for building:
Game 1: Clay Buchholz vs. Edwin Jackson: This game was over when: bottom of the 4th...the Sox tacked on 5 more to their 1 run lead, and Clay wasn't going to let that go on that particular night...he was still up and down with the command (4 BB, 6 K) but he wiggled out of enough and got it to the pen...the Rays scratched out 2 unearned runs in the 7th thanks to a Lugo error (number 8, putting him on pace for 40 or so...this frightens me...a lot) but we were able to throw back a "not so fast" run in the 8th to make sure they knew that there would be no 9th inning rally...Oki and Pap worked their innings, done deal...
Game 2: Josh Beckett vs. James Shields: This game was over when: Shields stepped onto the mound...last week he wrecked the Sox and made our boys look foolish...a complete game 2 hit shutout, 1 BB, 7 K last week...now, you just DO NOT do that to the Sox (especially not your WS champion Sox) and live to tell about it...his line for this one looked a little different...try 3.2 innings, 7 nice big EARNED runs, 3 BB and 3 K...Sox led 3-0 after 1, and even though Beckett was a little off the offense didn't stop, and he was up 9-4 when he left after the 8th...no HR from the Sox in this game, just a relentless 15 hit attack...like saying, you want to f*ck with us, we're going to f*ck with you...
Game 3: Jon Lester vs. Scott Kazmir: This game was over when: we remembered this was the "just off of the DL" Kazmir, not the "I kill the Red Sox" Kazmir...he lasted 4 innings in his comeback game, giving up 3 ER...not horrible and I'm sure the Rays will take it, but considering his prior work against us, we'll take it too...Lester didn't progress much in terms of control and put up a trademark Lester line...6 inning,s 112 pitches, 3 BB 5 K and somehow only one ER allowed...I don't know how he does this...we're going to have to give him some sort of magic nickname, like Houdini or the Great something...if you have any ideas, hit me with them...I'll think of one by his next start, so you have 4+ games...anyway, we beat up on their pen and Delcarmen gave up his obligatory runs, which is a little bit of a concern now too, but as long as we have Oki and Pap back there I'm going to try not to freak out too much...still, we may have to address the pen sooner rather than later if Timlin doesn't return to form and Delcarmen keeps on like this...
So, life is much better in Soxland today...feels like we're about to put a stretch together...in fact I felt so good I went out and got my seasonal Sox hat...every season since 2003 I've gone out and gotten a Sox cap for the season, but only when it felt right...sometimes that was way before the season (like in 2004 when I couldn't WAIT to get back on the field) and other times it's at a relevant point during it...but always before the All Star break...this felt like the right time...I even picked up my official 2007 WS champs cap, which I had been meaning to do...like I said, right now it just feels right...could be time to put together some consistent, Red Sox baseball and see if we can win some games and put some distance between the contenders and the pretenders...
The Mighty Tigers, everyone's fancy pre-season AL pick for supremacy, are next...and the boys have to travel...I hear Detroit is lovely...umm...never, so they must be enjoying that...they're enjoying the game so far, Dice looks to have pitched a good game and the power stroke is going...up 5-1 going to the pen in the 7th...not sure when the Tigers will realize that pitching wins championships, but until they do...
GO SAWX!!!
The Rays came to town riding a wave that included that 3 game sweep of our boys, and they must have been feeling pretty good about themselves...sure, they beat some of our second string arms, and sure, we were missing a few guys in the lineup, but a sweep is a sweep, and even in early in the season I'm sure they were happy with themselves after winning those games...their little post game 3 congratulations seemed more enthusiastic that usual...something I noticed (I think it happened, I really do...but perception is a funny thing...who knows, maybe I was just pissed) and hoped would be shoved back at them, and soon...
We didn't have to wait long, as redemption was a dis served up by the Red Sox offense...the bats awoke for this series and order was restored in the AL East universe...before getting to the game action, which I won't spend too much time on since there was very little actual "action," just a good old fashioned whomping, I'll illustrate the point with these numbers:
4-5, 1-2, 0-3, 7-3, 12-4, 7-3
What are the scores from the last 6 Red Sox - Rays games, Alex? That is correct...notice that the pitching was just fine all along, even when trotting out the David Pauleys and Justin Mastersons of the world...so let's add that up quickly, first three games we scored 5 runs total...lost them...last three games, 26 runs...theeeeeeere we go...talk about a correction...I apologize to the Rays organization and their fans for the false hope, but the Red Sox are back in the swing of things, and your pitchers had to take the punishment...here are the brief synopses since there wasn't much drama for building:
Game 1: Clay Buchholz vs. Edwin Jackson: This game was over when: bottom of the 4th...the Sox tacked on 5 more to their 1 run lead, and Clay wasn't going to let that go on that particular night...he was still up and down with the command (4 BB, 6 K) but he wiggled out of enough and got it to the pen...the Rays scratched out 2 unearned runs in the 7th thanks to a Lugo error (number 8, putting him on pace for 40 or so...this frightens me...a lot) but we were able to throw back a "not so fast" run in the 8th to make sure they knew that there would be no 9th inning rally...Oki and Pap worked their innings, done deal...
Game 2: Josh Beckett vs. James Shields: This game was over when: Shields stepped onto the mound...last week he wrecked the Sox and made our boys look foolish...a complete game 2 hit shutout, 1 BB, 7 K last week...now, you just DO NOT do that to the Sox (especially not your WS champion Sox) and live to tell about it...his line for this one looked a little different...try 3.2 innings, 7 nice big EARNED runs, 3 BB and 3 K...Sox led 3-0 after 1, and even though Beckett was a little off the offense didn't stop, and he was up 9-4 when he left after the 8th...no HR from the Sox in this game, just a relentless 15 hit attack...like saying, you want to f*ck with us, we're going to f*ck with you...
Game 3: Jon Lester vs. Scott Kazmir: This game was over when: we remembered this was the "just off of the DL" Kazmir, not the "I kill the Red Sox" Kazmir...he lasted 4 innings in his comeback game, giving up 3 ER...not horrible and I'm sure the Rays will take it, but considering his prior work against us, we'll take it too...Lester didn't progress much in terms of control and put up a trademark Lester line...6 inning,s 112 pitches, 3 BB 5 K and somehow only one ER allowed...I don't know how he does this...we're going to have to give him some sort of magic nickname, like Houdini or the Great something...if you have any ideas, hit me with them...I'll think of one by his next start, so you have 4+ games...anyway, we beat up on their pen and Delcarmen gave up his obligatory runs, which is a little bit of a concern now too, but as long as we have Oki and Pap back there I'm going to try not to freak out too much...still, we may have to address the pen sooner rather than later if Timlin doesn't return to form and Delcarmen keeps on like this...
So, life is much better in Soxland today...feels like we're about to put a stretch together...in fact I felt so good I went out and got my seasonal Sox hat...every season since 2003 I've gone out and gotten a Sox cap for the season, but only when it felt right...sometimes that was way before the season (like in 2004 when I couldn't WAIT to get back on the field) and other times it's at a relevant point during it...but always before the All Star break...this felt like the right time...I even picked up my official 2007 WS champs cap, which I had been meaning to do...like I said, right now it just feels right...could be time to put together some consistent, Red Sox baseball and see if we can win some games and put some distance between the contenders and the pretenders...
The Mighty Tigers, everyone's fancy pre-season AL pick for supremacy, are next...and the boys have to travel...I hear Detroit is lovely...umm...never, so they must be enjoying that...they're enjoying the game so far, Dice looks to have pitched a good game and the power stroke is going...up 5-1 going to the pen in the 7th...not sure when the Tigers will realize that pitching wins championships, but until they do...
GO SAWX!!!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Walking Off On the Jays...
I'd love to produce a fantastic blog about the dramatic walkoff wins against the Blue Jays in this space right now, but that would be disingenuous. Sadly, real life got in this way of me watching and of the two wins in this three game set...I only caught the highlights, and as thrilling as they were I can't help but think these games signaled a nice little salvation to the Sox's opening month, and so any attempt to write anything too intense without having witnessed the drama live would not be fair to the games themselves...too much work this week, not enough play, but after this weekend I should be able to get my priorities back in line ; )
Game one was a classic pitchers duel, that I know...I kept checking in on the score and seeing the 0's piling up, nice to see from Jon Lester, that's for sure...he did walk 4 so I'm not going to go all gaga since his control is obviously still a little suspect, but he did get 8 innings out of his 97 pitches, so he must have been hitting the zone more when he wasn't walking guys...struck out 6 and kept the Jays off the board...hard to ask any more...Halladay was brilliant over 8 innings...struck out 6, walked 1, only gave up 3 hits...we all know it's not easy to do that against the Sox, and this was with Lowell and Tek back in the lineup...but the Sox got him in the 9th in typical middle of the lineup fashion...Halladay got the first two, but he was a little too careful with Papi, walking him, and Manny followed with a single...Youk then delivered the walkoff single, with Papi hustling around to score the game winner...WHEELS!!! 1-0...Sox playing well in one run games, especially at home...
Game two featured 3 times as many runs as the first game...but it was pretty much second verse, same as the first...this time the hurlers were the Dice for Boston and the young Dustin McGowan for the Jays...nothing happened in this game at all until the 7th...Papi continued his resurgence with a bomb to give the boys a 1-0 lead, but the Jays tied it right back up in the top of the 8th off of the Mr. Hyde version of Manny Delcarmen...single, double, sac fly...tie game...then Dr. Jekyl returned and struck out the next two to keep it tied...0s in the bottom and top and we went to the bottom of the 9th...Papi got it started again, this time with a sharp single...Manny walked him over (so hard to get these guys out when it matters) and Francona, ignoring the blazing speed of Papi on second, pinch ran for him with Jed Lowrie...was Francona not watching the previous game???? He took out WHEELS!!! Of course it was the wrong call!!! Moss singled sharply to center and Lowrie was gunned down by Vernon Wells...of course he was...with the hit, Manny moved up to second but it would take a clutch hit from the Captain and Manny actually running to deliver a win without going to extras...Tek did his part, with a legit single up the middle, and you had to be thinking there's no way Manny makes it, but he guns it around third and keeps his helmet on his head until after he slides his foot in ahead of the tag...another night, another walkoff..Dirty Water blaring to cheers for the second straight night at Fenway...
Game 3 I did see most of, and I sure as hell picked the wrong game to watch...AJ Burnett, who gets killed by everyone else (I know, he's on my fantasy squad) pitched a great game...his electric stuff was there, and the Sox couldn't muster anything against him...3 hits in almost 8 innings...Wake was Wake, and the Sox go down 3-0...
Overall, a good finish to the month of April considering all of the obstacles...the feisty Rays that just swept us are coming right back for more...game on right now, after a little rain..two good young starters, Clay against the improving Edwin Jackson for the Rays...Sox are up 2-0, but to be honest I'm checking on that briefly here and there...I'm watching the Celtics blow game 6 to the Hawks right now...down 102-100 without the ball and 8.7 seconds left...another lackluster 4th quarter and for the first time in the series some dubious officiating...not cool...I can't believe this series is going 7, and if the C's lose game 7 at home to this Hawks team, I'll have one hell of a blog about it...game on...
GO SAWX!!!
Game one was a classic pitchers duel, that I know...I kept checking in on the score and seeing the 0's piling up, nice to see from Jon Lester, that's for sure...he did walk 4 so I'm not going to go all gaga since his control is obviously still a little suspect, but he did get 8 innings out of his 97 pitches, so he must have been hitting the zone more when he wasn't walking guys...struck out 6 and kept the Jays off the board...hard to ask any more...Halladay was brilliant over 8 innings...struck out 6, walked 1, only gave up 3 hits...we all know it's not easy to do that against the Sox, and this was with Lowell and Tek back in the lineup...but the Sox got him in the 9th in typical middle of the lineup fashion...Halladay got the first two, but he was a little too careful with Papi, walking him, and Manny followed with a single...Youk then delivered the walkoff single, with Papi hustling around to score the game winner...WHEELS!!! 1-0...Sox playing well in one run games, especially at home...
Game two featured 3 times as many runs as the first game...but it was pretty much second verse, same as the first...this time the hurlers were the Dice for Boston and the young Dustin McGowan for the Jays...nothing happened in this game at all until the 7th...Papi continued his resurgence with a bomb to give the boys a 1-0 lead, but the Jays tied it right back up in the top of the 8th off of the Mr. Hyde version of Manny Delcarmen...single, double, sac fly...tie game...then Dr. Jekyl returned and struck out the next two to keep it tied...0s in the bottom and top and we went to the bottom of the 9th...Papi got it started again, this time with a sharp single...Manny walked him over (so hard to get these guys out when it matters) and Francona, ignoring the blazing speed of Papi on second, pinch ran for him with Jed Lowrie...was Francona not watching the previous game???? He took out WHEELS!!! Of course it was the wrong call!!! Moss singled sharply to center and Lowrie was gunned down by Vernon Wells...of course he was...with the hit, Manny moved up to second but it would take a clutch hit from the Captain and Manny actually running to deliver a win without going to extras...Tek did his part, with a legit single up the middle, and you had to be thinking there's no way Manny makes it, but he guns it around third and keeps his helmet on his head until after he slides his foot in ahead of the tag...another night, another walkoff..Dirty Water blaring to cheers for the second straight night at Fenway...
Game 3 I did see most of, and I sure as hell picked the wrong game to watch...AJ Burnett, who gets killed by everyone else (I know, he's on my fantasy squad) pitched a great game...his electric stuff was there, and the Sox couldn't muster anything against him...3 hits in almost 8 innings...Wake was Wake, and the Sox go down 3-0...
Overall, a good finish to the month of April considering all of the obstacles...the feisty Rays that just swept us are coming right back for more...game on right now, after a little rain..two good young starters, Clay against the improving Edwin Jackson for the Rays...Sox are up 2-0, but to be honest I'm checking on that briefly here and there...I'm watching the Celtics blow game 6 to the Hawks right now...down 102-100 without the ball and 8.7 seconds left...another lackluster 4th quarter and for the first time in the series some dubious officiating...not cool...I can't believe this series is going 7, and if the C's lose game 7 at home to this Hawks team, I'll have one hell of a blog about it...game on...
GO SAWX!!!
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