Twins take three of four from Sox behind Justin Morneau’s 2-4 night

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RED SOX FALL TO TWINS 7-3; MOVE TO 24-17
Twins take three of four from Sox behind Justin Morneau’s 2-4 night

(May 12, 2008) – Clay Buchholz’s struggles on the road continue. Even an early three runs in the first inning could not turn around the Sox rookie’s misfortune. In one of his shortest outings of the year, Buchholz allowed seven earned runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings while walking five and striking out just four Twins to earn his third loss of the season.

I was right about Roger Clemens. I was right about Jose Canseco. And now I am right about Coco Crisp being the starting center fielder. After getting the start in center against the Cuban right hander Livan Hernandez, Crisp continued his red hot hitting with a double off the baggy in right field. Crisp deserves to be playing over rookie Jacoby Ellsbury because he is producing on the field. The Sox veteran outfielder would come around to score on an opposite field base hit to left off the bat of David Ortiz to give the Sox the 1-0 lead.

Just three homeruns shy of 500 career homeruns, Manny Ramirez stepped to plate, with Ortiz on first after recording his 29^th RBI of the season. With one swing the bat the Red Sox had the early 3-0 lead and Ramirez was narrowed his road to the magical number 500.

But the Sox only lead of the game would be short lived. Minnesota started mounting their come back in the bottom of the first with one out. After Carlos Gomez struck out looking at a Buchholz fastball, second baseman Brendan Harris – who returned to the line up after sitting out with a strained hamstring in games two and three – singled into center. The American League leader in batting, catcher Joe Mauer, moved Harris to second with a single of his own in left.

The game was not starting out the way Buchholz would have liked and would continue to get worse. Twins first baseman Justin Morneau lined a base hit into right field scoring Harris. Sox right fielder J.D. Drew’s bobble picking up the base hit allowed Mauer to score from first and Morneau to move up to second.

Minnesota took the lead two innings later when Mauer led of the bottom of the third with walk followed by a base hit into right by Morneau, sending the Twins catcher to third. Right fielder Michael Cuddyer would drive in Mauer with a single up the middle to tie the game at three a piece. After last night’s hero Craig Monroe walked to load the bases in the inning with nobody out, left fielder Delmon Young, hit a ground ball to Alex Cora at short but the Sox shortstop could not turn the double play. In the back door, came Morneau with the go-ahead run and eventually the winning run. But the Twins were not done with Buchholz yet. They tacked on four more runs in the next inning and a third before he was pulled by Terry Francona. The Twins would put three more on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Just like the Celtics and the Cavaliers a few miles to the southeast in Cleveland, the Sox offense was quieted by the Twins pitching staff. Buchholz was not on his game tonight. From the first inning it was evident the Sox young right hander had difficulty finding the strike zone and the normally impatient Twins jumped on that. When he was off he was way off, similar to Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett tonight, being held to a combined 28 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists against the Cavs. They could not buy a point if they wanted, just as Buchholz could not pay his way out of jam if he wanted. And again also like the C's, poor Buchholz's road blues continue although, fortunately for the right hander it is the regular season and not the playoffs.

Before flying back to Boston, the Sox have one last stop in Baltimore to play the AL East foe, Orioles for a two game set tomorrow and Wednesday. Josh Beckett will get the nod in the first game of the series against Baltimore right hander Jeremy Guthrie.

At 4-2, Beckett is making his seventh start of the season and first against the Orioles this year. The Sox ace is currently seventh in the American League in strike outs just 10 behind Chicago White Sox starter Javier Vazquez who leads with 52 strike outs. Beckett is coming off a 5-1 win against the Tigers last Thursday where he pitched seven innings allowing one run on six hits while striking out eight and walking none. Overall he is 4-1 against the Orioles, in six starts, with a .229 opponent’s batting average, 38 strike outs and just four walks.

This game shall be a good one because Guthrie is 1-3 on the season with a 4.32 ERA and 32 strike outs on the season. He is coming off a 6-5 loss to the Oakland Athletics where he did not factored into the decision. In Baltimore’s 14^th one run game of the year, Guthrie went 5.2 innings allowing four runs on five hits while walking three and striking out six on 106 pitches. In his career against Boston, he is 0-0 in four games with a 2.61 ERA, a .259 opponent’s batting average, 12 strike outs and eight walks.

WIN: Livan Hernandez (6-1)

LOSS: Clay Buchholz (2-3)

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Game Notes:

Julio Lugo suffered a mild concussion when he slid collided with Twins second baseman Matt Tolbert Friday night. He just resumed baseball activities today and the Red Sox medical personnel will decide when the shortstop will return to game-action.

Sean Casey was activated earlier today and is in the starting line up. To make room for Casey on the active roster the Sox designated pitcher Julian Tavarez for assignment. Tavarez was expendable since he was one of the only pitchers on the team not useful with the majority of the pitching staff going 6-7 innings a game thus rendering his position on the team wasteful.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Justin Morneau, MINNESOTA --- 2-4 RBI

2. Michael Cuddyer, MINNESOTA --- 2-4 RBI

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

Twins designated hitter Craig Monroe’s two homer night gives Minnesota their 19th win

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RED SOX COME UP SHORT TO THE TWINS 9-8; MOVE TO 24-16
Twins designated hitter Craig Monroe’s two homer night gives Minnesota their 19^th win

(May 11, 2008) –The Twins should thank Mrs. Monroe for allowing her son to spend an extra five minutes in the backyard swinging the bat because Craig Monroe’s second homerun was what gave Minnesota the 9-8 victory. If it was not for his seventh inning homerun the Twins and Red Sox would still be playing after Coco Crisp drove in Mike Lowell in the top of the ninth with the Sox’s eighth run.

The Sox tried valiantly to make Mother’s Day 2008 as memorable to their mothers and all of Red Sox Nation as they did last year. With one out in the top of the ninth, Lowell lined a single into center field sending Kevin Youkilis to third. (Youkilis reached by beating out Adam Everett’s throw to first on a ground ball to shortstop.) J.D. Drew would drive in Youkilis with a double over the head of Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez to send the hottest hitter of the game to the plate in Crisp. But the boys from Boston came up one run short when Manny Ramirez, pinch-hitting for catcher Kevin Cash grounded out to shortstop.

In his shortest outing of the year, Wakefield pitched just 2.2 innings allowing seven runs on seven hits while walking and striking out two. The Twins hit Wakefield hard in the bottom of the second when Canadian-born first baseman Justin Morneau led off the inning with a base hit into left center followed by a double to left by Michael Cuddyer. With nobody out and two runs on, designated hitter Monroe got Minnesota’s offensive show on the road with a three-run homerun. But the inning was not over yet.

Wakefield forced left fielder Delmon Young to ground out to Lowell at third base but walked Friday night’s hero, Mike Lamb to set up Everett’s first homerun of the season. With one swing of the bat the Twins had a 5-0 lead that the Sox would have to dig their way out of. But they have done it before on Mother’s Day so it was not completely out of the question.

They had a great opportunity to put some runs on the board and run Blackburn from the game in the top of the third after the Twins starter hit Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia to lead of the inning. David Ortiz drove his second hit of the game into right field but Ellsbury and Pedroia could only advance one base. What a perfect opportunity bases loaded nobody out and the Greek God of Walks stepping to the plate.

After striking out in the first, Youkilis had chance to redeem himself but his perfectly hit line drive found the web of Lamb’s glove on a diving ESPN web gem. You could not ask for a better, text book hit than Youkilis’s, Lamb just made a miraculous game saving catch. Have to give him credit for that catch. But the Sox would at least get one run out of the inning with sacrifice fly into right by Lowell to plate Ellsbury.

But Minnesota would keep widening their lead in the bottom of the third, starting with another base hit by Morneau. Young would walk after Cuddyer and Monroe struck and grounded out, respectively to give Lamb a chance to step to the plate in the inning. The Minnesota third baseman lined a base hit up the middle to plate two more runs for the Twins.

Boston would not give up; they are indeed the “Never say die Red Sox.” Just when you think it is over, it is not over with this Red Sox team. In the top of the fourth, Crisp led of the inning, with a stand up triple that bounced over the head of Young, and would score on a base hit up the middle by Cash. Shortstop Alex Cora singled into center to put runners on first and second with no one out until Ellsbury lined out to left.

Pedroia made up for Ellsbury’s mistake, batting out a would-be Twin killing. Minnesota second baseman, Matt Tolbert would airmail his throw to first into the first row of seats behind the Sox dugout allowing Cash to score the fourth run of the game. But the Twins would add another run in the fourth when catcher Joe Mauer walked with two outs and scored on when Lowell could not handle Monroe’s ground ball down the third base line.

After Ellsbury went 0-for-4 on the night, Crisp has proved to manager Terry Francona and Red Sox Nation that he, and only he, should be starter in centerfield. After a triple in the fourth inning, Crisp capped off his night with a two-run homerun in the top of the seventh, driving in J.D. Drew. The Sox right fielder kept the inning alive when he lined a two-out single into right field to bring Crisp to the plate.

But, yet again, the pesky Twins would not go away. In the bottom of the inning Monroe hit his second homerun of the game and drove in his fourth RBI of the game. Care to guess who the number one star of the game is, now?

The Sox look to split the series in Minnesota tomorrow when they send Clay Buchholz to the mound against Twins right hander Livan Hernandez. After the game, the team will hope on the silver bird and fly back to the east coast where the Orioles will host a two game set in the land of oh so many crab-cakes.

Buchholz has pitched remarkable on the season, owning a 2-2 record with 39 strike outs. The future is bright for the Red Sox in the starting pitching department – when they are at home. When the team is on the road it has been a different story for the young pitching phenom. Away from the Old Ballpark, Buchholz is 0-2 with a 7.40 ERA in four games with six walks and 24 strike outs and an opponent’s batting average of .300. Compare those numbers with his at Fenway, where he is 2-0 with an ERA barely above 1.00 while holding opposing hitters to just .226. The Sox tall, lanky right hander is coming off a 10-9 loss to the Detroit Tigers where he pitched just four innings allowing five runs on 10 hits while walking one and striking out six, on 82 pitches. Buchholz will look to improve his road numbers with his third win of the season against the Twins.

The Cuban defector, Hernandez will be in search of his sixth win of the season when he faces the Red Sox for the third time his career. Against the Sox, Hernandez is 0-2 with a 12.38 ERA with five strike outs and an opponent’s batting average over .400. But this season, the Twins’ right hander is 5-1 on the season with a 3.83 ERA and 20 strikeouts. He is coming off a 13-1 win against the Chicago White Sox last Wednesday where he pitched a complete game allowing one run on nine hits while walking one and striking out three. On average, Hernandez has thrown 95 pitches per game and in four of his last five starts he has thrown above 100 pitches.

WIN: Nick Blackburn (3-2)

LOSS: Tim Wakefield (3-2)

SAVE: Joe Nathan (12)

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Game Notes:

Alex Cora has been activated for tonight’s game with the Twins and in the starting line up. Starting shortstop, Julio Lugo’s CT scans were clean and the Sox shortstop’s eyes appeared clearer when he came into the Metrodome visitors’ clubhouse. Infielder Jed Lowrie has been optioned to Pawtucket. Sean Casey has joined the team in Minnesota but has not been activated from the disabled list yet.

Manny Ramirez is not in the starting line up tonight due to a sore hamstring. He apparently tweaked the muscle after running hard down the line to stay out of the double play. Personally I would rather have Ramirez loaf it down the line than to pull a hamstring trying to beat out a throw from shortstop. He is not worth anything if he is sitting on the DL with a strained hamstring.

WEB GEMS:

Mike Lamb diving line drive catch off the bat of Kevin Youkilis in the top of the third inning, keeping the score, then, at 5-1.

Jacoby Ellsbury – diving line drive off the bat of Joe Mauer in left.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Craig Monroe, MINNESOTA ---- 2-4 2 Homeruns, 4 RBIs

2. Justin Morneau, MINNESOTA --- 3-3 2 Runs Scored

3. Coco Crisp, BOSTON ---- 2-5 Triple, Homerun, 3 RBIs, Run-scored

Sox pitchers retire last 13 of 14 Minnesota hitters to take game two of the four game set

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RED SOX HOMER PAST TWINS 5-2; MOVE TO 24-15
Sox pitchers retire last 13 of 14 Minnesota hitters to take game two of the four game set

(May 10, 2008) –No folks you were not seeing your five year old nephew on the mound in the third, when Daisuke Matsuzaka let a change up slip out of his hand on 1-2 pitch to Twins catcher Joe Mauer.

After coming off a start in Detroit where he allowed eight walks, it certainly looked as if tonight would be a repeat of Cinco de Mayo following three walks in the first two innings of the game. One of those walks was to centerfielder Carlos Gomez with the bases loaded to force home Michael Cuddyer with the tying run. But Matsuzaka would settle down to strike out seven Twin batters in seven innings of work allowing just two runs on six hits.

Until the top of the ninth, all the Sox runs were on solo shots into the left field grandstand. First baseman Kevin Youkilis got the solo homerun parade started with his eighth round tripper of the season in the top of the second inning for the short-lived 1-0 lead. With that homerun, Youkilis is now tied with Tampa Bay’s Carlos Pena for the American League lead in homerun and the outright lead in the Sox clubhouse.

The Twins would score again in the top of the fifth inning starting with a lead off double down the left field line by second baseman Matt Tolbert. Tolbert came around to score on a single into center by first baseman Justin Morneau. But it would be the last time Minnesota would lead in the game and the last time, until the ninth, a batter reached base against Red Sox pitching.

In the top of the seventh inning, Coco Crisp proved he should be the starting center fielder with a lead off homerun, off Twins starter Glen Perkins, to tie the game at two a piece. Shortstop Jed Lowrie followed Crisp’s lead with his first major league homerun to put the Sox up for good and chase Perkins out of the game. Perkins exited the game after pitching six innings allowing three runs on nine hits while striking out three.

Sox third baseman Mike Lowell would tack on another run the next inning with his third homerun of the season off Minnesota reliever Brian Bass to give the Sox the two-run advantage. But before the game was over, Lowrie would appeal himself more to the Red Sox front office that he deserves to stay once Alex Cora returns from the D.L. The Sox rookie shortstop lined his third hit of the night into right field to lead of the top of the ninth and would score a base hit up the middle by second baseman Dustin Pedroia.

Closer Jonathan Papelbon came on in relief of Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima in the bottom of the ninth. Coming off two blown saves Papelbon was facing the bottom of the Twins line up. Red Sox pitchers would combine to retire 12 consecutive hitters before last night’s hero for the Twins, Mike Lamb reached on Jason Varitek’s error on pop fly with two outs in the ninth. But Papelbon ended up striking out pinch hitter, Craig Monroe to end the game.

Tim Wakefield goes to the mound in tomorrow’s Mother’s Day matinee and looks to win his for all the mothers out there. He is coming off his third win of the season where he and Mike Timlin combined to throw a two-hit shut out against the Detroit Tigers. In the win, the Sox knuckleballer unusually used more fastballs and curves than he has done in previous games.

Against the Twins, in his career Wakefield is 13-4 with two saves and an ERA of 4.00 with 106 strike outs and 41 walks in 24 games. He will be opposed by Twins starter Nick Blackburn who is making his eighth start of the season and is looking for his third win of the season.

Blackburn is 2-2 on the season with a 3.65 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP and 20 strike outs. He is coming of a 7-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox in ChiTown. In the loss he went six innings allowing four runs – three earned – on six hits while walking three and striking out one. The Sox of the red variety will try to make it a burn Blackburn with double losses to the “Sox.”

WIN: Daisuke Matsuzaka (6-0)

LOSS: Glen Perkins (0-1)

SAVE: Jonathan Papelbon (11)

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Game Notes:

Coco Crisp’s homerun in the top of the seventh was his first of the year and was back-to-back with Jed Lowrie’s first homerun of his major league career.

Even with Glen Perkins, the left hander, on the mound, Jacoby Ellsbury still gets the start in right field giving J.D. Drew the night off. Also with the night off is Julio Lugo, who is undergoing tests for a concussion he received last night when he collided with second baseman Matt Tolbert last night trying to break up a double play. Jed Lowrie will make the start at shortstop in Lugo’s absence.

This day in Red Sox history: May 10, 1999

It was nine years ago today that shortstop Nomar Garciaparra hit two grand slams in a game against the Seattle Mariners and drove in 10 out of the 12 runs the Sox scored in their 12-8 victory over the Mariners.

The 3 Stars of the Game:

1. Daisuke Matsuzaka, BOSTON --- 7IP, 6H, 2ER, 3BB, 7K

2. Jed Lowrie, BOSTON --- 3-4 Double, Homerun, RBI

3. Justin Morneau, MINNESOTA --- 2-4 2 Singles