Saturday, May 17, 2008

Let's Win Two

The Red Sox swept the doubleheader with a close win over the Brewers tonight. Wake looked much better than his last outing and pitched into the 6th before he ran into trouble and was pulled. The Sox had a 5 run lead in the game fueled by Mike Lowell who had a home run and 4 RBI's in the game but they let the Brewers take the lead in the 7th. Some sloppy defense and hits off of Hansen gave the Brew Crew a one run advantage. The Sox rallied in the bottom of the 7th and regained the lead. Lopez pitched a scoreless eighth and Timlin picked up his first save of the season in the ninth.

Sox Win 7-6 BOX SCORE

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Lineup for Game 2 vs. Brewers 5/17

Manny and Lugo have the second game off and Cash is in because Wake is pitching.

Jacoby Ellsbury, LF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Mike Lowell, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Coco Crisp, CF
Alex Cora, SS
Kevin Cash, C

Tim Wakefield, SP

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Dice-K Wins #7

The Red Sox took game one of the doubleheader against the Brewers with a solid outing by Dice-K and a big home run by David Ortiz. The pen was able to preserve the victory even though Papelbon gave up a home run in the 9th. Lowell, Youk and Cora all flashed some leather in the 9th to prevent a Brewers comeback.

Sox win 5-3 BOX SCORE

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Lineup For Game 1 vs Brewers 5/17

Mike Lowell gets game 1 off, Youk moves over to third.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
David Ortiz DH
Manny Ramirez LF
Kevin Youkilis 3B
JD Drew RF
Jason Varitek C
Sean Casey 1B
Julio Lugo SS

Daisuke Matsuzaka SP

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Is # 499 Coming Today?

Manny has faced Milwaukee Brewers starter Jeff Suppan 21 times and has 3 home runs against him. In the second game of the doubleheader the Sox face Dave Bush, Manny has 5 AB's against him with one home run. It is looking good for the left fielder to take one over the Monster today. I am all for Manny hitting number #499 at Fenway, I just hope he can hold off to hit #500 until next weekend when I have tickets to 2 games in Oakland.

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Okajima is Hurt

Nothing like giving up a game winning grand slam to help find an injury. Hideki Okajima is going to be shut down for a few games by the Sox because of a sore left wrist.

Okajima also admitted to the Globe that he does not like pitching with runners on base: "Little bit uncomfortable. All the coaches, manager know I am not successful with a runner behind [me]. So why use me?"

The injury is not serious enough to send him to the DL but it does limit the options the Red Sox have in the bullpen. They are going to need to get some quality starts the next few days and hope Hansen or Delcarmen can deliver before it gets to Papelbon.

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Friday, May 16, 2008

Lots of Ball on Tube This Weekend


Sat: Sox v. Brewers, 12:55 pm, FOX
Sun: Sox v. Brewers, 10:35 am, TBS
Sun: Mets v. hankees, 5:05 pm, ESPN

All times Pacific

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Rainout



Tonight's game has been rained out.

Doubleheader tomorrow starting at 3:55 Eastern.

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Tonights Lineup vs the Brewers

Lugo and Drew are back.

Ellsbury, cf
Pedroia, 2b
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, lf
Lowell, 3b
Youkilis, 1b
Drew, rf
Varitek, c
Lugo, ss

Matsuzaka, SP

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Rain is Coming

It is going to be tough to get in the game tonight against the Brewers with the constant rain forecast for Fenway. Check out the radar below. Lineups coming soon.

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Trade Rumor Mill

Jason Stark of ESPN is reporting that the Brewers have shown some interest in Tavarez. He also reports that the Sox have been discussing dealing Aardsma and Javier Lopez as well. Boston has to free up some roster space if they want to bring Colon up and keep Buchholz on the team when he returns from the DL. The bullpen has not been great this season so they may want get some new blood or some pitching prospects for the future. It seems that Theo has been charging a high price for Sox players so I would not expect to see teams lining up to make offers but as the injuries pile up around the league the offers may start to trickle in.

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Tuesday's Starter

After yesterday's great effort, Bartolo Colon seemed likely to get the call to make his regular season debut for the Red Sox, but his pitch count is still below 70. Colon will make one more start with the PawSox before joining the big club in Boston. This leaves the Red Sox with a choice to make for Tuesday's game against KC. Masterson has been struggling lately so the Sox may call up David Pauley once again or give Charlie Zink his MLB debut. Zink is a knuckleballer who has been taught by Wakefield and has a 2.91 ERA this season. Can you imagine 2 knuckleballers in the same rotation? Can Sox fans survive this?

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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Colon Has Another Good Start for the PawSox

Bartolo Colon pitched well in his second rehab start for Pawtucket since he injured his oblique. El Gordo went 6 scoreless innings giving up just one hit. According to redsox.com, Colon "showed excellent command from start to finish, as he worked both sides of the plate well and threw 15 first-strike pitches with his velocity topping out at 95 mph." Colon had 4 K's and no walks in the game. It looks like he is ready to join the Red Sox and fill in for Buchholz. If he can pitch like this in Boston he will have been the steal of the century.

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Get Ready For Some Old Faces

Inter-league play starts up tomorrow with the Brew Crew coming to the Fens. There will be some interesting story lines as fan favorite Gabe Kapler returns to face his old squad. Kapler has been coming off the bench to pinch hit for the Brewers lately. Also returning to Fenway will be much maligned pitcher Eric Gagne. The steroid user has lost his job as the closer for Milwaukee after signing a $10 million contract in the off-season, get ready for some boos (for what he did last year) and some cheers (when he gives up a few long balls) when Gagne enters a game. The Sox will be facing Jeff Suppan, also a former Red Sox, when the 3 game series begins on Friday.

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Julian Tavarez, you stud, you

Julian Tavarez told Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe that if he wasn't going to be a pro ball player, he might've been interested in getting into the adult motion picture industry.


The way he's been pitching this year, he might need to look for another job soon. But can the AL relief pitcher swing lumber?

OK, moving right along to our next story....



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Sox Blow Another 3 Run Lead

Lester pitched well through 6 but the trouble started when he was pulled. Lopez got two quick outs but then gave up a single and was replaced by Hansen. After a hit and a walk Hansen's day was done and Okajima came in. Jay Payton took Oki deep for a grand slam and the O's had a 6-3 lead. Big Papi went 0-4 and is still hitting in the low .200's in May. The losing streak hits 4 games, is it time to push the button?

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Clay Buchholz Headed to DL...Van Every Called Up

Red Sox Pitcher Clay Buchholz is going on the DL with a "broken nail" on his pitching hand. The Sox needed a new outfielder to fill in for the injured Drew so this opened up the spot.

Jonathan Van Every was called up from Pawtucket today, he was acquired during the off-season and has been playing center.

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Injury Update

J.D. Drew- hyper-extended his wrist (MRI negative) but will be out at least one more game.

Julio Lugo- was out again yesterday from the concussion, should be available if Mills needs him.

Coco Crisp- left last night's game with a migraine and nausea, his status is still unclear for today.

If Crisp can't go tonight the Sox may have to make a roster move to bring up Bailey, Thurston or Van Every. Hansen could be sent down for a day or two unless J.D. goes on the DL. My bet is that J.D. will end up on the DL because he rarely plays when he is even slightly hurt. There is no use keeping him off the DL if he is not going into the games anyway.

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Beckett Can't Stop The Slide...Sox Lose Again

Josh Beckett did not pitch well yesterday and now the Sox find themselves in the middle of a losing streak. In a game that looked very similar to the one before, Beckett gave up runs early and the Red Sox could not make up the difference. Beckett was tagged for 11 hits and 5 runs but once again the bullpen pitched well. Offensively Boston could not get the big hit and left too many people on base. Manny came up in the 7th with bases loaded an no outs and after a 10 pitch at bat he hit into a 1-2-3 double play. Lowell followed with an out to end the inning...no runs scored. Bench coach Brad Mills had to make an interesting choice when J.D. Drew got hurt once again and put Youk in right for the first time in his career. Boston tries to get a win streak going at 3 pm eastern today against fireballer and often wild pitcher Cabrera in Baltimore.

Sox lose 5-4 BOX SCORE

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tonight's Lineup 5/13 at Baltimore

Lugo (concussion) and Ellsbury (bruised knee) are both out.

Coco Crisp, CF
Dustin Pedroia, SS
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Mike Lowell, 3B
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Alex Cora, SS

Josh Beckett, SP

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Terry Francona Will Miss O's Series For Funeral

Tito will not be in the dugout for the two game series against Baltimore because he will be attending the funeral for his mother-in-law in Arizona.

Bench coach Brad Mills will take over the managing duties in the interim.

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Tavarez, Lugo, Loretta...Updates Galore!

Julian Tavarez may be traded by week's end but don't expect much for him. Extra Bases reported that the Rockies and other teams were not willing to give up any decent prospects even with the Sox eating most of his salary.

Julio Lugo missed another game last night with a mild concussion but Tito says that he is day to day and may see action tonight. Cora has gone 6-8 since he returned from the DL. Check back later for the lineup.

Ken Rosenthal reported that the Red Sox inquired about Mark Loretta during spring training as insurance in the infield. I saw Loretta go 1-5 last night at AT&T Park bringing his average down to the Mendoza Line, not an improvement over Lugo. I think with the production we have seen out of Lowrie the need is no longer there.

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Karl Ravech takes a shot at the Sox

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the curse of ESPN’s John Kruk that he cast on the yankees last September in Cleveland in a Baseball Tonight commercial. (Remember the flies?)
Well, Karl Ravech takes a shot this past week at Curt Schilling and his ankle surgery in 2004. In the commercial, Schilling empties some sand out of his sock. Ravech, eating fries, ‘accidentally’ drops a catsup packet which lands in the sock. “The ankle looked fine to me’, Ravech says.
I find it somewhat interesting that after the yankees get their turn at the ESPN marketing whipping post, they drag up an incident from almost 4 years ago to take a shot at the Sox. I can hear the phone call in my head that ol’ dumbass Hank could have made to ESPN demanding equal time. I mean, if the man has the cajones to threaten a member of the mob over a t-shirt…

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Buchholz Struggles Again in Sox Loss

Clay Buchholz had his second bad start in a row last night as the Twins got to him early. The Sox scored 3 runs including home run # 498 by Manny in the first but that was it for their scoring. Buchholz quickly gave 2 runs back in the first and 2 more in the 3rd. He was charged with all 7 runs from the Twins last night and gave up 8 hits with 5 walks in 4 1/3 innings. Lopez, Hansen and Timlin went the rest of the way only giving up 3 combined hits but the damage was done.

Sox lose 7-3 BOX SCORE

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Monday, May 12, 2008

Tonight's Lineup 5/12 at Minnesota

Manny's back, Lugo is still out and Casey is in at 1st to give Youk a day off. The game is on ESPN and NESN. I'll be heading to AT&T Park to watch Zito go to 0-8 when Oswalt beats him.

Coco Crisp, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Mike Lowell, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Jason Varitek, C
Sean Casey, 1B
Alex Cora, SS

Clay Buchholz -- P

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Tavarez Is Designated for Assignment

Julian Tavarez has been designated for assignment to make a roster spot for Sean Casey who is returning from the DL. Most people believed that Craig Hansen would be sent back down but today the Sox have decided to keep him and send Julian packing. Tavarez did not pitch well in relief this season with an ERA over 6. It is very likely that the Sox will trade Julian before the 10 day deadline or they will be forced to waive him. Teams including the Rockies have shown interest in him as a starter, a position where he has proven to be somewhat effective in recent years. If you believe Manny he may be headed to Milwaukee for the bratwurst...or is it the chorizo?

Thanks to The Bottom Line for the tip.

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Manny Gives Himself An A+ On Defense

Manny Ramirez made some very interesting comments to the Herald's Rob Bradford yesterday. Here are a few highlights:

“I think I’m the best ever to play left field in Boston”

“How am I going to win a Gold Glove if they take me out in the eighth...If Youkilis can win one, why can’t I? I only made two errors last year. Put a good word in for me."

And his best quote:

"Julian Tavarez will be traded to Milwaukee for one of the team’s racing sausages"
Can the sausage pitch? He probably has an ERA under 6.

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Sunday, May 11, 2008

More Thoughts

Tito has done an absolute fantastic job of getting adequate playing time for Crisp and Ellsbury. I didn’t think Ellsbury would hit .350 again, but he’s hitting well, nonetheless. Crisp is finally hitting above .300 where he’s been expected to hit since arriving in Beantown. Colon appears to be back on track resuming his career. With Timlin, Tavarez, and DelCarmen struggling somewhat this year, Theo will have bargaining chips to go along with looming tough trade decisions to be made.

Joe Morgan was... well, Joe Morgan. At least Jon Miller was there.

The Twins’ Delmon Young has quite the strong arm, but I doubt throwing bats at umpires will become standard training procedure.

Eric Gagne is 1-2, 6.89 for the Brewers and has been removed as their closer.

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Thoughts on Tim Wakefield as Sox are Doubled Up (4-8) by Twins by 5th Inning

It can be frustrating to be a Sox fan on the west coast. Few games are on TV over the course of the season and local games are limited to one or two trips to Oakland a year. I was extremely excited to be able to watch one of my all time favorite pitchers, Tim Wakefield, play on TV today. Making the game more appealing were the facts that Wake just came off of arguably his best performance of the year and that he would be pitching indoors where he usually pitches well. First inning goes well for Wake, 3 up and 3 down on 16 pitches. Finally I get to see Wake on a good night!! Too soon did I get excited.

Although dejected about Wake getting knocked out early, I wasn’t worried about the hole the Sox fell into (0-5) going into the third inning as their offense is quite capable of taking care of a 5 run deficit with 7 innings remaining, or a 4 run deficit with 5 innings left. I’m not a big Tavarez basher. He’s about one of the most versatile pitchers in the league, and a bargain, taboot. But it’s not his day today, either. Nor that of Timlin. They can deal with a 2 run deficit in 3 innings (oops, 3 runs.) That is, as long as the bullpen cooperates. Now I wonder if there’s any 9th inning magick leftover from last week. Not today. (The day wasn’t a total loss, the yankees did not win today.)

I always liked Doug Mirabelli and was sorry to see him go the first time and was perplexed when they let him go the second time. Despite his low batting average, Mirabelli was good for the Sox. He had strong relationships with Wakefield as his personal catcher (is there a better defensive knuckleball catcher?), and also with team captain and first string catcher Jason Varitek. I wondered if this was a subtle hint from upper management to Wake that he’s getting close to the end of his tenure. Kevin Cash has proven to be capable as a knuckleball catcher, and is providing offensive support I always wished Dougie could have produced.

Wake has had quite a solid and satisfying career, but I always hope to see him have that one HUGE all-star season, or a no hitter. And I certainly hope that this is not his last season. Wake has always been a consummate baseball playing professional. One of the most selfless acts I’ve witnessed in baseball was the year he volunteered to pitch in relief in the playoffs late one game, which would have jeopardized his start the next day. Class act, that Mr. Wakefield.

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Wake Digs Too Big of a Hole

The Red Sox offense tried valiantly to overcome the massive hole dug by Tim Wakefield early in the game but it was not enough. For some reason Wake's knuckler has not been effective indoors this season. He gave up 7 runs in 2 2/3 innings tonight and earned the loss. The offense did its part with 15 hits and 8 runs including 2 in the 9th but they fell one run short of tying it up.

Sox lose 9-8 BOX SCORE

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Corey Traded, Cora Activated, Lowrie Sent Down

Relief pitcher Bryan Corey who had 2 stints with the Red Sox this season was traded from the PawSox for a player to be named later.

Alex Cora was activated and is in tonight's lineup, Jed Lowrie was sent to Pawtucket to make room. Casey has not been activated yet so Hansen is still with the team.

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Sox-Twins On ESPN...5 Things Joe Morgan Will Say

Tonight's Red Sox Twins game will be on ESPN for Sunday Night baseball meaning we get to hear Joe Morgan say the same comments he does every time the Sox play. Here are 5 things you know he will talk about.

1. With Wakefield pitching he will once again over-explain what knuckleball is, as if we have never seen the pitch before

2. He will say how David Ortiz will come out of his slump and he is not as bad a hitter as his average indicates.

3. He will refer to the 1975 World Series.

4. He will say Manny Ramirez is going into the Hall of Fame

5. He will say the Yankees are not out of the running for the division and will bring up A-Rod coming off the DL.

See if you can guess the order in which he says the above or add your own.
Here's some typical Joe Morgan insight from an earlier game.

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Colon Looked Good For the PawSox

Bartolo Colon pitched for Pawtucket yesterday going 3 innings. He gave up 4 hits and 1 run in the outing. He showed good control with 2 K's and no walks. Sean Casey and Alex Cora both played in the game as their final rehab starts. Cora reflected on Colon's start with the following:

"I was really impressed with him. He had good arm speed and made some good pitches. His ball was really really moving. I know he's going to make a difference and really help us out. I don't know how soon, but I'll tell you what, he's going to help this team win a world championship."

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