Red Sox Nation

It's Official

2008-11-19T16:16:00.008-05:00

11.19.2008

The 'Rese Rice of the Sox is gone
Red Sox trade Coco Crisp to K.C.

It's a official.

The Red Sox media relations team is at the top of its game again as they officially announced the trade of Coco Crisp to the Kansas City Royals for right hander Ramon Ramirez earlier today.

Since acquiring Crisp for Andy Marte during the 2005-2006 off-season, the Sox former centerfielder has not lived up to the expectations of a lead-off hitter. Along with that, when Jacoby Ellsbury emerged on the season in 2007 and dazzled the Red Sox fans and management with his play at the plate and in the field, it became quite obvious Crisp was the odd man out. He platooned most of the 2008 with Ellsbury and took over the starting position in Game Five of the ALCS, when Ellsbury struggled throughout the playoffs but the position belonged to Ellsbury.

We wish Coco all the luck in Kansas City as the Red Sox welcome 27-year-old right hander Ramon Ramirez to the Hub of the Universe. Ramirez comes to the Sox after spending two seasons with the Colorado Rockies and one with the Royals. In his two years with the Rockies, 2006-2007), he had 6-5 record, a 4.45 ERA with 76 strike outs and 33 walks in 85 innings of work. Last season in Kansas City, Ramirez was 3-2 with a 2.64 ERA, 70 strike outs, 31 walks and one save in five chances in 71 games.

-- Boston Sports SID

Little Big League

2008-11-06T12:02:00.006-05:00

11.6.08 12:03PM

Pedroia adds more metal to the mantel
Youkilis spurned by Haverhill native

Dustin Pedroia will have another trophy to go next to his 2007 Rookie of the Year award in the trophy case of his off-season Arizona home. The Sox second baseman took home the 2008 American League Rawlings’ Gold Glove Award winner.

The perennial award handed out to the two best fielders at every position in both leagues is sponsored by the long-time glove manufacture Rawlings. The American League Gold Glove Award recipients were supposed to be named at two o’clock today but Major League Baseball failed to inform Rawlings of the AL winners and the word leaked out to The Sporting News.

Pedroia and first baseman Kevin Youkilis, who won the award in 2007, were leading candidates to win the 2008 award. But due to Youkilis’s ability to move across the diamond, something he had to do more this year than last year, it hurt his chances of winning the award this year.

Do not feel bad Sox fans, Youkilis did not lose out to just anyone you can still congratulate Tampa Bay Rays first baseman and Massachusetts' own, Carlos Pena. And better news neither Derek Jeter nor Alex Rodriguez won the award shortstop or third base, respectively.

2008 American League Rawlings Gold Glove Award Recipients:
P – Mike Mussina, Yankees
C – Joe Mauer, Twins
1B – Carlos Pena, Rays
2B – Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
3B – Adrian Beltre, Mariners
SS – Michael Young, Rangers
OF – Torii Hunter, Angels
OF – Grady Sizemore, Indians
OF – Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners

Latest Rumors on Jason Varitek

2008-11-03T22:06:00.000-05:00

11.4.08 10:06PM

HOT STOVE SEASON
Lastest on Varitek

One of the latest rumors surrounding catcher Jason Varitek is the Los Angeles Dodgers apparently have interest in the 36-year-old, as reported by ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons. Even after being acquired by Los Angeles from Cleveland at the trading deadline, Casey Blake made it known that he wanted to return to Cleveland when he entered free agency at the end of the season. According to Gammons, the Dodgers are without a third baseman and have the intention of permanently switching Russell Martin to third in order to acquire the pitching-oriented Varitek.

Here is the flaw in that for the Dodgers. Los Angeles does not need help behind the plate. Martin has already proven he can work well with the Dodgers pitching staff plus provides some pop at the plate – but not enough. One of the main reasons Los Angeles were beaten by the World Champion Phillies in the championship series was because of their inability to up come with the timely hit. Is Varitek the answer to that? No. Varitek came up a plethora times with men in scoring position and two outs in Boston and failed to drive them in.

It is most likely the Dodgers are going to lose Manny Ramirez and will have to replace that bat in the line up as well as another hitter. Signing Andruw Jones to a long term deal last off-season was the biggest bust of the season. Jones spent more time on the disabled list than he did in the Dodger Stadium outfield. The core group of Dodgers – James Loney, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt and Andre Ethier – have been together for three years and have not got past the National League Championship Series. They need a veteran hitter in their line up like Ramirez brought them after being acquired at the dead.

So a Varitek deal with the Red Sox West is probably not going to happen.

Curt-ain Call

2008-11-03T18:10:00.012-05:00

11.4.08 6:15PM

Curt Schilling ends a remarkable 17-year career
Potential Hall of Famer???

In his most recent blog stating why he is voting for John McCain, Curt Schilling drew the curtain on a storied 17-year career. Schilling missed all of 2008 due to a degenerative right shoulder condition that forced him to eventually have the surgery, two months into the season, that he should have in Spring Training.

We are three weeks away from Thanksgiving 2008 so let us travel back in time five years when Theo Epstein sat down at the Schilling’s dinner table for Thanksgiving Day dinner and wooed Curt to wave his no-trade clause and come to Boston. Since that time the Red Sox have won two World Series Championships and have become the model franchise of Major League Baseball, most of it because of Schilling. Sox fans will remember their former Ace from his heroic performance, “Bloody Sock” in Game Six of the 2004.

After having a surgical procedure to temporarily repair his injured ankle – which he actually sustained in the ALDS – Schilling went back out for Game 1 of the ALCS, where he was slapped around by Yankee hitters. At that point fans thought they saw the last of Schilling, his season was over, but they had not seen this stoic man in the post-season. He did not get his reputation of being a post-season hero by being timid. Schilling had the procedure done and returned to the mound October 19. He pitched seven strong innings of four hit ball while allowing one run and striking out four Yankee batters on a sutured ankle that was undeniably painful.

Fans should remember Schilling for doing what many former Red Sox players could not do: he followed through on his World Series promise. When he took the mound on that Tuesday, cool October night with the Sox down 3-2 in the series, Schilling knew that he was putting the rest of his career in jeopardy but he was still willing to go out and pitch. That says a lot about the man. To put your career on the line for a team you have been with for one season and teammates you have known for only a year takes a lot of guts. It should be how Sox fans remember him not for his boisterous, out-spoken and, sometimes, ill-timed comments but for the sacrifices he made for the organization.

It is unfortunate his magnificent career had to come to a close in the way it did. After being drafted by the Red Sox in 1986 then traded to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Boddicker, Schilling played for three other teams and made it to the playoffs five times. In his illustruous career, he has a 216-146 record with a 3.46 ERA in 3,261 innings of work and is a member of the 3,000 strike out club ranking 14^th in most strike outs – 86 ahead of Pedro Martinez.

Schilling’s post-season numbers are equally impressive with a 19-19 record, a 2.23 ERA and 120 strike outs in 133.1 innings of work. In the 2001 World Series, he earned co-World Series MVP honors, with teammate Randy Johnson, with a 1-0 record in three starts, 26 strike outs and a 1.69 ERA. Schilling played best when the weather cold down and there was something at stake, very similar to a fellow Boston athlete. Tedy Bruschi and his favorite day of the year: “Hat and Tee-Shirt Day?”

Although he only played in the post-season five times, he made the most of his opportunities to play in October, partially because he understood how hard it is just to get to the playoffs. Schilling’s worst series was the championship series where his record would still make any Major League pitcher jealous, 3-1 with a 3.47 ERA and 44 strike outs in four appearances. His best series was the Division Series where opponents he was most feared with a 4-0 record, 33 strike outs and an ERA under one (0.93). In four trips to the Fall Classic and with the rest of the country watching, Schilling was on top of his game. Against the Blue Jays (’93), Yankees (’01), Cardinals (’04) and Rockies (’07), the right hander combined for a 4-1 record with 43 strike outs and a 2.06 ERA in 48 innings pitched.

Many believe Schilling is not Hall of Fame caliber but there are strong reasons for why he belongs in Cooperstown and maybe in 2013 some of the baseball writers who might have been spurned by the pitcher will come to terms and vote him into the Hall of Fame.

Schilling sacrificed a lot for the Red Sox organization and even if you abhor his out-spoken-ness or disagree with his politics, you still have to appreciate what he did for Boston.

Key Dates for the 2008 MLB Hot Stove Season

2008-11-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

October 30 – November 13: Free agency filing period, begins after the last out of the World Series and lasts for 15 days

November 3 – 6: General Managers Meetings in Dana Point, California

November 5 – 18: Awards Week, all the 2008 season awards are given out this week starting with the AL Gold Glove Awards (11/5) to the AL MVP Award (11/18)

November 20: Deadline for Major and Minor League clubs to file reserve lists – players protected from the Rule 5 Draft

December 1: Deadline for clubs to offer salary arbitration to their ranked free agents – the player has six days (12/7) to decide to accept or decline

December 5: Major League Player’s Association Executive Board Meeting, Orlando, Florida

December 7: Deadline for players to accept or decline salary arbitration

December 8-11: Winter Meetings, Las Vegas, Nevada

December 8: Hall of Fame Veterans Committee Voting Results Announcements, Las Vegas, Nevada

December 11: Rule 5 Draft

Early December: Hall of Fame Voting by the Baseball Writers of America

December 12: Deadline to offer contracts to roster players – players who are not offered contracts enter free agency

January 5: Announcement of Hall of Fame election results

January 5-15: Filing period for players eligible for salary arbitration

January 19: Players and management exchange figures for arbitration – usually the numbers between the players and management are close so usually both parties arrive at some form of agreement

February 1-21: Salary Arbitration Hearings in Phoenix, Arizona – for those who could not come to a peaceful resolution

February 14, 17: Spring Training reporting dates for position players, pitchers and catchers on a World Baseball Classic roster

February 22: Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for those players not on a World Baseball Classic roster

Key:

High visibility and high movement

High/Low visibility and high/low movement

Low visibility and low movement

Arrogance Needs to Be Earned

2008-10-30T22:25:00.004-04:00

10.31.2008

ARROGANCE NEEDS TO BE EARNED
Philly fans are the reason their professional sports teams have not won a championship in 20+years

The one bad thing that comes with the Phillies winning the World Series is the entire country gets to see the pompous and arrogant Philadelphia fans. Around the country people complain Boston fans are obnoxious but they are relatively tame compared to Philly fans.

Yes Boston fans will hurl insults and expletives at Yankee fans. They will taunt and tease A-Rod, Eric Gagne, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the rest of Major League Baseball but it is done out of jocularity. Whether it is taunting J.D. Drew for not signing with the Phillies out of high school or hurling batteries and beer bottles at officials during an Eagles game, Philadelphia fans are just down right nasty.

Boston fans are the most knowledgeable sports fans in the country. We are passionate fans that go to the ballpark, stadium or arena and root for our teams not just against the opposing teams. Yes we want to see the Yankees, Rays, Colts, Lakers and Canadiens go down in a ball of flames but it does not stop Boston fans from rooting for their team. In Philly, it seems as if the fans are rooting more against their opponents than for their own teams.

It is general knowledge that if you walk into Fenway Park wearing Yankees garb you will get obscenities hurled your way and maybe even beer poured on you, but there is one thing Red Sox fans do not do. We do not go after the young children unlike some Eagles fans who thought it would be funny to pour beer over a five year old Patriots fan at Super Bowl XXXIX. Pretty classless if you ask me.

Phillies pitcher Brett Myers exemplifies Philadelphia in the perfect way. Everyone in Philly thinks he is funny by the practical joke he played on teammate Kyle Kendrick at the beginning of the season but Boston fans know him for what he really is: a coward. During the World Series, Myers made the remark if the Red Sox had made it to the World Series he would not pitch in Fenway Park.

His statement is from an incident that occurred two years ago after he was arrested by Boston police for domestic abuse but still started for the Phillies the next day. (I have a few things to say regarding that later.) There were at least two eye-witness accounts that said the Phillies pitcher “slapped [his wife] across the face” and “dragged her down by the street by the hair.” The next day, he was welcomed by the Fenway Faithful to a chorus of boos and chants of “wife-beater” just like the infamous Jason Kidd.

Two years later Myers retorts this by saying “he was trying to protect her.” Sorry Brett but punching your wife is not the definition of “protecting.” When two people can confirm you hit her and then dragged her by her hair, it kind of puts a hole on your side of the story. And on that note, he told USA Today he was “pelted by plastic beer bottles in the bullpen” while warming up? Fenway Park does not sell bottled beer. It is all draft and at an expensive $7.50 per cup. Another strike against the compulsive liar.

How can fans root for a team that does not punish a player for domestic abuse? The fact the Phillies organization and the fans turned a blind eye to it and allowed Myers to start the next day was disgusting. By allowing him to start was the organization’s way of saying winning means more to us than the health of a human being.

Do not think for one second, Philly fans, Sox fans would react the same way if it was one of their players because we would not. Remember former Red Sox second baseman/left fielder Wilfredo Cordero. He was arrested for domestic abuse and never heard the end of the wife beater chants from Red Sox Nation. The organization cast him out to sea the following year. Bob and Myra Kraft and the Patriots are the same way. They created the R.O.S.E. Fund (Re-gaining One’s Self-Esteem) to help combat domestic abuse.

Maybe the reason Philadelphia has not won a single a championship, until this year, in the last 26 years is because “the apple does not fall far from the tree.” The values of the owners shape the fans. If the owners are respectable and have a good moral high ground then, more likely than not, the team and their fans are going to be that way. The owners would never have it any other way. They toss any fans to the curb who are casting them and their organization in a negative light.

Behind a championship team there are great owners and it is also the underlying factor why Boston had three teams combine to win six World Championships in the last nine years. The Krafts, John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino as well as Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca have created a positive environment conducive towards winning from the front office to the fans who, loyally, attend each game. On the contrary, the Phillies might be one of the only championship teams to not have champion quality owners.

Batting Stances

2008-10-24T00:05:00.001-04:00

2008 Post Season Batting Stances

Red Sox VP Resigns

2008-10-23T20:11:00.002-04:00

John Blake announced today that he is resigning from his three-year post as Red Sox Vice President of Media Relations to take a similar position with the Texas Rangers.

Blake is returning to Texas where he worked for 20 years (1984-2004). In his second stint with the Rangers, he will be the Executive Vice President of Media Relations and will oversee all of the ballclub’s communication efforts.

To many fans, this may not seem like much but athletic communications is a tough and daunting career field. Media Relations is responsible for putting together the media guides and the game-day press guides as well as sending out press releases pertaining to the Red Sox.

I think I can speak for Red Sox Nation here and when I say that we appreciate what Blake has brought to the Red Sox organization during his time in Boston. He really seemed to reach out and provide the public and the media with in-depth information when it came across his desk. We wish him well in Texas and thank him for all his hard work.

Before Texas and Boston, Blake made a stop in the Baltimore-Washington area where he served as the SID at Georgetown for two years before taking a job as a Public Relations Assistant with the Orioles.

What’s Cooking on the Hot Stove for 2009?

2008-10-22T15:05:00.004-04:00

10.22.2008
Positions in Much Need of Attention

Catcher

When Akinori Iwamura stepped on second base to record the final out of the ALCS, eliminating the Red Sox from the playoffs, the Rays also ended Jason Varitek’s career in Boston. In previous years, the Sox turned a blind eye to the limited offensive production the longtime Sox catcher provided at the bottom of the order because of his excellent game calling ability. Since signing a four year $40 million contract following the 2004 season, Varitek hit .256 (433-1693) with 64 homeruns, 236 RBIs and 448 strike outs. His best year was back in 2005 where he was 132-for-470 (.281) with 22 homeruns and 70 strike outs but since then he has gone down hill quickly. Varitek finished last season with a .220 batting average, .313 on-base percentage, .359 slugging percentage and a .672 OPS, all well below his career average.

Just like the quarterback position in football, trying to find a catcher who is a good game caller and adds some spark at the plate is nearly impossible. They are hard to come by, which is why there are only three elite catchers in Major League Baseball today, Russell Martin in Los Angeles, Joe Mauer in Minnesota and Brian McCann in Atlanta. And these players are all home-grown talent. The Red Sox have a great farm system but do not have any catchers who are ready or close to being ready to fill in the big shoes left by Varitek.

Heading into the 2008 season, the top catching prospect is Matt Wieters in the Baltimore Orioles organization. There is no way the Orioles will part ways with their number one prospect so the Sox are going to have to look else were. One solution is making a deal with the Texas Rangers’ catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. In the past the Red Sox had already expressed interest in the first year catcher and with Taylor Teagarden waiting in the wings, it makes Saltalamacchia expendable. After being acquired from the Braves for Mark Teixeira at the 2007 trading deadline, the Rangers used the rookie nearly as many times at first base as they did behind the plate (38 times at first, 47 at catcher). To make a deal for Saltalamacchia the Sox would have to part ways with either Clay Buchholz or Michael Bowden, probably leaning more towards Bowden with the way Buchholz pitched this year.

In a perfect world the Sox would sign Varitek to a one year contract to mentor the 23-year-old catcher. But with Scott Boras as his agent I do not see that happening any time soon. The Red Sox are in a similar predicament the Patriots faced in the first week of the season. Go with a stop gap veteran or go with the inexperienced.

Center field

If Jacoby Ellsbury really is the center fielder of the future, then this is the off-season to trade away Coco Crisp. His trade value will not get any higher so if the Sox are really looking into trading Crisp, now is the time to do it. Many expected Crisp to be traded before the end of the season but when the rookie struggled in the post-season was right there to step in and produce. In the post-season, Crisp was the Sox’s best hitter with a .417 batting average,a .517 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage and a 1.017 ops in seven games played. On the season the veteran outfielder, had his best season in a Sox uniform, with a line of .283/.344/.407/.751 at least ten points higher than his previous high in Boston (.268/.330/.382/.712 in 2007).

In his first full season in the big leagues, Ellsbury has not impressed the fans like he did in the 2007 post-season. Although he led the league in stolen bases with 50, the rookie hit .280 with nine homeruns, 47 RBIs as well as had an OBP of .336 and an OPS of .730. Not mention his 0-for-20 streak in the ALCS where he was replaced by Crisp in Game Five.

Shortstop

Biggest question here, is Jed Lowrie ready to be the starting shortstop for a full year? In half of season with the big club, Lowrie was just 67-for-260 (.258) with two homeruns, 46 RBIs, 35 walks and 60 strike outs. The first full year in the majors is always tough on young players as we saw with Ellsbury this past year so we do not know how Lowrie will respond with his first full season on a major league roster. After going through four shortstops in the last four years, the Red Sox need to take a different approach at the position. The Red Sox will most likely keep Julio Lugo on the roster and use him as an emergency plan should Lowrie look like he can not keep up with the physical demands of playing a full season in the majors, as what happened with Ellsbury.

#4 Hitter

Kevin Youkilis did an outstanding job as a clean-up hitter for the last two months of the regular season and playoffs but the Sox first baseman is not your typical #4 hitter. The Red Sox should make a concerted effort to sign Mark Teixeira to be their 2009 clean-up hitter. With Scott Boras as Teixeira’s agent, it will be difficult to sign the All-Star free agent but Theo Epstein has a good history with Boras and found ways of making the Super-Agent look foolish (i.e. Daisuke Matsuzaka).

If the Sox acquire Teixeira then the team has so many options. They can move Youkilis back across the diamond, because you do not know what Mike Lowell is going to be like following off-season hip surgery. Or if Lowell is healthy, they might entertain the option of using Youkilis’s low salary as trade bait for pitching. If the Sox do not acquire Teixeira, then all things are status-quo and they will go into the 2009 season with a .289/.385/.472/.857 hitter in Youkilis in the fourth slot in the order.

From Worst to First

2008-10-20T00:34:00.009-04:00

10.20.2008

RED SOX FALL TO RAYS 3-1; RAYS WIN ALCS 4-3

From worst to first, the Tampa Bay Rays go to their first World Series after 10 losing seasons

(October 20, 2008) – With their first ALCS series loss since 2003, the Red Sox sent dozens of college seniors flocking to the library to get a head start on their 30-page Senior Seminar paper that is due at the end of the semester. Why? Because the Sox taught them that procrastination can be costly and for the first time in four years the Sox were unable to rally from a 3-1 deficit.

“We battled a lot of adversity the whole year,” B.J Upton told Craig Sager after the game. “But we stuck together as a team.”

Congratulations to the new American League Champion, Joe Maddon and the Tampa Bay Rays as well as ALCS MVP Matt Garza. Garza pitched an incredible 13 innings, allowing just two runs on eight hits while walking four and striking out 14 Sox batters in the Championship series. Minnesota and New York are kicking themselves for trading away the pitcher the best pitcher in the series, Garza, and the pitcher gave the Rays home field advantage in the All-Star Game, Scott Kazmir.

You could almost feel it. 2008 was the year of turn-a-rounds and there was this aura in the air that the Rays were going to pull out the victory. And, although, they have been a pain in Boston’s rear-end all year you have to tip your cap to them. They played like a team all year and have a similar story line to another 2008 championship team.

In April 2007, the Celtics the only thing they and their fans were thinking about were ping-pong balls. After a 24-58 record that season and the fifth pick in the NBA Draft, the Celtics had no shot at acquiring Greg Oden or Kevin Durant and it looked like another sub-.500 year and another wasted year for Paul Pierce. But thanks to a draft day move by Danny Ainge, the Celtics acquired Ray Allen and then later that summer they brought the Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett, into town. The trio of Pierce, Garnett and Allen turned around the second worst team the previous year and turned them into the best team in the league with a 66-16 record and bring Championship number 17 back to Boston.

The Red Sox were in the driver’s seat heading into Game Seven and they had their best pitcher of the year on the hill for the biggest game of the series in Jon Lester. The Sox Southpaw was trying redeem himself from a horrible performance in Game Three, where he allowed five runs – four earned – on eight hits in 5.2 innings of work.

Before Lester stepped on the mound in Game Seven, he already had a 1-0 lead thanks to “The Little Pony” Dustin Pedroia. After getting Coco Crisp to hit a week chopper back to the mound, Garza gave up line drive homerun that just barely made it over the left field wall to the Sox second baseman. But that was the only run the Red Sox would get against the Rays right hander. Garza settled down and retired the next six Boston batters before hitting Pedroia on the right elbow in the top of the third.

For the first three innings Lester was unhittable, retiring the first nine batters of the inning before relinquishing his first hit to Akinori Iwamura to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rays took advantage of their first base runner against Lester. After Upton struck out to for the first out of inning, Carlos Pena hit a weak grounder to Pedroia. As slow as the ball was rolling everyone at The Trop thought he was going to go to first with the out but he turned and got the lead runner, Iwamura at second. Nice heads up play by the Sox gritty little second baseman. In those instances you could really tell Pedroia reverted back to his Little League roots by already determining where he was going to go with the ball should the ball be hit to him. A lesson to all the second and third graders out there playing after-school ragball: think about where you are going with the ball if it is hit to you.

Lester was close to getting out of the inning unscathed but Evan Longoria would come through once again with two outs. The rookie third baseman laced a ball doubled down the first baseline and scored the hustling Pena from first base to tie up the score in the bottom of the fourth.

The next inning Tampa Bay would get to Lester again as designated hitter Willy Aybar led off the top of the fifth with scorching line drive double that just barely missed being a homerun. Catcher Dioner Navarro hit a slower roller to Alex Cora at shortstop who bobbled the ball and had no play at either second or first. With no outs, the pride of Woonsocket, RI, Rocco Baldelli, gave the Rays their first lead of the game with a base hit to left scoring Aybar from second. It was the second time this season that the former Sox fan broke the hearts of current Red Sox fans.

Since giving up the homerun to Pedroia in the first, Garza settled down and at one point retired eight consecutive Sox hitters between the top of the third and sixth innings. Throughout the Championship Series, Garza was the Rays top pitcher and was nothing less than spectacular in Game Seven. He went seven strong innings and took the mound for the eighth before he was taken out after Cora reached on bouncing ball to shortstop that ate up Jason Bartlett. In seven innings, Garza allowed just one run on two hits while walking three and striking out nine before turning the game over to Dan Wheeler in the bullpen.

Once Garza left the game it took for Tampa Bay four pitchers to get three outs in the top of the eighth inning. Wheeler came on and gave up a base hit to right field off the bat of Crisp and then retired Pedroia on a fly ball to left field before handing the ball over to the left hander J.P. Howell to face Sox slugger David Ortiz. Known for his notorious clutch play, Sox fans were praying Big Papi would come through once again but Howell got the clutchest player in MLB history to ground into a fielder’s choice, second to shortstop. Maddon went out with the hook once again and elected to bring in the submariner Chad Bradford to face the right handed Youkilis and would walk the Sox third baseman to load the bases. In a tough situation, Maddon elected to go to the rookie left hander, David Price, to get the final four outs of the ALCS. In dramatic fashion, Price caught Game Five’s hero, J.D. Drew trying to check his swing for the final out of the inning and stranding three inherited runners.

Lester pitched a remarkable game but unfortunately, Garza just pitched better even after giving up a first inning homerun to Pedroia. Once again, Lester was a work-horse for the Red Sox by pitching seven strong innings allowing three runs on six hits while striking out eight – yes Teddy eight – Tampa Bay batters. This young left hander has his whole career in front of him, something he can say this year as opposed to two years ago, and he will only get better. The next Mark Mulder when he was with the Oakland Athletics in 2003.

RAYS 3, RED SOX 1

WIN: Matt Garza (2-0)

LOSS: Jon Lester (0-2)

SAVE: David Price

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Matt Garza, TAMPA BAY --- 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K

Willy Aybar, TAMPA BAY --- 2-3, HR, RBI, Run-scored

Jon Lester, BOSTON --- 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K

Onto Game Seven

2008-10-19T01:03:00.003-04:00

10.19.2008
RED SOX DEFEAT RAYS 4-2; SERIES TIED 3-3

Jason Varitek’s first hit of the post-season keeps Sox World Series hopes alive for another day
Jon Lester takes the hill in do-or-die Game 7

(October 18, 2008) – It is Rivalry Weekend.

With Boston College hosting their former Big East and current ACC rival the Virginia Tech Hokies, the Eagles found themselves down 10-0 early, it made Superfans question whether they should have stayed home and watched Game Six. But if there were at home they would have been just as angry at TBS as they were at quarterback Chris Crane in the first quarter.

Due to a power-outage in Atlanta, TBS sent all of Red Sox Nation into a frenzy. Living room phones were ringing off the hook as everyone was in disbelief about what was happening. But as soon as the lights came on, so did the Red Sox bats against Big Game James Shields. After B.J. Upton, gave the Rays the early 1-0 lead but Kevin Youkilis would get that run back for Josh Beckett with solo-blast to left to lead-off the top of the second.

Just as Crane was bringing the High Flyin’ Eagles of Chestnut Hill back from a 10-0 hole, Youkilis was bringing the Sox back from the brink of the elimination. In the top of the third, Dustin Pedroia drew a four pitch walk from Shields before David Ortiz drove a line drive just out of the reach of Carlos Pena at first for a double, sending Pedroia to second. Youkilis came through once again by putting the bat on the ball and grounding out to Jason Bartlett at shortstop to drive home Pedroia from third.

The Rays would eventually came back to tie up the game in the fifth inning on Bartlett’s first RBI of the post-season when he lifted a homerun solo-homerun to left center to tie the game at two a piece. The light hitting but sure handed shortstop had just one round-tripper on the season but he came through for Tampa Bay when they needed it most. But the lead would be short lived as another unexpected hero came through in the clutch – this time wearing the visiting greys.

Coming into Game Six, Jason Varitek was 0-for-12 in the ALCS against the Rays and in his previous two at-bats were nothing to write home about but it was his third plate appearance of the night that brought Sox fans to their feet. After which Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura made tremendous play jumping up and robbing Mark Kotsay of a base hit and then Shields catching Jed Lowrie staring blindly at strike three, a collective groan from Sox fans world wide could be heard with Varitek stepping to the dish.

Good things happen when you always seem to least expect them. How many fans can honestly say they expected Varitek to take Shields deep to give the Sox the lead once again and ultimately win the game? If you said you did then you are lying. Varitek’s barely made it over the right center field fence but it does not matter if it was 502 feet or lands in the first row of the seats (a la Varitek’s), it all counts for the same thing.

Although Beckett did not have his best stuff he was much more effective than his first start, in Game Two, against Tampa Bay. After giving up eight runs on nine hits in his first start, the Sox fireball right hander cut his earned runs by three-quarters while allowing four hits, walking three and striking out three. In the other dugout, Shields was something other than Big Game James, where the Rays Ace went 5.2 innings allowing three earned runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out three.

When the bullpen was the weakest link for the Sox in the first four games and for the Rays in Game Five, it turned out to be the strongest in last night. Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson and Jonathan Papelbon combined to keep the Rays batters off balances while allowing just one walk and three strike outs. The Rays bullepn was just as strong as they kept Sox batters guessing by allowing one hit (against J.P. Howell) while walking three and striking out one.

For the second consecutive year, the Sox force a Game Seven in the ALCS after being down 3-1 to begin the series. They will send Jon Lester, who hopes to rebound after his worst outing of, realistically, the year when he went 5.2 innings allowing five runs – four earned – on eight hits while walking two and striking out seven last Monday. The Rays will send Matt Garza to the hill in hopes that he can match his Game Three performance, where he went six innings allowing just one run while scattering six hits, walking three and striking out five.

But do not count the Rays out. When their backs are against the wall they have come through in the clutch themselves. In September, with the division on the line in Fenway Park, the Rays took two of three from the Sox.

RED SOX 4, RAYS 2

WIN: Josh Beckett

LOSS: James Shields

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon

Top 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Jason Varitek, BOSTON --- 1-4 HR, RBI
2. Coco Crisp, BOSTON --- 3-4 Run-scored
3. B.J. Upton, TAMPA BAY --- 1-4 HR, RBI

Drew Comes Through, Again!

2008-10-17T00:48:00.003-04:00

10.17.2008

RED SOX STORM BACK AGAINST RAYS TO WIN 8-7; RAYS LEAD SERIES 3-2

J.D. Drew prolongs Red Sox season with Game-Winning base hit to right to cap off an 8-7 win

(October 16, 2008) – Remember when your teachers would tell you even if you forget your homework one day just turn it in the next because it is “better late than never.” Well that is apparently the philosophy the Red Sox live by in the ALCS.

J.D. Drew is quickly become a Red Sox folk hero. After coming through with a two-run homerun earlier in the game to bring the Sox within one in the bottom of the eighth, Drew drove in Kevin Youkilis with a line drive base hit over Gabe Gross’s head to prolong the Sox season. Before Drew’s at-bat, Youkilis singled to third and advanced to second on Evan Longoria’s throwing error. The Rays would intentionally walk Jason Bay for the lefty-lefty match-up between Drew and J.P Howell, a decision that Tampa Bay would later regret.

When Joe Maddon pushed Big Game James Shields back a day and gave the ball to the Southpaw Scott Kazmir, the Tampa Bay manager also gave Sox fans an early Christmas present. All season the Red Sox have killed Kazmir pitching so it was almost assured the series would be going back to St. Petersburg with the Rays leading the series 3-2.

But the man who once dominated the Red Sox return to his old form and shut out the Sox for six innings on 110 pitches. In those six innings, he scattered two hits while walking three and striking out seven Boston hitters and it looked like the Tampa Bay was on the road to their first World Series appearance in franchise history. But what was so dependable for the Rays during the season and in the playoffs, the bullpen coughed up the lead like the Patriots defense did in the Super Bowl.

Facing elimination for the second time in two years in the ALCS, the Red Sox had the man they wanted taking the hill against the Tampa Bay Rays. Ironically in the 2008 ALCS, Daisuke Matsuzaka was the only Sox starter that had success against the raging Rays. In Game One Matsuzaka took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and ended up shutting out the AL East Champions to put Boston up in series 1-0. Now, three games later, Matsuzaka was called upon to keep the Red Sox season alive for another day.

It took Tampa Bay six innings to get their first hit off of Matsuzaka in Game One but in Game Five it took Akinori Iwamura just six pitches before he lined a single into right field. Sox fans were out in full force, hoping for another magical come-from behind series victory but with one swing of the bat B.J. Upton, once again, let the air out of crowd with a two run on a 1-1 fastball giving the Rays the early 2-0 lead.

A one-out single up the middle in the top of the third inning by Upton put the “P” in MVP of the ALCS to bring the Rays first baseman, Carlos Pena, to the dish with a man on base. Against Matsuzaka, the Northeastern Alum hit a towering fly ball over Pesky’s Pole and when it came down Tampa Bay had a four-run advantage. The Rays continued their power surge when Evan Longoria went back-to-back with Pena, by depositing a 3-2 offering into the second row of the Monster seats and the collective growns of Red Sox Nation “oh here we go again” could be heard in Framingham.

Matsuzaka retired the next five Ray batters before walking Iwamura in the top of the fifth and turning the ball over to fellow country-man Hideki Okajima. Between the two Japanese pitchers, they retired eight out of 10 Tampa Bay batters since Longoria’s long ball back in the third inning.

Manny Delcarmen came in to begin the seventh inning but did not last long. He was quickly was pulled after walking both Jason Bartlett and Iwamura, back-to-back, in favor of the fire-ball closer, Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon was rudely welcomed into the game when Upton rocketed a double off the corner of the scoreboard in left to drive in Bartlett from second and Iwamura from first to give the Rays the 7-0 advantage.

After a long seventh inning, Maddon opted to go to his bullpen after Kazmir already threw 110 pitches. Tampa Bay had one of the best bullpens in the league this season so it was almost a foregone conclusion that they would continue to dominant by getting the last nine outs of the game to cruise into the World Series. But these are the never say die Red Sox and a double into right by shortstop Jed Lowrie reignited the Fenway Faithful.

Coco Crisp kept the inning alive with a two-out single into center field to bring Dustin Pedroia to the plate and “The Little Pony” came through with a base hit to right field to drive in Lowrie and send Crisp to second. David Ortiz struggled all through the post-season but when the game is on the line and there are runners on-base in the late innings, Ortiz is the man you want up at the plate. And once again he proved it as he launched a shot to the same exact area where Pena’s homerun came down four innings prior.

Papelbon was able to retire the side in order in the top of the eighth to get the Sox offense back to the plate. Since coming on in relief of Grant Balfour, Dan Wheeler walked Jason Bay to lead off the inning and there is one thing in baseball that is worse than a hit for a pitcher and it is a walk. J.D. Drew had already been a post-season hero once, last year against the Indians, and he came through again this year, bringing the Sox within a run with homerun just right of the Rays bullpen. Wheeler would get Lowrie to fly out to left and strike out Sean Casey, who pinch-hit for Varitek before Mark Kotsay doubled over Upton’s head in center. He came around to score on a base hit to right by Crisp after fouling off numerous pitches from Wheeler until he got the one he wanted, to send the game the game into extra innings.

The Sox send Josh Beckett to the hill in Game Six where he will be opposed by Big Game James Shields. Beckett is coming off one of his worst performances in the playoffs where he gave up the lead three times during Game Two while Shields pitched a tremendous Game One but was outdone by Matsuzaka.

RED SOX 8, RAYS 7

WIN: Justin Masterson

LOSS: J.P. Howell

The 3 Stars of the Game:

J.D. Drew, BOSTON ---- 2-4 Homerun, Double, 3 RBIs

Coco Crisp, BOSTON --- 2-4 RBI

B.J. Upton, TAMPA BAY ---- 3-4 Homerun, Double, 4 RBIs

Are the Rays counting their chickens?

2008-10-16T16:19:00.007-04:00

Remember when the Fenway Park grounds crew got a little head of themselves and painted the 2003 World Series logo behind home plate before the start of Game 7 of the ALCS? Well a Florida grocery store chain is selling a baseball with the 2008 World Series logo on one side and the Rays logo on the other side. The last time a team forecasted their participation in the World Series was in 2003 and it did not work out to well. Will history repeat itself? Will Publix's marketing ploy come back to haunt them? (from the Tampa Tribune)

Here's a picture of the evidence:

Calling Out Boston Sports Fans

2008-10-16T01:41:00.002-04:00

Sports are like a rollercoaster. Many ups, many downs. Now thanks to Sir Isaac Newton and the Law of Gravity, whatever goes up must come down.

Last year Boston was on top of the national sports rollercoaster. The Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics dominated their respective leagues and Boston College won their second Division I NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Championship this decade. Sports in Boston could not have been better. There was no reason to whine or complain about Terry Francona, Bill Belichick or Doc Rivers. Fans, who were once described as the “most miserable fans” were finally happy. 2007 was the Boston Bull market.

2008…is the Boston Bear market.

Trying to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the Patriots suffered one of their most crushing defeats at the hands of the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII to end their season at 18-1. Then in their search for redemption, the Pats lost their franchise player, Tom Brady, for the year just seven minutes into the 2008 season with a torn ACL and MCL. Matt Cassel is no Brady but he is still a respectable NFL quarterback that could have started at any Division I college, if he chose, after Matt Leinart won the starting job, at USC, but many fans still turned their back. (I.E. leaving in the middle of the fourth quarter against the Dolphins down 38-13.)

The Red Sox finished the 2008 campaign just one game worse than they finished last year but you would never think that if you listened to some of the calls into WEEI. If you compare the 2007 season to driving along I-75 in Florida without a cloud in the sky, then the 2008 season was similar to driving around the streets of Boston in a 20-year-old Ford with no suspension.

The road to the post-season was tumultuous. Two of the key players that led the Sox to the World Series victory a year ago suffered injuries that affected their play on the field (Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell). Then there was the whole Manny-Saga in the middle of the season, but the Sox were still good enough to get to the ALCS. And who could forget Jon Lester’s spectacular no-hit performance against the Kansas City Royals back in May. Yet for some fans that is not good enough.

Boston fans have become so accustomed to winning many fans almost expect to win and when they do not it is a complete shock. Last year at the Celtics parade, I saw a child holding a sign reading “Nine Years Old, Six Parades,” and it really made me think, fans really have started to become complacent. Since when is a 95-67 season a bad season? Or 10-6 a bad season?

Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots have given us three Super Bowl Championships in four years from 2001-2004 but there was a time, not two long ago, when they were the worst team in the league. Terry Francona and the Red Sox have brought us two World Series Championships in the last five years but there was that 86-year-time span when the Sox did not win a single championship.

Boston sports is not the same as it was five years ago. Five years ago, when Aaron Boone’s homerun landed in Yankee Stadium’s second deck in left, the feeling was different. Sure it was like some one just punched you in the gut but the Sox were not expected to win. In 2003, the Yankees were still the favorites. Now three games down to the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox expected to pull out a third dramatic three-consecutive-win comeback like they did in 2004 and last year.

Now do not get me wrong, I want the Sox to win more than anyone but I am not expecting anything. Do I think the Sox bats have it in them to win Game Five against Scott Kazmir? Yes. But expecting them to make a comeback is not giving due respect to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays worked just as hard as the Sox from February to October to be in position they are in.

What the Red Sox have done four years ago and last year, does not have any effect on the here and now. It is like saying, I got an ‘A’ on a paper last week, I am going to get an ‘A’ again this week. It is wishful thinking and you are hoping for it but it does not mean it is going to happen.

The post-season is supposed to be a reward for preparing and playing well from February to September. You do not automatically get there by throwing your hat onto the field saying “we’re the defending champs” because there are 29 other teams out there looking to knock you off. And every step of the way in the post-season is a bigger reward with the biggest reward being the last one standing, holding the World Series trophy.

In Boston we have hit the peek of the “Yankee Cannonball” with six championships from three sports in nine years, we must be ready and capable “to take the good, with the bad.” And I want to leave you with one last quote:

“What comes easily, goes just as easily.”

Boston Massacre Part III

2008-10-14T23:30:00.002-04:00

10.14.2008
RED SOX PLAY DEAD AS RAYS WIN 13-4; RAYS LEAD SERIES 3-1

Tampa Bay bats blast out on a Indian Summer Night in Boston against the Defending Champs Just need Daisuke Being Beckett in Game Five on Thursday

(October 14, 2008) – Word of the Day for Game Four of the 2008 ALCS U-G-L-Y.

Game Four of the ALCS was Major League Baseball’s equivalent to Game Six of the 2008 NBA Finals. Just as Paul Pierce was pouring the Gatorade over Doc Rivers, the Los Angeles Lakers were sitting on the other bench with their jaws on the floor, looking stunned. Well that is exactly what the Sox looked like as the Rays kept piling on to, at one point, an 11-run advantage for a 3-1 series lead.

Yes the Sox have come back from the 3-1 hole twice before so you can not count the home-town team out. But these are not the Yankees in 2004. They are not the Indians from last year. Those teams were older and made up of veteran players. These Rays are young and naïve, having a striking resemblence to the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics,

The Red Sox offense looks dead. Nothing seems to get them going not even a homerun from the most unexpected player on the team, Kevin Cash.

When Cash took an Andy Sonnanstine 2-1 pitch and gave fans in the first row of the Monster seats a souvenir, one would think it would get the Sox offense going. But it did not. David Ortiz is still in a horrific 0-for-10 slump. Jacoby Ellsbury has the big goose egg in the hit column and starting to resemble Donnie Sadler more than Nomar Garciaparra. And Jed Lowrie looks like the rookie he is in the ALCS.

This is Lowrie’s first year in the big leagues and every situation he encounters is new so it is not really fair to jump all over him but the others are fair game. Athough he is still considered a rookie by Major League Baseball, Ellsbury is no longer the inexperienced kid he was last year and needs to be held accountable for his lack of production at the plate. B.J . Upton looks more like a seasoned post-season veteran than Ellsbury does.

When hitters are going up against the knuckleballer most hitting coaches will tell hitters “if it’s high let it fly, if it’s low let it go.” The Tampa Bay Rays game plan for Tim Wakefield was they were not going to be passive against the knuckleball. In the first inning, the knuckleball was not quite working for him and the Rays jumped on.

Nothing was working for Wakefield as he walked Upton on four straight pitches right after striking out Akinori Iwamura on four pitches. Between Upton and Carl Crawford, the Rays were aggressive on the basepaths with two uncontested steals and a steal of third in Wakefield’s two and two thirds innings of work. Once Upton got on base there was no doubt about it, he was going to steal and was not waiting around, taking second on the first pitch to Carlos Pena without a throw from Cash.

Upton was not at second base for too long as Pena took an outside, 1-1 knuckleballer to the opposite field and landed in the second row of the Monster seats, giving the Rays the 2-0 advantage. Rookie Evan Longoria was not too impressed by Wakefield’s knuckleball tonight as he went back to back with the Old Time Baseball Game Alumni.

After an easy eight pitch second, things began to go back down hill when his diving effort on Crawford’s swinging bunt went for naught as the speedy left fielder was safe at first, prolonging the inning. Crawford stole his second base of the night before Willy Aybar hit his second homerun off Wakefield in 2008, to put the Rays up by five and it spelled the end for Wakefield. He went into the clubhouse with whip-lash after just 2.2 innings allowing five runs of six hits while walking and striking out two.

Justin Masterson came on in relief of Wakefield and caught Fernando Perez looking at strike three to end the terrifying third. The Sox were able to get one run back in their own half and it came from an unexpected hero. Making the start because Wakefield was on mound, Cash cashed in with a 2-1 shot over the the 37-inch high wall to close the gap to four runs and reigniting Red Sox Nation. But Andy Sonnanstine would once again turn Fenway into a funeral parlor by retiring the next 12 Sox batters. Sonnanstine kept the Sox off balance for 7.1 innings allowing four earned runs on six hits while walking one and striking out two.

The Rays offense would send the Fenway Faithful running to the exits like the ballpark was on fire in the seventh they scored five runs in the sixth against three Red Sox relievers. Manny Delcarmen started the sixth inning explosion by giving up a one out triple into right center by shortstop Jason Bartlett. Following an Iwamura walk, Upton lined a single into centerfield before walking Pena and Longoria to load the bases and end the night for Delcarmen.

Delcarmen turned the ball over to Javier Lopez, who gave up a base hits to Crawford and Aybar, scoring both Pena and Longoria. Dioner Navarro drove in the final run of the inning with a ground out to Kevin Youkilis at third before Perez ended the inning with a ground out to Dustin Pedroia at second to end the sixth inning monstrosity.

But even down 10 runs, the Red Sox were not going to give up even if maybe half their fans left the game in the sixth. Ortiz finally broke out of his slump with a lead-off rocket line drive down the first baseline. With Fernando Perez misplaying the ball in right field, it allowd Ortiz to slide into third with the triple. The first time the Sox had the lead off hitter on base all game. Youkilis would drive him in with a ground ball to shortstop for the second run of the game. Jason Bay followed Youkilis ground out with single into right field and when Coco Crisp worked a two-out walk, it appeared as if the Sox were putting something together. But Cash struck out stranding Bay and Cash on first and second, respectively. The Sox look like they are starting to come out of their offensive funk and might

Once again there was a little light at the long tunnel’s end as Pedroia and Youkilis appeared to putting some good swings together in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lowrie led to fthe inning with a base hit to center before advancing to second on J.D. Drew’s ground ball back to Sonnanstine. Pedroia drove in the Stanford alum, with a base hit up the middle while Youkilis lined a double off the Green Monster with two outs plating Pedroia from second.

Hopefully the Sox can continue to swing the bats as well as they did in the latter innings of Game Four, when they send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound in a re-match of Game One against James Shields. Matsuzaka has been the only effective pitcher for the Sox in the ALCS and he needs to come on and stop the bleeding in Game Five to prolong the Red Sox season. Matsuzaka is coming of a a Game One start where he pitched six no-hit innings and finished the game scattering four hits in seven strong innings while walking four and striking out nine. Shields pitched equally well in Game One pitching 7.1 innings allowing two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out six.

RAYS 13, RED SOX 4

WIN: Andy Sonnanstine

LOSS: Tim Wakefield

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Carl Crawford, TAMPA BAY ---- 5-5 2 2Bs, 2 RBIs, 3 Runs-scored, 2SB

Willy Aybar, TAMPA BAY ---- 4-5 5 RBIs, Run-Scored

Evan Longoria, TAMPA BAY --- 1-4 HR, 2 RBIs

Only in Haverhill and Woonsocket are they smiling

2008-10-13T20:41:00.010-04:00

10.13.2008
RED SOX LOSE ANOTHER TO RAYS 9-1; RAYS LEAD SERIES 2-1

Local Boy, Rocco Baldelli puts the nail in the coffin as Rays take 2-1 series lead

(October 13, 2008) – Growing up a Red Sox fan in Woonsockett, RI during the 90s, Rocco Baldelli had dreams of hitting a homerun in the playoffs over the Green Monster at Fenway. Back when he was his brother, Dante’s, age (10) that is all they were but 17 years later those fantasies turned into reality with a three-run homerun that took the air out of the 38,031 fans that flocked to the Back Bay to witness Game 3.

The Red Sox appeared to have been mounting another late inning comeback with a lead-off walk by Jason Varitek in the bottom of the seventh followed by a base hit down the first base line by Alex Cora, sending Varitek to third with no-outs. Jacoby Ellsbury lifted a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score the Sox captain for the first Sox run of the game.

Baldelli was compared at one-time to Joe DiMaggio but after suffering numerous injuries that landed him on the disabled list many times in his four year career, then being diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder, he never thought he would be play baseball again. But here he was, defying all the odds, on the Fenway Park field and in the playoffs and hitting the homerun that deflated the rejuvenated the Fenway crowd.

“It was real special to me,” Baldelli told Craig Sager after the game with the expression of shock still written all over his face. It is something that he will remember for the rest of his career.

With help from the top of the Rays line up, Jon Lester cruised through the first inning without breaking a sweat. A polar opposite of Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis, who was already sweating profusely when he stepped to the plate in the bottom half of the frame. The Sox southpaw only needed four pitches to retire the Rays in the first. Lester got Akinori Iwamura to ground out to second on two pitches before getting Saturday night’s hero, B.J. Upton and Carlos Pena to ground out and fly out, respectively, on first pitches.

One thing about Lester is that as the game progresses, he grows stronger so when he retired the first three batters of the game, Lester looked as if he brought his A-game to the table. But the Rays made adjustments against the Sox left hander, starting in the second inning.

Most of Lester’s 2008 post-season dominance came from his ability to not let the lead-off batter of the inning to reach. It is actually the most important thing a pitcher can do in a game. But in Game Three of the ALCS, Lester’s streak of 15 innings without the lead-off batter reaching came to an end in the top of the second inning.

Evan Longoria battled his way back from a 0-2 deficit to work a seven pitch walk against the Sox lefthander. Lester was able to catch Carl Crawford staring at strike three but not before another seven pitch at-bat. Before the game, Joe Maddon replaced Cliff Floyd in the line up with Willy Aybar, who is 2-for-6 against Lester, and the utility infielder made Maddon look like a genius with a base hit up the middle. Longoria and Aybar advanced on to second and third, respectively, on a first pitch fastball to Dioner Navarro that crossed up Varitek and went as passed ball. Navarro hit a slow ground ball to second to drive in Longoria with the first run of the game.

Lester faced more trouble in the third when shortstop Jason Bartlett lined a 0-2 pitch into left field to lead-off inning for the second consecutive inning. Jason Bay did his best Carl Yastrzemski impersonation trying to hold Iwamura to a single on rocket line drive off the Green Monster. But Bartlett had none of Bay’s decoy and advanced to third on the double. With Lester clearly not at the top of his game, Upton added insult to injury as he deposited a 2-1 pitch into the second row of the Monster seats for a three-run homerun to put the Rays up 4-0. After Pena struck out Pena, Longoria put the Rays up with his fourth homerun of the post-season. So far in the playoffs, Upton and Longoria have combined to hit nine homeruns.

After getting hit around hard in the first three innings, Lester settled down throughout the next 2.2 innings by minimizing the damage and keeping the Rays from crossing the plate. He was also aided by superb defense from Youkilis and some mental mistakes from Upton, possibly changing the momentum of the game.

But not quite. Matt Garza proved to be too much for the Sox offense. The Tampa Bay starter allowed just one run while scattering six hits, walking three and striking out five in six-plus innings of work.

"My job was to get their hitters out," Garza told Sager when asked about being matched up against Lester. "My guys were to get to Lester and they got to Lester."

In the top of the fifth, Upton led-off the inning with base hit, literally, off Lester. Pena beat the over-shift with a bunt down third base but the always alert, Youkilis caught Upton wandering too far past the second base bag and threw to Cora for the first out of the inning. Good play on Youkilis’s part. Bad on the part of Upton. Lester went on to finish the fifth and get the first two outs of the sixth before being replaced by Paul Byrd after allowing five runs – four earned – on six hits while walking two and striking out seven.

With Tampa Bay taking the 2-1 series advantage, the Sox will look to perform some more of their October magic fans have been accustomed to seeing in the playoffs, as the Rays Daddy, Tim Wakefield takes the mound tomorrow night, trying to even up the series. In his career against the Rays, Wakefield is 19-5 with a 3.52 ERA and 145 strike outs in 31 starts. He will be opposed by right hander Andy Sonnanstine, who was 13-9 this year with a 4.38 ERA and 124 strike outs. Against the Sox this year, Sonnanstine was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA.

RAYS 9, RED SOX 1

WIN: Matt Garza

LOSS: Jon Lester

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. B.J. Upton, TAMPA BAY --- 2-5 HR, 3 RBIs, Run-Scored

2. Rocco Baldelli, TAMPA BAY --- 1-3 HR, 3 RBIs

3. Mark Kotsay, BOSTON – 2-4

Up-Town Boy

2008-10-12T02:26:00.005-04:00

10.12.2008

RED SOX FALL TO THE RAYS 9-8 in 11; RAYS TIE SERIES 1-1

B.J. Upton ties ALCS at 1-1 with sacrifice fly to right
Jon Lester goes to the Hill in Game Three opposing Rays Matt Garza

(October 11, 2008) – Earlier in the game, B.J. Upton hit towering fly ball on a Josh Beckett fastball to tie the game at three. That was at 9:00 when the kids were still awake. Four hours later when all the little kids were sound a sleep, Upton was the hero once again when he lifted a sacrifice fly to shallow right field, driving in pinch-runner Fernando Perez from third.

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit,” Upton told TBS’s Craig Sager after the game. “The main thing was not to strike out.”

Catcher Dioner Navarro and pinch-hitter for Gabe Gross, Ben Zobrist, led off the inning with back-to-back walks off the only pitcher left in the Sox bullpen, Mike Timlin. The Rays sent in the speedy, Perez to pinch run for Navarro. After shortstop Jason Bartlett grounded out to third, the Sox intentionally walked Akinori Iwamura to hopefully get the inning ending double play.

As J.D. Drew came in to make the catch on Upton’s shallow pop fly, the Sox right fielder’s momentum would propel him to make a strong throw to the plate would put the Rays chances of winning in jeopardy. But Perez defied those chances and used his speed to equal the series before heading north to Fenway Park for three games.

The game started at 8:08 on the nose with Beckett opposing Scott Kazmir. S-C-O-T-T K-A-Z-M-I-R used to spell doom for the Red Sox in previous years but in 2008 they have figured out the Tampa Bay 24-year-old Southpaw.

The Sox jumped on the board in the first with clutch two out hitting. Kazmir cruised through the first two batters, fanning Jacoby Ellsbury on six pitches and getting Dustin Pedroia to fly out to B.J. Upton in center, but walked David Ortiz to begin his downward spiral. Kevin Youkilis followed Ortiz’s walk pulling two-strike fastball and sent it into left field for the base hit.

Jason Bay stepped to the dish with two-outs. He has been clutch for the Sox all post-season and has done a good job at making fans forget about the scatter-brained left fielder that previously patrolled the Fenway Park left field. Bay did it once again turning on a 3-2 fastball from Kazmir for a rocket line drive double down the third baseline, scoring Ortiz and Youkilis.

Before Beckett even stepped on the mound he had a 2-0 lead to work with. But Beckett would quickly give those two runs right back. Beckett’s first inning nearly mirror imaged the man who broke his Texas high school strike-out record. He just needed two pitches to retire Rays second baseman Iwamura on a foul pop up to Youkilis and caught Upton staring at a strike three that just barely caught the inner portion of home plate. But the Rays were not going to go down quietly.

In game one, the Rays offense suffered because of their failure to keep an inning alive. The Haverhill-native made sure to change things when he was at the plate. Rays first baseman Carlos Pena lined a double into left-center for Tampa Bay’s first hit of the game and putting the tying run at the dish in the hands of rookie phenom Evan Longoria. Beckett fell behind Longoria 3-1 and the former Cal State 49er made him pay as he turned on a Beckett fastball that came down somewhere on I-75, to tie the game at two a piece.

Kazmir and Beckett appeared to settle down in the second inning. As the left hander retired the Sox side in order in the top of the second, Beckett struck out the side with a base hit to Navarro mixed in between. But things are not always as they appear to be.

Game Two quickly turned into a zero-sum, game of chicken where neither team really wanted the led. Beckett gave the lead back to the Rays. Kazmir kept giving it back to the Sox.

In the top of the third, B.J. Upton took a 2-0 pitch from Beckett to tie up the game at three. After Pena popped foul to Mark Kotsay, Longoria lined a double to the base of the wall in left just feet from his second homerun of the game. The Rays third baseman would come around to score the Rays fourth run on a base hit to right-center off the bat of left fielder, Carl Crawford, for Tampa Bay’s first lead of the game. But Crawford got a little too cocky and was caught off guard by possible, game-changing pick-off, throw from Beckett to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, former Red Sox outfielder Cliff Floyd added an insurance run with a home run to the restaurant in the center field, giving the Rays a two run lead. But once again Kazmir could not hold the Tampa Bay lead.

Facing his arch-nemesis to lead off the top of the fifth inning, Kazmir gave up his second homerun of the game to the little man with the big swing. If you are Scott Kazmir, you have to be thinking how can I get this little guy out? Pedroia’s second homerun of the game, made him 16-for-28 (.571) with three homeruns and five RBIs against the Rays Southpaw. After getting Ortiz to fly out to right field, Youkilis tied up the game with the sixth homerun of the game and chased Kazmir from the game. He finished the game after allowing five runs on six hits while walking three and striking out three in 4.1 innings of work.

In relief of Kazmir, Grant Balfour did not fair much better against the potent Sox line up. Bay turned an inside fastball and pulled it down the third base line. When the ball landed, the Red Sox had the one-run lead and tied an ALCS record with seven homeruns in a championship series game. But the game was just in the fifth inning. There was plenty of baseball to be played and plenty of time to set a new record.

After 26-minute wait, Beckett took the mound once again with the lead but the cat-and-mouse game continued. Iwamura became Beckett’s fifth strike-out victim of the night and it looked as if the Sox fireballer was going to start to settle into a grove. But a walk to Upton gave the Rays speed on the base paths with the heart of the line up. An Upton steal of second appeared to have rattled Becket as Pena lined a base hit past the dive of Pedroia in the over-drawn shift and scored the speedy Upton from second. That is what speed can do to you. Speed kills.

The Rays were not done yet. Longoria, who was all ready 2-2 with a double and homerun, turned on a Beckett inside fastball and lined a double down the left field line scoring Pena from first. Longoria advanced to third base on Jed Lowrie’s throw to the plate. Terry Francona decided he had seen enough and went to the left handed Javier Lopez to face the left handed Crawford. Facing the left hander, Crawford drove in his second RBI of the game lining a base hit to right and scoring Longoria from third, giving the Rays the two-run advantage.

The Sox are relentless and started to chip away at the Rays lead. They got half of it back in the top of the sixth when Pedroia walked with one out to set the table for the power hitters behind him. After Ortiz was caught looking at strike three, Youkilis singled up the middle, advancing Pedroia to second and sending Bay to the plate. Bay came through once again with a base hit into center field. Just like the little engine that could, Pedroia’s little legs motored around third and slid into home with Boston’s seventh run of the game.

Two innings later, Pedroia led off the eighth with a mean, slap single into right field. Ortiz walked for the third time against the left handed Trever Miller. So with no-outs the Red Sox had two men on base and Sox fans could smell blood especially with Youkilis stepping up the plate. Although Youkilis ended up grounding into the 6-4-3 double play, he did advance Pedroia up to third base, thus putting the tying run just 90-feet from home and that was the key. In relief of Miller, Dan Wheeler uncorked a wild pitch that went to the back stop and thanks to a poor throw from Navarro, Pedroia scored with ease to tie the game.

After Dustin Pedroia tied up the score in the top of the eighth inning, the bullpen shut down the Rays offense from the six inning forward to give the Sox offense an opportunity to win the game. The combination of Javier Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson and Jonathan Papelbon retired 17 of 19, including five consecutive, Ray batters. You have to tip your cap to the middle relief of the Red Sox pitching staff because in the heat of all the excitement of the ALCS and the post-season those five guys between the starter and closer get over looked. But they are an important piece to the puzzle for a championship team.

Jon Lester will get the nod when the series heads north to Fenway for three games. Lester has dominated the Rays with a 3-0, an ERA under one (0.90) and 19 strike outs. He will be opposed by the 11-9 right hander Matt Garza. In 2008 Garza is 1-1 against the Red Sox with a 4.50 ERA and 10 strike outs in four starts.

RAYS 9, RED SOX 8

WIN: David Price

LOSS: Mike Timlin

The 3 Stars of the Game:

B.J. Upton, TAMPA BAY ----- 1-4 HR, 2 RBI, 2 Runs-scored, Game Winning RBI

Evan Longoria, TAMPA BAY ---- 3-5 2 2B, HR, 3RBI, 3 Runs-scored

Dustin Pedroia, BOSTON ---- 3-5 2 HR, 2RBI

No surprise Lightning strikes Tampa Bay Area

2008-10-11T00:43:00.004-04:00

10.11.2005

RED SOX DROP RAYS 2-0; SOX LEAD SERIES 1-0No surprise Lightning strikes Tampa Bay Area
Matsuzaka retires 16 of 17 Ray batters as clock nears midnight for Cinderella Rays

(October 11, 2008) – A Daisuke Matsuzaka outing can give even the healthiest person a heart attack but he is effective. In sports, it does not matter how you get the job done but just that you get the job done and Matsuzaka did just that in Game One of the ALCS against the Rays.

When he finally took to the hill in the bottom of the first, he tested the patience of everyone in the stadium right from the start. After walking fellow countryman Akinori Iwamura on five pitches, he got Upton to get under a hanging change up and fly out to left field for the first out of the inning. Sox fans inside the trop could breathe a slight sigh of relief, Matsuzaka got at least one out. He put Terry Francona’s patience to the test once again walking clean-up hitter and Haverhill-native, Carlos Pena but told everyone to “calm down,” quoting former Patriots line backer Rosevelt Colvin, as he caught rookie Evan Longoria starring at strike three. The Sox right hander then got Cliff Floyd to ground out Pedroia on two pitches to get out of the first inning jam.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Kevin Youkilis told Craig Sager after the game. “He gets out of jams better than any one I ever seen.”

After a rocky first inning, Matsuzaka settled down was un-hittable. The Sox right hander carried a no-hitter through the first six innings before Carl Crawford led of the seventh with rocket line drive into right field. If it were not for a Pena six pitch walk in the third inning, Matsuzaka would have retired 17 Ray hitters in row between the first and sixth innings.

“He just missed on a few pitches,” catcher Jason Varitek commented on Matsuzaka’s first inning, to Sager after the final pitch of the game. “He just settled in. We worked off his fastball and mixed in his change, cutter slider. Kept [them] off balance.”

Floyd followed Crawford’s single by dropping a gapper between Jacoby Ellsbury and Jason Bay. The speed-demon, Crawford, kicked it into another gear around second and easily cruised into third with no outs. It was the first opportunity since back in the first inning the Rays had a chance to get on the board. But once again in Matsuzaka-fashion, he weaseled his way out of two-on, no-out jam, getting Dioner Navarro to fly out to left, not deep enough for the speedy Crawford to score. He, then, struck out Gabe Gross for the second time on the night and got Bartlett to ground into a fielder’s choice, Jed Lowrie to Pedroia to end the threat.

Big Game James Shields got the pre-game jitters out of his system when he struck out Ellsbury on four pitches in the first inning but ended up walking the “Little Pony.” After David Ortiz flew out to B.J. Upton, the first pitch Youkilis swung at he lined a frozen rope down the first base line that bounced up into the stands for the ground rule double, forcing the hustling Pedroia to stop at third base. The Sox third baseman watched five pitches from Shields cross the plate before he decided to pull the trigger and rocket a double down the line.

With runners in scoring position in the first inning, the Sox were poised to get on the board early as J.D. Drew stepped to the plate. In the ALDS, Drew was 4-for-14 (.286) with a double, a homerun and three RBIS and the Sox were looking for him to come through once again. But Shields had the last word making Drew his second strike out victim of the night. The strike out really pumped up the Rays ace as he retired the next eight Red Sox batters before Youkilis lined a one out single to left in the fourth.

The Sox got on the board first in the top of the fifth when Shields gave up a six pitch walk to left fielder Bay. First baseman Mark Kotsay blooped a double down the left field line sending Bay to third and sending the ALDS Game Four hero, Lowrie, to the dish with no outs. After falling in the count 0-2, Lowrie lifted a fly ball to right fielder, Gross at the base of the warning track for the second out of the inning. But it was deep enough that Bay easily cruised home with the first run of the game, for either side, giving the Sox the 1-0 lead.

Manager Joe Maddon pulled the infield for a play at to plate to keep the deficit at one but thanks to Iwamura’s dazzling web gem at second on Jason Varitek’s ground out, the drawn in infield was not necessary. Shields got Ellsbury to pop out to shortstop Jason Bartlett to end the threat.

After giving up a one-out base hit into center off the bat of “The Little Pony” in the top of the eight inning, Maddon elected to go with the lefthanded J.P. Howell to pitch to the ever dangerous Ortiz. In relief of Big Game James, Howell walked Ortiz before Youkilis lined a sinking line drive that dropped just in front of the glove of Crawford, scoring Pedroia and sending Ortiz to third while chasing Howell from the game.

Just like that the book was closed on Shields. The Tampa Bay starter pitched 7.1 strong innings with the only run he allowed was on the sacrifice fly by Lowrie in the third inning while scattering six hits, walking one and striking out six on 100 pitches. And also Maddon had seen enough of his left hander, going to the bullpen once again to get Grant Balfour.

Now a pitcher with the name Balfour is the irony of irony. But in 2008, Balfour has been one of the Rays best pitchers and proved in relief of Howell and Shields. He did not get off to a good start as he hit Drew in the shoulder to load the bases but then got Bay to strike out swinging and Kotsay to pop out to Longoria at third to keep the Rays in the game.

Matsuzaka trotted out for his eighth inning of work with at 107 pitch count and gave up a lead-off base hit to Iwamura on a 3-1 count. The Rays second baseman would advance to second Varitek’s passed ball that went to the back stop. Looking for his first hit in the game, Upton lined a shot down the third base line that Youkilis did a nice job keeping in front of him but was unable to get the speedy Upton at first.

Allowing the lead runners to reach base in the eighth signaled the end of the game for Matsuzaka and on came his fellow country Hideki Okajima to face the left handed Pena. Okajima fell behind in the count to Pena but was fortunate the Rays first baseman swung at a 3-0 pitch and lined out to Drew, who made a shoe string catch, for the first out of the inning.

Okajima did his job but not without suspense and recorded the out on Pena. Francona made another trip to the mound and elected to go with the rookie right hander, Justin Masterson to face the probable Rookie of the Year in Longoria.

The total age of these two players adds up to the number on the back of Ellsbury’s jersey but they have both proved they are capable Major Leaguers. Masterson fell behind Longoria 2-1 but was able to get the Rays third baseman to ground out into the 6-4-3 Twin-Killing to end the inning. Once again Tampa Bay squandered an opportunity to either tie up the score or take the lead and they would not have an opportunity to do so in the top of the inning facing one of the best closers in baseball, Jonathan Papelbon.

The Sox will send Josh Beckett to hill tomorrow to face the other #19 in former Red Sox killer, left hander Scott Kazmir. Kazmir will try to even up the series for Tampa Bay before the series ships back to Boston.

RED SOX 2, RAYS 0

WIN: Daisuke Matsuzaka

LOSS: James Shields

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon

Game Notes:

What is Craig Sager wearing today?

For Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, Craig Sager has broken out a lavender sports jacket with a light purple, pinstriped shirt and bold tie.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Kevin Youkilis, BOSTON --- 3-4 2 Doubles, RBI

Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOSTON --- 7IP, 4H, 0ER, 4BB, 9K

Carl Crawford, TAMPA BAY --- 1-3 Single in the seventh

ALCS Preview

2008-10-09T23:42:00.002-04:00

The preview of the ALCS between the Red Sox and Rays can be found here:

ALCS Preview: Boston Red Sox-Tampa Bay Rays

FYI, it is a PDF. If you can not open it let me know OR go to www.bostonsportsinformation.wordpress.com
and click on "Press Credentials" above the banner.

Been There, Done That, Bought the T-Shirt

2008-10-07T00:36:00.009-04:00

RED SOX DEFEAT ANGELS 3-2; WIN SERIES 3-1
Political Science major Jed Lowrie drives in Jason Bay as Sox defeat Angels 3-2 to win ALDS

(October 6, 2008) – Five years ago, the Red Sox were in a similar predicament as the Los Angeles Angels. Down in the series 1-2 to the Oakland Athletics heading into Game Four at Fenway, the Sox were looking for the win to tie up the series and send it back to California for the sudden death, winner-take-all Game Five. The A’s, on the other hand, did not want to go back to the Bay Area. They wanted to end it in Boston to advance to face the Yankees in the ALCS.

Down one run heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Sox rallied against former A’s and Sox closer, Keith Foulke, to take a 5-4 lead. Oakland had one last chance to end the series in Boston but were shut down by Scott Williamson, pitching his second inning of relief, in the top of the ninth, forcing a Game Five.

Now five years later, the roles are reversed. The Red Sox were the ones who did not want to make the trip back to California while the Angels were pulling for it. Hoping to end the series on their home turf, the Sox sent their Southpaw, Jon Lester to hill to end the Angels season. Besides a healthy Josh Beckett, who else would you want on the mound for a must win game?

Going into Game Four, Lester had not allowed an earned run so far in the 2008 playoffs. The lone run he gave up in Game One scored because of Jed Lowrie’s fielding error at shortstop in the bottom of the third.

The first few innings of Game Four were quick, Lackey matched Lester pitch for pitch. The Angels Ace improved from Game One or Los Angeles has listened to Newbury College Director of Athletics and former baseball head coach Peter Centola’s criticism.

“Why would [Lackey] throw a fastball?" Centola said discussing Jason Bay’s homerun in the Red Sox’s Game One victory in Anaheim. "[Bay] just missed two curves.”

As the game progressed, Lester grew stronger as Lackey started to deteriorate. Lackey’s downhill spiral started in the bottom of the fourth where he began having difficulty finding the strike zone. The Angels’ right hander’s control issues continued into the fifth inning and the Sox took full advantage of Lackey’s wildness.

Mark Kotsay led off the bottom of the inning with a line drive up the middle, into the center field. After a fly out to center by shortstop Jed Lowrie, Terry Francona decided to put on the hit-and-run with Jason Varitek at the dish. Putting the hit-and-run on for the Sox catcher who is know for his defensive prowess rather than his offense, was risky but Varitek came through, delivering a base hit into right field. Kotsay advanced on to third on the single.

Jacoby Ellsbury, who had not had a hit during Game Four drove in Kotsay from third with a ground out to second baseman Howie Kendrick to score the first run of the game. Next batter, the little man, Dustin Pedroia had yet to get his first hit of the post-season but when he did you know it would be big. Because that is how little guys do things. They go big and that is exactly what the former Sun Devil did, he tattooed a Lackey offering high off the wall in left to score Varitek from second as Pedroia cruised into second with a Double.

Los Angeles attempted to put something together in the top of the fifth with back-to-back, one-out base hits by Sunday night’s/Monday morning’s hero, Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins. But it was all for naught as Lester got the struggling Garret Anderson to ground into a fielder’s choice (second to shortstop) before freezing free-agent-to-be Mark Teixeira with a strike three that was reminiscent to ball two.

The Angels were no match for Lester as the left hander, for the second time in the series, shut down the team with the best record in 2008. Lester would keep his post-season at zero with seven strong innings scattering four hits while walking only two and striking out four Angels before turning the game over to bullpen to get the last six outs of the game and series.

Hideki Okajima came on in eighth and got Figgins and Anderson ground out to second for the first two outs but walked Teixeira. As soon as he walked the Angel first baseman, Francona had the quick hook and brought on the 23-year-old right hander Justin Masterson. In relief of Okajima, Masterson walked the first batter he faced, free-swinger Vladimir Guerrero, to put the tying run on first before uncorking a wild pitch to move the tying run into scoring position. The wild pitch would prove to be important as Torii Hunter lined a single to right field driving in Teixeira and Guerrero to tie the game at two.

With the game tied in the top of the ninth, flashbacks to Game Four of 2003 popped up. Could it happen against the Red Sox like it did to Athletics five years ago?

In the top of the ninth, the Angels pinch-hit Kendry Morales for right fielder Juan Rivera and with one swing of the bat, Morales drove a ball off the Monster for a double and was pinch-run for by outfielder Reggie Willits. For the first time in the game, the Angels had their lead off hitter on base. Francona popped out of the dugout and decided it was time for a change, going to right hander Manny Delcarmen with the winning run on second.

Kendrick sacrificed pinch-runner Willits to third with a bunt. Now with the winning run just ninety feet away, the Angels decided to go with a risky squeeze play, except their was only one problem. As Willitswas on his way home and Aybar did not get the bunt down, Varitek chased the Angels pinch-hitter down for the second out of the inning.

As soon as the Sox captain tagged made the gritty play, you knew the Sox were going to come out with the victory.

Jason Bay came to Boston on July 31^st for Manny Ramirez and has fit in almost perfectly in the clubhouse. After J.D. Drew struck out looking at Scott Shields to lead off the top of the ninth, Bay blooped a ground rule double in front of the sliding Willits in right field. Playing the line like he was supposed to be, Teixeira made, at the time the game saving play, on a bullet, ripped down the line by Kotsay.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Bay at first, the game was in the hands of 24-year-old former Stanford Cardinal, Jed Lowrie. In an imitation of Nomar Garciaparra, Lowrie jumped on the first pitch by Shields and lined a squibbler just past the dive of Kendrick at second. Running at full steam, Bay rounded third and dived, safely, head first into home with the winning run.

“[Scott] Shields struck me out on a curve ball last night,” Lowrie said after the game to Craig Sager just before going to celebrate with teammates. “I just wanted to get the barrel of the bat on [the ball] and find a hole.”

After the game, Sager caught up with Bay and asked him about scoring the game winning run.

“It’s a blast. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” the Sox left fielder told the TBS field reporter, referring to Lowrie’s base hit just barely finding the hole between second and first. Bay also added that he is so happy not to have to go back out to Anaheim. You are not alone there Jason, there are many sleep deprived Sox fans who are happy not to be going back to California – or at least till the end of the month.

I can still hear Papelbon, Youkilis and the rest of the Sox going crazy for their series win against the Angels but this is only the beginning. Their road is only going to get tougher as they are heading to the American League Championship Series for the second consecutive year to face the American League East Division Champion Tampa Bay Rays, who defeated the Chicago White Sox earlier in the night.

So Sox fans you no long have to worry about staying up late to catch the Sox because all the games will be on the East Coast. Yes! No 9:30 starting times like the NBA Finals back in June. Unless Major League Baseball gets involved and demands an 9:30 starting time.

Now it is the time for the Sox to buckle down and get to work in hopes of meeting Manny in the World Series and repeating as champions.

RED SOX 3, ANGELS 2

WIN: Manny Delcarmen

LOSS: Scott Shields

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Jed Lowrie, BOSTON ----2-4 Game Winning RBI

2. Jon Lester, BOSTON ---- 7IP, 4H, 0ER, 2BB, 4K

3. Jason Bay, BOSTON --- 2-3 Double, Winning run

Waiting Game

2008-10-06T01:40:00.004-04:00

10.6.2008

RED SOX FALL TO ANGELS 5-4 IN 12; SOX LEAD SERIES 2-1
Red Sox set another record but have to wait another day to advance;
Erick Aybar keeps Angels alive with 5-4 win

(October 5, 2008) – The Red Sox set another record for the longest Division Series game played. After five hours and 19 minutes the verdict is: the Angels are still alive.

All season, and series, the Achilles Heel of the Angels has been the failure of driving in runners in scoring position, but was able to come through when their backs were against the wall and facing elimination at Fenway Park. It may have taken them 12 innings but the Sox did nothing when they got the chance to close it out.

After leaving a game-high 23 men on base, Los Angeles started off the 12^th inning by getting catcher Mike Napoli on base to lead off the inning. Napoli, who played a great game, led off with single before being moved up by a sacrifice bunt by second baseman Howie Kendrick setting the table for Erick Aybar. Looking for his first hit of the series, the Angels shortstop lined a single just past the reach of Alex Cora and the dive of Dustin Pedroia to score Napoli.

With the heart of their line up due in the bottom of the inning, the Sox had a great opportunity to make a comeback and move on to the ALCS for the second consecutive year. David Ortiz led off the inning with a walk but that was all she wrote. In his second inning of work, Angels reliever Jered Weaver got Kevin Youkilis to fly out to center field for the first out. The cousin of Patriots Tight End, Jed Weaver, caught Jason Bay looking at strike three and got Cora to ground out to third which Chone Figgins made a nice play on to end the game.

For the first time in the series the Angels got to a Red Sox starting pitcher in the first inning for just their second lead of the entire series. Los Angeles made Josh Beckett throw 30 pitches just to get the first three outs of the game which began five hours before the end of the of the game.

Figgins led off the inning with a line drive to right that bounced into the stands for a double. It was just the second extra base hit for the Angels in the best of five series. The Sox ace appeared to have settled down and not let the lead-off double effect him by striking out Garret Anderson and Mark Teixeira, but had difficulty getting the elusive third out.

What plagued Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game Two, Friday night, apparently was contagious as Beckett has contracted the same disease. After getting two easy outs, he walked one the hardest players in baseball to walk: Vladimir Guerrero and gave up a base hit to Torii Hunter to load the bases. With the bases jammed, Angels right fielder Juan Rivera waited out the Texas fire-baller for a five pitch walk to walk in the first run of the game and the Angels first lead of the series.

It was a short lived lead as the Sox worked their two-out magic once again. After Jason Bay grounded out to third and Mike Lowell struck out swinging, Angels left hander Joe Saunders walked short stop Jed Lowrie to set the table. Jason Varitek followed the walk with a base hit to left before Coco Crisp walked to load the bases, bringing Jacoby Ellsbury to the dish.

What looked like it was the third and final out of the inning, Ellsbury hit a weak pop-up that landed in no-man’s land in shallow center field. Kendrick, Aybar looked at each like the defensive backfield looks at a tipped ball by the defensive line in football. Nobody wanted it. The tide shifted, the Sox had the 3-1 lead and it you could read the minds in the Los Angeles dugout “oh no here we go again.”

Beckett returned to the mound in the top of the third inning only to give up a wall ball double to Guerrero to begin the inning. With no outs and a runner on second, this was the perfect opportunity to snap out of the funk Angels batters were in.

After Hunter became Beckett’s third strike out victim and Rivera hit a foul pop up to Youkilis, it appeared as if Los Angeles would squander yet another opportunity. Napoli approached the dish. In his previous at-bat, the Angels catcher hit a ground ball to Lowell at third to end the first inning threat. History was not on the Angels’s side, but with one swing of the bat Napoli deposited the Beckett offering in the first row of the Monster seats to tie the game at three a piece.

In the top of the fifth, Napoli struck again. This time it was solo shot. It was Déjà vu for Beckett. Napoli’s second homerun of the night landed in nearly the same place in the Monster seats as his two-run shot. Beckett would finish the inning but the book was closed on the Sox Ace. In five innings, Beckett allowed four runs on nine hits while walking four and striking out six but labored the entire way, throwing 106 pitches in total.

The Sox would get the run back in the last half of the fifth. Ellsbury led of the inning with a line drive shot just out of the reach of Anderson’s out-stretched glove in left. The struggling Dustin Pedroia popped out Napoli behind the plate for the first out while Ortiz struck out swinging, sending Youkilis to the dish with two-outs. Could the Sox find the same two-out magic they had three innings earlier?

Youkilis lined a 2-2 Joe Saunders offering over Hunter’s head in center for double driving in Ellsbury with the game’s tying run. The Angels’ left hander’s night would be over when walked Bay after being up in the count 0-2. Jose Arredondo came on in relief of Saunders and caught Lowell looking on six pitches. And that is the way the game would stay until extra frames.

All game the Red Sox had so many opportunities to slam the door on Los Angeles but they did not capitalize on it. The Sox had the best opportunity to close the door on the Angels and send them home for the winter in the bottom of the tenth. With the bases loaded against Los Angeles closer Francisco Rodriguez, K-Rod struck out Jed Lowrie to end the threat. Could this be a momentum shifter?

The Sox will look to close the door on Los Angeles when they send Jon Lester to the hill tomorrow night in Game Four against John Lackey in a re-match of Game One. Lester won Game One of the series with a seven inning one run, six hit and seven strike out performance while walking just one. On the other side, Lackey went 6.2 innings allowing two earned runs on four hits while walking three and striking out five. The Sox do not want to return to Orange County so it is imperative they get this win tomorrow.

ANGELS 5, RED SOX 4

WIN: Jered Weaver

LOSS: Javier Lopez

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Mike Napoli, LOS ANGELES --- 3-5 3 RBI, 2 Homeruns, 3 Runs-scored

Erick Aybar --- 1-6 RBI

Kevin Youkilis, BOSTON --- 2-5, RBI

This is Hell Freezing Over

2008-10-05T00:52:00.008-04:00

10.5.2008

HELL FREEZES OVER

Here are a couple things I never thought I would hear or see in my lifetime --

“Red Sox World Series Champion"

"Boston College football ranked #2 in the AP and ESPN polls."

“Randy Moss, New England Patriots, captain.”

“Good alert base running by, Manny.” – Dick Stockton, third inning Game 3 – 2008 ALDS v. Cubs

-- but yet I did hear these words and was taken a back by them.

Wasn’t this the same guy that failed to run out a plethora of infield ground balls during his time in Boston? The same guy who hit a towering fly ball in Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS and wound up standing only on first base because he was caught admiring his long single, thinking it was a homerun?

In the third inning of Game Three of the Cubs-Dodgers ALDS at Chavez Ravine, right fielder Andre Ethier hit a deep fly ball to Jim Edmonds at the base of the warning track in center. Due to Dodger Stadium’s vast, symmetrical outfield, Rafael Furcal easily cruised into third on the sacrifice fly. But wait what was this? Manny Ramirez tagging and going to second on the play? Wow! Now, matched with a Sox World Series victory when I was 18 (2003), that is something I never thought I would see.

Two innings earlier when the Dodgers took the lead in the top of the first, Ramirez followed a Russell Martin one-out, double to left with a single to the same field to set the table for Ethier and James Loney. After the former Sun Devil struck out, Loney lined a double to right and the hustling Manny came all the way around from first to score the second run of the game. As he popped up from his slide into home, Ramirez had child-like expression of excitement written all over his face that I never once saw during his time in Sox uniform.

Not since the day he put on the Red Sox uniform top at his December 20, 2000 press conference after finalizing an eight year $160 million with Boston, did I see even a glimmer of a smile on Manny Ramirez’s face. But in two months in Los Angeles, Ramirez brought a much needed spark to the Dodger line up, excited the clubhouse and granted interview requests to the waiting media. Something in Boston that was the equivalent to pulling teeth for the Boston media. I like to think it would be easier to get Patriots information relating to injuries out of Bill Belichick than to get two words out of Ramirez during his time in Hub.

Ramirez hit some monumental, moon-shot and milestone homeruns, brought two championships to the City of Boston and was elected to the All-Star team every year he wore a Sox uniform. But one thing was clear; Boston was not the place for Manny. Boston is not a city for the mellow and laid-back and getting traded to Los Angeles was the best thing that ever happened to him.

In a city that cares more about what Paris Hilton did now or which celebrity is in trouble with the law, Ramirez can leave his work at the park and hide in relative anonymity. It is something that he was not able to do in Boston due to how engrossed Red Sox Nation is to their team. This is essentially part of why Ramirez why he is 74-for-187 (.396) in a Dodger uniform with 17 homeruns and 53 runs batted in and is now Los Angeles’s leading man in the 2008 post-season.

"When you're in a place that you like, it is easy," Ramirez told TBS field reporter Tom Verducci after the Dodgers swept the Cubs to move on to the NLCS to face either the Phillies or Brewers. (Also point to note he thanked Ned Colletti and Frank McCourt for bringing him to L.A.)

Many baseball commentators and columnists thought Ramirez would never oblige to Joe Torre’s request to cut his five-year-old dreadlocks but Ramirez surprised us again. Ok so it took him two weeks to trim his hair but in the words of our good friend Bob Wiley, “baby steps.” Change takes time and patience but with Ramirez finding a new comfort zone I suspect we will be seeing more things we thought we would never see out of the RBI King.

J.D. Drew does it again in the post-season, Red Sox one win away from ALCS

2008-10-04T02:03:00.005-04:00

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RED SOX TOP ANGELS 7-5; SOX LEAD SERIES 2-0
J.D. Drew does it again in the post-season, Red Sox one win away from ALCS

(October 3, 2008) – With six clients between the two teams in the starting line up, Scott Boras was perched in the dugout seats behind home plate for Game Two to watch J.D. Drew put Boston just one win away from reaching the Championship Series for second straight year.

After the Angels scratched and clawed their way back from a 4-0 deficit to begin the game to tie the game at five a piece in the bottom of the eighth, Drew took a 2-2 Francisco Rodriguez offering and deposited it into the batter’s eye in center for a 7-5 lead. David Ortiz’s second hit of the night, set the table for Drew as Ortiz doubled off the wall in right and was pinch-run for by Coco Crisp.

“It was a situation were you battle and try to have a good at-bat,” Drew told TBS’s Craig Sager that all he was trying to do, with two strikes,was put a bat on the ball to drive in Crisp from second.

The Red Sox offense started early as neither pitcher, Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka nor Angels’ starter Ervin Santana, were particularly effective with two outs.

When it appeared as if Santana would get out of the first inning unscathed, the Sox followed a Jacoby Ellsbury pop out and a Dustin Pedroia strike out with five consecutives base hits. Ortiz kicked off the rally with frozen rope single over the head of Howie Kendrick and into right field. Kevin Youkilis followed suit with a single before Drew, drew first first blood with a double to right to score Ortiz.

As Drew jogged into second with the double, the “see I know what I’m talking about” smirk came across the genius agent’s face. But the inning was not over yet as Wednesday night’s hero stepped to the dish. With one swing of the bat, Jason Bay gave the Sox a four run lead with his second career post-season homerun to the rock formation in centerfield.

Before throwing one pitch, Matsuzaka all ready had a 4-0 lead to work with but, to quote legendary Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra, “it was déjà vu, all over again.” After getting Chone Figgins to pop out to short and Garret Anderson to line out to right, another Boras client, Mark Teixeira, lined a base hit into right field. Boy isn’t that nice to see if you are Boras?

Teixeira came around to score Los Angeles’s first run of the game on Torii Hunter’s base hit single up the middle, after the former Dominican cow-herder (Vladimir Guerrero) advanced the first baseman to second. But that was all she wrote for the Angels in the inning as Juan Rivera grounded out to Alex Cora at short to end the inning.

After Ellsbury hit a two-out double to score Alex Cora, from second, for the fifth Boston run, the Angels pitchers did a good job at keeping the Sox off the board as they chipped away at the Sox lead. Los Angeles managed to get Matsuzaka out of the game early, throwing 108 pitches in five innings while allowing three runs on eight hits and walking two and striking out five.

In past years the Patriots, played a “bend but don’t break” defense. All this means is, give up the little stuff, just do not get beat over the top. Essentially “minimize the damage.” But now the Sox have apparently taken the Pats method of defense and applied to their pitching staff.

The Angels never got more than one run in an inning and that is a testament to the Sox’s “Bend but Don’t Break” pitching. Although Los Angeles successfully managed scratch and claw their way back against Sox pitchers, the bullpen as well as Matsuzaka were still able to step up and “minimize the damage” when they needed to.

But Los Angeles still managed to tie up the game in the ninth against closer Jonathan Papelbon, who entered after Figgins led off the inning with the Angels first extra base hit of the series, a triple, off Justin Masterson. Off one of the best closers in the game, Teixeira lifted a sacrifice fly to Ellsbury in center to drive in Figgins, who scored easily, with the tying run.

With the swing in momentum now over to Los Angeles, the Sox had to something to achieve what they set out to do at the beginning of the night and once again in the post-season, it was J.D. Drew who was tonight’s hero.

Can’t you see the ear-to-ear smile on Boras's face right now?

RED SOX 7, ANGELS 5

WIN: Jonathan Papelbon

LOSS: Francisco Rodriguez

Game Notes:
Scott Boras’s position players were a combined 9-for-20 (.450) tonight with a double, a homerun, five RBIs, five runs scored, three walks and two strike outs.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

J.D. Drew, BOSTON ---- 3-5; Double, Homerun, 3 RBIs, 2 Runs-scored

Jason Bay, BOSTON ---- 3-5; 3 RBIs

Mark Teixeira, LOS ANGELES --- 3-3; 3 Runs-scored

Jason Bay’s first career post-season homerun propels Sox to the 4-1 victory over Angels

2008-10-02T01:59:00.003-04:00

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RED SOX TOPPLE ANGELS; LEAD ALDS 1-0
Jason Bay’s first career post-season homerun propels Sox to the 4-1 victory over Angels

(October 2, 2008) – Manny Ramirez was traded exactly two months ago, yesterday, but was still the talk of the town leading up to Game 1 against the Los Angeles Angels. The former Sox left fielder was not literally the lead discussion it was his production at the dish that left few scratching their heads. How were the Sox going to replace Ramirez’s offensive production?

The longer Angels starter, John Lackey, kept the Sox off the scoreboard the louder questions started to buzz in fans heads. A game earlier Sox fans had to watch Ramirez deposit a Sean Marshall offering into the Wrigley Field bleachers in the seventh to finish the game 2-for4. It felt as if you sitting outside on a mid-summer night surrounded by bugs, eating you alive. But the man who was traded for Ramirez, Jason Bay, pulled out the bug spray and quelled those nasty, incessant thoughts with a two-run homerun in the top of the sixth.

“[They are] not asking me to do more than I can do,” Bay told TBS’s field reporter and future “Price is Right” host Craig Sager in a post game interview. “[It is] just easier.”

Striking out in his first two post-season at-bats (second and fourth innings) meant that Bay’s first career post-season hit would mean so much more. And it did. Not only did it win the game for the Sox, it took rookie shortstop Jed Lowrie off the hook for the loss.

In the third inning with two outs and Vladimir Guerrero at the dish, the Angels right fielder grounded the ball to Lowrie for what looked like the final out of the inning made a rookie mistake. Lowrie was trying to throw the ball to first before he even had control of the ball. Mistakes happen. It happens to the best but this is the playoffs. You are playing against the best in baseball and they will take advantage of your miscues.

Angels centerfielder Torii Hunter did just that. Hunter lined a two-out base hit into left to bring around left fielder Garret Anderson from second, who singled in between strike outs of third baseman Chone Figgins and first baseman Mark Teixeira. But as the dust settled Sox left hander Jon Lester did his job and was able to minimize the damage by getting Howie Kendrick to ground out to Mike Lowell at third to end the inning.

Speaking of Jon Lester, there is not much to say about him but just he has transformed himself into one of the premier power left handed pitchers in baseball. All season the young 24-year-old left hander has been the Ace of the Sox staff, so replacing last year’s Ace, Josh Beckett, was not hard a daunting task since he had been doing it all year.

After allowing back-to-back, one-out base hits to Anderson and Teixeira in the first inning and walked Hunter to load the bases with two-outs, Lester scratched and clawed his way out of the jam getting Kendrick to ground out to Lowell. As the game continued well into the night (or morning in Boston), when most fans were growing tired, Lester was growing stronger.

“I [do not] know about stronger,” Lester told Sager after the game. “A bit more relaxed and not trying to do so much.”

Lester pitched seven strong innings giving up one unearned run as well as scattering six hits, walking one and striking out seven. Before he turned the game over to the 23-year-old Justin Masterson, he retired the last seven batters he faced after giving up back-to-back hits to Teixeira and Guerrero in the sixth.

Just like one of Jacoby Ellsbury’s 50 stolen bases this season, the Sox have snatched home field advantage away from the Angels with their three-run victory. Now they have the opportunity to clinch the ALDS in either game three or four at Fenway Park.

“Any time you come into another team’s ballpark, [it is] huge,” Lester said when asked how big it was to win on the road in the playoffs.

The Sox return to action on Friday when they send the 18-3 Daisuke Matsuzaka to the hill to face 16-7 right hander Ervin Santana in Game 2. The Angels will be looking to tie the series at one game a piece before sending the series to Boston on Sunday.

RED SOX 4 - Angels 1

WIN: Jon Lester (1-0)

LOSS: John Lackey (0-1)

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon (1)

Game Notes:

Getting the Game 1 start in center field, Jacoby Ellsbury was 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Ellsbury drove in Jed Lowrie in the top of the ninth to make the game 3-1 before David Ortiz prolonged his Division Series hitting streak with a base hit to center to score Ellsbury to make it 4-1.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Jason Bay, BOSTON --- 2-4 Double, Game Winning Homerun

Jon Lester, BOSTON --- 7.0 IP, 6H, 1R, 0ER, 1BB, 7K

Torii Hunter, LOS ANGELES --- 2-3 RBI single

ALDS Preview: Red Sox-Angels

2008-10-01T00:38:00.006-04:00

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PREVIEW OF THE ALDS BETWEEN

THE BOSTON RED SOX AND LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM

MLB needs the Red Sox

2008-09-25T23:48:00.007-04:00

With potentially five teams from the top three media markets in the 2008 playoffs, Major League Baseball should be rooting for the Red Sox. Out of the 16 possible World Series match-ups only seven are enticing to the national media and three of them include the Red Sox. The reason behind it is simple: more storylines and a bigger audience.

Come on how many are really enthusiastic about a Tampa Bay-Philadelphia World Series? The match-ups involving the Sox will not just draw in devoted baseball fans but also many of the casual fans plus non-fans because of their stories.

First off, any series that includes the Chicago Cubs will get national spotlight, since it will be the first time the Lovable Losers made it to the Series in 63 years. A Windy City Fall Classic will pit the North-siders against the South-siders for a week in October. The folks on the left coast will flock to Chavez Ravine and Disneyland earlier than normal – second inning instead of the third – and stay later than the sixth but outside Orange County it is not going to bring big ratings. These four series will have stories of their own but they will not attract nearly as many views as those series that include the Sox.

Red Sox-Dodgers

No doubt about it this is the series Major League Baseball wants to see. At the trading deadline, Theo Epstein did what was best for the health of the franchise. He cut away the canker that threatened the health of the remaining 24. With the “OK” from the Commish, former Pirates outfielder Jason Bay was thrown into the middle of a pennant race while Manny Ramirez was sent to the Deep Blue Sea.

I am salivating at just the thought of Boston-Los Angeles Fall Classic. The stories would be endless. After losing the NBA Championship to the Celtics back in June, Los Angeles would be looking for redemption. If Sox win it would, no doubt, solidify the City of Boston as Titletown, USA with seven World Championships from three sports in eight years.

In addition to that there is also the Joe Torre-Terry Francona connection dating back to the 2004 ALCS. As well as Manny Ramirez leading the Dodgers to the best September record (16-5) of the eight playoff contenders while the Sox were a American League best 33-17 after the trading deadline. Do not forget about Nomar Garciaparra’s first return back to the city where he began his career. There list is endless but in essence it would be a Boston versus Boston Fall Classic.

Red Sox-Cubs

Until 2004, a Red Sox-Cubs World Series was a baseball fan’s dream. One team would walk away with their first championship in over 80 years while the other would be saying those four dreaded words: “wait ‘til next year.” Since the Sox swept the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, a Red Sox-Cubs Fall Classic does not have the same meaning it would have had five years ago, but it still would be one for the ages.

Two teams playing in the two oldest ballparks in the majors, Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. Both, partially, owned by big time media conglomerates. Both seem to have mirroring team histories in the playoffs from Curses to Bartman and Boone to the Sox in ’04 to, possibly, the Cubs in ‘08. Red Sox-Cubs facing off in the dead of fall for baseball’s championship. You, still, can not script a better World Series than that. Just rich in baseball history.

Red Sox-Mets

The Boston-New York connection plus retaliation for the Giants dashing the Patriots hopes of an undefeated season and becoming the first team since the 1972 Dolphins to do so. Nothing more there, though.

New Sox Policy for Retiring Numbers

2008-09-23T22:56:00.009-04:00

A 90-year-old ballpark was one of many things the current Red Sox administration acquired from the ineffective Harrington regime when the bought the team in 2002. They also inherited an outdated policy for retiring numbers. During the previous regime, the policy for having your number up on the right field façade was that you had to be in the baseball Hall of Fame, play at least 10 years and retire with the Red Sox.

After paying $700 million for the franchise, John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino made a pact to preserve Fenway Park. Since purchasing the team, the owners added many of the amenities of new stadiums while preserving many of the unique qualities of Fenway. Well now it is time for the team to take another step to further put a wedge between them and the previous ownership group. They need to change the policy for retiring numbers and are on the path to changing it.

The Sox owners will honor life-long Red Sox, Johnny Pesky, by putting his number six between Joe Cronin’s number 4 and Carl Yastrzemski’s number 8 on Friday before the final regular season series. It is an honor that has long since been overdue for the former Sox shortstop.

The current policy is dated and should have gone the way of the reserve clause. In the past, to have your number retired by the Sox you had to do three things: play 10 years with the Sox, retire with the team and be in the baseball Hall of Fame. This policy worked in the days of Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio when players were stuck with one team but it is a horrible policy for the age of free agency.

How many “cradle to grave” players are left in baseball? One, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. It is hypocritical to punish a player who produced on the field and was an ambassador to the team off the field when he wants to test the free agency waters, when we would do the same ourselves. As a nation, we are always looking for higher paying jobs and ways to increase our cash flow why would expect a professional athlete would be any different? It is capitalism at its best. (Sorry Karl.)

So here is what I propose for the new policy regarding Red Sox retired numbers.

To determine if a player's number deserves to be honored on Fenway Park's right field facade a committee of five non-baseball operations employees will form the Retired Numbers Committee (RNC). Every year there will be a list of five to ten players who are potentially deserving of having their number retired. The committee will gather once a year, in July, to determine if any of these nominees truly deserve to have their number retired at Fenway Park. Note, the committee does not have to chose a nominee if they feel none are deserving of the honor.

The members of the RNC will include: three members from the Boston Red Sox public relations and public affairs department (Coordinator of Baseball Information and two coordinators of Public Affairs); 1 member of publications and archives (Director of Publications) and one honorary member (either a current player with their number retired or a member of the Red Sox Hall of Fame). This committee will be overseen by the President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, Larry Lucchino.

The reason for the July meeting is to allow for enough time for the planning of a retiring ceremony, should a player be chosen for the honor.

The RNC’s decision will be based on the criteria listed below.

Must be retired for at least five years and play at least five consecutive years with the Boston Red Sox

The player must have respectable numbers on the field

First there needs to be a set working definition of the term “respectable numbers.” For a pitcher’s number to be retired by the ballclub, they have to adhere to three basic criteria: an ERA no greater than 4.00, a minimum of 100 strike outs in a Sox uniform and a WHIP less than 1.500. In addition to these three areas starters must also have a winning record in Sox uniform and have at least five seasons of double digit wins. Closers, on the other hand, must have at least 100 career saves with the Sox and five seasons of double digit saves.

For position players to have their number retired, they must maintain a batting average above .300 during his time with the Red Sox, have a minimum of 100 career homeruns in a Sox uniform and a minimum of four season with 100 hits and Runs Batted In.

Also the committee will take into consideration any awards and honors the player has accumulated as a member of the Red Sox organization.

He must be ambassador off the playing field

The working definition of the term “team ambassador” will be defined as followed. The committee will look into any charities the player has created or given his time and/or money towards during his time in Boston. They will also take into consideration what how he has represented the team when he was away from the playing field. If there are any discrepancies in his actions as a representative of the Boston Red Sox off the field (i.e. public acts of stupidity) it will not necessarily bar him from having his number retired, but it will be noted. To have your number retired, you must be in good standing with the team, the fans, the City of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the New England region. The committee will also take into consideration any idea the player has implemented while with the Boston Red Sox that the team has kept well after the player has left Boston.

After you have just read my policy proposition for the new Red Sox retired numbers policy can any of you guys the “head fake?”

Ambidextrous Pitcher Vs Switch Hitter

2008-09-19T10:38:00.001-04:00

Rays B.J. Upton outranks Jacoby Ellsbury in nearly all categories

2008-08-28T16:18:00.002-04:00

(After a haitus due to working night basketball games for the Watertown Recreation Department's Men's Summer Basketball League recently I have had time to write a few of my thoughts about the Red Sox.)

Ten years ago there were the Derek Jeter-Nomar Garciaparra comparisons to decide who the better shortstop between the two rivals was. Now with the New York Yankees in a tailspin and the arrival of the Tampa Bay Rays playing competitive baseball in the American League East, there comes a new comparison in the division.

B.J. Upton was drafted with the second pick of the 2002 Major League Baseball Draft by the, then, Devil Rays as a shortstop. Like all Tampa Bay prospects, who preceded him, he quickly rose through one of the league’s best farm systems to make his Major League Debut two years later (8/2/2004). But the Rays all ready had a veteran shortstop in Julio Lugo so Upton was moved to third base.

After spending the first three years of his major league career as an infielder, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon decided to conduct an experiment. When a nagging hamstring injury landed previous centerfielder Rocco Baldelli on the disabled list, Maddon made the executive decision to start Upton in centerfield. Upton was an infielder and had all ready won the starting second base position in spring training but he made the transition to the outfield. And the transition has, so far, worked out well for the Rays with Upton in center and Akinori Iwamura replacing him at second.

Upton is no longer considered an infielder playing the outfield. He has turned himself into one of the best centerfielder’s in the league and it spurns the debate of who’s better, him or his AL East rival in Boston, Jacoby Ellsbury.

They are easy players to compare because they share many of the same qualities. Upton is a tall, lanky six-foot three-inch base stealing threat while Jacoby Ellsbury leads the league with 41 steals in 2008. When they are in the game, they change the game for their respective teams. But what separates Upton from Ellsbury is Upton’s ability to hit for power and his above average fielding.

Many centerfielders will play back to prevent balls from going over their head for extra bases but Upton plays a shallow centerfield. Due to his years as an infielder, Upton is very comfortable going back on the ball and matched with his incredible speed, he can play in more than other “natural” outfielders. Therefore, it is very difficult for opposing batters to drop a single in front of him.

Although it has been a disappointing season for Upton offensively in 2008, he still has managed to exceed Ellsbury in the Triple Crown categories as well as the categories deemed important by the Red Sox. Upton has outplayed the apparent, Red Sox “phenom” hitting at a .265 clip, eight homeruns and driving in 59 RBIs in 125 games for the division leaders. Compare that to Ellsbury’s .262 average, seven homeruns and 39 runs batted in, only, 120 games.

In the Rays line up, Upton has spent much more time in the number three slot in the order but he is the prototypical lead-off hitter. Just because a player has tremendous speed like Ellsbury does not mean he is a productive lead-off hitter. There is the old adage “you can’t steal first” and it is most definitely the truth. The lead-off batter is supposed to be able to get on base and set the table for the two, three and four hitters. It helps to have great speed in the first spot of the order but it is not essential.

In 91 games in the top spot, Ellsbury is hitting .253 with a .311 OBP, a .335 SLG and .646 OPS. Compare that to Upton’s .350 average, .381 OBP and 1.081 OPS from his small number of appearances from the lead-off position this year. The Rays centerfield has constantly improved offensively from the top portion of the order and has made himself into one of the best impact hitters in the game.

Recently Upton has been on the national spotlight due his antics on the field resulting in two benchings from Maddon. But those have been resolved by the Upton and Maddon with Maddon commenting that his player’s antics were a result of “a mental mistake.” Upton also issued an apology to his teammates for possibly becoming an unnecessary distraction for the first place team. He has a good head on his shoulders and understands his actions could have major ramifications for his team and the future of baseball if he does not play the game the correct way. (More on that subject in an article written in 2007. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jones/070412 )

Comparison between Upton and Ellsbury:

B.J. UPTON		JACOBY ELLSBURY
.265	BA	.262
8	HR	7
59	RBI	39
73	RUNS	74
122	HITS	117
30	DOUBLES	13
2	TRIPLES	4
85	WALKS	35
118	STRIKE OUTS	71
37	SB	41
.375	OBP	.326
.390	SLG	.359
.765	OPS	.685
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Melvin Emmanuel Upton	FULL NAME:	Jacoby McCabe Ellsbury
8/21/1984	DOB:	9/11/1983
Norfolk, VA	BIRTHPLACE	Madras, OR
None	COLLEGE	Oregon State
2002 – 2^ndOverall Pick	DRAFT	2005 – 1^st Round Pick
One brother – Justin Upton	SIBLINGS	Three brothers – Matt, Tyler and Spencer

Dan Haren fools Sox while retiring 11 consecutive batters as Arizona edges past Sox 2-1

2008-06-24T00:33:00.000-04:00

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RED SOX FALL SHORT TO DIAMONDBACKS 2-1; MOVE TO 47-32
Dan Haren fools Sox while retiring 11 consecutive batters as Arizona edges past Sox 2-1

(June 23, 2008) – It was an old-time baseball pitcher’s duel between grandfather (Red Sox) and grandson (Diamondbacks) and ended with young Trey being victorious while grandpa was left scratching his head.

Usually when we think of pitchers duels we think of nostalgic baseball, historic franchises – like the Sox – and Steve Buckley. So it made all the sense to think the Sox would be victorious in last night’s duel but not quite, the Diamondbacks proved they were for real against one of the best pitchers in baseball. Dan Haren retired 11 consecutive Boston batters between the third and seventh innings while Brandon Lyon picked up his 15^th consecutive save.

After the Sox Daisuke Matsuzaka failed to make it through the second inning on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Sox bullpen was forced to pick up the slack and it carried into the next day’s 13 inning affair. With this being said the Sox relievers were heavily relying on their Ace, Josh Beckett to give them a breather against the Diamondback. Beckett did just that, he went a solid eight innings allowing just two runs on five hits while striking out eight Arizona batters.

Enough to get himself his eighth victory of the season right? Wrong! Haren masterfully matched Beckett’s eight inning performance with a masterful seven innings of two hit ball with five strike outs and one walk. The Diamondbacks right hander retired the first six batters of the game before giving up his first base hit to catcher Jason Varitek who lined a double off the wall in left center. After a two out walk to rookie Jacoby Ellsbury, Haren struck out Dustin Pedroia and set the cruise control button on from there. The Sox could not catch a break against the 6’5” Arizona right hander for the next three innings.

With Harden mowing down the Sox, Beckett was doing the same to the Diamondbacks in the same time span, which included retiring six consecutive Arizona hitters between the third and the fifth innings. Cruising along at an 11 pitch per inning pace, Beckett had all ready accumulated seven strike outs and had yet to walk nobody. But that all changed with a lead off, seven pitch walk to first baseman Conor Jackson in the top of the seventh, leading to a 33-pitch inning for the ace of the staff.

Jackson worked the first walk by Beckett after being down 0-2 in the count. It was the first time in the game the Diamondbacks had the lead off hitter on base and they would not waste the opportunity. Third baseman Mark Reynolds would advance Jackson to second dropping a bloop single in front of Ellsbury before center fielder Chris Young drove in his 40^th RBI of the season with his second base hit of the season. Young’s rocket line drive off the wall drove in Jackson from second and sent Reynolds to third. Reynolds scored the winning run on Chris Snyder’s ground out to defensive replacement Brandon Moss at first base. (More on that later.)

After throwing 33-pitches in the seventh and Beckett’s pitch count at 104, it looked unlikely that Beckett was going to come back out for the eighth. But after Jason Varitek struck out with runners on first and second in the bottom half of the seventh, Beckett came back out to the mound to give himself another opportunity to win his eighth game of the season. He gave himself a good chance by retiring the side in order on 12-pitches and keeping the Boston deficit to just two runs.

The Sox bats would attempt another come-from-behind victory when Julio Lugo walked with one out in the bottom of the eighth to bring up the top of the Red Sox line up. Ellsbury singled back up the middle for his first hit of the game (1-for-3 on the night), moving Lugo up to second. Pedroia followed with a base hit of his own to left, loading the bases and bringing June’s hottest hitter, J.D. Drew, to the dish with less the two outs. Although Drew was hitless in last night’s game, he still managed to drive across Boston’s lone run of the game lifting a fly ball to deep center field to drive in the Sox shortstop from third. It was the right fielder’s 10^th RBI in his last 11 games and his 23^rd RBI this month.

Down by one run after Drew’s RBI, two runners on base and two outs, who would you rather have at the plate other than David Ortiz? That is correct. Manny Ramirez. He is called the RBI Machine for a reason and the reason being is that he is second all time in Runs Batted in since 1998 with 1,281. But as the rest of the night went, Ramirez was robbed off a sure RBI double down the left line as Reynolds made a diving play to snare Ramirez’s line drive. Reynolds had to double check his glove to make sure the ball did not go through the glove because the ball was hit so hard down to the hot corner.

The Sox will try to even up the series in game two tomorrow night when they send the rookie Justin Masterson (4-1 3.00 ERA, 28 strike outs, 1.08 WHIP) to face Diamondbacks left hander Doug Davis who is 2-3 on the season with a 3.65 ERA, 38 strike outs, 25 walks and a 1.60 WHIP. Masterson is making his first start against Arizona while Davis is making his seventh appearance and sixth start against Boston. Against the Red Sox, Davis is 3-2 with one complete game with a 3.78 ERA, 15 strike outs, 11 walks and a 1.56 WHIP. Boston batters are hitting at a .299 clip against the Arizona lefty.

WIN: Dan Haren (8-4)

LOSS: Josh Beckett (7-5)

SAVE: Brandon Lyon (16)

Game Notes:

The start of the game was delayed 30 minutes due to scattered thunderstorms.

Sox are still win-less at home (0-4) against the Arizona Diamondbacks since they starting playing the Diamondbacks in interleague play back in 2002.

Bad Timing

On the same day when back up first baseman Sean Casey dropped his appeal of his three game suspension, Kevin Youkilis had to be taken out of the game before the start of the fifth inning. While throwing grounders to the rest of the infield in between the bottom of the fourth and the top of the fifth, Youkilis took a bouncer from Mike Lowell off his right eye. His eye started to swell up immediately and was replaced at first by Brandon Moss who has never played a Major League game at first in his career.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Dan Haren, ARIZONA ------ 7IP, 2H, 0R, 1BB, 5K

Chris Young, ARIZONA ---- 2-3 Double, RBI

Josh Beckett, BOSTON ------ 8 IP, 5H, 2R, 1BB, 8K

Cardinals spoil Red Sox championship celebration for the 17-time NBA champion Celtics

2008-06-20T23:58:00.002-04:00

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RED SOX FALL TO CARDINALS 5-4; MOVE TO 46-30
Cardinals spoil Red Sox championship celebration for the 17-time NBA champion Celtics

(June 18, 2008) – The 2008 NBA Finals MVP and The Truth, Paul Pierce did something not too many Red Sox pitchers do. Throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, the Celtics captain jokingly shook off the Red Sox captain three times before delivering a high fastball that glanced off Jason Varitek’s glove. With the newly crowned World Champions in the house, the Sox fell one run short, 5-4, of a ninth inning come-from-behind victory to their special Friday Night guests.

The Sox got on the board early in the bottom of the second when Manny Ramirez – who was the night’s designated hitter – led off the inning with a walk. Third baseman Mike Lowell would reach on starting shortstop Cesar Izturis’s fielding error, thus sending Ramirez onto second. After Kevin Youkilis struck out on a low fastball by Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse, center fielder Coco Crisp lined a single into left for the first hit against the St. Louis right hander. Shortstop Julio Lugo lifted a fly ball to deep center allowing Ramirez to score easily from third base.

Sox starter Tim Wakefield was cruising along before he ran into last minute addition to the St. Louis line up, catcher Jason LaRue in the fifth. LaRue led off the visitor’s half of the inning with his second homerun of the season that just barely made it over the Green Monster.

Two innings later the red birds jumped out to their first lead of the game on Lugo’s 15^th and 16^th errors of the season in the top of the sixth. After former pitcher turned outfielder Rick Ankiel led of the inning with a double of the wall in center, third baseman Troy Glaus reached on Lugo’s wild throw that Youkilis could not corral. His defensive woes continued when he did his best Chuck Knoblauch impersonation on a double play attempt by throwing the ball to fence of the Red Sox dugout, allowing Ankiel to cross the plate with the go-ahead.

Lugo’s 16^th error of the season looked familiar to the Celtics who were honored before the game. They had seen something similar just a week ago. Lugo’s errant throw to Wakefield at first resembled Kobe Bryant’s pass to Pau Gasol in the third quarter of Game Four that found itself in the row of photographers for the Celtics ball instead of in the basket for two points.

But Lugo would atone for his two mistakes with his first homerun of the season the Sox half of the inning. With two outs in the inning the Sox starting shortstop lifted a a pitch from Lohse that ended up in the last row of the Monster seats.

The seventh inning would be Wakefield’s last inning of work. Jared Luner’s red birds got to the knuckleballer again and once again it was started by LaRue. The Cardinals catcher lined a base hit into left field to lead off the inning before being drove in on Skip Shumaker’s fifth homerun of the season into the St. Louis bullpen. Not only did it give the Cardinals the 4-2 lead it also was the first homerun of the game that was not a solo shot. The seventh was also Wakefield’s last inning of work where he allowed four runs – three earned – on six hits while walking three and striking out four.

Boston would cut the lead to one in the bottom of the inning when Lohse was out of the game. The Cardinals right hander allowed just two runs on five hits while walking one and striking out four. Left fielder Jacoby Ellsbury lined his first hit and only hit of the game into left field to lead of the inning against St. Louis left hander Randy Flores. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia followed with a base hit of his own before Flores walked Drew on four pitches before it was the night for the Cardinal lefty.

Long time St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa called upon the 39-year-old Russ Springer to get out of the no-out mess Flores left behind. But it was not an easy task for the right handed veteran to do because he was facing the Ramirez, who drives in runs like my sister buys shoes, with the bases loaded and nobody out. Ramirez grounded into a double play for the first two outs of the inning but with the Cardinal defense playing back Ellsbury was able to cross the plate to cut the lead to 4-3 and send Drew to third. The inning ended with Drew being stranded at third after Springer struck out Lowell to end the threat.

After the Cardinals tacked on an additional run in the eighth, the Sox were down to their last at-bat in the bottom of the ninth against closer Ryan Franklin. In Franklin’s second inning of work, he was facing the top of the Red Sox batting order. The Sox hoped to provide a come-from-behind victory on the night the team honored the Celtics winning their 17^th NBA Title (third most in all of professional sports).

Franklin got Ellsbury to fly out to right on the first pitch, which turned out to be an important at-bat. If the Sox rookie got on base in the ninth it would have changed the entire complexion of the inning. But he did not. So with one out Pedroia lined a double off the left field wall. After Drew struck out looking and Ramirez walked with two outs, Lowell lined an RBI single past the dive of shortstop Brendan Ryan – who came into the game in the fourth replacing Izturis – scoring Pedroia and cutting the St. Louis lead back to one. The Sox had something going with Ramirez at third as the tying run, Lowell at first as the winning run and Youkilis at the dish. They were so close that you could almost feel they were going to pull of a win but Youkilis just got under a pitch from Franklin and hit a lazy fly to Schumaker in right. It would have been nice to see a come-from-behind win for the Sox and then see Terry Francona light up a nice cigar in honor of the late, great Red Auerbach, who was as much apart of championship banner #17 as he was in any of the rest.

It is the Sox on Fox tomorrow afternoon and begins with Daisuke Matsuzaka making his first start after missing the last 24 games with a mild strain of the right rotator cuff. Matsuzaka’s last start came against the Seattle Mariners on May 27 where he was pulled after four innings of work allowing three runs – two earned – on four hits while striking out two. Many thought he was taken out of the game with a left oblique injury since he reached for his left side after recording the final out of the fourth inning at first base but it was reported he suffered from a shoulder injury after the game.

The Sox right hander who is vying for his ninth win of the season and still undefeated with a 2.53 ERA, will be opposed by the Cardinals 24-year-old rookie, Mitchell Boggs. Making just his third start of his major league career, Boggs is 1-0 with a 5.56 ERA, three strike outs, five walks and a 1.59 WHIP. He made his major league debut on Friday June 6 coming out of the Cardinals bullpen to pitch two innings in St. Louis’s 6-1 loss to the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Boggs is coming off a no-decision against the Philadelphia Phillies where he went only 4.1 innings allowing four runs on six hits while striking out three and walking two. But the Cardinals would squeak out the 7-6 win.

WIN: Kyle Lohse (9-2)

LOSS: Tim Wakefield (4-5)

SAVE: Ryan Franklin (10)

Game Notes:

The start of the game was delayed one hour 10 minutes due to rain.

Former pitcher now turned outfielder, Rick Ankiel got the first hit against the Tim Wakefield when he lined a base hit into left to lead off the second inning for the Cardinals.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Jason LaRue, St. LOUIS -------- 2-4 Homerun, Single, RBI

Skip Schumaker St. LOUIS ----- 1-4 Homerun 2 RBIs

Julio Lugo, BOSTON ------------ 1-2 Homerun, 2 RBIs

It's What We Do

2008-06-13T22:39:00.000-04:00

Get used to it, America. It is Boston. Come-from-behind victories are our specialty. It’s just what we do.

This year’s 2008 NBA Finals looks eerily familiar to Boston fans. In the post-season the 2007-20088 Celtics slightly resembles the 2004 Red Sox and it can only mean one thing: championship banner #17.

Now what exactly do I mean by the Celtics resembling the ’04 Sox?

When the Sox won their first World Series championship for the first time in 86 years, they did so after making history, in ANY sport – coming back from a 3-0 deficit to the Yankees in the ALCS. The Sox hit rock bottom when New York won Game Three 19-8 and it looked for sure as if the Yankees would be heading back to the World Series. But the Sox stepped up their game with four, one-game series starting with a clutch come-from-behind win against one of the best closers in baseball, Mariano Rivera.

Leading the series two games to the Lakers one, the Celtics found themselves down 21-points at the end of the first quarter. With Los Angeles playing the role of New York, Boston – once again – “Cowboy’d Up,” to quote former Sox first baseman Kevin Millar, and mounted their comeback. They started slowly, chipping away at the lead and grinding it out like Tiger Woods when his A-game as escaped him. It all started with another number 34, the Captain and The Truth, Paul Pierce. (It always comes back to the number 34 in Boston, doesn’t it?)

As the Sox climbed on the back of Ortiz in 2004, the Celtics did the same to Pierce. Pierce led them back from a 24-point deficit, at one point, to giving the Lakers their first home playoff loss this season. Being one of the more physical players on the Celtics, the Celtics captain started doing what he does best, driving his way to the basket for either the lay-in, the foul or to kick it back out to the perimeter. Not bad for guy who had to be carried off the court by Brian Scalabrine and trainers in the first half of Game One after injuring his right knee on play under the basket.

Huh? That kind of sounds familiar too, doesn’t it? Does anybody remember Curt Schilling and the bloody sock of the ALCS?

After Schilling had to leave Game One in the third inning with the infamous right ankle injury leading to a disastrous 10-7 loss, renowned orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Bill Morgan, implemented a temporary surgical fix. In the surgery, Dr. Morgan placed three surgical sutures into Schilling’s ankle to avoid the tendon snapping over the pitcher’s ankle bone, allowing him to start Game Six. Although he was in the later stages of his storied career, Schilling risked what time he had left to bring home the Red Sox’s first World Championship in 86 years. We all know the story of Game Six, the Sox went on to win the game 4-2 against Jon Lieber while Schilling’s blood stained the white sock from the sutures became as famous as the right hander himself.

Pierce’s Game One knee injury against the Lakers at the TD Banknorth Garden turned out not to be all too serious but it appeared as if it was going to be worse than it was. That is the reason why Celtic fans cheered him heavily when he came bouncing out of the tunnel from the locker room. Just like Schilling, Pierce was not going to let his team down and against the words of the team medical staff, the small forward tried to put wait on his right knee. When he was able to do that he there was no stopping him. He was going to head back to the court and get back into the game. Game Four’s comeback can be traced back to this moment.

The man’s a warrior. He has been through more in his professional basketball career than most players. Not only has he suffered through six losing seasons and never made it past the Conference Finals, Pierce also had to overcome the “stabbing incident” that occurred outside a Boston club in 2000. He is the ultimate team player, unlike his counterpart wearing yellow and purple, and can put the team on his back and lead them to victory as he did in Game Four.

To compare the 2007-2008 Celtics even more to the 2004 Red Sox, Ray Allen’s baseline drive to basket past the Lakers soft power forward, Pau Gasol was reminiscent of Dave Roberts steal of second in Game Four in 2004.

Come-from-behind victories have become the M.O. of Boston. It can be traced back to Super Bowl XXXVI when the young Tom Brady lead the Patriots down field with just over a minute left in the game to set up Adam Vinatieri’s game winning field goal. Even in the 1999 and 2003 ALDS against the Cleveland Indians and Oakland Athletics, respectively, for the Sox.

There have only been three teams from the four major professional sports to have come back from a 3-1 series deficit and two of those times involved a Boston team. So even though the Los Angeles Lakers can make a come-back, I do not see that happening. Together, the Three Musketeers (Garnett, Allen and Pierce) will raise the NBA Trophy for the first time in their careers and will be the 17^th time in Celtics history they own the right to call themselves the best team in the NBA.

Defending Manny

2008-06-09T10:57:00.006-04:00

All it takes is two minutes of listening to Dennis & Callahan before you start to feel like you just took a Josh Beckett fastball to the head. They hammer (and I mean hammer) their opinions into your brain until you give up and walk away because you can not take them any more. Or you walk away because you start to feel your blood pressure spiking to an incredibly dangerous level.

My latest issue with the morning duo on WEEI is their constant bashing on Manny Ramirez from his altercation in the dugout with first baseman Kevin Youkilis. First off, I do not condone Ramirez’s actions but I understand where they are coming from. Confirmed by many sources in the Red Sox clubhouse, the dispute arose when Ramirez confronted Youkilis about his excessive and chronic complaining after things do not go his way at the plate. With the Sox up by six runs against the Rays, Ramirez did not figure it was necessary for Youkilis to be kicking and screaming about flying out to right so he said to Youkilis “cut that [expletive] out.”

Unlike Gerry Callahan wants you to believe, Ramirez did not walk up to Youkilis and sucker punch him or slap him. There is no right or wrong opinion but when the opinion has no factual basis it turns wine to water. It takes two to tango, Gerry. Manny is not the only guilty party in this. Youkilis had to have said something in response to Ramirez’s comment that provoked the outburst. It is illogical to think that a person walks up to a co-worker and punches them without motive.

Secondly, I have to say I am not the biggest Kevin Youkilis supporter. I, too, like Manny, abhor the outbursts after a ground out, fly out or strike out – especially when the strike out is looking. (If you strike out looking and you disagree with the umpire’s call that is your fault, you should have swung.) But I do understand – unlike Callahan – where both players are coming from.

From Ramirez’s point-of-view, it is understandable to approach a teammate and say “cut that out,” if you have an issue with the way he is conducting himself after a poor performance. There was no harm or malice involved in what Ramirez said. He was not out to get Youkilis, he was just telling his teammate what others probably wanted to say but did not.

But then again there is Youkilis’s side of the situation. He is a hot-tempered, confrontational player who performs at his all time best when he is emotional. That emotion at times can get under the skin of teammates, as in this case, and he does not know that. When Ramirez informs Youkilis, instinctively, the first baseman goes on the defensive, saying or doing something that offends and provokes Ramirez.

In the moment, they both were wrong with the actions and should have walked away from the situation while their emotions were boiling and discussed things behind closed doors. Because they did not do this, the situation reached its boiling point and all hell broke loose in front of the cameras.

Now that I have played Dr. Phil for the day. I believe it is time to get back to baseball.

Red Sox return to action tomorrow night when they welcome the Baltimore Orioles to Fenway Park for the three game series. Josh Beckett (6-4) gets the ball in game one against Daniel Cabrera (5-3) in a re-match of the Red Sox’s 5-2 extra innings win on May 30. Game two will see Bartolo Colon (3-1) against left hander Garrett Olson (5-1) while Jon Lester (4-3) and Jeremy Guthrie (3-6) close out the series before the Sox re-start interleague play on Friday against the Cincinnati Reds.

J.D. Drew’s third homerun of the home stand to lead the Sox to the 2-1 series win

2008-06-08T23:58:00.000-04:00

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RED SOX EDGE PAST MARINERS 2-1; MOVE TO 40-26
J.D. Drew’s third homerun of the home stand to lead the Sox to the 2-1 series win

(June 8, 2008) – Revenge is sweet – even sweeter on a day like yesterday. The 37,198 fans at Fenway Park, who stuck out the hot and humid June afternoon, were rewarded with the Red Sox 40^th win of season after beating the Seattle Mariners 2-1. After the Mariners took two of three from the Red Sox back on May 26 through the 28 in Seattle, the Sox came back and took two of three to tie the season series at 3-3 this weekend back in the confines of Friendly Fenway.

On a day where the weather felt 10-degrees warmer than what the mercury read, Sox young gun Justin Masterson was as cool as the other side of the pillow. Although he ran into occasional trouble by falling behind some Mariner hitters, Masterson never looked flustered. In six innings of work, the Sox youngster allowed just one run on three hits while walking three and striking out four. During his brief stint in the majors substituting for Daisuke Matsuzaka, Masterson has proved he is ready for the bright spot light of Boston sports. Of course he will have to buy his time at the triple A level due to the overhaul of starters on the Red Sox roster that include excellent performances from Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz. But you heard it hear folks, come late-August Masterson will be a mainstay on the Sox pitching staff.

The lone Seattle run came in the top of the second when Masterson walked third baseman Adrian Beltre and right fielder Jeremy Reed to lead off the inning. First baseman Richie Sexson hit a scorching line drive into right field that was tracked down by right fielder J.D. Drew, on the edge of the warning track, for the first out of the inning. Although it was the first out of the inning, the deep fly out allowed Beltre to tag and advance 90 feet, to third. Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt hit a slow bouncer to counterpart Julio Lugo. Lugo played the play ball back and was only able to get the force out Reed, allowing Beltre to come in the back door, giving Seattle the brief 1-0 lead.

The Sox tied the game in the bottom of the third when Coco Crisp lined the first hit of the game for the Sox off Erik Bedard into right field. With the speedy Crisp on first to distract the left hander, Bedard walked Brandon Moss to bring lead off hitter Lugo to the dish with just one out. Lugo skied a 2-2 pitch to Ichiro Suzuki in center field, allowing Crisp to tag and move up to third. Dustin Pedroia was able to work the bases loaded two-out walk to send the hottest man on the Red Sox to plate: J.D. Drew. Drew would not be at the plate for long. Right after following a 1-2 pitch, Bedard came up and in on the Sox right fielder and hit him on the right hand with a rising fastball to force in Boston’s first run of the game. It was not exactly the way Drew wanted to pick up his 31^st RBI but whatever works. Manny Ramirez ended up striking out on a 3-2 check swing with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Right now if you are an opposing pitcher getting ready to face the Red Sox, you are scared to death of the current number three hitter. He is just on fire right now – very similar to the Celtics offense in the last three minutes of the third quarter last night. Drew would drive in all of the Sox two runs in the game. After getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third, Drew would add his eighth homerun of the season as he hit a rocket shot to the front row of the covered seats in center against reliever Sean Green. (John McLaren how sick are you feeling now? Bringing in a right hander to face the left handed Drew especially when Bedard had only allowed one run on two hits while striking out five.) The homerun was Drew’s third round-tripper on the current home-stand and fourth in eight games. Sorry Big Papi, but I do not think Drew is going to want to give up that number three spot in the line up when you return.

Not only is Drew getting things down on offense, the guy is locked in, in the field. He has always fielded his position well and has a strong throwing arm but most of the time his defense gets overlooked due to his offense. In years past, Red Sox fans have been privileged to watch one of the original Dirt Dogs, Trot Nixon, who was always diving all over right field for fly balls. That is why Sox fans liked him because of his grittiness and willing to get dirty. When Drew replaced him in right – as well as taking the number seven – it was tough sight for Sox fans to see. The did not see a guy diving all over the field for fly balls so it looked as if he wasn’t as good as Nixon but the truth is Drew is better.

He does not have to dive because he can get to more balls than Nixon could. Drew makes some of the catches Nixon would have had to dive for, look easy. He runs almost effortlessly toward the ball and catches it just as easy. Drew has much more than athleticism than Nixon ever did, so when it looks as if Drew is not trying hard as Nixon did, it is because he does not have to. (Guys like Nixon and Kevin Youkilis, have to work harder than others to make up for their lack of athleticism.)

After day off Monday, the Sox will send Josh Beckett to the mound on Tuesday night to face Daniel Cabrera and the Baltimore Orioles in a re-match of May 30 in Baltimore. Beckett is 6-4 on the season with a 4.07 ERA, 80 strike outs, 14 walks and a 1.10 WHIP. He is coming of a six inning win against the Tampa Bay Rays last Thursday where he allowing just one run on six hits while walking no one and striking out five. He has faced Baltimore twice this year, both in Maryland, and has been un-Beckett like. In 2008 Beckett is 1-1 with a 5.63 ERA, 15 strike outs, five walks and a 1.79 WHIP. Oriole batters are 15-for-50 (.300) against the Sox ace this year in 11.2 innings.

Cabrera is also making his third appearance against the Red Sox this year. In his first two starts against Boston this year, the Oriole right hander is 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA, five strike outs, two walks and a 1.79 WHIP. Sox batters are hitting at a .302 clip against Cabrera in 14 innings of work. The 6’9” pitcher is coming off a 7-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. In the loss, Cabrera went six innings allowing six runs on eight hits while walking none and striking out three. On the season, Cabrera is 5-2 with a 3.98 ERA, 47 strike outs, 32 walks and a 1.28 WHIP.

WIN: Justin Mastertson (3-0)

LOSS: Sean Green (1-2)

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon (18)

Game Notes:

Boston College Men’s Head Basketball Coach Al Skinner was at Sunday’s matinee game with the Seattle Mariners.

Manny Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the sixth inning.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

J.D. Drew, BOSTON ---- 1-3 HR, 2 RBIs

Justin Masterson, BOSTON ---- 6IP, 3H, 1ER, 3BB, 4K

Erik Bedard, SEATTLE -----5IP, 2H, 1ER, 3BB, 5K

Tim Wakefield retires 12 consecutive Mariners to lead Sox to the 11-3 victory

2008-06-07T18:52:00.004-04:00

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RED SOX BLOW OUT MARINERS 11-3; MOVE TO 39-26
Tim Wakefield retires 12 consecutive Mariners to lead Sox to the 11-3 victory

(June 7, 2008) – On a hazy, hot and humid June day in Boston, the Seattle Mariners had more to deal with than the 92 degree heat. They also had to deal with Tim Wakefield’s fluttering knuckleball that baffled Seattle batters for seven innings. Wakefield provided Red Sox fans with another excellent outing, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out six to pick up his fourth win of the season in the Sox’s 11-3 win. After the Mariners tied the score in the second, the 41-year-old veteran set down 13 of the next 15 Seattle batters, including retiring 12 in a row before catcher Kenji Johjima blooped a single in front of Coco Crisp in the seventh.

If J.D. Drew keeps hitting the way he is in the number three slot in the order, David Ortiz might have a hard time getting his spot back. Drew continued his red-hot hitting with a two-out rocket just past the outstretched glove of center fielder Ichiro Suzuki. As the ball rolled to the base of the wall, the Sox right fielder kicked it into another gear as he rounded second base and slide into third, safely with a triple. He knocked his seventh homerun just to the right of yellow line on the Green Monster off Seattle reliever, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in the sixth. In his last eight games, no Red Sox starter has a higher batting average than Drew with a .542 average, three doubles, one triple, three homeruns and eight RBIs.

Manny Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 12 games by hitting his fourth homerun in three games with a monster shot over everything in left. His 14 round-tripper of the season scored Drew from third to give the Sox the early 2-0 lead and the RBI Man’s 46^th and 47^th RBIs of the season.

After Wakefield retired the side in order in, with a ground out to shortstop by Wladimir Balentien sandwiched between strike outs to Richie Sexson and Kenji Johjima, the Mariners came back to tie the game in the third. In the top of the inning, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt led off the inning with a base hit into left and was followed by a dribbler down the third baseline by Suzuki, for his second hit of the game. Third baseman Adrian Beltre would drive in Betancourt and Suzuki with a ground rule double down the first base line after Jose Lopez advanced the runners with a ground out to third. But the game was not tied for long, as the Red Sox re-took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth.

After Kevin Youkilis grounded out to shortstop to begin the Sox half of the fourth, rookie Brandon Moss walked and motored around from first on Alex Cora’s double to left center. Cora would also come around to score Boston’s fourth run of the game on Coco Crisp’s second hit of the game. Not only did Crisp reach bases twice in the game but he kept the Seattle defense on their toes, stealing his 9^th and 10^th bags of season.

Revenge is sweet, when you are on the giving end of it instead of the receiving end of it. Just as the Mariners blew out the Sox in Friday night’s 8-0 shut out, the Sox returned the favor today after batting around in the bottom of the eighth inning. Cora led of the inning with a base hit into right field. Julio Lugo would advance Cora to second with his only base of the game into right as well. Drew was a double shy of being the first Sox player since John Valentin after he drove in Cora and Lugo with another single to right. Ramirez received the hat trick of the game when he walked for the third time in the eighth inning to move Drew up to second and then was pinch ran for by Jacoby Ellsbury. Coming in as a defensive replacement in top of the inning, Mike Lowell lined a double down the third base line to drive in Drew and send Ellsbury to third. After Lowell’s base hit the game was over for reliever Mark Lowe but his line score was not. Not having an RBI all game, Youkilis did not want to feel left out and lined an RBI double to left to plate Ellsbury and Lowell against Ryan Rowland-Smith, who relieved Lowe. In just a third of an inning, Lowe allowed all five runs on four hits and one walk.

There has been a last minute change of starting pitchers for Seattle in tomorrow afternoon’s series finale against the Red Sox. Instead of right hander Jarrod Washburn getting the start against the 23-year-old Justin Masterson, the Mariners will opt for the left handed Erik Bedard. After an outstanding seven inning performance of two hit ball with eight strikes against Wakefield and the Sox on May, 28, Bedard failed to get out of the fourth inning in his next start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In just 3.1 innings of work versus the Halos, the left hander allowed five runs – four earned – on seven hits while walking three and striking out one.

Making his 12 career start against Boston, Bedard will be opposed by Masterson, who is making the first start of his career against the Mariners. The former Aztec is 2-0 in his three starts this season with a 2.95 ERA, 14 strike outs, 9 walks, a 1.09 WHIP and a .175 opponent’s batting average. Masterson is coming off a 7-4 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 3 where he went six innings allowing four runs on six hits while striking out five and walking two. Since being recalled for the third time this season on June 3, it marks the first time Masterson has stayed in the big leagues for more than a cup of coffee.

WIN: Tim Wakefield (4-4)

LOSS: Miguel Batista (3-7)

Game Notes:

Going 0-for-12 on this current home stand, Dustin Pedroia got the day game after the night game off. Today will provide for a good mental health day for the sophomore second baseman.

Jonathan Papelbon came on to pitch the ninth inning to get some work in since he had not pitched since June 3.

Kevin Youkilis 233 consecutive games without an error has come to end when he dropped an easy throw from Alex Cora at second in the top of the ninth on a ground ball by pinch hitter Willie Bloomquist.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Tim Wakefield, BOSTON ---- 7IP, 4H, 2R, 2BB, 6K

J.D. Drew, BOSTON ---- 3-5 3B, HR, RBI, 2 Runs-scored

Manny Ramirez, BOSTON ---- 1-2 HR, 3 BB, 2 RBIs, 2 Runs-scored

Seattle ends the Sox 13 home game winning streak behind Richie Sexson’s 3-for-4 night

2008-06-06T22:54:00.001-04:00

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RED SOX ARE SHUT OUT BY MARINERS 8-0; MOVE TO 38-26
Seattle ends the Sox 13 home game winning streak behind Richie Sexson’s 3-for-4 night

(June 6, 2008) – It was a night when anything that could go wrong, would go wrong for the Red Sox. They could not re-group from three errors in the game and the Mariners took advantage of that. In the words of Tiger Woods, “[the Sox] just did not have their ‘A game’” in the field during a 6-0 loss to the Seattle Mariners. Sox starter Bartolo Colon did not help his own cause with two errors in five innings leading to three unearned runs.

After struggling against Colon in Seattle, the Mariners showed no ill effects to their 5-3 loss last Monday. Second baseman Jose Lopez got Seattle started out on the right foot when he lined a one-out single into center. He would come around to score the Mariner’s first run two batters later when third baseman Adrian Beltre hit a chopper back to the mound. Attempting to start the 1-6-3 double play to get out of the inning, Colon’s throw was just past the reach of shortstop Julio Lugo, scoring Lopez and making Raul Ibanez – who walked – safe at second. It appeared as if there was a miscommunication between Lugo and Dustin Pedroia about who was going to cover the second base bag and less Colon’s fault for the errant throw. Ibanez would come around to score on Jose Vidro’s ground out back to the mound for Seattle’s second run of the game.

Seattle would score again in the top of the third when Ichiro Suzuki reached base on Mike Lowell’s fifth error of the season. Although the error was charged to Lowell, it was not the third baseman’s fault. The ball dropped out of first baseman, Kevin Youkilis’s glove. Lopez would do some more damage with a base hit into left field, sending Suzuki to second. Facing Ibanez for the second time in the game, Colon tried to keep Suzuki close to the second base bag by throwing over but the ball ended up in center for the second time in three innings. Both Suzuki and Lopez advanced on the Sox’s second error of the inning. Colon’s second error of the game would prove to be costly as Beltre lifted a deep sacrifice fly to Coco Crisp in center to drive in Suzuki from third base.

The Red Sox could not piece anything together against neither Seattle right hander Felix Hernandez nor against the Mariners relievers of Sean Green and Ryan Rowland-Smith. In six innings, Hernandez allowed no Sox player to cross the plate while allowing six scattered base hits, including two to J.D. Drew and Sean Casey. In relief of Hernandez, Green retired all six Boston batters he faced while Rowland-Smith retired Jason Varitek, Brandon Moss and Lugo to end the game, after Casey led off the ninth with a double off the wall.

One of the scattered hits Hernandez allowed was a rocket back up the middle that almost took the young 22-year-old’s head off by number three hitter David Jonathan Drew. Hernandez’s short life flashed before his eyes when he saw the 2-0 fastball whistled past his left ear off the bat of the Sox right fielder.

The Red Sox clearly could not get down too many runs in a game with the Seattle ace on the mound. There are not going to be too many scoring opportunities in the game so when you get the chance to score you take advantage of them because there will not be too many. When the Mariners are threatening to take the lead or pad a lead, you have to quell the threat and not make frivolous errors that could and should have been avoided.

But it did not happen. The Sox really put themselves in a hole after the third inning and started to dig, as Christine Malkiewicz likes to say. The Mariners added five more crooked numbers in the fourth, fifth and the seventh innings against Colon and Sox reliever David Aardsma. In the fourth Richie Sexson recorded his first base hit of the game with a base hit to left. He would be sent to third on shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt’s two-out ground rule double down the first base line. Suzuki would drive in both with his only base hit of the game down the left field line. With two outs Betancourt was off with the pitch and was barely safe at the plate and narrowing escaping Varitek’s tag from Moss in right.

The next inning, Sexson would rive in his first run of the game with another two-out RBI by sending a Colon offering into center field to drive in Ibanez, who led off the inning with a single. Mariners first baseman would get his second RBI of the game in the seventh when he would get his third hit of the game – off Aardsma – with a base hit into center to drive in Beltre. In the top of the seventh, Ibanez led of the inning with a double to left and was followed by a walk to Beltre. Seattle designated hitter Jose Vidro would single to drive in Ibanez from third before being wiped out on a 6-4-3 double play by pinch-hitter Wladmir Balentien before Sexson added the eighth and final Mariner run.

Tim Wakefield gets the nod for tomorrow’s late afternoon match on national television against the Mariners. Seattle will send right hander Miguel Batista to oppose Wakefield in game two of the three game series. Batista is coming off a no-decision against Detroit where he pitched 5.1 innings allowing three runs on five hits while striking out two and walking one in the Mariners 7-5 loss to the Tigers. On the season, Batista is 3-6 with a 5.90 ERA, 39 strike outs 38 walks and a 1.85 WHIP but against the Red Sox this year, he held the Red Sox to five runs – only four earned – on seven hits in seven innings of work on May 27.

Wakefield is coming off two outstanding performances where he went seven plus innings in both starts but has not been rewarded with the victory. In his last start against the Orioles in Baltimore, Wakefield went a strong seven innings allowing two runs on five hits while striking out three and walking four. He left the game with an excellent chance of pick up his fourth win of the season but Hideki Okajima came on in the eighth and gave up four earned runs on four hits in just two-thirds of an innings to lose the game for Wakefield. Against the Mariners this year, the Sox knuckleballer went the distance but was not rewarded with the victory due to the lack of production from the Boston bats. In the game the deciding run was a homerun off the bat of shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt in the third inning. Wakefield would hold the Mariners to just the one run on five hits while striking out eight batters.

WIN: Felix Hernandez(4-5)

LOSS: Bartolo Colon (3-1)

Game Notes:

Sox first-year outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is not in the starting line up tonight but he was available to pinch-run, according to manager Terry Francona. Earlier in the day the rookie had an MRI on his right wrist that came back negative. He is currently day-to-day with a strained right wrist.

Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis are moving on from their dispute, regarding Youkilis’s anger issues after a poor at-bat, between the fourth and fifth innings of Thursday night’s game against the Rays.

Coco Crisp, Jon Lester and Sean Casey have been suspended for a combined 15 games for their involvement in yesterday’s brawl. Crisp received the most number of games with seven while Lester received a five game suspension – which basically means his next start is pushed back one day – and Casey is suspended for three games. Lester was suspended for throwing at Ray batters after warnings were issued to both benches.

The Sox optioned Chris Carter back down to Pawtucket and re-called Brandon Moss, who is coming of an appendectomy back in April. Moss was in the starting line up on Friday night for the Sox.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Felix Hernandez, SEATTLE ---- 6IP, 6H, 0ER, 1BB, 5K

Richie Sexson, SEATTLE ---- 3-4, 3 Singles, 2 RBIs, Run-Scored

Sean Casey, BOSTON ----- 3-4 2 Singles, Double

Despite rift with Youkilis, Manny Ramirez drives in 5 of 7 Sox runs as Boston sweeps Tampa Bay

2008-06-06T00:14:00.001-04:00

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RED SOX SWEEP RAYS 7-1; MOVE TO 38-25
Despite rift with Youkilis, Manny Ramirez drives in 5 of 7 Sox runs as Boston sweeps Tampa Bay

(June 5, 2008) – A new chapter has been added to the Red Sox-Rays rivalry as the Sox completed the three game sweep against Tampa Bay with a 7-1 win. Coco Crisp wrote the next edition of the eight year rivalry last night when he took out Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura on a stolen base attempt in the bottom of the eighth inning. The play last night had Tampa Bay manager, Joe Maddon, miffed and sparked a cross-field argument between Crisp and Maddon in the top of the ninth.

With Maddon outwardly upset at the Sox centerfielder’s actions in the previous night’s game, it comes as no surprise the Rays would seek revenge against Crisp in the future. But it is intriguing starter James Shields decided to hit Crisp in the side of the left leg with one down the bottom of the first. Instead of walking down to first base, Coco became enraged after being hit and charged the mound with Dioner Navarro charging behind him like Benjamin Watson chasing down Broncos safety Champ Bailey in the 2006 AFC Division Game in Denver.

Navarro took down the Sox center fielder like Mike Vrabel dropping Peyton Manning for a 10-yard loss, but not before Crisp got one swing at Shields. As soon as Crisp was down for the count, designated hitter Jonny Gomes and left fielder Carl Crawford decided to get in on the action with a few sucker punches of their own. Crisp and Shields were ejected from the game immediately following the dugout emptying brawl while Gomes was gone not too long afterward. There will be major suspensions to Crisp, Shields, Gomes and possibly Crawford, handed down by the Commish in days to come.

Down two runs in the second inning, it was not the time for the Rays to go after Crisp and send Shields, one of their best pitchers, to the showers just two innings into the game. Tampa Bay will see the Red Sox later on during the year; they should have been patient in their retaliation efforts against Boston and not struck so quick. When you have the upper hand in a scrum, you want to send the message that you may strike at any time. But tonight just showed the inexperience of the Rays.

After Crisp was ejected from the game, Jacoby Ellsbury moved from left field to center while recent Pawtucket call-up Chris Carter went into left. Getting another opportunity to play at the major league level, Carter finally received his first big league base hit with a single into center field off Grant Balfour, who replaced Shields after he was ejected in the second.

The Sox outfield started the game with Ellsbury, Crisp and J.D. Drew (left to right) but finished with Carter, Drew and Kevin Youkilis. In the top of the fourth, Ellsbury recorded the first out of the inning with a diving catch off the bat of fellow rookie Evan Longoria, whose liner was sure to drop for extra bases. But the rookie would not get up right away. After making the catch, the Oregonian turned his wrist over and was taken out of the game for precautionary reasons. Drew shifted over to center while Youkilis entered the game in right field.

Lost in the game was another outstanding performance by the Sox young left hander, Jon Lester. In 6.1 innings, the lefty allowed just one earned on eight hits while walking no opposing batters –for the first time this year – and striking out five Tampa Bay hitters. Also lost was Manny Ramirez’s 2-for-3 night which included his 13^th homerun of the season in the bottom of the first to put him tied with teammate David Ortiz and Seattle’s Adrian Beltre for third place for the AL lead in homeruns. Ramirez’s 503^rd career homerun drove in Dustin Pedroia, who was hit on the elbow by a Shields’s inside pitch, and Drew, who doubled to left center, sending Pedroia to third.

Ramirez would drive in five of the Red Sox seven runs in the game but it still would not matter to Youkilis who got in the face of the Sox’s eccentric left fielder between the fourth and fifth innings. Is there trouble in paradise for the typically mild-mannered Sox clubhouse or is it just “intra-family issues?” Neither Ramirez nor Youkilis wanted to comment on the situation so speculation welcome from either side. Radio broadcaster Joe Castiglione commented that maybe Youkilis was tweaked because Ramirez was one the last people out of the dugout during the brawl in the second. But why should the Sox hot-tempered first baseman care, because as the day’s designated hitter Ramirez was not due up until sixth that inning (should the Sox go that far) could have been in the clubhouse watching tapes. Note to Youkilis: do not get into a pissing match with the man who produces the majority of the runs for the team!

The Red Sox will take on the Seattle Mariners for a weekend three game series on Friday night with Bartolo Colon (3-0) getting the start against Felix Hernandez (3-5). Colon will be followed by Tim Wakefield (3-4) and Miguel Batista (3-6) on Saturday and Justin Masterson (2-0) and Jarrod Washburn (2-7) on Sunday.

WIN: Jon Lester (4-3)

LOSS: James Shields (4-4)

Game Notes:

Dustin Pedroia hit a sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of the second, to drive in Chris Carter – pinch running for Coco Crisp – off reliever Grant Balfour with one out in the inning for the Sox’s fourth run of the game.

J.D. Drew drove in the fifth run of the game for Boston with a bases loaded walk in the fourth before Manny Ramirez drove in his fourth and fifth RBIs of the game with single into left field. After Jason Varitek grounded out to second to begin the inning, Carter and Julio Lugo followed with back-to-back base hits. Relieving Balfour, J.P. Howell got Kevin Youkilis to fly out to center to advance Carter to third before walking Pedroia to load the bases.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Manny Ramirez, BOSTON ---- 2-3, Homerun, 5 RBIs

Jon Lester, BOSTON --- 6.1IP, 8H, 1ER, 0BB, 5K

Chris Carter, BOSTON --- 2-3 2 Singles, 2 Runs-scored

J.D. Drew’s third inning RBI double put Sox back in the driver’s seat of the AL East

2008-06-04T22:29:00.002-04:00

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RED SOX TOP RAYS 5-1; MOVE TO 37-25
J.D. Drew’s third inning RBI double put Sox back in the driver’s seat of the AL East

(June 4, 2008) – The Red Sox bounced back into first place with the 5-1 victory behind J.D. Drew’s RBI double to right in the third. Josh Beckett earned his sixth win on the season by pitching six innings allowing one earned run on seven hits while walking none and striking out five Tampa Bay hitters.

Rays starter Edwin Jackson had not allowed a hit until the first batter in the bottom of third and that is when it all unraveled for the Tampa Bay right hander. Center fielder Coco Crisp led off the inning with a base hit back up the middle into center. Rookie Jacoby Ellsbury hit squibbler with one-out to drive Crisp home from second. With Ellsbury on first, Jackson caught the Sox young outfielder getting cocky, leaning too far to second and decided to check him back to the bag. But the Rays first baseman, Eric Hinske could scope Jackson’s low throw and the ball escaped to the fence along the Sox dugout allowing Ellsbury to advance to second. He would score on Drew’s two-out ground rule double that bounced into the stands in right field. Manny Ramirez followed Drew’s double with a single of his own into center to score the Sox right fielder from second.

The lone Rays run came in the top of the fourth when third baseman, Evan Longoria lined a one-out double to deep center field. After catcher Dioner Navarro grounded out to shortstop, forcing Longoria to third, former Sox outfielder and first baseman Eric Hinske drove in the Tampa Bay rookie with a base hit into center field. But those would be all the runs the south western Florida team would record all game.

Crisp would gain that run back for the Sox by driving in first baseman Kevin Youkilis with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning. After Youkilis and catcher Jason Varitek with back-to-back base hits to lead of the fourth, the Sox true center fielder lifted a fly ball to center fielder B.J. Upton to plate Youkilis for the fourth Boston run. Youkilis would add the fifth run in the seventh by driving in Drew – for the second time – with a two-out single to left field.

The Sox will send Jon Lester to the mound against, no not fellow Southpaw Scott Kazmir but Rays right hander James Shields to complete try to complete the three game sweep of Tampa Bay. Lester is 3-3 on the season with a 3.67 ERA, 49 strike outs and a 1.38 WHIP. He is coming of a no-decision against the Baltimore Orioles on May 31 where he went five innings allowing three runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out four. After being the Rays ace for the first month of the season with Kazmir on the disabled list, Shields is 4-3 on the season with a 3.24 ERA, 58 strike outs and a 1.15 WHIP. He is coming of a 2-1 win against the Chicago White Sox on May 30 where he pitched six innings allowing one run on seven hits while walking one and striking six.

WIN: Josh Beckett (6-4)

LOSS: Edwin Jackson (3-5)

---

The 3 Stars of the Game:

J.D. Drew, BOSTON ---- 2-3 Double, RBI

Coco Crisp, BOSTON --- 2-2

Evan Longoria, TAMPA BAY --- 2-3 Double, Run-scored

Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell’s back-to-back homeruns lead Sox to 9-4 win over Baltimore

2008-06-01T16:47:00.003-04:00

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RED SOX POWER PAST ORIOLES 9-4; MOVE TO 35-24
Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell’s back-to-back homeruns lead Sox to 9-4 win over Baltimore

(June 1, 2008) – The Boston bats woke up earlier on the first day of June on the back of right fielder J.D. Drew and put a three spot up on the scoreboard in the third and fourth innings, giving the Sox the 9-4 win. Bartolo Colon picked up his third win of the season with the Sox victory.

The Red Sox version of the Game Theory, today’s center fielder, Jacoby Ellsbury started the Sox out on the right foot with a base hit into center in the first inning. After Dustin Pedroia flew out to right field to for the first out of the inning, Ellsbury had the glimmer in his eye that he was going to attempt his 27^th stolen base of the season. The Sox rookie would not wait around long into Kevin Youkilis’s at-bat and took off on the 0-1 pitch but the young outfielder would be thrown out trying to swipe second. For the third time this season, Ellsbury had been thrown out attempting to pad his stats. The only thing that makes it worse is, Orioles catcher Guillermo Quiroz is 3-for-16 in throwing out base runners. The young Ellsbury is starting to get a bit too cocky when he is on the base paths. Now sounds like a good time to quote former Patriots linebacker Rosevelt Colvin “calm down” little guy.

Although Youkilis lined a base hit into left field, the latest member of the 500 homerun club, would fly out to the deep center to end the inning. But Mike Lowell would put the Sox on the board in the top of the second. The third baseman blooped a base hit over Kevin Millar’s head and into right field. Normally a on a bloop hit like Lowell’s, Youkilis or David Ortiz would still be standing at third but the 2007 World Series MVP was hustling out the batter’s box and cruised into second with the double. Lowell advanced to third on catcher Jason Varitek’s single to right field and scored on J.D. Drew’s sacrifice fly to deep left that prompted Oriole left fielder Jay Payton to back up allowing Lowell to score.

The Orioles would come back to tie the game in the bottom of the second when Red Sox killer Luke Scott doubled off the scoreboard in right. Payton would sacrifice Scott to third with a bunt to make way for Adam Jones one-out single to right to plate Scott and tie the game at one. But that would be the last time Baltimore would be in the game.

Pedroia would lead off the fourth inning with his only base hit of the game into center field while Youkilis followed the second baseman’s lead with his second single to left, moving Pedroia to third. After getting the 500 homerun monkey off his back yesterday, Ramirez put a nice fluid swing on the first offering he saw from Brian Burress and lined double to left to drive in Pedroia. But the Sox offense would not go away quietly. Lowell would drive in Youkilis for his 23^rd RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly to deep right, Ramirez also tagged on the play and went to third. After Varitek lined out to Aubrey Huff at third, Drew drove in his second RBI of the game and 24^th of the season with a single to right before Burres retired Lugo two batters later to end the third.

The Sox put up another three spot on back-to-back two out homeruns by Ramirez and Lowell. The day after Ramirez hit his 500^th homerun, he came back to hit his 501^st to the same general location – right field – to give the Sox the 6-1 lead. It is hard to follow a Ramirez home run if you are the next better in the line but Lowell has been doing it for the past two years and this time he drove a line drive into the front row of the bleachers in left field for his seventh homerun and 25^th RBI. Drew also added his fifth homerun of the year in seventh in the form of solo shot with one out.

Tim Wakefield makes his 32^nd career start against Baltimore tomorrow night and will try to complete the four game sweep. It will be the first time since September 20-23, 2002 they have swept the Orioles in a four game series in Maryland. Wakefield is coming of a 1-0 complete game loss to the Seattle Mariners, where the only run of the game came on a third inning homerun to Yuniesky Betancourt. The knuckleballer’s outstanding five hit, eight strike out and no walks performance fell victim to the Sox offense who were “Powerless in Seattle.”

The 41-year-old Sox veteran will be opposed by the Orioles right hander Jeremy Guthrie who is 2-6 on the season with a 3.64 ERA, 48 strike outs, 23 walks and a 1.21 WHIP. He is coming off a 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees where he went seven innings allowing three runs on six hits while striking out four.

WIN: Bartolo Colon (3-0)

LOSS: Brian Burres (4-5)

The 3 Stars of the Game:

J.D. Drew, BOSTON ---- 2-3 Homerun, 3 RBIs

Manny Ramirez, BOSTON ---- 3-5 Double, Homerun, 3 RBIs

Mike Lowell, BOSTON ---- 2-4 Double, Homerun, 2 RBIs

Manny Ramirez’s 500th career homerun seals the deal as Sox take Game 2 against Baltimore

2008-05-31T23:08:00.004-04:00

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RED SOX OVERPOWER ORIOLES 6-3; MOVE TO 34-24
Manny Ramirez’s 500th career homerun seals the deal as Sox take Game 2 against Baltimore

(May 31, 2008) – Friday and Saturday nights in Baltimore during the school year are student nights where college students can get in for a small fee of $5. Well the hundreds of thousands of students who benefit from MICUA* (the Maryland Independent College and University Association) and paid the $5 for last night’s game got to witness history as well as the Red Sox’s 6-3 victory.

In the top of the seventh inning, Manny Ramirez lifted his 500^th career homerun into the bleachers in right center field off former Sox pitcher Chad Bradford. Bradford joins the likes of Melido Perez, Tanyon Sturtze, Dave Eiland, Ramon Ortiz and Gil Meche who allowed all of Ramirez’s milestone homeruns (first, 100^th, 200^th, 300^th and 400^th, respectively).

Ramirez’s homerun in the seventh was the second run of the inning. Before the Sox left fielder stepped to the dish looking for the illustrious 500^th homerun, Boston had already taken the lead for good. Ellsbury led off the inning with a triple into the gap in right center. After Dustin Pedroia grounded out to shortstop – with the infield pulled in – David Ortiz lifted a sacrifice fly ball to left that pushed across the go-ahead and ultimately winning run. It was Ortiz’s second RBI of the game.

The Orioles jumped on the board first with a two-run second on three weak base hits. Millar led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Hernandez’s base hit into left field. Another former Red Sox, Jay Payton drove in Millar on squibbler down the third base line. Center fielder Adam “I’m not Pac-Man” Jones lined a base hit into center for Baltimore’s second run of the game.

Baltimore’s two-run advantage would only last until the third batter of the third when Ortiz tied up the game with his 13^th homerun of the season on the back end of back-to-back homeruns. Before Ortiz stepped to the plate, Pedroia hit his fourth homerun of the season to cut the Orioles lead in half.

As former Yankee catcher and Hall of Famer, Yogi Berrea once said “it was deja-vu all over again,” when the Red Sox and Orioles took the field on Saturday night. No you were not watching a replay of yesterday’s Sox-O’s game. Once again these two teams could not score more than two runs a piece for the first 4.1 innings. Orioles second baseman and son of a former UNC baseball coach, Brian Roberts broke up the tie game with his fourth homerun of the season in fifth.

After Roberts solo homerun in the fifth, Jon Lester ran into a bit of difficulty. Right fielder Nick Markakis lined a double down the left line past the out stretched arm of Manny Ramirez. It appeared as if Lester was not going to make it through the fifth inning after he walked Kevin Millar (for the second time) and Aubrey Huff back-to-back to load the bases with two outs in the inning. The Sox had right handed reliever David Aardsma warming up in the bullpen to come on for Lester should the left hander struggle. But Lester would make catcher Ramon Hernandez nothing but a figment of the past by striking out the Baltimore catcher for his fourth strike out of the game and third out of the inning.

It would also end up being the last inning for Lester. Meaning the Sox lefty could not get the win but only the loss. But fortunately his cohort and Ramirez were able to take care of things and give the Red Sox their 34^th victory on the season. In five innings, Lester allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking three.

The Sox would tie up the game in the top of the sixth when Mike Lowell was hit by Lance Cormier, who came in at the beginning of the inning in relief of starter Garrett Olson. With Kevin Youkilis at the dish, Cormier stuttered on the mound as he was ready to deliver the second pitch to Youkilis. According to baseball statistical rules, this constitutes a balk and Lowell was able to advance on to second base on the play. Youkilis would advance Lowell to third on a base hit just under shortstop Alex Cintron’s glove.

Sox captain Jason Varitek is known more for his defensive work than for his production at the dish but last night the Sox catcher came through with his second base hit of the night. Varitek’s single to left drove in Lowell to even up the score at three a piece. Center field Coco Crisp would reached on a fielder’s choice –first to short – moving Youkilis up to third. Shortstop Julio Lugo ended the inning with a pop up to Roberts who snow-coned the final out of the inning.

The Sox will deal with another Baltimore left hander on Sunday afternoon at Oriole Park when they face 27-year-old, Oregon native Brian Burres. The Orioles left hander is 4-4 on the season with a 4.15 ERA, 29 strike outs, 18 walks and a 1.35 WHIP and will be opposed by the 2-0 Bartolo Colon, who is making his third start of the season.

Burres is coming off a very poor, 3.2-inning outing against the Yankees where he allowed eight runs on 10 hits including four homeruns. Against the Red Sox, he has pitched in eight games with one start and he is 1-0 with a 3.07 ERA, 9-9 strike out to walk ratio and a 1.56 WHIP. Sox batters are hitting at a .250 clip against the Baltimore left hander as well in 14.2 innings.

After starting the season on the disabled list and pitching in a few rehab games in Pawtucket, Colon is in search of his third win of the season. If he receives the win Sunday’s matinee with the Orioles, he will have reached his third win faster than teammate Jon Lester. Colon is coming of a 5-3 win against the Seattle Mariners up in Washington state, where he pitched seven strong innings allowing one run on five hits while striking out four and walking one. Colon has made 17 starts against the Orioles and has eight wins and six losses to show for it in 113 innings. Along with an 8-6 record, he also has a 3.27 ERA, a 3-2 strike out-to-walk ratio and a 1.38 WHIP against Baltimore. Oriole batters are hitting at a .257 clip against the former Cy Young Award winner as well.

WIN: David Aardsma (2-1)

LOSS: Lance Cormier (0-2)

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon (16)

Game Notes:

David Ortiz left the game in the middle of his fifth at-bat in the top of ninth inning. Sean Casey replaced him at the plate with a 3-2 count.

After being put on the 15-day disabled list yesterday, starter Daisuke Matsuzaka has begun his shoulder strengthening program and hopes to return as soon as he is eligible on June 14.

The Red Sox have activated Clay Buchholz from the 15-day disabled list from a broken finger nail on his throwing hand. He will make a few rehab assignments in Pawtucket and probably will remain down their for a while due to the full house of pitchers at the Major League level. But GM Theo Epstein, Terry Francona and John Farrell have and will continue to meet to discuss the young, 23-year-old’s plans for the future.

J.D. Drew sits out another game after experiencing symptoms of vertigo yesterday when he woke up in his Baltimore hotel room. (Although my personal experience is that any Baltimore hotel room can do that to you.)

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Manny Ramirez, BOSTON ---- 1-4 Homerun, RBI 500^th Career homerun

Jason Varitek, BOSTON ---- 3-4 Double, RBI

Nick Markakis, BALTIMORE ---- 2-4 2 Doubles

(* MICUA is the Maryland Independent College and University Association and it provides support and additional services to those independent colleges and universities in the state of Maryland. Click the link in the story to find out more about the organization if you wish.)

Mike Lowell’s single down the left field in 13th gives the Sox second win of the 10-game trip

2008-05-31T00:35:00.001-04:00

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RED SOX OUTLAST ORIOLES 5-2 IN EXTRA FRAMES; MOVE TO 33-24
Mike Lowell’s single down the left field in 13^th gives the Sox second win of the 10-game trip

(May 30, 2008) – It was a good night for Boston. On the same night the Boston Celtics returned to the NBA Finals for the first time in 21 years, the Red Sox pulled out the 5-2 victory in 13 innings with Mike Lowell’s third hit of the game off Chad Bradford. The Sox third baseman drove in the birthday boy, Manny Ramirez, who reached on Melvin Mora’s second error of the game to lead off the inning. It was Lowell’s 22^nd RBI of the year.

But the scoring was not done the lucky thirteenth inning. First baseman Kevin Youkilis got into the action with a base hit to shortstop, moving Lowell up to third. The right handed Dennis Sarfate came in to relieve Bradford but the damage was done. To add insult to injury, Lowell swiped his first bag of the season with his steal of third in the inning on a double steal. After Jason Varitek struck out for the first out of the inning, Coco Crisp drove in Lowell and Youkilis when he was safe at first on shortstop Freddie Bynum’s throwing error.

Last time the Sox were in Baltimore, the Orioles were taking infield practice before the game – something that is not usually done by ball clubs during the season. But it was not all that effective. All of the runs scored in the top of the 13^th inning were unearned. Sure it will make the pitchers happy not see their ERAs sky rocket but it will make manager Dave Trembley’s blood pressure go through the roof. Honestly, six year olds can play better defense than the Orioles did tonight.

The Sox did not wait around against Oriole starter Daniel Cabrera. Ortiz got the Sox on the board early with a one-out RBI base hit into right center to plate Jacoby Ellsbury, who doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning. Still in search of that evasive 500^th homerun, Ramirez prolonged the first inning with another double down the left field line sending Ortiz to third. Ortiz would come home to score Boston’s second run of the game on a long, sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Lowell.

Baltimore cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second when former Sox first baseman Kevin Millar dropped a single in front of Ramirez with one out. Coming into tonight’s game, Orioles left fielder Luke Scott has been 4-for-5 against Josh Beckett and would continue his success against the Sox ace with a single into right to move Millar to third. Trying to piece something together against Beckett, Scott took off for second with Hernandez at the dish. Sox catcher Jason Varitek’s throw traveled a bit too far than the necessary 128 feet, from home to second, and allowed Millar to come on with Baltimore’s first run. Third baseman Aubrey Huff’s ninth round tripper of the season evened up the score at two a piece in the O’s half of the fourth.

It was hard to imagine that both starters started before the tip-off of Game Six but it was true and both were out of the game before the second quarter started. After getting off to a rocky first inning, Cabrera settled down long enough for the Orioles to tie the game in the fourth. Nothing came easy for the tall, lanky Baltimore pitcher but he was able to scratch and claw his way out of jams after a turbulent first. Cabrera went on to pitch seven innings allowing just the two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out three Sox before turning the game over to the Orioles relievers, who as a group, pitched extremely well this year.

In six innings, Beckett allowed one earned run on four hits while striking out 10 orange birds on 118 pitches. He did not pitch like the quintessential Josh Beckett Red Sox fans expect to see but he pitched well enough to have a chance to get his sixth win of the season. During the fifth and sixth innings, Beckett retired four consecutive batters via the strike out before allowing his first walk of the game. That first walk would soon turn into three more and next thing Beckett knew he was facing center fielder Adam Jones with the bases loaded. After a long at-bat, Jones finally succumbed to Beckett’s fastball for the all-star pitcher’s 10^th strike out of the game.

Sox left handed set-up, Hideki Okajima came on in relief of Beckett to pitch the seventh and eighth innings. In two innings of work, the Japanese left hander faced seven batters and retired five of them, giving up a one-out single to second baseman Brian Roberts in the seventh before turning the reigns over to Sox right handed set-up man Manny Delcarmen for the bottom of the ninth inning.

After recent call-up Jeff Bailey pinch-hit for the weak hitting Alex Cora in the top of the ninth, Julio Lugo found himself in a very rare situation. He was in the game in the ninth inning. Due to Lugo’s poor performance in the field – 12 errors on the season – Cora will come out as a defensive replacement but tonight it was vice-versa with Cora being pinch-hit for in the top of the inning.

Facing the bottom third of the Baltimore line up, Delcarmen quickly retired Hernandez and Jones on a fly ball to center and a strike out before giving up a base hit by the dive of Dustin Pedroia to shortstop Freddie Bynum. Bynum would steal his first base of the season to place himself in scoring position for Brian Roberts. The Orioles second baseman worked a walk against the Boston native to bring up the father of quintuplets, Melvin Mora. Coming into his at-bat in tonight’s game Mora is had been 0-for-4 with two strike outs and it would only get worse when he grounded out to Lowell at third for the final out of the inning and force extra frames.

Since relieving Cabrera in the eighth inning, Baltimore bullpen has pitched outstanding, retiring 12 consecutive Red Sox hitters since Lowell’s base hit to left center. The Orioles streak was retired when Albers walked Lugo to lead off the inning. With Lugo off on the pitch, Ellsbury hit a squibbler into right field sending the Sox shortstop to third base. For the first time all game the Sox had something boiling with Pedroia at the dish but unfortunately there were all ready two outs. Pedroia hit a weak ground ball to Mora but the second base umpire called base runners inference on Ellsbury to end the inning.

It will be a match-up of Southpaws in tomorrow night’s second game of the four game series. The Sox will send Jon Lester to the hill to face Garrett Olson. Lester is coming his first start since throwing his no-hitter and is 3-1 on the season with a 5.19 ERA with 45 strike outs while Olson is 4-1 with a 4.09 ERA and 26 strike outs.

WIN: Mike Timlin (3-3)

LOSS: Chad Bradford (2-2)

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon (15)

Game Notes:

SawxBlog gives a Happy 36^th Birthday shout out to the RBI Man, Manny Ramirez.

Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis had the dreadful baseball hat trick of three consecutive strike outs in the third, sixth and seventh innings.

Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera recorded his first one-two-three inning in the top of the fourth inning when he got Kevin Youkilis to fly out to center, Jason Varitek to pop to shortstop and retiring Coco Crisp by way of the K.

Injury Report:

Before the game the Red Sox put Daisuke Matsuzaka on the 15-day disabled list and called up Jeff Bailey from Pawtucket.

J.D. Drew was a late scratch to Friday’s line up after having vertigo, giving Jacoby Ellsbury the opportunity to start in right field, according to Terry Francona.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Mike Lowell, BOSTON ---- 3-5 2 Singles, Double, 2 RBIs

David Ortiz, BOSTON ---- 2-6 Single, Double, RBI

Aubrey Huff, BALTIMORE --- 1-5 Homerun, RBI

Yuniesky Betancourt’s solo homerun in the third was all the M’s needed to send the Sox back east

2008-05-29T00:44:00.002-04:00

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RED SOX DROP RUBBER GAME TO MARINERS 1-0; MOVE TO 32-23
Yuniesky Betancourt’s solo homerun in the third was all the M’s needed to send the Sox back east

(May 28, 2008) – It was a staring contest between Boston and Seattle. The first team to blink would end up with another digit added to the right side of the standings. The Sox blinked first and head back east after winning just one game on their six game trip to the left coast, after a 1-0 loss at the hands of Erik Bedard and the Seattle Mariners. (Special editor’s note: That would make a wonderful tee-shirt idea: “The Sox went west and all I got was ‘Seattle’s Best.’”)

Upset about being pinch-hit for in the bottom of the ninth inning by Jeremy Reed, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt put the Mariners on top with a one-out solo homerun in the third. The Seattle shortstop took the 1-1 high, knuckler for a ride and deposited it into the Red Sox bullpen in left. It was Betancourt’s third homerun and 19^th run batted in of the season.

The rubber game of was a pitcher’s duel between Seattle’s Southpaw, Erik Bedard and Boston’s knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield. Besides the one mistake to Betancourt, Wakefield’s knuckleball fluttered all over the strike zone, baffling Seattle batters for seven innings. It was evident that his knuckleball was working when he struck out the side in the Mariner’s half of the second. The Sox 41-year-old starter allowed scattered base hits but never gave the Mariners the opportunity to piece anything to together after Betancourt’s homerun. Wakefield would throw his 30^th complete game of his career allowing jut one run on five hits while striking out eight Mariners and walking none.

With Wakefield doing his part to make sure the Sox walked away with a series win, Bedard was doing everything in his power not to let that happen. Bedard matched Wakefield’s magnificent performance with an extraordinary performance of his own, even mirroring Wakefield’s second inning with three strike outs in the fifth. At one point during the game, the Mariners starter retired eight consecutive Sox hitters before walking Mike Lowell in the top of the seventh inning. His night would be over after getting Coco Crisp to fly out to left to end the inning.

After pitching seven strong innings of two-hit ball with eight strike outs while walking just three batters, Bedard turned the game over to Brandon Morrow. Morrow was the reliever who entered Tuesday night’s game with runners on first and second and nobody out, to strike out Manny Ramirez and Lowell back-to-back before getting J.D. Drew to fly out to left. Last night, Morrow fast a little trouble after walking the pinch-hitting Drew to lead off the inning. Shortstop Julio Lugo attempted to sacrifice Drew to second with a bunt but first baseman Miguel Cairo sniffed out that one and threw Drew out at second. The Seattle reliever would get rookie outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out to second before striking out Dustin Pedroia for the final out of the inning.

The Red Sox departed Seattle after the game for the “Land O’ Crabs” to face the Baltimore Orioles for a four game series beginning on Friday night. Josh Beckett will get the start for the Sox and will be opposed by the Orioles tall, lanky right hander, Daniel Cabrera. These two teams last met in a two-game series on May 13 and 14 where Baltimore walked away with their first two-game sweep in Baltimore since April 25-26 of 2005.

Beckett has not been too pleased with the start of his 2008 season. He started the season on the disabled list with a back and hip injury and since coming off the disabled list, the Sox ace is 5-4 with a 4.43 ERA, 65 strike outs and a 1.08 WHIP. Not the kind of start the 2007 ALCS MVP wanted to have. Beckett is coming of a 3-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics last Saturday where he pitched seven innings allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out nine.

Against the Orioles this year, Beckett’s outing was nothing to write home about. The last time he was on the Camden Yards mound, the Red Sox starter went 5.2 innings allowing five earned runs on 11 hits while walking two and striking out five. Oriole batters are hitting at a .707 clip against Beckett this year.

The normally short-fused Baltimore right hander, Cabrera is a surprising 5-1 on the season with a 3.70 ERA, 42 strike outs and a 1.29 WHIP. He is coming of a no-decision against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 25 where he went 5.2 innings allowing four runs on nine hits while walking six and striking out one. The Orioles would go on to lose the game to the first place Rays, 5-4. Against the Sox this year, Cabrera is 1-0 with a 6-3 victory on May 14 where he went seven innings allowing two runs on 10 hits while striking out three and walking no opposing batters. Although his line score looks good, Sox batters are hitting a nice .387 against him this year. Can’t you smell the sweet smell of revenge (it smells like chicken) with that statistic plus the fact that Baltimore has fallen down the AL East standings very quickly?

WIN: Erik Bedard (4-3)

LOSS: Tim Wakefield (3-4)

SAVE: J.J. Putz (6)

Game Notes:

Jacoby Ellsbury “stole” his 20^th stolen base of the season. There are parentheses around stole because Bedard had a picked him off at first but first baseman Miguel Cairo threw wildly into left field allowing Ellsbury to reach second base safely. If Cairo made a good through Ellsbury would have been a dead duck.

Ichiro Suzuki reached base in the bottom of the eighth on fielder’s choice to second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Ichiro stole his 23^rd bag of the season to put him in a tie with Houston’s Michael Bourn for most stolen bases in MLB.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Erik Bedard, SEATTLE --- 7IP, 2H, 0ER, 3BB, 8K

Yuniesky Betancourt, SEATTLE --- 2-3 Homerun, RBI

Tim Wakefield, BOSTON --- 8IP, 5H, 1ER, 0BB, 8K

Jose Lopez’s ninth inning walk-off single drives home Seattle’s first win in eight games

2008-05-28T01:27:00.004-04:00

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RED SOX DROP GAME TWO TO MARINERS 4-3; MOVE TO 32-23
Jose Lopez’s ninth inning walk-off single drives home Seattle’s first win in eight games

(May 27, 2008) – Although Julio Lugo had been ejected three innings prior, his spirit was still on the field in the bottom of the ninth inning. Second baseman Jose Lopez’s two-out single down the third base line, past the diving Mike Lowell, gave the Mariners the 4-3 victory.

Seattle right fielder Wladimir Balentien began the inning with single off the glove of replacement shortstop Alex Cora, against reliever Mike Timlin. First baseman and former Yankee Miguel Cairo laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the right fielder up into scoring position for pinch hitter, Jeremy Reed. Reed, who was pinch hitting for the upset and angry Yuniesky Betancourt, did not do what he wanted to do. He grounded out for the second out of the inning but he made sure it was to the right side of the infield to move the winning run to just 90 feet away with Ichiro Suzuki coming to bat. Suzuki was already 2-for-4 on the night with a single and double, so the Sox played it smart and intentionally walked the Seattle center fielder, to face Lopez. (Well it was a smart play at the time.)

The lowly Mariners jumped out to the early 2-0 lead against Daisuke Matsuzaka in the bottom of the first inning. Coming into the game, Matsuzaka has owned his fellow countryman, Suzuki, but tonight was a different story. Suzuki led of the game for Seattle lining a base hit down the left field line. His incredible speed allowed him to cruise into second with the easy double. Matsuzaka would make a key mistake on Lopez’s ground ball. Instead of throwing to force out Lopez for the sure out, Matsuzaka tried to get the speedy Suzuki, who broke for third on the play. Just like that, the Mariners had runners at the corners with no body out.

I vividly recall telling the children at after school recreation baseball to get the sure out at first base. Maybe Matsuzaka needs to go back to tee-ball to re-learn the basic fundamentals of the game of baseball.

His first inning mistake ended up costing the Sox two runs. Designated hitter, Jose Vidro reached on a fielder’s choice – first to short – forcing out Lopez and in the back door came Suzuki with Seattle’s first run of the game. Left fielder Raul Ibanez hit line drive double just past the outstretched glove of the diving Coco Crisp in left center, to drive in Vidro with the second run. But Matsuzaka was able to “minimize the damage” by striking out third baseman, Adrian Beltre and catcher Kenji Johjima, back-to-back to end the inning.

Seattle would get another run two innings later after Suzuki led off the inning with a base hit into center field. He was able to turn a simple single into a double with his 22^nd stolen base of the season, putting him one steal behind Houston Astros’s center fielder Michael Bourn (23). Suzuki advanced to third on a ground ball to first by Vidro. Sean Casey reverted to his days as a little leaguer and threw the ball wide of Matsuzaka allowing Vidro to reach. With an extra life, Ibanez drove in his second run of the game with a ground ball, fielder’s choice to second.

The Sox bats were stifled for the first five innings by Seattle right hander Miguel Batista but were able to get to him an inning later. After making Crisp just his second strike out victim, shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt bobbled a ground ball by Dustin Pedroia allowing the Sox second baseman to reach and giving Betancourt his seventh error of the season. The error rattled the Mariners pitcher and he gave up a base hit to right by the Sox big man, David Ortiz, giving Manny Ramirez the opportunity to tie up the game with one swing of the bat.

Stuck at 498 homeruns for over two weeks and 0-for-1 on the night, Ramirez lined an opposite field shot over the head of Balentien for his 499^th career homerun – ninth on the season. It is hard not be jealous of Manny’s swing. He has the perfect swing any baseball player – youth or professional – wants to have. There are even some golfers out there that watch in amazement of how still the eccentric left fielder’s head remains as well as the fluid motion of his arms as he swings through the ball.

After tying the game in the sixth, the Sox had their biggest opportunity of the game to take the lead two innings later. Facing Pedroia for the fourth time, Batista walked the Sox second baseman and was quickly pulled by manager John McLaren in favor the left hander Ryan Rowland-Smith. Brought in specifically to face Ortiz, Rowland-Smith failed to do his job, giving up a base hit to right center to the designated hitter and moving Pedroia up to second. That was it for the Seattle lefty as McLaren opted for the right hander Brandon Morrow to face Ramirez.

With no outs, runners on first and second and one of the most dangerous hitters at the plate, it did not spell good news for the Mariners. Two innings ago, Ramirez took an outside pitch over the right field fence to push him one homerun closer to the evasive 500 mark. Everything was in line for an offensive shower of runs, but just as unpredictable as the weather is, so is the Red Sox offense on this 10-game road trip. Morrow retired Ramirez and Lowell on back-to-back strike outs and got J.D. Drew to fly out to right to end the threat.

The Red Sox will send their knuckleball pitcher to the hill to face the former Baltimore Oriole in tomorrow’s late night finale in the hometown of the co-founder of the world’s largest operating system. Tim Wakefield will face Seattle left hander Erik Bedard in the final game of the three game series with the Mariners. Looking for his fourth win of the season, Wakefield is coming off an 8-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics last Friday night. In the lose, the Sox veteran right hander allowed all eight runs on eight hits while walking four and striking out four.

Wakefield has faced Seattle 23 times including 13 starts against Mariners in his 14 year career. In 111.1 innings, he is 3-8 with one shut out, a 4.37 ERA and a 78-to-52 strike out-to-walk ratio. Also in his 13 starts, Wakefield has gone the distance thrice against the Mariners including one shut out.

Before being traded to the Mariners, the native Canadian spent the first five years of his career in the American League East with the Baltimore Orioles, so he has seen a lot of the Red Sox. Against the Sox in his career, Bedard appeared in 11 games and has a 4-4 with a 4.95 ERA, a .222 opponent’s batting average and a 47-to-33 strike out-to-walk ratio. The Seattle lefty is coming of a 13-2 loss against the Yankees in the Bronx where he went just 4.1 innings allowing nine runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out three.

WIN: J.J Putz (2-2)

LOSS: Mike Timlin (2-3)

Game Notes:

Ichiro Suzuki’s double down the third base line to lead off the game for the Mariners, was only his second MLB hit against his fellow countryman, Daisuke Matsuzaka. With his third inning single, Ichiro is now 3-for-14 against Matsuzaka.

Daisuke Matsuzaka came out of the game before he threw a single pitch in the bottom of the fifth with an apparent right hip injury. More when it becomes available.

Third base umpire, Angel Hernandez ejected Julio Lugo and Terry Francona in the bottom of the fifth for arguing Raul Ibanez’s check swing on a 1-0 pitch. Alex Cora came into the game to replace Lugo at shortstop.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Jose Lopez, SEATTLE ---- 2-4 Double, Game Winning RBI

Ichiro Suzuki, SEATTLE ---- 2-4 Double, Stolen Base

Manny Ramirez, BOSTON ---- 1-3 Homerun, 3 RBIs, 4^th outfield assist in the sixth on Beltre

Dustin Pedroia’s two-out ground rule double to left sparks late eighth inning rally, gives Sox 5-3 win

2008-05-27T01:25:00.003-04:00

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RED SOX TOP MARINERS 5-3; MOVE TO 32-22
Dustin Pedroia’s two-out ground rule double to left sparks late eighth inning rally, gives Sox 5-3 win

(May 26, 2008) – Just what the doctor ordered. A nice dose of the AL West bottom feeders is what the Sox needed to end their seven game road losing streak. In just his second start of the 2008 campaign Bartolo Colon picked up his second win of the season in the Red Sox’s 5-3 victory over the hapless Seattle Mariners.

For the first seven innings of the game it was tight pitcher's duel, between Colon and Seattle’s youthful right hander Felix Hernandez. Hernandez retired 11 consecutive Sox batters before reaching David Ortiz in the top of the fourth inning. For the second time in three days, the Sox designated hitter broke up a potential no-hit bid with his solo homerun to dead center field. It was Ortiz’s 12^th homerun on the season tying him with Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton for second place in the American League homerun category. But that would be all the runs the Sox would score until the top of the eighth.

The Sox batted around in the top of the eighth and put a four spot on the board. At that point the game against a weak hitting Seattle team the game was over. The four run rally all started with two outs and when it looked as if the Sox would squander another opportunity to re-take the lead. But cocky little second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, came through, pulling a Hernandez fastball to left field for a ground rule double, scoring Julio Lugo from second base. Hernandez would intentionally walk Ortiz to face the equally dangerous left fielder Manny Ramirez.

After being in a horrific slump the past two weeks, the RBI Machine has begun to come around at the beginning of this 10 game road trip. In the eighth inning of last night’s 5-3 victory, Ramirez took an inside pitch to right, scoring Pedroia from second base and advance Ortiz to third. Sox third baseman Mike Lowell would drive in Ortiz from third with his first hit of the game, a line drive down the third base line that the Mariners Adrian Beltre could not make a play on.

Hernandez would give up a single to J.D. Drew and a bases loaded walk to Jason Varitek before Seattle manager John McClaren had seen enough and opted for the 25-year-old left hander Ryan Rowland-Smith. Smith was able to get Sean Casey, who was batting for the second time in the inning to ground out to second but the damage was done. In the words of Christine, “Take the ‘D’ from Dover and it’s over.” Hernandez pitched 7.2 innings allowing a streak of ugly fives (five runs on five hits while walking five and striking out five).

Even with a strict pitch count, the hefty Sox veteran right hander – Colon – was able to make his way through seven complete innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. In seven innings, Colon recorded just one run on five hits while walking one and striking out for Seattle hitters. Left handed set up man, Hideki Okajima came on in relief of Colon to pitch the bottom of the eighth. After giving up a single to right off the bat of Jose Lopez, Okajima stranded the second baseman at first, retiring the following three batters to end the inning.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in the ninth inning – in a non-save situation – to get some work. But things did not go the way the Sox closer would have liked. Papelbon struck out lead off batter, right hander Jeremy Reed to begin the inning but allowed first baseman Richie Sexson to reach on his throwing error. Catcher Kenji Johjima lined a base hit into right center that sent Sexson to third. Center fielder Ichiro Suzuki lined a base hit into center to plate Sexson with Seattle’s second run of the game and moving Johjima to third. With runners at the corners the Mariners appeared as if they had something going. Johjima would score on Papelbon’s wild pitch to designated hitter Jose Vidro to cut the Sox lead to two.

It was a gut-wrencher in the bottom of the ninth because it looked as if the Sox were doing everything in their power to give the game to Seattle. Papelbon’s error. Varitek not being able to handle a Papelbon pitch in the dirt to Vidro allowing the Mariners catcher to score. But like all good teams, the Red Sox were able to survive the rocky ninth and pull out their 32^nd win of the season when Vidro grounded out to Pedroia to end the ballgame.

Daisuke Matsuzaka looks to take game two of the three game series against the Mariners when he toes the rubber against Seattle right hander Miguel Batista. Matsuzaka is hoping to be come the first American League pitcher to reach the nine win mark. He is currently the last remaining MLB pitcher who is undefeated at 8-0 with a 2.40 ERA, 53 strike outs, 38 walks and a 1.32 WHIP.

Making his 11^th start of the season against the Sox Japanese pitcher, Batista is 3-6 on the season with a 6.47 ERA, 35 strike outs and a 1.97 WHIP. He is coming off a 9-2 loss against the Detroit Tigers in Motown where he allowed five runs – four earned, - on seven hits while walking one and striking out two in just three innings. Against the Red Sox in his career, Batista is 4-5 in 8 starts with a 6.20 ERA, a 33-to-34 strike out-to-walk ratio and a 1.92 WHIP.

Unlike Batista, the Sox starter tomorrow night has better numbers against the team from the Emerald City. Matsuzaka is currently 1-1 in four starts with a 4.33 ERA, 23 strike outs and a 1.15 WHIP. Mariner batters are hitting just .220 against Matsuzaka and that includes Ichiro’s 1-for-12 (.083) with two walks and three strike outs against his fellow countryman.

WIN: Bartolo Colon (2-0)

LOSS: Felix Hernandez (2-5)

Game Notes:

Kevin Youkilis was originally in the starting line up but was last minute scratch due to pain on the top of his right hand. Youkilis told the Sox medical personnel that he felt it yesterday against the Athletics and is currently day-to-day, according to the Sox public relations staff. The Sox first baseman was replaced in the line up by The Mayor Sean Casey.

Nine lives

Ichiro Suzuki got another chance at the plate in the first inning against Sox starter Bartolo Colon. On the third pitch to the Seattle center fielder, Suzuki skied a pop up to Jason Varitek who bobbled the ball and let it slip out of his glove and into the stands; thus giving Ichiro an extra life at the plate.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Bartolo Colon, BOSTON --- 7IP, 5H, 1ER, 1BB, 4K

David Ortiz, BOSTON --- 1-5 Homerun, RBI

J.D. Drew, BOSTON --- 2-3 2 Singles

Justin Duchscherer’s one-hit shut out pushes Oakland to the 3-0 win; gives Boston 16th road loss

2008-05-25T00:32:00.002-04:00

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RED SOX GET SHUT OUT AT HANDS OF ATHLETICS 3-0; MOVE TO 30-21
Justin Duchscherer’s one-hit shut out pushes Oakland to the 3-0 win; gives Boston 16^th road loss

(May 24, 2008) – On the night where the Celtics ended their six-game, playoff road losing streak on the back of Kevin Garnett, the Red Sox fall to 10-16 on the road with a 3-0 loss to the Athletics. The former Red Sox prospect, Justin Duchscherer was making his first career start against his old team and held them hitless until the top of the seventh inning when David Ortiz lined a base hit into right center. But it was not enough and the 30-year-old recorded his fourth win of the season.

To start the game, Duchscherer mowed down the first 15 Sox batters until hitting catcher Jason Varitek with the first pitch in the top of the sixth inning. Until then the Oakland right hander retired the Sox with 12 flyballs, two strike outs and one ground out. But Boston starter Josh Beckett pitched an impressive seven innings allowing just two runs one seven hits while striking out nine Athletics.

The A’s got to Beckett in the second inning when, first baseman Mike Sweeney led of the inning with a bloop double down the right field line. The outfield Sweeney, Ryan, would sacrifice the first baseman over to third with a bunt for the first out of the second. Right fielder Emil Brown hit a bouncer to shortstop Alex Cora. Cora tried to come home to get the not-so-fleet-of-foot Sweeney but the throw was late and Sweeney was safe at the plate and Brown was safe at first. Red Sox killer second baseman Mark Ellis singled into right center moving Brown up to second; but the one run was all the A’s got after Beckett got Kurt Suzuki to line out to left and struck out Jack Hannahan for his first strike out of the game.

Beckett kept his team in the game but the Sox’s potent offense hit a power outage and could not scrap anything together against the tall and lanky right hander. Even after Duchscherer hit Varitek in the right thigh to lead of the sixth inning, center fielder Coco Crisp became the Oakland starter’s fifth strike out victim before retiring Cora and Jacoby Ellsbury on an infield fly and ground out, respectively. It would be deja-vu in the seventh as well after Ortiz took a one-out offering to right center for the Sox’s first hit of the game. Duchscherer retired both Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell with fly outs to right to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, Ryan Sweeney added another insurance run for the Athletics when he took a 1-0 Beckett offering to right center for his second homerun of the season. The sox starter was able to get out of the inning without any further damage being done but the game was over for Beckett and he turned the game over to reliever Manny Delcarmen.

Delcarmen did not fair much better. Pitching the eighth inning, the right handed set up, gave up a one out base hit to Oakland defensive replacement Rajai Davis. Davis advanced into scoring position for the ever dangerous Frank Thomas, with his fourth stolen base. Delcarman walked Thomas before giving up a base hit to Mike Sweeney to drive in Davis with the A’s third run of the game. Huston Street came on in the top of the ninth and retired the Sox in order for his 10^th save of the season and that was all she wrote for the Sox.

Fresh off his first complete game and 18^th no-hitter in Red Sox history, Jon Lester makes his third start against the Athletics this year opposing Oakland right hander Joe Blanton. Blanton is coming of a 7-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays where he pitched six innings allowing four runs on six hits while striking out five but did not factor into the decision. The A’s righty has already faced Boston two times this year (once in Japan and once in the United States) and is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA, six strike outs and a 1.37 WHIP in 11.2 innings. Sox batters are hitting at a .292 clip against him in 2008.

Things have not gone all too smooth with Blanton this year. At 2-6, he will be looking for his third win of the season when he opposes the Jon Lester tomorrow afternoon in the Bay Area. So far this year, Lester is 3-2 with a 3.41 ERA, 42 strike outs, 31 walks and a 1.30 WHIP. Like Blanton, this will be the third time the Sox lefty will face the Athletics this year. Lester is currently 1-1 with a 3.38 ERA and seven strike outs in 10.2 innings against Oakland in 2008 and A’s batters are hitting just .216 against him.

WIN: Justin Duchscherer (4-3)

LOSS: Josh Beckett (5-4)

SAVE: Huston Street (10)

Game Notes:

After going 0-for-4 in last night’s 8-3, Manny Ramirez gets a mental health day and will be replaced in left by Jacoby Ellsbury and in the order by Kevin Youkilis. Ramirez is trying to capture that elusive 500^th career homerun but has struggled as off late. His last homerun came on May 12 against the Twins in Minnesota but his struggles pre-dates even that. In the month of May, the Sox slugger is 15-for-77 (.195), 114 percentage points below his career average for May. Not only his average down but so too are his doubles (3), homeruns (2) and slugging percentage (.312).

Before the game, Ramirez fooling around taking ground balls at shortstop and surprisingly according to Nick Carfardo he has fielded them all cleanly.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Justin Duchscherer, OAKLAND --- 8IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 4K

Mike Sweeney, OAKLAND --- 2-4 Double, RBI

Josh Beckett, BOSTON --- 7IP, 7H, 2ER, 0BB, 9K

The Big Hurt snaps Sox seven game winning streak with a 3-for-4 night in Oakland’s 8-3 win

2008-05-24T01:18:00.004-04:00

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RED SOX FALL TO ATHLETICS 8-3; MOVE TO 31-19
The Big Hurt snaps Sox seven game winning streak with a 3-for-4 night in Oakland’s 8-3 win

(May 23, 2008) – Like the Celtics in the post-season away from the TD Banknorth Garden, the Red Sox road woes continue with a late night 8-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics behind starter Rich Harden. In his third appearance against the Red Sox this season, the Oakland right hander continued his dominance over Boston leading to his third win of the season.

Harden began the game on fire, retiring the first 10 Red Sox batters before giving up second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s third homerun of the season to left on a 2-1 count. In six innings, the Athletics starter allowed two runs on four hits while striking out eight Sox before turning the game over to right handed reliever Joey Devine. Devine pitched two innings allowing one run on two hits while striking out two before handing the ball off to Oakland closer Huston Street in a non-save situation.

Oakland batters knocked the Sox knuckleballer, Tim Wakefield around early in the game. With one out in the bottom of the first, shortstop Bobby Crosby doubled down the left field line and scored on a base hit into center, just out of the reach of Pedroia, by left fielder Jack Cust. After beginning the season with the Toronto Blue Jays, Frank Thomas found himself back with Athletics, the team he played with last year. Once again, against the Red Sox, The Big Hurt did what he does best and lined a shot over Manny Ramirez’s head and into no-man’s land beyond the left field fence to give the A’s the 3-0 lead.

The Athletics knocked Wake around again two innings later when Jack Cust walked with one out in the third. After hitting a homerun in his last at-bat, Thomas lined a single a base hit into left field, sending Cust to second and bringing Ryan Sweeney to the plate with one out. Cust would advance to third on a passed ball that tipped off catcher Kevin Cash’s oversized catcher’s mitt and would score on line drive into right by Sweeney three pitches later. After Wakefield got right fielder Emil Brown to strike out for the second time in the game, Mark Ellis put the icing on the cake with a three-run homerun to cap off the four run inning and giving the A’s the 7-0 advantage.

The Sox tried chip away at Oakland’s lead with Pedroia’s homerun in the top of the fourth and a two-out RBI single in the top of the fifth by Jacoby Ellsbury. Two innings later Lugo led off the inning with a base hit to third, the Sox shortstop advanced to second on third baseman Jack Hannahan’s throwing error. Making the most of his opportunity in the majors, the rookie outfielder drove in Lugo with Boston’s third run of the game. With just one out in the fifth, Ellsbury on first and Pedroia at the dish, the inning looked very promising with the two big guys looming in the on-deck circle and in the hole. But the inning was wiped out when the rookie was snapped back to reality trying to steal his 20^th bag of the season.

Down by five runs the Red Sox needed base runners. Although Ellsbury has good speed, stealing second trailing 8-3 and the power hitters coming up was not the smartest idea in the world. With his speed he would have scored any way with a base hit into the spacious outfield of McAfee Coliseum and even if it was a base hit right at an outfielder, the Sox would have had first and third with Ortiz at the plate and one out. (Even though there was the chance Pedroia could have grounded into an inning ending double play, I have “identified the negative but [focusing] on the positive.”)

Wakefield would leave the game in the middle of the sixth inning after walking lead off hitter and first baseman Daric Barton and allowing a double to the number nine hitter Kurt Suzuki. Right hander David Aardsma came on in relief of Wakefield and got Hannahan to ground out to Pedroia at second and holding Barton and Suzuki. But they were not there for long, Crosby hit a shallow sacrifice fly to a charging Ellsbury. Even with Ellsbury’s momentum carry him to the plate, Barton was still tagging from third and would score standing up easily as Ellsbury throw came up well short of Cash, for the eighth Oakland run. The book was closed on Wakefield, eight runs on eight hits while he walked and struck out four.

At least look on the bright side, no one in the Sox bullpen will be traded for a bag of bats come July like 26-year-old minor league right hander, John Odom, was earlier today. In relief of Wakefield, Aardsma and Mike Timlin combined to retired the last nine Athletic hitters.

Josh Beckett steps on the Oakland mound tomorrow night in search of his sixth win of the season against Athletics right hander and former Red Sox prospect Justin Duchsherer. At 5-3 with a 4.67 ERA and 56 strike outs, Beckett is coming off an 11-7 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers last Sunday. Although he pitched seven innings, Beckett had one of his worst outings of the season against the Brewers. In seven innings he allowed six runs on six hits with four of the hits being homeruns. Against Oakland, Beckett is 2-2 in four career starts with an ERA over five and 18 strike outs.

Tomorrow’s game two of the series will be the first start for the Oakland right hander against the team that drafted him. Duchsherer will be making his seventh start against Beckett and looks for his fourth win of the 2008 season. The 31-year-old is 3-3 with a 2.67 ERA, 26 strike outs and is coming off a 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves where he pitched five hits allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out two Brave batters. Against Boston, Duchsherer has appeared in 13 games as a reliever and is 1-0 with one save in 20.1 innings with 23 strike outs, a 2.66 ERA and a .181 opponent’s batting average.

WIN: Rich Harden (3-0)

LOSS: Tim Wakefield (3-3)

Game Notes:

Those Weery Road Blues
The Red Sox are four games under .500 on the road at 10 wins and 14 losses and are 8-3 against the AL West. After getting off to a bad start Oakland is second in the West with a 13-11 record and is 6-6 against the East.

Kevin Youkilis is third in the American League in hitting with a .324 batting average behind Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer’s .333 and AL league leader Texas center fielder Josh Hamilton’s .335 average.

David Ortiz is third in the American League in homeruns and RBIs with 10 round-trippers of the season and 38 RBIs. Josh Hamilton leads the AL triple crown categories with a .335 average (as noted above), 12 homeruns (tied with Chicago’s Carlos Quentin) and 53 RBIs (most in MLB).

Manny Ramirez is still stuck at homerun #498. His last homerun came against the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome on May 12. Ramirez has hit a snag in his last 10 games hitting only .229 (8-for-35) with only two extra base hits.

Red Sox hitting coach, Dave Magadan, was ejected from the game in the middle of the top of the sixth inning.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

Rich Harden, OAKLAND ---- 6IP, 5H, 2ER, 3BB, 8K

Frank Thomas, OAKLAND --- 3-4 Homerun, 2 RBIs

Dustin Pedroia, BOSTON ---- 1-4 Homerun, RBI

JACOBY ELLSBURY

In the top of the seventh inning Ellsbury managed to get himself thrown out trying to steal his 20^th bag of the season with the Sox down 8-3. He tried to argue that he was safe but second base umpire, Jeff Nelson, was having no part of the argument. Ellsbury clearly over-slid the bag and was tagged out by shortstop fellow Morman Bobby Crosby.

Minor League Ballplayer traded for bats....literally

2008-05-23T22:29:00.007-04:00

For the first time in baseball history, a player was traded for a bag of baseball bats.

Independent league pitcher, John Odom will, one day, be in the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York - just not for his baseball prowess. The 26-year-old pitcher was traded from the Calgary Vipers of Calgary, Alberta, Canada to the Laredo, TX Broncos of the United League for $655 worth of wooden bats.

Actually it is not as bad as it sounds. According to a Weslaco, TX television station KRGTV-5, Odom was under contract with the Vipers but was stopped by Canadian immigration officials. Not being allowed to get into Canada, Calgary had no choice but to trade their pitcher. They were not entirely enthused with any player on the Broncos' roster so they asked for 10 maple wood, double-dipped black34-inch C243 baseball bats.

Broncos GM Jose Melendez chimed in on the deal and told USA Today "they just wanted some bats, good bats — maple bats."

Good deal for the Broncos; bad deal for the self-esteem of the pitcher.

Odom was originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2003 and played 38 games for the Single A affiliate before being released at the beginning of the 2008 season.