Lester v. Olson (Game 58)

That was a very exciting game (that turned out to also be a lot of fun.) Not only because of Manny's homerun (more on that later-thoughts need to be collected) but because they repeatedly gave up the lead only to snatch it right back in the next inning, because Pedroia and Ortiz went back-to-back, because Ellsbury legged himself out a triple and stole three bases, because David Aardsma went two whole innings without walking anyone, because Alex Cora and Dustin Pedroia combined for an important (and impressive) double play, and because Youkilis booked it home to beat out a double play.

Lester didn't pitch poorly but his performance wasn't particularly good either. He threw one hundred and three pitches over the course of five innings. He gave up three runs on seven hits, walked three, and struck out four. He seemed to have lost some of his first-pitch strike magic; of the twenty-four hitters he faced only twelve of them got a strike on the first pitch they saw.

David Aardsma came in for the sixth and seventh innings and did a really good job. He faced six batters and sat them all down. The closest he came to walking anyone was two balls to three of the batters. He played really good defense, as well-twice the batter grounded out to first and he covered nicely for Youkilis.

Okajima appeared for the eighth inning. He threw ten pitches to four batters. He gave up a hit but got a strike out, a ground out, and a force out.

Papelbon came out for the ninth inning and seemed to be having a terrible time finding the strike zone. He got the first batter to strike out on three pitches. Then he gave up a single, and walked the next batter on five pitches (some of those balls were nowhere near being strikes.) The last batter lined into a pretty double play-Cora caught the ball for the first out and flipped it to Pedroia for the second out.

The first two runs the Sox scored were on back-to-back homeruns by Pedroia and Ortiz in the third inning. In the sixth inning, Lowell was hit by a pitch, moved over to second on a balk, moved to third on a single by Youkilis, and then came around to score on a single by Varitek. Ellsbury started off the seventh inning with a triple to deep right and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ortiz. And then Manny hit number 500 to right center. In the eighth inning, Youkilis was hit by a pitch and then moved to third on a single by Youkilis. Crisp grounded into a double play and Youkilis booked it home.

Some of the not so good news: Ortiz did something to his wrist in the ninth inning and had to be pinch hit for. They also left a lot of runners on base-the Orioles didn't have a single 1-2-3 inning.

Dining With Daisuke.

If you've got an extra $10,000 lying around (and come one now, who doesn't?), the opportunity has presented itself to take part in, what can only be imagined as, a very awkward dinner. As part of the Good Sports Legends of the Ball fundraiser, Daisuke Matsuzaka has agreed to have dinner with four fans. He is dragging his wife and a translator along but it still seems like a situation which might provoke an international incident (liquored-up American fans and famous, super-polite Japanese people doesn't seem like a winning combination.) As far as I can tell, though, it seems that if you bid on the prize now, you could save yourself the $150 entrance fee to the shin-dig.

Besides the dinner with Daisuke, they do have some fabulous auction lots. The two that really struck my fancy were a pitching lesson with Manny Del and getting to spend the first three innings of the game inside the green monster with the official scorer as he scores the game. These two things, I would very much like to have. I would probably turn into a squicky fangirl mess around Manny Del as he attempted to teach me to throw in a non-Mariah Carey-esque fashion but if I could only have one, it would have to be the scoring the game adventure.

Beckett v. Cabrera (Game 57)

It may have required a trip deep into the murky depths of the Orioles bullpen but a win is a win (and to go thirteen rounds only to be KO'd would suck.) If there's a game tomorrow (NOAA has a dismal forecast for Baltimore), someone needs to stress to Lester that he's going to have to throw strikes. There isn't enough left in the Sox 'pen for him to start messing about walking people.

And while it wasn't a bad performance, I can't imagine that Beckett is very pleased with the way he pitched tonight. He threw one hundred and eighteen pitches over six innings. He was having a very hard time finding the strike zone and repeatedly fell behind the hitter. He faced twenty-six batters and rode the count full to nine of them. Miraculously, he struck out ten of them and only gave up four hits. He did allow two runs-one on a homerun. He also had a truly bizarre sixth inning. He got two strike outs (both swinging) and then walked the next three batters to load the bases. [Aside: I did think that the difference between the crowd's reaction when Beckett nearly hit Millar and when one of the relievers nearly hit one of the other Orioles (I don't remember who was involved-it's all a blur) was amusing. It sounded as if the whole crowd gasped for Millar and I may have yelled at the television: Don't hit Millar! And the later incidence? Not so much.] I'm not sure I've ever seen Beckett walk three batters in a row. He did get the last batter to strike out, though.

The bullpen, normally not a particularly strong point, did a nice job tonight. They went seven innings and didn't allow any runs. The first out was Okajima. He went two innings, gave up a hit and struck out one.

Manny Del emerged to pitch the ninth. He got two quick outs (on a fly-out and a strike out) before giving up a basehit (the runner would later steal second, narrowly avoiding being caught by Varitek.) He then walked a batter but came back to get the last out on a ground out to third and a nice throw by Lowell.

Javier Lopez was brought out next to face two lefties. It was a typical Lopez performance. He vacillates between being good and being not so good. Today, he gave up a hit to the first batter after falling behind three and one (not so good.) But he got the next batter to fly out to center and didn't allow the runner to advance (good.)

With righty Millar coming up, Lopez got the hook in favor of Hansen. Hansen ended up pitching an inning and a third. In Lopez' inning, he got Millar to ground out, intentionally walked the next batter, and got the last batter to strike out swinging. In his own inning, he got a ground out, a strike out, and a fly out.

Timlin came out for the twelfth inning. I'll admit that I cringed at the prospect and it didn't look like it was going to go to well. He got the first batter to strike out but then gave up a double to the second. They intentionally walked the next batter to get to Millar. I think Millar might have a soft spot for Timmeeh-in the last series, Millar popped out harmlessly to short for Timlin and tonight he grounded out to short but didn't make a super effort to beat out the throw. Then with two out and runners on second and third, Timlin again intentionally walked a batter. The last out of the inning came on a bases loaded fly out to left.

Papelbon, finally, finished the game off. He got a ground out and two strike outs.

I think I may have said (or maybe I just thought it) that the Orioles were not a particularly error-prone team. I mean, they weren't perfect but they weren't doing that badly before tonight. They did just have an epic game against the Yankees a couple of days ago; so maybe they were just tired. Regardless, it was the Orioles' errors that allowed the Sox to win the game.

They scored two runs off Daniel Cabrera in the first inning and things were looking up (although, not too far up-the last time they played Cabrera they scored three runs off him in the first inning only to have the lead blown by Okajima and Jay Payton.) Ellsbury started things off with a double. Pedroia sacrificed to move him over and then Ortiz got a single to bring Jacoby home. Manny doubled and Ortiz moved to third. And then Lowell had a sacrifice fly that knocked in Ortiz.

Then Cabrera mostly settled down and the Sox returned to the leaving-too-many-men-on-base-ways that plagued them the last time they were down there. They left eleven of them there tonight and only scored on two out of fifteen opportunities. There was a funky little attempt at a suicide squeeze play in the second inning. Coco had drawn a walk but the ball got away from the catcher so he hustled his way to second base. He then stole third. Cora then attempted the bunt but missed and Coco was caught.

Offensively, nothing particularly interesting happened again until the ninth inning. Coco was the second to bat and on a three-one count the umpire called him out on strikes. Coco turned around and gave him a look that said: What the hell are you talking about? He stepped back into the batter's box and had some words for the umpire. The umpire was not to pleased to be hearing it from Coco; but honestly, if the umpire doesn't know the count, then it's a sad state of affairs. Francona had to come out to settle things down and then Coco popped-out to short. Not exactly poetic justice, but it is what happened.

The Sox were finally able to break through in the top of the thirteenth inning. After getting a second chance because the Orioles catcher dropped a foul ball, Ortiz grounded out to first for the first out of the inning. Manny reached on a throwing error and then took second while they were still trying to find the ball. Lowell got a basehit and Manny booked his way around to be the go-ahead run. Youkilis got a basehit and Lowell moved to second. Then the two of them paired up to double steal second and third. Varitek struck out for the second out of the inning. Coco was safe at first on the shortstop's throwing error. And then, while they were trying to retrieve the ball, Lowell came around to score, Youkilis came around to score, and Coco took second. Coco then took third on a wild pitch. Lugo drew a walk and then stole second. Ellsbury, unfortunately, struck out swinging to end the fun.

A New Home For Craig Breslow.

So Craig left us in March for the Indians. But, as it turned out, the Indians weren't a good fit (they rarely bothered to use him.) Last week they DFA'd him to activate Borowski-which sucked. Why did they bother to grab him if they weren't going to use him? I was afraid he was going to have to toil away in freakin' Buffalo and he might lose faith. But all is not lost: the Twins have picked him up. With a series at home against the Twins in July, we may get to see him again. Yay!

Happy Birthday Manny!

Happy 36th birthday to Manny Ramirez. Perhaps he's a bit of a misunderstood soul but I really don't understand how anyone could dislike Manny Ramirez. He loves to play the game and he loves to have fun playing the game (and yes, he does occasionally have what amounts to a temper tantrum) but he's great fun to watch. And this? This is awesome.

I hope his old buddy Millar took him out for a drink last night to celebrate. I hope that he continues to just do his thing. And I hope that he has many more happy birthdays ahead of him.

Next Up: the Baltimore Orioles.

The last time they played Baltimore things did not go swimmingly. In the first game, Beckett pitched poorly and in the second, the bullpen imploded on Lester. They were still trying to set the record for the highest numbers of men left on base in a season (they've since abandoned that goal in favor of obtaining the record for the fewest number of men to reach first base) the last time out. They also hit into a considerable amount of double plays. The one bright spot of that series was Manny's catch.

Daniel Cabrera goes tomorrow against Beckett. He throws a really good fastball and an excellent changeup, both with good movement. He had a reputation for wildness but he seems to have really worked at getting the number of walks he allows down this year. That said, he still has bouts of inconsistency-in his last start he walked six in five and two-thirds of an inning against Tampa. The Red Sox hit him well the last time around. They combined for a total of ten hits (including two homeruns, courtesy of Lowell and Varitek.)

Garret Olson makes the start against Lester on Saturday. Olson throws a fastball, a changup, and a curveball. He tends to not throw his changeup to left-handed hitters. He has exhibited both good command and good control. Walks have, supposedly, been a problem for him but I don't see it (although when he does walk people they are generally lefties.) He does a good job of keeping the ball down and getting groundball outs. He also has a high LOB percentage. He did get absolutely shelled by the Yankees two starts ago.

Brian Burres pitches on Sunday against Bartolo Colon. Colon really keeps lucking out on teams/pitchers he gets to face. Although it has a nice sinking action, Burres' fastball is nothing special (it rides in the high eighties.) He also throws a slider and a changeup. If his command is off, he's going to get in to trouble. He doesn't walk many batters and he doesn't strike out many batters but he does give up a good number of hits.

The last pitcher of the series will be Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie has a deceptive fastball, a good slider, and a nice changeup. He keeps the ball down and induces a lot of groundball outs. Last time out he held the Red Sox to three runs on eight hits, giving up only two extra base hits (doubles for Ortiz and Manny.) He walked one and struck out seven.

Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts, and Luke Scott are probably the Orioles best hitters. Melvin Mora and Aubrey Huff have been having decent seasons for themselves, as well. Brian Roberts has a team-leading thirteen steals on the season; he's also been caught stealing more times than most of the other batters on the team have successfully stolen a base. Melvin Mora should either not attempt to steal (he's been successful two out of the six times he's tried it) or he should pay closer attention to what's going on while he's on the basepath, so that he doesn't get picked off. The Orioles are not a particularly error-prone team (third baseman, Melvin Mora, has the most at seven.)

As a side note: Not that I would wish anyone hurt or anything, but if one of their pitchers should go down before a Red Sox series, then I hope that they make room for (and call up) Jon Leicester. The idea of a potential Jon Lester v. Jon Leicester pitching match up amuses me greatly.

Wakefield v. Bedard (Game 56)

That was another one to be filed under: Well, that sucked.

Wakefield pitched really well tonight. He went eight innings with only ninety-six pitches and held the Mariners to only five hits (one of them was, unfortunately, the game deciding homerun in the third inning.) He struck out eight and didn't walk anybody. Normally, such a dominating performance would be good for a win but not when vintage Erik Bedard is on the mound for the other side.

There was no offense to speak of. They were held to two singles (one by Manny and one by Lowell.) They drew six walks but made nothing of them. Ellsbury did have a very good steal of second in the third inning. He'd already made his break for second (after walking to first) when the throw came into first, so he just kept going and reached safely because of a poor throw from first. And that's about it.

One thing to be grateful of: For awhile, at least, that's it for middle of the night night-games. I'm so tired-I repeatedly fell asleep on the ride in to work this morning.

So Maybe I Jumped the Gun.

Last night I wrote that Lugo had anger issues (which is true) and that he must have done something to get thrown out of the game and implied that he probably deserved it. According to this account of the argument, it sounds like I got it wrong. Mike Lowell, who is all things good and true, described the scene this way:

"I heard [Lugo] say 'check,'" Lowell said. "I said 'check,' as well. And then I heard Lugo say, 'I don't know why you're looking at me.' And then Angel said, 'You don't want to argue that.' And he said, 'I don't know why you keep looking at me,' and he threw him out.

"Honestly, he didn't curse at him, he didn't say anything. I don't know if he misunderstood something he said. I didn't think he said anything that merited to be thrown out. Then when Tito confronted him and said, 'What did he do to get thrown out?' he didn't have a response."

So there you have it. Mea culpa.

Matsuzaka v. Batista (Game 55)

A strange game to be sure. Daisuke giving up hits and allowing runs only to be pulled from the game after the fourth inning with a mysterious injury. Lugo getting himself thrown from the game in the fifth inning (which isn't all that strange-he's never hidden the fact that he's got a temper.) Francona getting thrown from the game after he defended his shortstop. And it was long-like epically long. At least, it seemed that way (as it turns out the game was over in three hours.) West coast games are generally difficult but when they last until 1:15 in the morning and my alarm clock is going to start beeping in three and half hours to wake me up for work, it becomes harder to care about a single game in Seattle: It's ok if they lose this game, I don't want to watch extra innings-I just want to go to sleep.

Matsuzaka was not having a good game before he hurt himself. [Aside: As it turns out, the mysterious illness is shoulder fatigue. Apparently, it's something he struggled with in Japan, as well.] He threw sixty-five pitches over four innings. He allowed two earned runs (and one unearned run) on four hits. He struck out two batters. Impressively (or not, given the way the Mariners are only too happy to swing their bats), he didn't walk anyone. He did fall behind to a count of three-balls four times, though. Normally a superior defensive player, Daisuke made a strange play in the first inning on a bunt bid back to him that he decided to throw to third and didn't get anybody out.

After he came out of the game, David Aardsma was up. He pitched the fifth inning (which was interrupted by the Lugo/Francona fracas) and the start of the sixth inning. He seemed to be chugging along nicely by getting two ground ball outs (one to himself and one to Lowell) to start the inning but then he walked a batter on seven pitches. The last batter of the inning got two balls (the second of which Lugo was sure he went around on) and two strikes before he grounded out. When he came back out for the sixth inning he seemed to have lost it. He issued a four-pitch walk to the first batter and gave up a single to the second that turned into a put-out at third on an impressive play by Manny.

Delcarmen came out to finish the sixth and pitch the seventh inning. He got a ground out and a line out to end the sixth inning. In the seventh inning he got two quick ground outs before giving up a double. He got another ground out to harmlessly end the inning.

Okajima was brought in to pitch the eighth. Okajima really had to battle for his outs and so it seems surprising that he had a 1-2-3 inning but he did. The first batter fouled out. The second grounded out and the third struck out swinging.

Timlin pitched the ninth inning. Timlin gave up a single to the first batter and the second hit a sacrifice bunt. The third batter grounded out to second. They intentionally walked the fourth batter. With two outs and two strikes against him, the last batter singled to drive in a run and end the game. But me? I was just happy to go to bed.

The Red Sox were having trouble getting hits off Batista to start the game. Pedroia got a single in the first and Casey got a single in the fifth but that's all they were able to do until the third time through the order. In the sixth with one out, Pedroia reached on an error. Ortiz singled to right. And then Manny took the the first pitch he saw and turned it into no. 499 by sending it out to right. And that was it for Red Sox runs.

Congratulations Manny!

Tonight marked the 2000th game in which Manny Ramirez has played major league baseball. From the little kid from the Bronx sporting Fresh Prince hair to well...Manny, he has lived up to his potential as one of the premier hitters of the game. Throughout his career he's always seemed to have his eccentricities and minor hissy-fits if things weren't exactly the way he wanted them to be, but out of the gate this season he seems to have realized exactly who and what he is. So here's to many more games, many more homeruns over the monster, and many more Manny moments.

Colon v. Hernandez (Game 54)

Maybe the win could be attributed to the fact that Seattle hasn't been able to get it together so far this season. Maybe it could be attributed to Varitek blending into the background because of his fancy camouflage gear and Colon really needing to concentrate to find him and his mitt. Either way, a win is good for the soul.

Colon looked really good tonight. He went seven innings on eighty-four pitches (which is almost where they wanted to get him.) He gave up one earned run on five hits. He walked one and struck out four. For the most part it was an easy outing for him. He had two 1-2-3 innings before he got himself into a mini-jam in the third: with one out he gave up a double and a single before getting a fly out and a ground out. Then he kept himself out of trouble until the sixth inning. The first two batters of the sixth reached via a single and a HBP. The third batter had a sacrifice bunt to move them over and the fourth batter grounded out to second to drive in a run. The last batter grounded out to end the inning. There was another mini-jam in the seventh. He struck out the first batter before giving up a base hit to the second. The third batter flied out to right. The fourth got a single and the other base runner moved over to third. The last batter harmlessly flied out to center.

Okajima took over in the eighth inning and was alright. He gave up a base hit to the first batter he saw but then got two fly-outs and a strike out. He wasn't following Farrell's first-pitch strike philosophy (only the first batter he saw got a first-pitch strike) and you wonder if the league is starting to catch onto him with all the foul balls but he was alright.

Papelbon was not alright. He came out for the ninth and needed to see six batters to get his three outs. He seemed to be having a bit of trouble finding the strike zone; of the six batters he faced he greeted four of them with a ball. I know that there's usually a slight air of confusion about Jason Varitek but at one point (I think it was after a pitch bounced in) the camera lingered on him and through his catching gear he looked absolutely befuddled by what had just been thrown at him. Papelbon struck out the first batter. He then allowed the next runner to reach on a piddly base hit (I don't think it was a sacrifice) back to him that he threw over Casey's head. The next batter got a single to right. With runners on first and third, Papelbon got the next batter to strike out swinging. The next batter got a base hit and drove in the first Mariners' run of the inning. To the last batter of the inning, Papelbon threw a pitch that bounced in front of Varitek and then got away from him, allowing the Mariners to get the second run of the inning; eventually the batter would be put out at first on a nice play by Pedroia.

Hernandez was really on his game at the start of the night. He plowed through the Red Sox order, going three-up-three-down for the first three innings. He seemed to be continuing in that dominating manner the second time through the order when, with two outs, Ortiz hit a solo shot to center.

After that he switched to pitching four-up-three-down for the next three innings. Drew singled in the fifth. Ellsbury walked in the sixth. Manny walked in the sixth but was then knocked out when Lowell hit into a double play, but Drew also drew a walk to make it four batters.

Their offensive push of the game came in the eighth inning. Casey started it off with a single to right. Lugo reached on a fielder's choice, narrowly beating out the double play. Ellsbury had a sacrifice hit to move Lugo over. Then Pedroia had a ground ruled double to bring Lugo around to score. They decided to intentionally walk Ortiz and pitch to Manny. Manny, who seems to have figured out how to hit again, singled to right and brought in Pedroia. (I'm fairly certain it was at this point that Hernandez fell apart.) Lowell reached on an infield single and Ortiz scored. Drew got an infield hit to load the bases and Varitek walked to knock in Manny.

To give credit where credit is due: the Mariners had some really nice defensive plays on the night. In the fifth inning, Ichiro Suzuki made a spectacular jumping catch into the wall to take extra bases (and a run by Drew) away from Varitek. In the ninth inning, Pedroia grounded into a double play to get the force out at third and then the put out at first. The third baseman dived for the ball, reached over to tag the base and then made a solid throw to first. It was impressive.

Cool! A Maori!

Is that offensive? It might be. I don't mean it to be if it is.

The Sox have signed a sixteen year old Australian Maori called Boss Moanaroa. He heads to Florida sometime soon for a couple of weeks of strength and nutrition training. Then, from the sound of it, he goes back to Australia to finish up school (which is good.)

A couple of things:

1. How's that for diversity? North Americans, Central Americans, South Americans, Asians, and now Australians. Nifty.

2. How cool of a baseball name is Boss? Pretty cool.

3. This is probably terribly condescending but he probably has an absolutely adorable accent. I imagine that he speaks like the gal from Whalerider-I know that she was from New Zealand (and if I learned anything last summer it was that New Zealand is a different country from Australia. They have vikings there.)-but she's Maori and the guy who played her father, Cliff Curtis (beautiful eyes on that one) he's Maori, as well. I've only ever heard of Maoris in New Zealand [Aside: shows how much I thought I knew about Australasia. I thought a Maori was a native Kiwi. I suppose it's possible for people to move, though.] so that's the accent I've attributed to all of them. He probably sounds like an Australian, which while not as adorable is still quite cute. Much better than listening to J *snore* D *snore* Drew from Ha*snore*hi*snore*ra, Geor*snore*gia. Nothing against the guy, but sometimes I just want to yell at him "Talk faster!"

4. Also, one of the first results of a googling will bring you to his Bebo page. Kid has no sense of style but either owns, or has access to, a really nice car.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Bartolo!

Bartolo's birthday was on Saturday and I completely forgot about it. (Actually, that's not true. I just never looked up when his birthday was when they added him to the roster.) Anyway. Pitch well tonight. Apologies and many happy, healthy returns to you!

A New Home for Julian.

People of Milwaukee: Lock up your daughters. Hide your trashbags and Japanese pitchers. Julian Tavarez is likely moving to town.

Next Up: the Seattle Mariners

Tonight's pitcher is Felix Hernandez. Hernandez has the potential to be an absolute star. He throws a very fast fastball (he can hit 97 mph on the gun), an excellent curveball, and a really good change-up. He has excellent command of everything he throws. He induces a lot of groundball outs, so having a speedy lineup is important to beating him. If runners do get on base, he can become bothered by their presence. He also tends to be a slow starter, having a rough first inning before getting down to business. Lefties have had better luck against him in the past.

Miguel Batista is the scheduled pitcher for tomorrow. He's more of a finesse pitcher who outsmarts hitters than a power pitcher. He does have a very good cut fastball. If he starts to over-think things, it can go badly for him-the ball stays up and he gets hit hard.

Wednesday is Erik Bedard. It would seem that the breeze off Puget Sound is no better for his health than the one off Baltimore Harbor; in April he went on the fifteen day DL with a hip injury. When healthy, Bedard is a dominant strike out pitcher. He has a deceptive fastball and a really great curveball. He doesn't give in easily but he has had a history of falling into slumps.

Their two best hitters are Raul Ibanez *tilde implied* and Adrian Beltre. They don't have a lot of power hitters; besides those two, Richie Sexson is the only other player with more than four homeruns. Ichiro Suzuki is really the only threat to steal a base (he has twenty-one so far this season.) They don't bunt a lot. They don't walk a lot. They don't strike out a lot but they don't get a lot of hits either.

Beckett v. Duchscherer (Game 52)

What a waste. Josh Beckett put in a very nice performance tonight but the offense failed to do anything that would get him a win. He threw one hundred and seven pitches over seven innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He didn't walk anybody and he struck out nine. Normally, that line should have been enough to get him a win but not tonight.

Manny Delcarmen pitched the eighth inning and didn't have an easy time of it. He got the first batter to ground out to third but then gave up a single, walked Frank Thomas, and gave up another single (that allowed a run to score), before getting the last two outs. The good thing for Manny Del was that Frank Thomas doesn't seem to have gotten to him. Yeah, he walked him but the first pitch he threw to him was a strike, he ran the count full before giving up the walk, and if Coco had gotten a better read on the ball it very well might have been caught. So there's that.

Otherwise, there's not much to say. Varitek spoiled the perfect game in the sixth inning by getting hit. Ortiz broke up the no-hitter in the seventh with a single to right (the only hit they would come up with on the night.) But that's it.

I suppose the question should be: Is Duchscherer really that good or are the bats really that bad? I'll be contrary and go with neither. He got a lot of fly ball outs (sixteen total.) If you put him in a different park, one where his defense isn't as certain of which way a ball is going to break or a park without acres of foul territory, then some of those balls might have dropped. One could also make the argument that he wouldn't have fared nearly as well if the umpire didn't have so ample a strike zone. If one was looking to make excuses for the Sox' bad performance, one might claim that the magnanimous strike zone coupled with the hustle edict caused the Sox to take swings that they might not normally take.

And Now for Something Completely Different.

So this article from a Zimbabwean (I don't know if that's the adjectival form or not, but it's from Zimbabwe) newspaper isn't about the Red Sox. It isn't even about baseball. It is about the former head coach of the Zimbabwe National Soccer team, Charles Mhlauri, who has been living in Boston for the past year.

I like baseball. I have little more than a passing interest in other sports, although I will watch running and bowling on television (odd, I know.) The last time I watched a soccer game was when my brother was on one of the rec-league U10 teams.

So why bother passing it along? Simply put: It's beautifully written. It lost me once it got into the politics of the team but I was right with it until then. And the line that really got to me?

"This is a city that believes in baseball and the Boston Red Sox.."

Amen.

Wakefield v. Harden (Game 51)

Not a good game for Wakefield. He made it through five innings and then some on ninety-nine pitches but he allowed seven runs to score and left with no outs and runners on second and third. The problem seemed to be a somewhat undynamic knuckleball coming in that picked up quite a bit of pep when sent back in the other direction. At least the misery didn't last too long, it was over in less than two and half hours (Like a band-aid: right off!) Wakefield walked four and struck out four. He allowed eight runs on eight hits, most of the damage coming off the two homeruns he allowed-one to Frank Thomas for three runs and one to Mark Ellis for three more runs.

Aardsma came in to pitch the sixth inning after Wakefield couldn't get it done. Wakefield started off the inning by walking the first batter and giving up a double to the second. Aardsma got the third batter to ground out to first and prevented the runners from advancing. The next batter, though, hit a sacrifice fly to center that brought in Wakefield's eighth run. There was a good throw home by Ellsbury to try and turn the double play and it was very close but no dice. Aardsma struck out the last batter to end the inning.

Mike Timlin was the third Boston pitcher of the night and it was a really good outing for him (must be because he shaved off the silly moustache.) Timlin went two innings, faced six batters, and got two strike outs.

As to the offense, it was just a case of: Given the pitching they were facing, they simply got themselves into too deep of a hole to be able to dig themselves out of it. But it didn't stop them from trying, which is something positive to be taken from the game.

Pedroia hit a homerun in the fourth for one. In the fifth, Drew legged out a double. Lugo struck out. Cash struck out. Ellsbury got a single and Drew legged out a run for two. In the seventh, Lugo got a single and then took second on a throwing error. Cash grounded out. Ellsbury got a single and Lugo came home for three. But those were the only runs in the cards tonight.

Other interesting tidbits: Ellsbury got caught stealing for the second time. There really wasn't much of a contest on the throw to second but Ellsbury's hand came off the bag on the slide and he was out. Also, hitting coach Dave Magadan got himself kicked out of the game somehow (it was speculated on Don and Remy's part that he was continuing some complaining for Youkilis-doesn't really make sense though, he didn't seem to have anything to complain about.)

Next Up: the Oakland As.

Rich Harden is the pitcher for tomorrow. When we saw Harden in March, he gave up one run (a home run) on three hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out nine. When we saw him in April, he didn't allow any runs on four hits over five innings. He walked four and struck out six. In mid-April he went on the DL with an injury to his right shoulder. He came back in May and struggled against Texas (3.2 innings, five runs, eight hits.) In his last start against Atlanta, though, he was much improved (7.0 innings, one run, four hits.) He's got a mid-nineties fastball, a really good slider and a strong changeup. He's generally not bothered by baserunners and keeps a cool head if he ends up in a tough situation. He does tend to run his pitch count up, though. If the As are interested in at least trying to keep him healthy, the way to beat Harden would be to get him out of the game as quickly as you possibly can.

Saturday's pitcher is scheduled to be Justin Duchscherer. Duchscherer has ridiculously good control. His fastball is only in the high eighties but he changes speeds very well and very often. He uses a good curveball as his out pitch. He doesn't strike out many batters and he doesn't walk many batters. He can be quite hittable if he's distracted and he can be distracted by baserunners.

The pitcher for Sunday is Joe Blanton. He throws a low-nineties fastball, a slider, and a curveball. He has fabulous command on all of his pitches. He doesn't have really, really dominant stuff and seems to function without an out pitch so he doesn't get a lot of strike outs. He does regularly go deep into games. In both of his starts against Boston this season, he's given up seven hits, walked one, and struck out three.

Since we last met the As they've added Manny Delcarmen's nemesis Frank Thomas. Thomas has been hitting pretty well for them since they've picked him up. The other DH that they have is Mike Sweeney and he's a decent hitter. Bobby Crosby and Jack Hannahan are decent hitters but their best hitter so far this year is Jack Cust (he was their DH back in March/April but has switched to left field since.)

Bannister v. Matsuzaka (Game 50)

Watching Daisuke pitch is headache-inducing. He throws one hundred and eighteen pitches but only makes it five and two-thirds of an inning into the ballgame. He gives up three runs on six hits. He strikes out seven but walks six batters. And he gets the win. I don't know how he does it.

Lopez came in to finish off the sixth inning for Daisuke. He seems to have tapped into Jason Varitek's ability to will his goals into being achieved. While Varitek decides to become a two-time champion, Lopez devotes his mental powers to playing mind games with me. He came into the game with two outs and a runner on second to face the leftie Gordon. And for the second time in three days, he did his job. He got the strike out on four pitches. I want to like Lopez (after all, he's certainly not a bad looking guy.) I want to trust that he'll be able to get his outs. With his history of being unable to do that, however, it's hard to think he's turned a corner. But maybe this time, though.

Hansen came out for the seventh inning and didn't have the best of luck. He gave up a homerun to the first batter he faced. He walked the second batter and gave up a double to the third batter that allowed the runner to score. He got two of his outs (on a fly out and a pop out) before he walked another batter. Luckily for him, he got the last batter to ground out to first to get himself out of there.

Aardsma came out for the eighth inning and it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I swear. It's not just because I've decided to back him. It wasn't. Yeah, he gave up the homerun but he didn't walk anyone! A definite plus! And he didn't hit anyone! Even better! He got the first batter to strike out. To the next batter he gave up a single, that Pedroia very nearly had. Then he gave up another single, which Cora (who was a defensive replacement for Lugo) very nearly had for the force out at second and could possibly have been a double play ball. Unfortunately for him, neither of those defensive plays were possible but he did get the next batter to fly out to right. Then he gave up the homerun to bring everyone home and cut the Sox lead to three. He did get the last batter to strike out, though.

Papelbon came out for the ninth. He got two ground outs to start the inning. Then he gave up two singles before getting the last batter to fly out to left.

The Red Sox got the hitting started in the second inning. Manny got a single. Lowell got a single. Youkilis got a single. And then JD Drew sidled up to the plate. With no outs, he watched the first pitch sail past his knees for a strike. The next two pitches came in low and away. The fourth pitch he saw was still away but a little too high and he nudged it foul. The next one, though, while still away was just the right height. He started his beautiful swing, put good contact on the ball, and shot it up over the wall for the grand slam. He returned to the dugout all smiles.

They scored another run in the third inning. With two outs, Lowell hit a ground ruled double to right. Youkilis then got a single and Lowell came around to score.

In the sixth inning they got themselves some more runs. Drew got a single to start things off. Cash got a single and Drew moved over to third. Lugo hit a sacrifice fly and Drew came in. Ellsbury walked. Pedroia got a double to bring in Cash. With Ellsbury on third and Pedroia on second, Ortiz popped out for the second out of the inning. Unlike Joe Girardi, they decided to walk Manny, which brought Mike Lowell to the plate. The first pitch thrown to him was too high and too far inside. The next one was still inside but was much lower. It was just about knee high, in fact. Mike Lowell whacked at the ball and it skimmed just over the top of the wall for the second grand slam of the game.

Lastly, regarding Lugo's baserunning miscues: they weren't all that bad, either. He was caught stealing in the second and called out at home in the fourth. In the second, he had reached via a single. Twice the pitcher unsuccessfully tried to pick him off but he was just unlucky on the pitch he decided to actually run on. The pitch which was, presumably, supposed to be a strike ended up being close to a pitch out and Lugo just wasn't fast enough to beat the throw. In the fourth, there were two outs when he was standing on second. It's true that Lugo had very little chance of making it home a single to right that didn't leave the infield and Mills probably shouldn't have waved him around but the batter was Ortiz. Ortiz was not going to make it safely to first and the inning would have been over. The only chance to keep the inning going was to take the chance of sending Lugo and hoping that the throw to home was off. It wasn't and he was out but it was certainly a risk (if you could call it that) worth taking.

Tomko v. Colon (Game 49)

That was a nice, solid performance by Colon. It was probably the best one could hope for going into the game. He went five innings and threw seventy-four pitches. He gave up two runs on six hits but struck out four. And although he did walk two, his command of his fastball was nearly impeccable. He was moving around the strike zone with confidence-left, right, up, down, it didn't matter. He put the ball where Varitek wanted it to go.

Hansen was the first reliever out of the 'pen. He threw ten pitches for a strong 1-2-3 sixth inning. He struck out the first batter and then got two ground outs. Lopez came out to pitch the seventh inning and saw four batters in the process of getting his three outs. I really felt quite bad for teasing him yesterday when he walked the first batter he faced. He came back to get the next batter to strike out looking so I didn't feel as rotten. He got a ground out and a swinging strike out to end the inning cleanly.

The next guy summoned from the bullpen was Manny Del. Delcarmen faced three batters for his three outs and got a fly out and two ground-outs. Timlin pitched the ninth and started off well. He got two quick outs: one on a fly out and the other on a bad bunt bid that he fielded well. But then he walked the next batter and gave up a single to the batter after that, that brought in another run for the Royals. He finally got the last batter to fly out to right.

As for offense they were able to put up some nice numbers in support of Colon. Ellsbury was on top of things right out of the gate-hitting a homerun in his first at bat. They didn't score again until the fifth inning when Varitek answered with a homerun of his own. After which Coco got a double, moved over to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Lugo. Ellsbury and then Pedroia both got hits of their own to load the bases. Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly to center and Lugo came around to score. After which, Ellsbury came around to score on a wild pitch before Manny struck out swinging. They picked up another run in the seventh inning. Ellsbury got a single and then stole second before Pedroia got a single that brought him home. And that was it for runs.

They continue to have a problem with leaving men on base. There were eight men left on base in this game, including leaving the bases loaded in the eighth. They also hit into two doubles plays (thankfully, neither one of them involved Lugo.)

Meche v. Masterson (Game 48)

Another feel good win tonight. Justin Masterson seems like one of the sweetest, kindest people on earth and as a reward for being such a good person, you want him to do well-especially after he performed so well last time only to have the bullpen blow it for him. You hope for only good things for him. But, being unable to leave well enough alone, I worry for him. Much in the same way that I worry about Papelbon being too intense and burning himself out, my fear for Masterson is that the life of a ballplayer might be too rough for his gentle nature. After all, baseball players generally aren't known as the most wholesome of creatures. And while he was dressed as if he was headed out on a Mormon mission after the game, he did give a good post-game presser. Through out, I couldn't help but think: Kid talks a lot. I suppose I should just leave the worrying about him to people who actually know him and will be able to keep him centered. He pitched well today and seemed happy with the result so who am I to spread my mother hen wings and enfold him-he can probably fend for himself.

He went six and one third of an inning, over which he threw ninety-one pitches. He walked three and struck out five. He did give up three hits but they were all to Alex Gordon-the only Royals hitter to figure out what to do against him. He was charged with a run. Before he was done in the seventh inning he walked a batter who would come around to score while Manny Delcarmen was pitching.

The first pitcher to relieve Masterson, though, was Lopez. Perhaps I'm just really easy to impress or maybe I have low expectations of him, but I was impressed with Lopez tonight. He was brought in to face a lefty and got him out. Not only did he get the out without walking a couple of batters first, but it wasn't a fly out, a ground out, or a foul out that erased the hitter but an honest-to-goodness strike out looking.

With two down Delcarmen was brought in to finish off the seventh inning. The first thing that Manny Del did was give up a single that brought in the Royals only run. He did get a swinging strike out to end the inning.Okajima was brought out for the eighth inning and seemed to have a little bit of trouble. He gave up a lead off double but got the second batter to ground out. He walked a batter, got a strike out, and walked another batter to load the bases before they went with Papelbon for the last four outs.

Papelbon finished off the eighth with a swinging strike out. He came back out for the ninth and got the first batter to ground out-it was a very nice play by Youkilis that kept it from going as a hit. He then got the next two batters to strike out swinging to end the game and get Masterson the win.

The Sox only needed two runs to win the game, which was good because that was all they scored. In the second inning, Lowell started things off by striking out. Youkilis and then Drew both hit singles to center. Varitek walked to load the bases. Lugo hit a sacrifice fly that brought in Youkilis. Then, Coco picked up a ground-ruled double and an RBI as Drew scored. The Red Sox just had a really hard time hitting Meche-they managed to collect only five hits while striking out ten times and walking only twice.

Hochevar v. Lester (Game 47)

(I like the symmetry with Jacoby in this picture.)

Lester pitched one hell of a game last night. He really had dominant stuff-he was all over the strike zone, changed speeds well, and his command (which had been improving by leaps and bounds over the past couple of games) was pretty much spot on. All of which resulted in him striking out nine on his way to the no-hitter. Last night, you could see what Francona and Farrell had seen in him from the start.

The moon and the stars have to line up perfectly for anyone to throw a no-hitter and the situation was no different for Lester. There have been two things that John Farrell has been publicly harping on Jon Lester about this season-getting ahead of batters and working at a less glacial pace. I suppose it's a testament to the genius of Farrell that when Lester managed to do both of those things simultaneously, he tosses a no-hitter. Of the twenty-nine batters he faced, twenty of them were greeted with first-pitch strikes. But, to me, one of the most impressive things about this game was that it ended in exactly two hours and thirty minutes. I could have caught the last half of the season finale of House after watching a complete Jon Lester start. Amazing.

Offensively, the Red Sox were also struggling to get hits. They had a big offensive push in the third inning. Both Drew and Varitek singled. Lugo then hit into a double play that brought in Drew. Ellsbury tripled. Pedroia walked and then stole second. Ortiz walked to load the bases and then Manny walked to knock in a run. Then Lowell reached on an error (props to Ortiz for still running when the ball looked all but caught) that knocked in two more runs. Youkilis then got a ground-ruled double that brought in Manny before Drew flied out to end the inning.

The only other man to be left on base was Ellsbury in the fourth inning. He walked. Then stole second and then stole third but didn't get any further. Varitek topped off an impressive performance by hitting a two-run homerun in the sixth inning (Drew stood on first after having been hit by a pitch.)

Also, Don Orsillo requests cash for his birthday (December 16). You can send it to him care of NESN (but don't ask for the address because he doesn't know it.)

Go, Jonny! Go! (Jonny No-No)

Jon Lester has said in the past that he doesn't want to be known as the pitcher who overcame cancer. He doesn't want to have any special treatment afforded to him because his lymph nodes went haywire. He doesn't want his major league career tainted by the fact that at some point someone felt sorry for him and gave him a break. He wants to be there because he deserves to be there and not because someone pitied him. Today, he took another stride toward achieving that goal.

Last October 28, he went five and two-thirds of an inning and collected the game four win out in Colorado. Tonight, in his first ever attempt at getting twenty-seven outs in one game, he ended up no-hitting the Royals on one hundred and thirty pitches. He did walk two and was charged with a throwing error but it was definitely a huge step toward proving he's legit.

Also, a nod to Varitek who now holds the major league record for the most no-hitters caught (four.) I also adore the beaming with pride looks that Varitek and, to a much larger extent, Francona give him before embracing him.

Papelbon on Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tonight's Red Sox this Week program with Dan Roche featured half an hour with Jonathan Papelbon. I will give props to Dan Roche-he never really struck me as a journalist but it was a very nicely constructed interview; there was a nice combination of serious questions and fluffy questions. There were previewed segments that ended up not being forthcoming but that wasn't necessarily his fault. If there's one thing you can say about Papelbon, though, it's that the man could put probably make Josh Beckett smile if he put his mind to it (he described his World Series ring as a man-engagement ring.)

Highlights:

With the recent hullabaloo in the NY press about Goose Gossage calling Joba Chamberlain out for displaying too much emotion on the mound, it was a natural thing to ask Papelbon about. Papelbon is, for the most part, okay with celebrating; as long as your celebration isn't Derek Lowe-esque and it's in proportion to the importance that that out represents for the team and the outcome of the game.

He talked a little bit about being on Letterman and his teammates-how important they are too him, how ribbing each other keeps them close. He, like pretty much everyone else in the world, loves Mike Lowell. And that hideous black lace shirt he wore for Mike Lowell's dance competition? He wouldn't have worn it for anyone else. It also turns out that his wife picked it out for him. Which does bring up a concern about his wife's fashion sense (I think I remember a picture of her in a stole). Or maybe she was just mad at him.

He talked about Manny's double play. He's sure that Manny forgot how many outs there were and that's why he took the time to high-five the fan. Maybe that's true or maybe he saw the piece that Baseball Tonight put together and the clip of Manny flipping the ball out of Yankee stadium with two outs, running back in, looking up, and Pedro giving him that little smile and reminding him that that was only the second out (that was my favorite clip in the collection.)

The last thing they talked about, after all, was Papelbon's history of embellishing his resume. In Cookie-Off Two he said that he was a taster for the Honey Baked Ham Company, in Cookie-Off Three he looked absolutely perplexed when Roche asked him about it. He came clean tonight claiming that he did work for the Honey Baked Ham Company while he was in high school but that his job was glazing the hams and bringing out free samples when the line got too long. According to him, before they could bring out the samples to appease the customers, they had to taste them to make sure they weren't bringing out horrible pieces that would drive the customers away. It could be true. It could also be another fabrication-one created to cover himself for stealing pieces of meat. I can't really tell with Jonathan Papelbon but I love the man dearly.

Next Up: the Kansas City Royals.

Monday's pitcher for the Royals is Luke Hochevar. In the five starts of his rookie season, Hochevar is three and two. He's also only once gone fewer than six innings. He throws a four-seam fastball in the mid-nineties and a sinker in the low-nineties. He has a low eighties changeup, a curveball, and a slider. He's mostly a sinkerball pitcher. His best breaking pitch is his curveball but he uses his slider as his out-pitch. If he's on, he gets quite a few strike outs but he also induces a lot of ground outs. (He's only given up two homeruns this year.) He does occasionally have problems with his control.

Scheduled to go Tuesday against Masterson is Gil Meche. Meche is also a sinkerball pitcher. His sinker sits in the low-nineties. He also throws a mid-nineties fastball, a hard slider, a curveball, and a change-up. He has the ability to ring up hitters but has, historically, struggled with his command.

Wednesday's pitcher facing Colon is Brett Tomko. Tomko throws both a four-seam fastball and a two-seam fastball in the nineties. He has vastly improved his curveball and he's got a good changeup. In the past, if things have started to go wrong for him, he's had trouble putting it behind him and just getting on with the pitching. He's also had issues with completely losing the strike zone at times but he's cut down on the walks this year.

The last pitcher that the Royals plan on fielding is Brian Bannister. He has a fastball in the low-nineties, a very good cutter in the high eighties, and a looping curveball. He has worked on his command (and improved it) but because he's not over powering if he's not on, he can get in real trouble.

Their best hitter is probably the catcher Miguel Olivo. Mark Grudzielanek is their second biggest power threat. Alex Gordon, Mark Teahan, Billy Butler, and David Dejesus are also good hitters.

Villanueva v. Beckett (Game 46)

I suppose the best way to describe Beckett's performance today would be to call it uneven. He gave up four homeruns that scored six of the Brewers runs but he also struck out nine. He went seven innings on one hundred and six pitches and gave up six hits but walked only one.

Manny Del came in for the eighth inning. It wasn't a superb outing: he gave up two hits and allowed a run to score but it wasn't terrible. He gave up two hits to the first two batters he faced (a single and a double.) The next batter grounded out to second for the first out but also knocked in a run. He got the next batter to strike out swinging and the last batter flew out to left.

Papelbon finished off the Brewers in the ninth inning. The Brewers decided to be ultra-aggressive with him and the first two batters swung at the first pitch he threw and the first flew out to right. The second batter got a base hit. The third batter took a strike and then flew out to right. The fourth batter struck out looking on five pitches.

That was a couple of really weird games in a row; last night was an error filled game and tonight was a homerun filled game. The Red Sox combined for four homeruns (Pedroia had one, Ortiz had two, and Youkilis had one.) They also continued with the leaving men on base routine by leaving nine men on base throughout the game. And Ellsbury was caught stealing for the first time.

In the first inning, Pedroia walked and then Ortiz doubled to bring him in. In the third inning, Pedroia and Ortiz both hit homeruns. In the fourth inning, the first three batters reached to load the bases (on an error, a single, and a walk) but then Coco struck out, Lugo walked to bring in another run, Ellsbury singled to bring in two more runs, Lugo was caught in a rundown for the second out, and Ellsbury was caught stealing. In the fifth inning, Pedroia singled and Ortiz got a homerun. In the sixth inning, Lugo singled, moved over to second on a groundout by Ellsbury, and then scored on a single by Pedroia. And in the seventh inning, Lowell singled and Youkilis got a homerun.

Summer Reading List: Addendum.

I don't often read physical newspapers anymore, but one of my favorite parts of the Sunday paper was always the book reviews. Back in April, I started a list of books that had something to do with the Red Sox and seemed interesting enough. Today, I have two books to add to the list, courtesy of the Fredricksburg Free-Lance Star.

The first is: Interviews from Red Sox Nation by David Laurila. It's a re-release (the book was originally published in 2006.) The book is a collection of interviews with players, former players, coaches, people associated with the Red Sox, and some prospects. The book contains interviews with Phil Plantiers, Tim Naehrings, and Bill Lee.

The second isn't so much about the Sox themselves as it is about a boy growing up a fan of the Red Sox. It's called: The Crowd Sounds Happy by Nicholas Dawidoff. It's a memoir of a kid who didn't have the easiest life but connected with the Red Sox on a level that took him away from all of that. It sounds like it might not be the easiest read but is probably fascinating.

Bush v. Wakefield (Game 45)

You almost feel badly for guys who've never faced Wakefield before. Especially if, essentially, it's the whole team that's never seen him or, most likely, seen a knuckleball; and the knuckleball is working well. You've got guys who are very good hitters (or, at least, were last year) just standing there or swinging at pitches that are no longer anywhere near the strike zone. Almost.

It was a very good outing for Wakefield. He used one hundred and eight pitches to go five and one third of an inning. He struck out five batters (including striking out the side in the first inning), walked three, gave up six hits and left the game with a five-one lead. (He gave up a home run in the sixth.) And then it got really strange.

Aardsma didn't have the easiest time when he came in to relieve Wakefield in the sixth inning. Wake left with one out and two runners on. Aardsma got a three pitch strike out from the first batter he faced. He went too far inside to the next batter he saw and hit him on the hip to load the bases. He gave up a two run single to the next batter he faced; then walked his fourth batter to reload the bases. Fortunately for him, he got the last batter to foul out to first to end the inning.

Hansen pitched the seventh inning and allowed three runs on two hits (but none of the runs were earned.) He gave up a base hit to the first batter but got the second to strike out swinging. Kap was next and reached on a throwing error by Lowell. The fourth batter of the inning reached on a fielding error by Cora. The fifth batter reached on a fielder's choice and knocked in another Brewer run to cut the Sox lead to one. With runners on first and third, Hansen threw a wild pitch that moved the runner on first over to second and then the sixth Brewer of the inning hit a double that brought in two more runs and gave the Brewers the lead. The inning ended, thankfully, with a foul out to the catcher.

Lopez pitched the eighth inning and while he wasn't exactly cruising through it, at least he didn't allow any more runs to score. He got the first batter to fly out to center. The next batter hit a ground ball back at him which he failed to scoop up and then booted for the error and for the runner to reach. He walked the next batter (the same batter he walked in the day game) but then got the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.

Timlin came out for the ninth inning and I've got to say that I'm not really digging the 'stache. But, I suppose if it means he continues to pitch the way he did tonight, then I can live with it. He got three quick outs, a pop out and two ground outs, to preserve the lead and end the game.

Mike Lowell was responsible for four of the seven runs scored tonight. In the first inning, he doubled to knock in Ortiz (who had walked) and Youkilis (who had gotten a double of his own.) Then in the third inning he hit a homerun over the wall that also brought in Pedroia (who had singled and stolen second.)

They got another run in the fifth inning. Ellsbury reached on the throwing error of the short stop, stole second, and moved over to third on the sacrifice by Pedroia. Ortiz grounded out but then Youkilis reached on the throwing error of the third baseman and knocked in Ellsbury. The inning ended with a fly out by Lowell.

They scored again in the seventh inning. Ellsbury reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. Ellsbury took off for second and Pedroia hit into a fielder's choice but the throw to second was off-Ellsbury was safe and moved over to third, and Pedroia took second. Ortiz grounded out to the shortstop but knocked in Ellsbury. Youkilis then got a bloop single to right to knock in Pedroia. Lowell struck out looking and Youkilis was caught stealing to end the inning.

One thing to say about this game is that they only left five men on base. Not the best thing, considering how close it was, but at least an improvement. The game was sloppy though. The number of errors, on both sides, was ridiculous. For the Brewers (who had been pretty good defensively) and the Red Sox (whose most error-prone player was on the bench) to combine for seven errors in one game is impressive. I think it must speak to the fact that it was a late, long game after a long game earlier in the day. There's probably not too much to be made of it but man.

Suppan v. Matsuzaka (Game 44)

A nice game for Daisuke. He went six and two-thirds of an inning, allowing two runs on one hundred and three pitches. He struck out six and walked only two batters. For the most part, he was working efficiently and was throwing strikes.

He got himself into a tiny bit of trouble in the fifth inning. After getting two quick outs, he gave up a single, hit a batter, and walked a batter to load the bases but got the last batter to fly out to center with no damage done. In the sixth inning he gave up a single and a double but then got two swinging strike outs and a fly out. He very nearly got himself out of the seventh inning cleanly, as well. He got two quick fly outs but the third batter reached on fielding error by Youkils (who was playing at third), then he gave up a home run and a single before he was pulled.

Lopez was called in to face the lefty Prince Fielder and walked him. They replaced him with Manny Del and he did pretty well. Manny Delcarmen went an inning and a third. He got a force out at second to end the seventh inning. He did give up a hit in the eighth but he got a ground out, a foul out, and a fly out to get himself out of there.

Papelbon came in for the ninth inning and was done in seven pitches. He got a ground out and a foul out before giving up a home run to Ryan Braun. He got the last out thanks to a very nice backwards running catch by Alex Cora.

The scoring got started in the first inning. With two outs, Ortiz walked, Ramirez was hit by a pitch, Youkilis singled to load the bases, and Drew drew a walk to bring in the first run.

They scored again in the second inning. With one out, Lugo got a single and Ellsbury got a bunt single. Pedroia flied out but then Ortiz hit a three run homerun out to left, to give the Sox a four-nothing lead.

They didn't score again until the eighth inning. Varitek started it off by getting a double. But then both Casey and Lugo flied out to left. Ellsbury then doubled to bring in Varitek.

And while they won the game, they continue to leave lots of men on base. In the first inning, the bases were loaded when Varitek popped out to short. Casey had a double to start the fourth inning that they couldn't make anything off. In the fifth inning, both Ortiz and Ramirez had singles before Youkilis flied out and Drew hit into a double play. In the sixth inning, Varitek started off with a ground rule double and Casey hit a single before Lugo hit into a double play and Ellsbury flew out. In the seventh inning, Pedroia reached on an error and Ortiz walked before Ramirez fouled out, Youkilis flied out, and Drew grounded out. It's concerning.

I was a little concerned for Lugo at one point. There were a couple of calls that didn't go his way-he sort of fouled a ball off himself but was out of the batters box when it happened in the fourth inning and had a pretty clear tag-out at second where everyone, including the guy being tagged-out, thought he was out except for the umpire-and he doesn't always do well when things don't go his way and start to weigh on him but he seemed to be alright for the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings (it could just have been that they weren't hitting in his direction) but Francona brought out Cora for the ninth, so maybe I'm wrong about him being able to put it behind him.

How did you Spend the Off Day?

I watched the season finale of The Office last night but apparently, Red Sox pitchers have better things to do than hanging around watching t.v.


Manny Del and David Aardsma made the looong trek up to Colchester, VT to visit Porters Point School, the winners of the Hood Sox Tops for Kids program. The kids seemed to be more into meeting Wally but I suppose that's to be expected when you throw two relatively new relief pitchers at a bunch of little kids. I've also got to say that I've never been too impressed with what I've seen of Manny Delcarmen as a person but his interaction with the kindern seemed quite cute.


In the meantime, Jon Lester, was headed in the other direction. He went down to Dunkin' Donuts in Warwick to hand out free iced coffee.


Mike Timlin headed up to Maine for the opening of the Cabela's.

Happy Birthday Kitten!

Today marks the twenty-eighth anniversary of Joshua Patrick Beckett's appearance in the world. In honor of his birthday I've decided to be kind but am having trouble thinking of anything to say.

I suppose that, with the exception of doting parents, he was probably a few years off from anyone imagining what the baby-faced kid from Texas would eventually become. But as much as I find joy in making fun of him, you have to admire the dedication and hard work he must have had to put in to become what he has become. So what if in the process he skipped a few lessons on interpersonal skills and as a result, is a crap public speaker? So what if most of the time he appears to be an unappealing combination of surly and sullen? (I kid because I love.)

Josh, kitten, be happy. It's allowed. Sure, the best description of your smile might be to call it: goofy. And I imagine that, should you ever laugh, you would probably snort whilst doing it. But given where your life has taken you, neither of those reasons are good enough to not be exuberantly happy. Genuinely smile every once it a while-it won't hurt.

Next Up: the Milwaukee Brewers.

Woot for the return of Gabe!

The scheduled pitcher for Friday night's game is Jeff Suppan. Suppan's fastball is slow and straight (one of which Manny absolutely mashed to start off game three of the 2004 World Series.) He does have an excellent curveball for an out-pitch. He doesn't walk too many batters but he doesn't strike out many either. He does give up a considerable number of hits because he tends to be predictable.

The pitcher scheduled to go Saturday night is Dave Bush. Bush has a decent fastball that sits in the low-nineties. He also throws a curveball, a slider, and a change-up. He has very good command but can become distracted with runners on base.

Sunday's pitcher is Carlos Villanueva (which I originally read as Charlie Villanueva, which was very confusing.) Villanueva is difficult to hit and, as a result, as a high strike-out rate. His fastball isn't overpowering (it sits in the low-nineties) but is deceptive. He has a very good change-up and throws a decent curveball. He has suffered from inconsistency, most likely resulting from a pitching delivery that has many moving parts that all need to be lined up for things to go well. Villanueva has the most hits and the most homeruns given up on the season so far.

The Brewers' defense is quite good (their third-baseman has a team leading five errors on a the season.) As for offense their biggest hitters are Jason Kendall, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, and Corey Hart. Bill Hall and Ryan Braun lead the team in home runs (nine as I write this.) The Brewers don't walk much-of the good hitters Prince Fielder leads the team with 20.

Lester v. Cabrera (Game 43)

Flippin' heck that sucked. Lester had a pretty good outing, handed the game over to the bullpen with a one run lead, and they just didn't have it this afternoon.

Lester made it through six innings on eighty-six pitches. He gave up two runs on five hits but also struck out four. He made it to the fourth inning before he issued a walk (he also gave up a walk in the fifth inning) but neither of those walks proved to be troublesome for him. Both runs he gave up came in the sixth inning. He gave up a single, followed by a double. The next batter grounded out to short and a run came in. He, then, gave up another single that brought in the second Orioles run. He finished the inning strongly, though. He got the last two batters to strike out swinging.



Then came Lopez. Javier actually didn't pitch poorly. He got two quick outs to start the seventh inning but then gave up a hit. They took him out and replaced him with Hansen. Hansen gave up a hit and, then, walked a batter to load the bases. They pulled him and replaced him with Okajima. Okajima gave up a grand slam before getting the last out on a ground out to short. Okajima had a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth inning to end the game.



The offense started off strong again. Ellsbury opened the game with a single and then stole second. Pedroia followed it up with a single of his own (on which Ellsbury scored.)



And then came the double plays. Ortiz grounded into a double play in the first. Pedroia grounded into a double play in the third. Lowell grounded into one in the fourth. And then Youkilis grounded into one in the ninth. I suppose that's one way to stop leaving men on base but I'm fairly certain that it would be preferable to push them across the plate instead.



The other two Red Sox runs came off home runs. Varitek had a home run in the fifth inning and Lowell had one in the sixth.

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?

Okay, so it's probably totally irresponsible but damn it, it made me smile then (and continues to make me smile after that crappy loss) so I'm going to enjoy it.

Beckett v. Guthrie (Game 42)

Normally, I make it a point to not rag on umpires. They've got a tough job to do and, obviously, they've got a better angle to see the play standing right behind it than I do watching on television. From where I was sitting, the home plate umpire (Laz Diaz) seemed to have a pretty wide strike zone but he was consistent with it, there were players from both sides pissed off with the calls. The wide strike zone seemed to work out pretty well for the Orioles, possibly because they're used to hacking away at bad/questionable pitches; whereas the Red Sox, are better batters and are so used to not swinging at pitches that are balls, that they just stood there watching the balls outside being called strikes. But what was the point of ejecting my Papi? Granted, I don't read lips, so maybe he said something really awful to him but what other reason could there have been for ejecting him? Yeah, he argued the call but he had a genuine beef. Hell, he had already started to walk away when he was ejected. It was just stupid.

Beckett's outing was less than stellar. He went five and two-thirds of an inning and gave up five runs on eleven hits (including a three-run home run.) With a strike zone wide enough you could drive a truck through it, he got five strike outs but somehow managed to walk two. Manny Del and Aardsma finished off the game and did a perfectly fine job of it. Delcarmen went one and one-third of an inning. He walked one and he struck out one. Aardsma pitched the eighth inning and possibly with the help of the overly generous strike zone didn't walk anyone and struck out two. He seemed rather pleased with his effort and I'll admit I was rather excited for him as well. I've been pulling for him since they were making the first roster cuts and Amelie Benjamin dumped all over him, declaring that he would be the first to go (I've got a bit of a contrary streak in me.)

As for offense, they again got going right out of the gate but stalled quickly. They scored three runs in the first inning: Coco got a single, Ortiz got a double, Manny singled (drove in Coco), Lowell reached on a fielding error (drove in Ortiz), Youkilis moved Manny over, Drew reached on Millar's fielding error (drove in Manny) and that was it until the eighth inning. In the eighth, Ellsbury walked with one out, Varitek walked, Cora singled to right and drove in Ellsbury.

They continue to leave men on base at an alarming clip but I've got to believe that it's going to come to an end. How many times a season do you think this could possibly happen: Bases loaded, nobody out, and Manny is up to the plate. He has a long at bat, fouling off pitch after pitch, searching for the perfect one to hit. Finally, he spots it. The baseball hurtling toward him is his. He owns it. It's perfect. He transfers his weight to his back foot, adjusts the angle of the bat, with a light step he shifts his weight back to his front foot, creates significant torsion throughout his mid-section as he places the bat on the ball, and hits into a double play. Blah.

Who's Got the Pain?

JD Drew left tonight's game in the third inning after making a very good effort to catch a ball out in right. They say that it's a sprained wrist and that he's listed as day-to-day. Ellsbury came in to replace him.

Then in the sixth inning, Coco left the game with an upset stomach. It must have been really bad, like upchucking in the locker room bad, because their solution seemed desperate at best. They put Youkilis in right and moved Ellsbury into center. Hopefully, it's not anything really serious because although Kevin Youkilis seems like he can do anything baseball-wise, making him play right field is not a long term solution-especially given the fact that tomorrow's game is in the afternoon and getting someone down from Pawtucket might be cutting it close.