McGowan v. Matsuzaka (Game 29)

That was eerily similar to last night's game. A very good performance by a somewhat iffy pitcher, followed by ninth inning heroics, and ending with a throw home from Vernon Wells in center (or not.)

Especially compared to what we've seen from him so far this season, Daisuke pitched really well. He lasted through seven innings and worked relatively efficiently-he only threw 111 pitches. During that time he gave up just two hits and, surprisingly, walked only two batters. He also struck out four.

He was replaced in the eighth inning by Manny Del but he only got to throw two pitches before he was pulled from the game. The first one he threw was a called strike and the second one was a base hit to center. He was pulled so quickly because before he went out to pitch the plan was to keep him out there until there was a base runner. It, presumably, happened much more quickly than anyone had anticipated. Manny Del was none to pleased with the situation, either.

Okajima was brought in instead to pitch the eighth inning. He seemed to also be struggling when they brought him out. On a two-two count he gave up a double to the first batter he faced. The first out of the inning came on a sacrifice fly that was impressively caught by a diving Brandon Moss (Manny Del's runner scored but the Okajima's runner stayed on second.) Now with a tied game, one out, and a man in scoring position, Okajima got his act together and struck out the next two batters on seven pitches.

Papelbon was the last pitcher they needed for the game (which was a very good thing. As much as I like the idea of Mike Timlin, seeing him out there warming up still gives me the willies.) With Pap on the mound, the Blue Jays became a pretty free swinging club. The first batter hit the first pitch to center for a base hit. Much to Vernon Wells' disgust the pinch runner was picked off on a two-one count. Wells then grounded out to short and Overbay grounded out to second to end the potential rally.

The game didn't start out looking like it was going to need ninth inning heroics to get them out of it. The game was love-love until the seventh inning when David Ortiz hit a homerun (his fifth of the season-he's creeping up pretty quickly on Manny) to right. The Jays answered with a point of their own in the eighth, which led to a tied game going into the bottom of the ninth. Ortiz started off the inning with a single to right (he was eventually pinch run for by Jed Lowrie.) Manny walked. Brandon Moss hit a single to center and Jed Lowrie headed for home. Not willing to let what happened yesterday happen again, Vernon Wells got to that ball, got a good grip on it, and threw it really well home. Thanks to a good block of the plate by their catcher, Lowrie was out. And the game went on. Jason Varitek sidled up to the plate. "Let's see you try that again," he thought. He got a ball, he swung and missed, got another ball, and then sent another single out to center. Manny trundled around the bases, beat the throw, and then triumphantly threw his batting helmet into the dirt. As if to say: "Ha! I knew you couldn't do that again."

Beckett v. Shields (Game 27)

At least, Alex Cora looks sufficiently embarrassed at having been swept by the Tampa Bay Rays.

For the most part, Beckett did an impeccable job of pitching that game. He went seven innings and struck out thirteen batters. He limited the Rays to four hits and walked only one. In the third inning he did have a pick-off attempt go seriously awry. The base runner had reached on a single to center. Beckett tried twice to pick him off and was pretty close both times-which is probably why he tried a little harder on the third attempt; maybe threw a little bit faster, maybe rushed a little bit to get the throw off. Unfortunately on his third attempt, the throw sailed past Youkilis and up the right field line. It took so long to recover that the runner came around to score. He also gave up a home run to Evan Longoria in the seventh inning.

Manny Del replaced Beckett in the eighth inning. And what did he proceed to do? On his third pitch of the outing, he beaned the Rays shortstop. He struck out the second batter and while he was pitching to the third (Carl Crawford), the runner stole second. Crawford then hit a double up the right field line and the runner came around to score. Crawford attempted to stretch his double into a triple but was tagged out at third for the second out of the inning. The last batter of the inning struck out swinging.

Except for the two errors (on Beckett and Drew), it wasn't a bad game defensively. I suppose it helps that there really weren't that many balls put into play. There were five hits in the air that were caught for outs and three ground balls that were successfully converted into outs.

Then the question is: If the pitching was (for the most part) dominant, then how did they end up losing? The answer comes to us from the Joe Morgan School of obvious-ness: You can't win a game if you don't score any runs and you can't score any runs if you don't hit the ball.

Buchholz v. Jackson (Game 26)

In the battle of the rookie pitchers, both pitched well (it really would have been helpful if Jackson was having a bad day.) And though the score won't reflect it, Buchholz was better. He pitched seven and two-thirds shut-out innings. He limited the Rays to one hit into the eighth inning and he struck out nine of them.

The problem was that the Red Sox were not hitting well, at all. They had five hits and four walks and they managed to only get one run (and were exceedingly lucky to get that.) They allowed two double plays to be turned against them.

Coco was the first batter of the fifth inning and he got a base hit on a two-two count. The presence of Coco on first base seemed to weigh heavily on Jackson-he attempted repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to pick him off before he got Varitek to strike out swinging. The change of batter and the out did nothing to relieve his worry. Lowrie was the next batter and Jackson was still preoccupied with getting rid of Crisp. He threw Lowrie a ball, then tried to get Coco. He threw Lowrie a strike, then tried to get Coco. He threw Lowrie a ball, a strike (foul), then another ball, before throwing a wild pitch that rolled to the backstop, put Lowrie on first, and advanced Coco to third. Lugo struck out swinging for the second out (and was not at all pleased with the call-he had a genuine beef about the second strike.) Ellsbury reached on a infield single and Coco came around to score the only Red Sox run of the night.

The only other interesting thing to happen was that with Youkilis' successful play at first base tonight, he now has not only the record for the longest streak of error-less games at first base but also the record for most opportunities to screw up but not doing so. So, good on Kevin Youkilis.

Next Up: the Tampa Bay Rays

Tomorrow the Rays plan on putting Matt Garza on the mound to pitch against Wakefield. Garza is coming off a stint on the disabled list to pitch in his first game since April 8. In his first game of the season he pitched five and one-third of an inning and gave up six hits (including two homeruns) and struck out three. He pitched a rehab start last Sunday and went three and two-thirds of an inning. He gave up eight hits and struck out four. He throws a mid-nineties fastball, a hard slider, a curveball, and a change-up. He has flashes of brilliance but struggles to get lefties out.

Saturday's scheduled starter for Tampa is Edwin Jackson. Jackson is an aggressive pitcher who throws a mid-nineties fastball and not much else. He does have a slider and a change-up but both pitches are under-developed. Endurance has been a problem for him in the past but he did throw eight shut-out innings against Seattle on April 10. He has huge control problems. And if he isn't having a good day, things are likely to go horribly wrong for him.

The scheduled pitcher for Sunday afternoon's game is James Shields. He's an aggressive pitcher who really goes after hitters. Shields' best pitch is his change-up but he also throws a low-nineties fastball and a good curveball. He's relatively durable and is an inning-eater. He relies heavily on his change-up and as a result, righties hit very well off him.

Eric Hinske is having a fabulous year for the Rays. In the outfield, Justin Ruggiano is off to a very good start, B.J. Upton is a very good hitter, and Carl Crawford can also hit well. Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford might also be a threat at the plate.

And the Moral of the Series (LA Angels: Games 22-24) is...

It really was impressive that they managed to take one game from the Angels with their hobbled lineup, shuffled pitching rotation, and overused bullpen. Another impressive thing (if you're looking for the bright side and I am) is that none of these games was a blowout. They managed to stay within striking distance despite the conditions imposed on them. They also got significant contributions from guys you wouldn't normally expect to get a lot from; which was good to see.

Saunders v. Masterson (Game 24)

What a bummer for Masterson. He pitched six really good innings for his major league debut and left the game with a two-run lead, only to have the bullpen blow it for him. But because he's Masterson and a fabulously wonderful person, with a sunny disposition, and a grin a mile wide-he's alright with the outcome. "It was just fun." Awww.

In his six innings Masterson threw ninety-five pitches. He gave up only two hits to the powerful Angels lineup (one a homerun) and he struck out four of them. He also walked four of them. He had ten ground ball outs and three fly ball outs. He also fielded his position well-he had two assists on the put out at first, including foiling a bunt attempt by Figgins.

Lopez came in to relieve him and did a piss-poor job of it. He saw two batters and walked the first (a lefty) and gave up a base hit to the second. Manny Delcarmen was brought in to help but didn't. In fact, he did the exact same thing as Lopez. He walked the first batter he saw and gave up a base hit to the second. Unfortunately, for Delcarmen (and Lopez) a runner came around to score. Lopez has been pitching quite a bit lately and maybe that negatively affected his performance today or maybe it's just that he's back to sucking at getting lefties out. I understand that the bullpen has been depleted as of late and that was probably the reason for having Delcarmen pitch today but he is just getting over the flu.

Okajima was brought into a tough situation to relieve Delcarmen (who looked perfectly happy to give the ball back to Francona.) The bases were loaded and there were no outs against the Angels. After throwing three strikes (two fouled off) and a ball to the first batter he saw, Okajima gave up a base hit to the first batter he saw-allowing the tying run to score. He gave up another base hit to the second batter he saw, two more runs came around to score, and the batter took second on a throwing error by Crisp. They decided to try to pitch to the next batter but after they fell behind him they intentionally walked him. With the bases once again loaded and still no outs, Okajima got his act together and struck out the next two batters he saw (both swinging.) He got the last batter to pop out to short to bring an end to the bleeding.

Aardsma came out to pitch the eighth and didn't do a fabulous job either. He got two quick outs (a ground out and a strike out) but the next batter reached on a bunt and went on to steal second. He walked the next batter on five pitches and then gave up a double, which allowed another run to score. He got the last batter to fly out to center.

Tavarez pitched the ninth inning. He gave up a base hit before getting the first out (a ground out.) He then walked a batter before giving up a sacrifice fly to give the Angels a four run lead. The last out came from a foul ball that Youkilis caught.

Coco had a good game offensively. He got the scoring started in the second inning by batting in Manny on a ground out to second. In the fourth inning he had a ground-ruled double that knocked in another run, then came around to score on ground-ruled double from Cash. And in the sixth inning he had a double off the wall that just barely missed being a homerun.

Manny also had a good performance. He had two singles and a double. Ellsbury, Pedroia, and Lowrie each had a base hit, as well. Ortiz was hitting the ball well today. In the fifth inning he hit a ball to deep center that was very close to being a home run and then in the ninth inning, with two outs, he sent a homerun out to right to cut the Angels lead to two. Unfortunately, Manny flied out to center to end the game.

Garland v. Lester (Game 23)

So due to injuries and particularly virulent viruses, you cobble together a seemingly unimpressive lineup one night and they manage to eek out a one-run win. The next night, due to those same constraints, you pull out one of your better hitters and throw in a not totally prepared starting pitcher and they lose by two runs. It's kind of impressive that they came that close.

Lester wasn't supposed to play today but ended up pitching the first five innings of this game after Daisuke was taken ill with the flu. His line wasn't good. He threw eighty pitches and gave up nine hits, four runs (including two home runs), walked two and struck out one.

But if he's still sticking with the plan of trying to throw first-pitch strikes, he made some progress at the beginning of the ballgame. The first four batters he faced each saw a strike on the first pitch. He missed with the last batter of the first inning (throwing a ball, three strikes, and another ball before the batter grounded out to short) but came back out to throw a first-pitch strike to the first two batters of the second inning. After that, that aspect of his performance went down hill. He saw six more batters (and was staring down the fourth batter of the third inning) before he got back on track with the first-pitch strikes eventually striking the batter out swinging. He also got ahead on the last two batters of that inning. He fell behind the first two batters of the fourth inning but threw a first-pitch strike to the last (who eventually grounded into a double play.) In his last inning, Lester fell behind the first two batters but threw strikes to the last two. Over all, it wasn't a successful bid to meet the first-pitch strike goal; he saw twenty-three batters and got ahead on only twelve of them.

Hansen came up to pitch the sixth and the beginning of the seventh inning and he didn't do too badly. It was interesting to see the contrast between the tempo at which Lester works and the much more lively tempo at which Hansen was working. He did give up a home run but he also struck out three of the eight batters he faced, got a ground out, got a fly out, and if Pedroia hadn't had a miscue in catching a pop up to shallow right, would have gotten out of his two innings only having allowed the one hit. As it ended up working out, the runner was safe at first and moved over to third on a base hit by the next batter before he was pulled.

He was replaced by Javier Lopez who walked the first batter he faced (a lefty) and loaded the bases before inducing a ground out to end the inning. Javier Lopez had a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth. He got a strike out, a ground out, and a pop out. Mike Timlin pitched the ninth inning and started off well. He got the first two batters to ground out before he gave up a base hit. On a 1-1 count, Cash lost a ball in the dirt and the runner advanced to second. The batter then hit a single up the middle and the runner came around to score. A nice defensive throw to second by Cash got the new runner out as he attempted to stretch his single into a double and ended the inning.

The defense that the Red Sox put up was the reason they stayed in the game as long as they did. In addition to that nice defensive move, Cash also tagged a runner out at home in the second inning. And in the fourth and fifth innings, Lugo helped turn a double play; the first time tagging second himself and the second time flipping the ball to Pedroia for the first out.

The offense tried. Lugo batted in Drew in the second inning. In the third inning, Cash got a double, Ellsbury a single, and then Pedroia had a sacrifice fly to get their second run of the night. In the fourth inning, Pedroia got a base hit and then Ortiz hit a homerun down the right field line to bring the Red Sox score to four. And that was it for runs.

I should preface this by saying that I love Manny and that I spend quite a bit of time defending him but I wonder if he's starting to feel a bit under the weather. Even for him, he looked sort of listless out there in left field and running the bases. I hope it isn't true. If you were forced to take out the last remaining 'big bat' it would be a sorry lineup, indeed.

A Proposal.

Varitek, Manny Delcarmen, Beckett, and now Daisuke? Next year: Flu shots for all!

Weaver v. Pauley (Game 22)

That was a squeaker.

When the news came down that they had pulled Beckett, that Varitek still wasn't well enough to play, and that they had sent Manny Del home, it didn't seem very promising. It left you with a AAA pitcher and the bullpen against the vaunted Angels lineup and with what seemed like a pieced-together lineup with little pop of it's own to respond in kind. It was destined to be an interesting game (in terms of watching the machinations of a good baseball mind in Francona)-maybe not a fun game to watch but definitely an interesting one.

Also, the idea of Pedroia doing the catching if Cash had gone down was a very amusing one. I could see him dressed in Varitek's gear, the shin guards coming half way up his thighs, waddling onto the field only to discover that because of the padding he can't bend his knees. It's easy enough to imagine his enthusiasm getting the better of him and getting him into trouble. Or a one hundred mile per hour fast ball coming screaming in at him and knocking him over and taking the umpire out as well. If the score wouldn't have been affected too much by the outcome, that would be something I would very much be interested in seeing.

Anyway. Dave Pauley held his own at the beginning of the game. He had two 1-2-3 innings to start the game (four ground outs, a fly out, and a strike out.) The bottom third of their lineup got to him in the third inning, though. He gave up double, a base hit (which plated the first Angels' run), and another double to start them off. He walked their lead-off man before getting the next two batters to pop up to shallow center and shallow right for the first two outs. He gave up another base hit (for two more runs) before getting a fly out to end the inning. In the fourth inning he got the first batter to fly out, walked the second (who later stole second), gave up a home run to the third (giving the Angels five runs) and a double to the fourth, before getting the fifth batter to strike out and the sixth batter to line out. He started out the fifth inning with a strike out and a base hit before he was pulled.

It was a respectable performance by Pauley. Sure, he gave up seven hit and five runs but considering who the batters were that he got out there's no way you couldn't call it decent. He struck out Chone Figgins, Gary Matthews Jr., and Vladimir Guerrero. Except for Anderson, the heart of their lineup was unable to even get a hit off him. Not too shabby.

Tavarez finished the fifth inning, pitched the sixth, and started the seventh. He ended the fifth by getting Torii Hunter to ground into a double play. In the sixth inning although he walked the second batter he saw, he got three ground outs to first to get out of any trouble. He gave up two base hits to start the seventh inning and the runners moved over to second and third on a throwing error by Cash before Tavarez was replaced with Okajima.

Okajima pitched a honey of an inning in the seventh. With runners on second and third, he got Guerrero to fly out, Anderson to pop up, and Hunter to strike out. Unfortunately, he started the eighth inning by giving up a game tying home run. He then got two ground outs but also gave up a double to end his outing. Timlin took over from Okajima, got the ground out to first to end the inning and the win. Papelbon pitched the ninth inning. He got two strike outs and a fly out to left.

Even though they looked like a rag-tag lineup not capable of a whole lot of power, they were able to piece together seven runs and take the game. In fact, with the exception of the third inning (when Weaver struck out the side) they had at least one base runner on in each inning. The game started off with a bang when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a home run right out of the gate. After that they didn't score again until the fourth inning. With one out, Drew got a base hit. With two outs, Cash got a base hit. Then Lugo knocked Drew across with a base hit of his own.

They scored again in the fifth inning. Pedroia led off the inning with a double and came around to score on an Ortiz base hit. Manny flew out to right but Youkilis hit a two-run home run to left to tie the game. They would then pull ahead in the sixth inning. Cash struck out to start the inning and then Lugo was called out at first (when he was, in fact, safe) for the second out. When up to the plate sauntered Ellsbury, on a one-one count he swung at the next pitch and sent the ball back out to right for his second home run of the night. Pedroia followed that up with a double but Ortiz grounded out before anything could come of that.

The eighth inning started with Lugo grounding out to the pitcher. Ellsbury again came up to the plate but this time he laid down a very good bunt for a hit. Pedroia shuffled up behind him and sent the two-one pitch down the left field line to the base of the wall for a double and Ellsbury came around to once again give the Red Sox the lead. Ortiz walked and with first base open they decided to pitch to Manny (at that point I was thinking wistfully of Girardi and Mussina but, alas, the result was not the same.) Manny grounded into a fielder's choice for the force out at second and Youkilis popped out to end the inning.

Really a very exciting game.

Happy Birthday Terry!

Today is Terry Francona's forty-ninth birthday. The manager's job is not an easy one but his team seems to love him and he handles the media with great aplomb, skill, and humor (except for when he's asked what he thinks is a stupid question and repeats it back to the questioner in a way that seems to say: Really? Are you sure you wanted to ask that?) Many happy and healthy returns to you, sir and may your boys win one for you tonight.

Baseketball.

Avowed Sacremento Kings fan Dustin Pedroia was spotted at the Celtics game last night. Unlike the Kings-Celtics game he went to at Christmas-time, when he decided to dress neutrally, he decked himself out in Celtics green for the occasion.

Other dangerous activities for the evening?

How about Ortiz holding up the basketball for Lucky to somersault over him and dunk the ball?

Next Up: the Los Angeles Angels

The pitcher scheduled for tomorrow's game is Jered Weaver. Weaver throws a four-seam fastball in the low-nineties and a two-seamer that travels slightly slower but has a lot of movement. He also has a good slider and a change-up. He has excellent command-he walked only forty-five batters last year (6.5% of the batters he faced.) He does have a tendency to really go after hitters when he doesn't necessarily have the stuff to beat them-leading to giving up quite a few homeruns.

Wednesday's starter for the Angels is Jon Garland. Garland throws a sinking fastball, a good curveball, and a solid change-up. He has good command and most of the pitches he throws are right in the strike zone. As a result, he doesn't walk many batters but he does give up a lot of hits. He also doesn't strike out many batters. He has the ability to go deep into a game-so late inning heroics might not be effective against him.

Los Angeles' last pitcher of the series is scheduled to be Joe Saunders. Saunders has a pretty good fastball and a decent change-up. Last season, Saunders' pitching had become predictable but he's off to a good start this year. He's had four starts on the season and gone eight innings in three of them. In fact, in his first start of the year he threw eight scoreless innings; gave up four hits, one walk, and struck out four.

The Angels have a very impressive lineup. Their best power hitter is Vlad Guerrero but the rest of their outfield isn't made up of slouches either. Their corner outfielders (Chone Figgins and Casey Kotchman) are both very good offensive players. The weak spots in their lineup come in from their middle infielders and the catching position.

And the Moral of the Series (Texas: Games 18-21) is...

The majority of these games (three out of four) were won by beating up on the Texas bullpen. Good starting pitching definitely had something to do with it-mostly by keeping their own bullpen out of harm's way-but good offense late in the game got them the wins.



Daisuke's start (game 18) was the odd man out. It was just offense that won them the game. They did score against the Texas bullpen in that game but Papi's grand slam was enough to get them the win.



Some other good things to come out of this series were Jed Lowrie's continued success at major league ball. He's shown himself to be versatile, a defensively sound player, and an offensive force. Thurston also showed that he had use as a defensive replacement.

Gabbard v. Buchholz (Game 21)

It's good to win one out right; none of those late inning heroics, just an old-fashioned beat down-with a less than stellar offense no less. Manny and Sean Casey had a vacation day. Varitek wasn't feeling well and so Cash was in the lineup again today. Lugo also didn't play. Some guy showed up in his place-looked just like him but knew how to hit.

Buchholz pitched pretty well. He pitched six shut-out innings with one hundred and three pitches. He walked two, allowed five hits, and struck out six. In the first inning he gave up double sandwiched between a pop up and a strike out; he finished the inning with a fly out to left. In the second inning, he loaded the bases with two outs (a hit, a bunt, and a walk) but got the last out on a pop out. He started the third inning with a lead off walk. He followed that up with a strike out, a fly out, a base hit, and another fly out. He then had 1-2-3 innings in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

David Aardsma started off the seventh inning and had a rough going of it. He gave up a lead off walk and then allowed the runner to advance to second on a wild pitch. The next batter doubled off him and knocked in the first Texas run. He did strike out the next batter but walked the one following him. He got the next batter to strike out swinging but that was it for the day. He was replaced by Lopez. Lopez didn't have much more success than Aardsma. Lopez gave up a double and allowed the second Texas run to score before he struck out Bradley to end the inning.

Lopez also pitched the eighth inning. He got a fly out, a strike out, gave up another double, and finally the ground out to end the inning. Manny Del finished off the game in the ninth. He got two quick ground outs but the third out proved to be a little elusive. He gave up two doubles and allowed the Rangers to score for the third time of the game before getting the last batter to ground back to him to end the game.

The offense, for what it was, was really clicking this game. To be fair though, they essentially played the whole game against the Texas bullpen after Gabbard was out following the second inning due to a back injury. The Sox scored all of their runs in the fourth and the fifth innings.

The fourth inning started off with Drew drawing a walk and then taking second on a balk. Lowrie bunted successfully and Drew moved over to third. Lugo singled and knocked Drew in and Lowrie moved to third. Cash hit a sacrifice fly to get Lowrie in and Lugo moved up to second on an errant throw to keep him at first. Thurston popped out to third for the second out of the inning. Ellsbury hit a single and Lugo moved to third. Ellsbury stole second and then Pedroia hit a double to knock in both Lugo and Ellsbury. Ortiz then hit a double to get Pedroia across the plate for the fifth run of the inning. Youkilis drew a walk and then Drew repeated the way he started off the inning by drawing another walk (this time to load the bases) but Lowrie struck out swinging to end the inning.

Julio Lugo started it off with a first pitch double. Cash hit a single and beat out the throw to have men on first and third. Thurston fouled out to third. Ellsbury got a base hit and Lugo scored. Pedroia flied out for the second out of the inning. Then Ortiz doubled off the wall, knocking in Cash and Ellsbury. Youkilis walked but then Drew flied out to end the inning.

While Joe Thurston was pretty useless at the plate, he did make a very nice play in left that Manny would have never made.

Millwood v. Wakefield (Game 20)

That was a stressful win. From lead off homeruns to Manny getting ejected from the game in the second inning, it was actually a lot of fun.

Texas started the game with an aggressive gameplan of attacking Wakefield by swinging at any viable first pitch. It worked pretty well to start the game. They ended up getting seven hits off him (including two homeruns) and five runs in the first six innings. Coupled with their excellent starting pitching, it looked like the Rangers might walk away with the game.

Wakefield went eight innings, throwing only eighty-six pitches (sixty-eight of them for strikes.) He faced thirty-one batters and struck out five of them. He had ten fly ball outs and nine ground ball outs. Surprisingly, Wakefield didn't end up walking anyone. Papelbon ended the game with a foul ball caught by Youkilis, a fly ball to deep center caught by Ellsbury, and a fly ball to shallow left caught by Lowrie.

In each of the innings, except for the first, they had at least one base runner but they weren't able to get anyone across the until the seventh inning. Both Youkilis and Casey each had a base hit in the second inning. Ellsbury walked, stole second, and took third on a throwing error in the third. Youkilis had a base hit in the fourth. In the fifth inning, Cash had a base hit but the Lugo grounded into a fielder's choice for the force out at second. Ellsbury got a base hit and then he and Lugo pulled off a double steal. They loaded the bases with an intentional walk of Ortiz and Thurston grounded into a Fielder's choice. In the sixth inning they loaded the bases again with three base hits but nothing came of it.

Their luck finally changed in the seventh. Lowrie started off the inning with a double and then came around to score on a base hit by Ortiz to put the Red Sox on the board for the first time. Millwood was then pulled from the game to be replaced by Littleton. Littleton hit Thurston by a pitch but then Youkilis grounded into a double play. Drew got a base hit and knocked in Ortiz but then Casey grounded out.

Littleton came back out to start the eighth inning and got two quick outs (a put out and a strike out.) Ellsbury then got a base hit and then made his way around to score on a double by Lowrie. At that point they pulled Littleton from the game hoping that their closer, Wilson, would bring an end to the inning. Ortiz started it off by getting a base hit off him and by barely beating the throw distracted the players long enough for Lowrie to get across the plate to make it a one run game. Francona had Pedroia pinch hit for Joe Thurston and it was a move that paid off. Pedroia hit a double, which knocked in Ortiz and tied the game, and then took third on a throwing error. They then intentionally walked Youkilis. Drew fought off six or seven pitches from Wilson before he got the walk to load the bases. Casey also battled with Wilson for seven or eight pitches before he also drew a walk and knocked in the go ahead run. Having batted around, Cash came up to the plate again and grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Jennings v. Lester (Game 19)

First, how cool was it to have Lance Armstrong throw out the first pitch? He may not be the greatest "person" but he is possibly one of the most physically perfect human beings in the world. I guess I'm just in awe of him and his resting heart rate of 38 bpm.

Anyway. Lester pitched pretty well. He made it into the seventh inning, which in and of itself is pretty impressive, and only walked two batters. He did give up ten hits (including a home run to Josh Hamilton) and three runs but it was really good to see him display some control. He also struck out five.

In the post-game press conference he seemed to say that he was making more of an effort to trust himself to be able to get guys out. He set out with the purpose of getting every guy he faced out and trying not to be afraid that the next guy he faced was going to sink him. I'd never thought of it before (and this is pure conjecture on my part) but one could infer from the sentiment that in the past when he got behind in the count, he gave up a little bit. Probably figuring that he'd have better luck with the next guy. The new philosophy seemed to work well for him. Hopefully, he can stick with it.

The bullpen pitched well tonight, as well. They held the Rangers scoreless over two and two-thirds innings. Manny Del walked one and stuck out two. Timlin gave up two hits but also got a ground out and a pop-fly out. Javier Lopez got a line-drive out on a very nice running catch by Ellsbury. And Papelbon gave up a base hit, got Botts to ground into a fielder's choice for the force out at second, a pop-up to shallow left, and a fly out to deep center to end the game.

This game wasn't as run-tastic as the last couple of games have been. In the first inning, Ellsbury started off the game with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice hit by Pedroia, and then scored when Ortiz grounded into a double play. Then Manny walked and scored on a double by Youkilis. And that was it for scoring until the eighth inning.

In the eighth inning, Pedroia hit a one-out double and then came around to score on a base hit by Oritz to tie the game. Then came Manny. Manny who proceeded to knock number 496 out to Lansdowne Street-a two-run shot to give them the lead and eventually the win.

Mendoza v. Matsuzaka (Game 18)

Woot for David Ortiz! A grand slam and the return of that giant smile!



It wasn't all that bad of an outing for Daisuke. He continues to throw too many pitches (he couldn't get out of the sixth with 101 pitches) but his control was much better today. He only walked two batters in the five and one third innings he pitched and neither of those came back to hurt him. He struck out four, had six ground ball outs, and six fly ball outs. He allowed five hits and three runs.

He was relieved in the sixth inning by Javier Lopez. Lopez went an inning and two thirds and did pretty well. He didn't allow any hits and only walked one. Aardsma came on for the eighth inning and got two quick outs (a ground out and a strike out) but then gave up a base hit. His confidence or concentration must wane a lot when there are men on base because he proceeded to walk the next two batters to load the bases. He pulled it together passably well though by striking out the last batter. Timlin came on to finish off the game with a fly out and two ground outs.

This game was all offense, though. Mendoza went once through the batting order (getting all but one out) and then they seemed to figure him out. Lowrie, the ninth batter, started off the night with a double down the left field line. The next two batters walked and then Ortiz came up for his two out grand slam. Manny got a base hit and then Youkilis grounded out.

The next inning started off with Mendoza walking Drew, followed by Varitek hitting a double and batting Drew in. Casey then got a base hit and that was the night for Mendoza. He was replaced by Rupe who gave up a sacrifice fly to Lowrie, a triple to Ellsbury, a homerun to Pedroia, and (sort of) hit Ortiz with a pitch before getting Manny and Youkilis to both ground into a fielder's choice for the force out at second.

After that, the bats went quiet until the eighth inning. Casey started off the inning with a double and then Lowrie struck out (which he was absolutely stunned about and it was very endearing.) Ellsbury walked and Pedroia struck out. Ortiz got a base hit and Casey and Ellsbury came around to score. Joe Thurston grounded out to first to end the inning.

Both Lowrie and Ortiz did really well tonight. In his first at bat Ortiz grounded out to first, in his second he hit the homerun, in his third he convinced the umpire that he was hit by the pitch, in his fourth he flied out to left, and in his fifth he got a base hit. Ortiz is back and in a big way. Lowrie also impressed with his performance tonight. In addition to his offensive success (a double, a sacrifice fly, a base hit, and the strike out), he showed defensive prowess at short.

Next Up: the Texas Rangers

Luis Mendoza is supposed to take the mound for the Texas Rangers first. Mendoza is a baby pitcher from Mexico making his eighth major league appearance. He made three starts last year-the last one ending when he took a line drive to the knee in the second inning and was done-and has made one, so far this year-a loss to Toronto. He's got a good sinking fastball but that's about it. He also has trouble with his command, fatigue, and keeping his composure.

Jason Jennings is scheduled to go on Saturday. It's Jennings' first year in the American league (after seven in the National) and it hasn't started off that well for him at all. He's lost all three of his starts this season. He has a very good sinker (that he can throw in the low nineties), a slider, and a change-up. Endurance has generally been a problem for him and so far this season he hasn't been able to get past the fifth inning (going only four and two-thirds in his last two starts.) He's given up at least one home run in each of his starts this year and has been easier for lefties to hit.

Kevin Millwood is Sunday's pitcher and the Rangers' ace. He's got a fastball with a lot of movement, a slider, a change-up and a curveball. He's very purposeful in his pitching and likes to challenge hitters. In the past, he's had trouble getting lefties out. His attention hasn't always been what it should be and as a result he gets run on a lot and appears to be distracted when there are runners on base. He's started off this season really well though. In his first three starts he went six, eight, and seven innings never allowing more than two runs. His last outing, however, wasn't as good. He went only five innings and gave up four runs (all of them earned.)

Although not official, Kason Gabbard is the likely starter for Monday's game. So far this season he's had a win and two no-decisions. He's got a fastball, curveball, change-up, and a slider. He doesn't, however, have a strike-out pitch and, as a result, the ball is put in play off him a lot. He also tends to miss high when he misses.

The two best hitters on the team are probably their center fielders, Josh Hamilton and David Murphy. So far this year Hamilton has twenty hits, five doubles, a triple and three homeruns. He's walked eight times and struck out seven. He also has fifteen RBIs and eight runs to his name. Murphy has eighteen hits on the season, seven doubles, one home run, six RBIs, three stolen bases and thirteen strike outs.

And the Moral of the Series (Yankees: Games 16-17) is...

They lost the first game because after a shaky start from Buchholz, they had to go to an already tired-out bullpen to finish it off. The loss certainly didn't come from lack of scoring. Buchholz (and to even more of an extent, Lester) needs to keep his pitch count down so as to avoid taxing the long man-Julian.

Josh Beckett's start in the second game was nearly the polar opposite of Buchholz' start from the night before. Beckett was in control of the game and was strong through eight innings. The offensive production of Manny didn't hurt either.

Perhaps frustrated with Manny's general awesome-ness in the second game, the Yankees threw at his head. The pitch sailed wide-about half a foot behind him-and everyone was warned about behaving like adults and the game went on. And this is why I hate Yankee games. Throwing at someone's head is extremely dangerous and the crowd behind him applauded the move-they were screaming for blood. Red Sox-Yankee games are not about baseball-they're about feeding the media driven rivalry.

If the pitch was intentional (and it was Farnsworth so you can't be absolutely positive that it was), why would you do it? Manny was just doing his job. If you didn't want him to hit two homeruns, then you shouldn't have put Mussina on the mound. It's not like he was showboating-he did acknowledge the fans who were cheering on his first go around but he left the batter's box pretty quickly both times. It's asinine and childish.

I may have to give Beckett credit for being smarter than I previously thought he was. They showed him in the dugout after the attempted plunking and he was nodding as if to say "Alright. If that's how you want to play it..." But rather than go for immediate satisfaction, he put the fear of being plunked in them and it was much more satisfying than the actual plunking will be (and I've no doubt that Beckett will hit one of them at some point this season.) He came back out for the seventh inning and did nothing about it. Then he came back out for the eighth inning to face the heart of their lineup (Jeter, Abreu, and Rodriguez.) As Jeter and then Abreu went down, Rodriguez must have been quaking in his cleats, worrying about where he was going to get hit, and how much it was going to hurt. Rodriguez swung weakly and knocked a slow roller toward first base for the out and will still have to worry about being hit the next time they play Boston. Mind games, courtesy of Josh Beckett.

Beckett v. Mussina (Game 17)

That was just what they needed. Josh Beckett pitched well. They had offense. And the bullpen pretty much had the night off.

Beckett went eight innings and threw just over one hundred pitches (105.) He struck out five, walked only one, and gave up six hits. He was pitching shut-out ball until the fifth inning when he allowed three runs. He then went back to pitching shut-out ball through the eighth. He had eleven ground ball outs and eight fly ball outs.

Papelbon came out to finish the game and wasn't his usual kick-ass self. He struck out Giambi for the first out and Matsui for the last out but ran into some trouble in the middle. He gave up a double to Posada and a homerun to Cabrera sandwiched around the ground out by Cano.

The story of the night, though, was Manny. In his first at bat, he hit number 494 to center field which give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead. In his second at bat, he hit number 495 (a two run shot) to left and opened up their lead to 4-0. In his third at bat, he got a base hit and would eventually cross the plate (on a Drew double) to make the lead 6-0.

The rest of the scoring happened thusly:

In the third inning, Ellsbury was almost hit by a pitch-so they awarded him first base. He then proceeded to steal second and took third on the bad throw-effectively giving him a one out triple. Pedroia got a base hit and knocked Jacoby home (2-0). Ortiz hit into a fielder's choice and they took the force out at second. At this point, Manny hit the second home run (4-0). Youkils got a base hit and Drew got a base hit. Varitek got a base hit and Youkilis came around to score (5-0). Then Casey flew out to shallow left to end the inning.

In the fifth inning, Manny got his base hit after Ortiz flew out to right. Youkilis got a base hit right behind him. Then Drew knocked them both in with a double. The inning ended with the strike outs of Varitek and Casey.

Smiles Times.

I have a theory about Sean Casey. He's the type of guy who always wants everyone around him to be happy. He's now witnessed the intensity and acrimony that goes along with Red Sox-Yankee games and felt the need to lighten the mood, to remind everyone that it's just a game.

He also seems like the type of guy who is unafraid to make an ass of himself for the amusement of others. So knowing that he would be safe (the second baseman was nowhere near the bag) he decided to go for it. He decided to make everyone smile. I giggled for quite awhile after I saw that, the people in the staduim laughed, and I'm still chuckling about it now.

Or it could just be that he fell and made it back to the bag anyway he could. It would certainly make him a better baseball player than if he was just some guy goofing around on the field. In fact, if I actually believed my theory, I would probably be pretty annoyed with him.

But I like my theory better because I hate Yankee games. And he made this one better.

Happy Birthday Jed!

Since he's on the roster, I'll wish Jed Lowrie a happy birthday today. He arrived on the scene twenty-four years ago, screaming and unhappy, and today (with Youkilis having banged up his foot yesterday) he might end up playing third base at Yankee stadium-though if Youk needs time off they might go with Thurston.

Congratulations on your newly minted major league career and many happy and healthy returns of the day.

Buchholz v. Wang (Game 16)

Well, that was a weird, long game. Nobody pitched well until the sixth inning and as a result balls were being splattered all over the ballpark through the first five. At that point the score had settled at 9-11 and it stayed that way for two and a half innings, a relatively long period of time for this game (though the time on the clock probably moved the fastest during those innings.)

Buchholz got hit hard this during this game and he only worked three and two thirds of an inning. Having seen him just recently, the Yankees had a plan for how to deal with him-it involved them being all over his fastball whenever they saw it.

He got roughed up right out of the chute. In the first inning he gave up three hits, including two homeruns. On a positive note, he didn't seem to let his performance affect him when he came back out for innings two and three. In the second inning he got two ground outs, gave up a base hit, and got a strike out. In the third inning, he got a ground out, a line out, and a swinging strike out from Alex Rodriguez (to whom he had given up the second home run in the first.) They weren't easy outs though, the batters kept fouling of the pitches; they were epic battles for a rookie pitcher allowed only a limited number of pitches per outing.

For Buchholz the fourth inning was started off by him giving up a base hit to Matsui. He got Posada to fly out to center but then gave Giambi a base hit. He got Cano to fly out to center but then gave Moeller (the back-up, back-up catcher) a base hit and allowed the Yankees to plate another run. He then walked Cabrera (it was the only walk he allowed), which loaded the bases for Jeter. Jeter also got a base hit and two more runs scored before Francona pulled him out of there.

Overall, he faced twenty batters and threw eighty-five pitches, fifty-three of them for strikes and thirty-two of them for balls. He allowed eight hits and seven runs, while striking out only two and walking only one. Not a good showing but nothing to be really worried about. He's young and still learning. These guys saw him less than a week ago and they obviously adjusted their approach based on what they saw Friday and he either didn't adjust or didn't adjust enough to them to negate their efforts. No doubt, being the competitive sort, this experience will help him prepare better for future games.

When he was yanked from the game, he was replaced by Tavarez. Tavarez didn't perform well tonight, to say the least, but I'm not ready to be totally down on him again. He went two and a third innings just two nights ago and, as Remy pointed out, he looked totally gassed for his inning and a third. He struck out the first batter he faced but only after he threw a wild pitch that got away from Varitek and allowed another run to score in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, he gave up three hits (including a double), two walks, and allowed four runs to score. He did get two put outs at first and Melky Cabrera grounded into a fielder's choice for the force out at second to get him out of the inning.

David Aardsma came in for the sixth and seventh innings and managed to hold down the fort. In the sixth, he got a fly out to left, hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch, got a fly out to center, and a pop up to Lugo-no damage done. In the seventh inning, he got a fly out to center and a put out at first. He then gave up a base hit to Moeller and what looked to be a double to Melky Cabrera-and it would have been, if it hadn't been for a nice defensive play by Drew and Lugo for the tag out at second to end the inning. And Amelie Benjamin kept insisting that he'd be the one DFA'd. Ha! I knew it wouldn't be so.

Mike Timlin appeared for the eighth inning and struggled again. He faced eight batters and threw twenty-eight pitches (seventeen of them for strikes.) He gave up three hits-all of them doubles, accidentally walked one, intentionally walked one, and struck out one. But he allowed four runs.

The offense was all over the place tonight-they batted around in the fifth. Pedroia, Varitek, and Manny each had a double. And everyone, with the exception of Jacoby, had at least one base hit. Drew had the most with three, Manny and Casey each had two, and Pedroia, Ortiz, Youkilis, and Lugo each had one.

Next Up: the New York Yankees.

Didn't we just do this? I could swear that we had. At least if I have to watch the same pitching match ups again, I can take comfort in the fact that I can watch win Remy and Don rather than the varied assortment of eejits I was subjected to over the weekend.

There have been some changes to the Yankees lineup in the past couple of days. Jeter is back and Posada hopes to be as well. If Posada doesn't play, they've called up Chad Moeller from AAA to play. He hasn't been much of a threat offensively in the past (he struck out, flied out, and walked twice tonight.) And Rodriguez is supposed to get a couple of days off this week when his wife has a baby.

Wang was nearly perfect in the last game. He admitted to throwing more four-seam fastballs in an attempt to get fly-outs rather than ground-outs and he succeeded in doing that. They were making solid contact with the ball, though. If he continues along that track maybe they'll get a few lucky drops. In the last Beckett v. Mussina game, Mussina pitched well enough for his part of the game; which was later lost by the bullpen.

And the Moral of the Series (Cleveland: Games 14-15) is...

These two games were won with a combination of good defense, gnawing at the soft underbelly of Cleveland's pitching staff, and by their own bullpen not disastrously imploding on them. That's all there is to it.

Good Stuff: The Mike Timlin we all know and fear showed up. Julian Tavarez and Javier Lopez pitched well. Ortiz is taking baby steps out of his slump. Youkilis, Manny, and Varitek all hit home runs. Jed Lowrie did well in his first major league appearance.

Not so Good Stuff: Lugo, who had started out hot at the plate, seemed to have become a little tepid before tonight's game. Alex Cora may need to head toward the disabled list.

Wakefield v. Byrd (Game 15)

For the most part, Wakefield pitched well tonight. He got though the first four innings relatively easily. He faced sixteen batters and got them back to the dugout without crossing homeplate with a series of four strike outs, three ground outs, and four fly outs. He did walk two of them and allow four base hits. But he did have a nice pick-off of one of the batters he walked-Remy, empathetic soul that he is was very embarrassed for the runner to be knocked off the field so unceremoniously.

Wakefield did get himself into a jam in the fifth inning. With one out he loaded the bases by walking Travis Hafner (the other two runners had reached on a base hit and a walk.) The next batter got a base hit and drove in two runs. Luckily for Wakefield, the next batter grounded into a double play and the inning was over. In the sixth inning, Wakefield started out looking like he was going to be in trouble again. He got the first batter to ground out to first but gave up a base hit to the next batter, Cabrera. Cabrera tried to run on Wake but was caught at second by a good throw from Kevin Cash. The next batter also got a base hit and tried to run on Wake. He was successful in his attempt but the last batter flew out to Coco to end the inning.

He was relieved by Javier Lopez for the start of the seventh inning. It may be too early to re-evaluate my opinion of Lopez but he didn't suck tonight. The first batter he faced was put out at first and he struck out the second batter. A pitch he threw to Hafner got away from him and it looked as if it smacked into Hafner's knee. After a long series of pitches that the batter kept fouling off, he did give up a base hit before he was replaced by Manny Del.

Perhaps it's the fate of relief pitchers in general or maybe Manny Delcarmen has just been unlucky lately but it seems like it always comes down to that one bad pitch he threw-whether it's the breaking ball that didn't break or, as in this case, an attempt to go inside on Ryan Garko that ends up hitting him in the hands. Unfortunately, for Manny Del when he hit Garko he'd already loaded the bases by walking Peralta, which drove in the tying run. Luckily for Manny Del (and Lopez), the next batter grounded into a fielder's choice and they took the out at second to end the inning.

Delcarmen came back out for the start of the eighth inning. He got a fly out to left, walked a batter, and got the put out at first before being replaced by Aardsma. Aardsma contributed a fly out to center to end the inning. The ninth inning was pitched by Okajima and involved two strike outs and a foul ball that was caught by Jacoby Ellsbury in a rather spectacular fashion. Ellsbury leaped/dove into the stands and seemed to wrestle the ball away from a fan before emerging triumphantly ball-in-glove.

The game was scoreless heading into the fifth inning when with one out Ellsbury hit a single and took second on a throwing error, barely beating out the eventual throw. Lugo followed that up with a base hit. Then came Lowrie, who grounded into a fielder's choice (forcing out Lugo) but with his first major league hit of his career drove in his buddy Ellsbury. The Red Sox didn't score again until the seventh inning, when a combination of two Indian relief pitchers (Julio and Perez) walked both Youkilis and Ellsbury, and then gave up a base hit to Lugo to load the bases. Up to the plate swaggers Jed Lowrie and he hits another base hit, this time knocking in two runs.

The game stood at three all going into the ninth inning. Lowrie had struck out when Jason Varitek came up to hit for Kevin Cash. He ran the count to 1-2 and I'd already started to feel badly for Coco, knowing that when he made the third out it wouldn't reflect well on him with the Ellsbury-as-everyday-centerfielder crowd. And then the captain lofted one to left-center, his third of the year, and the score was 4-3. Coco followed that up with a single and Pedroia hit a double. Ortiz flew out to shallow right but nobody advanced. With runners on first and third, Eric Wedge did the smart thing (are you listening, Joe Girardi?) and walked Manny, taking his chance on Youkilis. It was a gamble that didn't pay off. Youkilis hit a base hit, Coco scored easily and Pedroia was tagged out at home.

In addition to all that offensive good-ness, Lugo had three base hits, and Oritz and Pedroia had one. In the eighth, Manny was hit by a pitch, Youkilis doubled, and they intentionally walked Ellsbury (that must have been a good moment for Ellsbury-the opposing team's manager either thinks so highly of your ability to hit or so lowly of his own pitcher, that he'd rather not take the chance of pitching to you.)

Jed Lowrie had a nice major league debut. He seemed relatively composed and at ease out there. He did attempt to make a diving catch of the first ball that was put into play in his general direction that was rather Jeter-esque in both it's unwarranted-ness and it's inefficacy but that could easily be chalked up to nerves. He helped turn a double play in the fifth. He did strike out swinging at his first and his last at bats (at pitches he probably should have just watched) but in the middle he had a hit and drove in three runs. Not too shabby.

The Brothers Papelbon.

I've always felt sorry for the women in Jonathan Papelbon's life, his wife to some extent but mostly his mother. The intensity, energy, and general goofball-ness, with which he plays the game probably can't easily be contained and he probably doesn't come with an off switch.

When he bid Kevin Millar adieu on the Friendly Scoop segment with him, he urged Millar to: Be Good. I figured that it was a habit he must have picked up from his mother. It's not hard to imagine her yelling out the front door every time her son left the house "Be good! For the love of God, please be good!"

As it turns out, the younger Papelbons are more of a handful than the elder (at least according to his high school baseball coach.)

In high school, Jonathan worked Bishop Kenny's annual baseball camp. The middle-school aged twins arrived one summer with a reputation.

"They were just two hellions," West said. "When we divided up the groups (Jonathan) would just beg not to have his brothers. They were wild. No one else wanted them either."

I really can't imagine; but my respect for Ma Papelbon grows as I try.

Lester v. Westbrook (Game 14)

That was fun. I can't imagine that there is anything better than a come-from-behind, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biter of a win. There were some bad performances mixed in with the good ones but the good far outshone the bad.

Lester went four and one third innings. He started out strongly but he continued to struggle with his command and he continued to throw too many pitches. Through the first three innings he issued a walk and a base hit; but he did strike out two. He had, however, already thrown forty-four pitches by the time he headed back to the dugout. The fourth inning and the beginning of the fifth did not go well for him. He threw fifty-three more pitches to the next thirteen batters before Francona pulled him from the game. In that time he allowed five base hits, four walks, and four runs. He did get an additional strike out, a fly out to Crisp, a pop out to Casey, and a put out at first. The problem, according to Francona in the postgame interview, was in part due to the fact that Lester seemed lose his composure when calls didn't go his way. If that is the case, then it's not entirely a bad thing. He's a young guy (who for some reason I imagine to be an only child) and it's definitely something that can be worked on and fixed.

Tavarez was the biggest surprise of the night, though. When he came on to clean up Lester's mess, the bases were loaded, there was only one out, and the Indians were up by three. I will admit to cringing when they showed him warming up in the pen. What does Tavarez do? He proceeds to get the next two batters to strike out swinging. He came back out for the sixth and the seventh innings and even though he had allowed two hits, the Indians were still only up by three when he was done. He had two more strike outs, two put outs at first, and two fly outs to center.

Mike Timlin made his third appearance of the year in the eighth inning and it went significantly better than his previous two appearances. He was getting guys to chase his pitches and he was hitting his spots. He got a pop out, a fly out, a strike out, and the win.

Papelbon finished the game and got his fifth save of the season. He finished off the Indians by blowing his fastball by them for two swinging strike outs. Travis Hafner hit a ball to deep center that almost looked as if it was going to be a home run but Coco easily grabbed it to end the game.

There were two big offensive stories to the game. The first was that Ortiz got two hits in the game (one off Westbrook who he hadn't well at all previously and one off Borowski.) I yelped when he got his hit in the first inning-I was very excited for him. And not to take anything away from Mike Lowell's bad mojo removal ceremony but I think this falls much more squarely on Hank Steinbrenner's shoulders. A David Ortiz jersey is buried beneath Yankee stadium and David Ortiz has not been able to hit at all this season. The Ortiz jersey is dug up and removed, apparently at great expense and with great ceremony, and the next game he plays in Ortiz can hit again. Coincidence?

The second big offense story was Manny Ramirez and number 493. Hit with two outs in the top of the ninth, it knocked in both Ramirez and Ortiz (who was being run for by Ellsbury) and gave the Red Sox the lead.

Hopefully not forgotten in the noise surrounding those two stories, Kevin Youkilis had a very nice night. He hit a double in the first inning that knocked in the first run of the game, his first home run of the year in the eighth inning, and a double in the ninth inning.

The ninth inning rally was all started off by Lugo also hitting a double. Coco bunted and was called out at first but he succeeded in moving Lugo over to third. Then Pedroia hit a sacrifice fly to right that allowed Lugo to score and tie the game.

In addition, Varitek had a double in the fourth inning that they weren't able to do anything with; Coco had a base hit in the second and Manny had one in the sixth that both suffered the same fate.

Next Up: the Cleveland Indians

Jake Westbrook is scheduled to face Jon Lester this evening. Westbrook throws a four-seam fastball (low to mid-nineties), a two-seam sinking fastball (high eighties to low nineties), and a cutter (around nineties) for the majority of his pitches. He also has a changeup, a slider, a curveball, and a splitter. He tends to either throw inside or down and away to right-handed batters and he throws outside to left-handed batters. He has excellent command and rarely walks anyone. He also does a very good job fielding his position.

Paul Byrd is scheduled to face Wakefield tomorrow. So far this season, Byrd has struggled quite a bit. He's only pitched seven plus innings and has already given up thirteen hits, eleven runs, and three home runs. He's hit two batters with a pitch and walked four, while only striking out two. He throws a fastball, a curveball, a slider, and a changeup. He tends to throw outside to both left-handed and right-handed batters.

Travis Hafner is their designated hitter. So far in eleven games this season, he's had ten hits (including two doubles and two home runs) and he's scored six runs. He has struck out twelve times. He's walked six times and he's got six runs batted in. Victor Martinez, historically, has been a very good hitter but seems to be off to a slow start this year. Ryan Garko was a good hitter last year and is off to a very good start this season-he's already got thirteen hits, ten walks, and struck out only four times. The only real threat to steal a base is Grady Sizemore and he's another good hitter. In the thirteen games he's played this season, he's already got fifteen hits (including a triple and a home run) and stolen three bases.

And the Moral of the Series (Yankees: Games 11-13) is...

With the offense will chugging away at a nice clip, despite the lack of contribution from some members, these games emphasized the importance of versatility and defense.

When the opposing team's pitcher is totally in it the best you can do is hang on as tightly as you can, wait for someone to make a mistake, and hope that the mistake comes out of the other dugout. Either that or play small ball. I think that Buchholz did a good job of hanging in there; unfortunately, for them the mistake came from their own bullpen.

They won the second game, and to a lesser extent the third game, on the strength of their defense. Some nice catches in the outfield and turning a couple of good double plays, definitely saved them some runs.

In the third game they showed, once again, that when faced with mediocre pitching they can slug themselves to a win.

Hughes v. Matsuzaka (Game 13)

What a terrible weekend for watching baseball on television. First, we had to suffer through the chuckle heads on Fox on Saturday. Then on Sunday we were inflicted with four-ish hours of Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee courtesy of ESPN. No doubt, there was a sense of foreboding as we headed into the start of the game but you block out how horrific it's going to be until Tweedle-Dum starts talking and then won't shut up and finally lays down such astute observations as: Because A-Rod is batting second he won't be able to hit a three-run home run to tie the game and then? Then it all comes rushing back to you.

At least they won. It wasn't a good, clean win but it was a win.

Nobody pitched well in the game. Matsuzaka who had impressed in his last two starts did little to improve on that impression today. He threw five innings and needed 116 pitches to get himself out of there. He couldn't find the strike zone and ended up striking out only two of the twenty-five batters he faced. Meanwhile, he walked six of them. The upside to his poor pitching was that it seemed to confuse the Yankee bats. So much so that they were swinging away at anything that was remotely close to the strike zone and, therefore, weren't getting good hits. They ended up with a grand total of five hits off fifteen balls put into play. He ended up allowing four runs, two of which started off as walks.

He was replaced by Aardsma who pitched two innings of scoreless ball. He walked two without striking out anyone or allowing any hits. Mike Timlin came in to replace him and his struggles continued. He faced three batters and gave up a home run (Giambi), and two base hits (Molina and Gonzalez) before Francona thought better of having him out there. Lopez was brought in instead and didn't do too badly. He pitched his was out of Timlin's jam with a double play and a put out at first. What's more he didn't walk anyone or give up any hits. Most impressive? The three outs he got were all off lefties. Manny Delcarmen finished off the game (the last two outs of the ninth.) He struck out Rodriguez and after a long battle got Matsui out at first.

There was some aggressive small ball being played. Coco laid down a bunt and stole second base (twice.) Ellsbury also had a steal, as did Pedroia. There was, maybe, a moment of bad baserunning on Pedroia's part. In the third inning when he hit the ball off the wall I thought double. Clearly, he did too. Matsui, on the other hand, he thought not. He played the ball really well and launched it to second base for the out (see photo.) Maybe because it was getting late or maybe because I had probably been listening to the Tweedle brothers babble on for a couple hours at that point but the play really tickled me when Pedroia yelled into somebody's mic: "Safe! No!" in a really high-pitched, whiny voice. Coupled with the fact that he was lying prone on the ground it looked and sounded like he was about to have a temper tantrum. I giggled about that for awhile.

The runs they did score came primarily off the walks issued by Phil Hughes in the early going. In the first, Manny knocked one in with a base hit and Youkilis with a sacrifice fly. (Manny came around to score on a passed ball.) In the second inning, Youkilis knocked another walk in with a base hit. (Casey had an RBI, Youkilis came around to score on another passed ball, and Ellsbury also had an RBI before the inning was over.)

After the second inning, they didn't score again until the eighth. The eighth inning was a strange affair. Posada hasn't been catching because of shoulder issues that prevent him from throwing. During the fourth inning their backup catcher, Molina, either pulled or strained his hamstring, he soldiered on through the pain but after he got the hit off Timlin it became clear to Girardi that he couldn't continue so he had Betemit pinch run for him. This move, while certainly nice, basically left them without a functioning catcher for the bottom half of the eighth inning. Posada armored-up and knowing he couldn't throw, they ran on him. Coco laid down a bunt, proceeded to steal second, was moved over to third by a fly out by Lugo, and came across the plate on a sacrifice fly by Ellsbury. Pedroia got a base hit and then stole second but was stranded there when Drew flew out to left.

Mussina v. Beckett (Game 12)

God bless mother nature, she's a Red Sox fa-an too. Prior to the two-hour rain delay, I would have put the Rodriguez/Papelbon match-up at about even. I think it would be safe to say now (especially given the ugly hacks on bad pitches that Rodriguez took), that it worked in Paps' favor. I would guess that Rodriguez spent those two and a sixth hours sitting in the clubhouse with the importance of his next at bat weighing on his shoulders and Paps? Well, Paps never thinks about anything-he just went out and threw.

Beckett was improved over his last start. He threw eighty-eight pitches in six and two thirds innings. He started off very strongly with forty pitches through the first four innings. His stamina isn't where it should be yet, though; he needed forty-eight pitches to get through the last inning and two-thirds. He allowed five hits and struck out five. He allowed three runs, all of them coming after he started to fatigue.

Manny Del came out to finish the sixth inning and struck out the only batter he faced. Okajima came out for the beginning of the seventh inning and got two quick outs (though, the second was greatly helped by an impressive defensive play by Drew), walked a batter, and gave up a base hit before it was time for Papelbon (and the rain started to really fall.) When the game started again, Papelbon struck out Rodriguez, Giambi, and Posada. He then had quite a long battle with Robinson Cano (who had a nice night offensively) before they got the put-out at first to end the game.

Offensively, this was Manny's game. He hit number 492 to the Volvo sign in the fourth inning and then knocked in two runs (Ellsbury who had reached on a base hit and Pedroia who had doubled) on a double in the sixth. He then crossed home plate when during the very next at bat, Youkilis hit a base hit. Ellsbury had two base hits and Pedroia, Youkilis, and Varitek each had one. Ellsbury stole second on the base hit he had in the first.

Defensively, they turned two nice double plays. One in the seventh in which Youkilis covered second for the first out on Rodriguez before turning the ball over to Casey for the second out on Giambi; the other in the second. Drew and Ramirez also made nice catches in their respective right and left fields for outs. Sean Casey also contributed nicely to a put out at first. It leads to the question: How did he end up as a back up first baseman? He can still hit and he plays a good defensive first base. Sure, he had some errors up in the Toronto series but those could easily have been chalked up to tiredness. Not that I'm complaining but it is weird.

Ad Space.

I've expressed my distaste for the old badminton Vitaminwater ad before. It's truly awful. Hopefully, I'll never have to see it again. On their day off on Monday, Ortiz headed down to New York to film a new Vitaminwater ad.

The people in the ad are Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher, rapper 50 Cent, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard and David Ortiz. For some reason (perhaps it's clear in the ad why they chose to make them Soviets), they're dressed as cosmonauts.

A few things to say: David looks good in the costume. It's definitely more forgiving than his baseball uniform. On Tuesday I think it was Remy who said that David had cut his hair to try to break out of his slump (which was sad because I liked his hair) but maybe it was for the commercial and he'll grow it back. Also, Fiddy (in the middle there) looks absolutely tiny.

Patience Papi.

David Ortiz is still struggling to get some good at bats but a quick check on the weather might prove to encouraging for him. On Sunday night the temperature is supposed to be in the low forties with the wind blowing in from the northwest at 11 miles per hour. The combination of a rookie pitcher who has exhibited trouble with his command in the cold, a frustrated lefty slugger, and (if I've got the general direction of north right-I haven't stood outside with a compass but I'm pretty sure I do) a strong wind blowing out to right might just be what he needs to kick this slump.

Wang v. Buchholz (Game 11)

Chien-Ming Wang pitched a beauty of a game. You've got to give him that. He allowed two hit in nine innings and he didn't need many pitches at all (89 in total) to do it. He only struck out three batters but got thirteen fly ball outs and ten ground ball outs.

Buchholz pitched well. He threw ninety-eight pitches, fifty-eight of them for strikes. He went six innings; struck out three, walked three, gave up four hits, and allowed one run. The first four innings went pretty smoothly for him. He gave up a base hit to Matsui in the second inning but the rest of them were 1-2-3 innings. He got into some trouble in the fifth, starting off the first two batters with walks. The first out of the inning came on a strike out by Jason Giambi. He then gave up a double to Jose Molina and the Yankees were up by one. He walked the next batter (causing quite a bit of worry on my part given his past performance with men on base) but got a beautiful double play courtesy of Sean Casey off the last batter. (See photo. Cabrera sent a line drive right to Casey who was then able to touch the bag for the second out.) He came back out for the sixth inning and got two quick outs. Rodriguez got a base hit off him and Matsui got a double but neither were able to do any damage as Posada was put out at first on the next play.

Timlin came in for the first out of the seventh inning and in his first start off the DL did not do very well. He gave up a home run to Jason Giambi and then a double to Jose Molina before getting the first out (a put out at first) and being pulled from the game. He was extremely displeased with his performance today so there's no reason to be worried about Mike Timlin (unless, of course, you're a wild boar.) Okajima came in to finish the outing and got his two outs. Javier Lopez pitched the beginning of the eighth inning and he didn't do too terribly. He got an out at first, allowed a base hit, got the force out at second, gave up another base hit, walked the lefty he faced, and was taken out. Aardsma finished off the game with an inning and a third. He got a strike out and three put outs. He gave up a double, a single, and a run.

Offensively, there wasn't too much to talk about. Pedroia probably should have gotten a base hit in the fourth but they decided it was an error on Rodriguez' part. Drew continues to hit well, he had the home run in the fifth and Coco laid down a bunt in the ninth for a base hit (he also stole second.) They were hitting the ball hard but they couldn't get anything out of the park and there happened to be Yankees in the way of where the ball was headed inside the park. And that's all there is to say about that.

Next Up: the New York Yankees

I hate Yankee games. Hate them.

That said, tonight is supposed to be Chien-Ming Wang. Wang throws a fast ball in the mid-nineties, a sinker, a slider, a change-up, and a splitter. He's a ground ball pitcher who induces a lot of double plays. He doesn't give up many home runs (only 9 last year), he doesn't walk many batters (only 59 last year), and he doesn't strike out many either (104 last year.) In the past Wang hasn't done well in Fenway park, last year he gave up 5 of his walks in the 11 and a third innings he pitched there and allowed 19 hits.

On Saturday, the Yankees trot out Mike Mussina. He has very good command and throws a low-nineties fast ball. He's also got a splitter, a slider, a change-up, a curve ball, and a knuckle curve. He's also got a history of excellence at fielding. Mussina is supposed to be showing his age but it doesn't really look like it to me. So far this year he's had two pretty good outings striking out one batter for every two hits he allows. He has already given up two home runs but so has Manny Del. Having faced forty-seven batters he's only walked three of them.

On Sunday, the scheduled Yankees pitcher is Phil Hughes. From all I can tell, Hughes is practically the pride and joy of the Yankees organization. So far this season (and it's two games in) Hughes hasn't had the success that they were hoping for from him. He had a no-decision against Toronto that was widely blamed on poor umpiring and a loss to Kansas City that was blamed on the weather. Hughes could be a beast. He's got a four-seam fast ball in the low-mid nineties, a two-seam fast ball in the high eighties to low nineties, a knuckle curve and a change up.

The Yankees lineup is the Yankees lineup and you just have to hope to out-pitch them. They typically don't hit well against pitchers they've never seen before, so that's a plus for Buchholz. Beckett has sometimes been excellent against the Yankees and other times sort of blah. Last year they hit pretty well against Daisuke. With Jeter and maybe Posada out of the lineup they'll be a little bit hobbled.

As a bonus for tonight, the Red Sox have generally hit well against Wang; especially Manny, Ortiz, Youkilis and Pedroia.

Happy Birthday El Capitan!

Today is Jason Varitek's thirty-sixth birthday. There is no doubt that he is vital to this team-witness the monumental collapse of 2006 when he was out with a bum knee for proof. Josh Beckett needed to learn to trust 'Tek when he first arrived. You feel as if, given the opportunity, he is capable of steering the S.S. Boston Red Sox safely to port every time. There's no worry with Jason Varitek: He's got everything under control.

What's more, he seems like a quiet, stoic, decent human being both between the lines and outside of them. He comes to the defense of his pitchers both physically (saving Bronson from Rodriguez) and verbally/emotionally (steadfastly defending Jon Lester's performance from two nights ago.) He gave out autographs for Halloween. He's always been closed off emotionally-hard to get a good read on-but more recently, he's shown a little bit of a goofy side; suggesting to Pedroia that he look into Nutrisystem after the dance competition, pranking the Josten's salesguy.

He's not much of a hitter and he started off the season with a mini-slump (I don't really think you can call it a slump if it's only a couple of games) but tore out of the gates up in Toronto. Hopefully, he can have a fabulous 2008.

Any way. Many happy and healthy returns to Jason Varitek.

And the Moral of the Series (Detroit: Games 8-10) is...

The series was all over the place. Good pitching (and poor defense by the Tigers) won the first game, poor pitching lost the second game, and moving people across home plate won the third game. I suppose you could take away from that, that there are a couple of ways to win games but, barring sub-par defense, there is only one way to lose. Too many base runners and too many balls in play will come back to bite you.

The Good: Kevin Cash has shown that not only can he do a good job catching Wake but he can contribute offensively, as well. Lugo seems to have gotten his feet beneath him again. Drew and Manny are still swinging the bat well (and Manny seems to be having a hell of a lot of fun doing it.) Youkilis seems to remember how to play third base well.

The Bad: Ortiz still isn't swinging well. The bullpen remains a weak spot-perhaps the return of Timlin will terrify them back into shape. Lowell busted his thumb and won't be available until almost the Tampa series and Alex Cora may have injured himself as well.

Robertson v. Wakefield (Game 10)

Today's win is brought to you by the skill set of run production.



Not to take away anything from Wakefield's pitching (which was good) but the Red Sox won this game the old-fashioned way: They scored more runs that the Detroit Tigers. The story of this game was the ability of the Red Sox to get walks, swing their bats, and make it across home plate in spades. Doubles from Manny, Youkilis, Casey and Coco (which on a luckier day would have been a triple), base hits from Lugo, Coco, Casey, Cash, two from Pedroia, and three from Drew, and converting 9 walks into 8 runs, resulted in the win.

Wakefield pitched five innings and if he was any other pitcher his line would be worrisome. He faced twenty-five batters, got five out on strikes, walked five, allowed three hits, hit two batters with a pitch and allowed two runs (only one of which was earned.) He threw 108 pitches and got himself into and out of jams relatively unscathed. The knuckle ball was moving all over the place last night but Wake is a wily, old guy and he pitched the way he always does. (He'll keep the opponent's score low and you score some runs.) Cash put in a really good defensive performance, as well. When the bases were loaded he had really good control of that ball and prevented any extra runs.

When Wakefield came out of the game he was replaced by Manny Del. He pitched one and two thirds innings (starting in the sixth) and struck out one, didn't walk anybody, and gave up two hits-a base hit to Rodriguez and a home run to Ordonez. [aside: Magglio Ordonez looks like a curly-haired verstion of the good Johnny Damon.] Ordonez is a very good hitter. At some point the excuse that the runs Manny Del is allowing are coming off very good hitters may get old but I'm not worried about him yet. Okajima finished off the inning for him. With four pitches he induced a ground out and was done for the night.

Tavarez came out for the eighth inning and struggled with his command. He walked two, allowed three hits, a stolen base, and three runs before he even got an out. Luckily for him, Julio Lugo managed to start a double play on the next ball in put in play and so ended Tavarez' night. Papelbon finished the inning with a fly out. In the ninth inning he got a strike out, gave up a double, got a strike out, gave up a base hit, and got the force out at second to end the game.

Medic!

Mike Lowell came out of last night's game after the first inning and half due to an sprained right thumb. Apparently, the x-ray showed nothing horrible and he's list as day-to-day. I did think it was impressive the way Kevin Youkilis slide so easily across the diamond (I know he came up as a third baseman but he's been at first for so long that it seems like he would have to prepare himself mentally but he seemed fine with it) especially, after he took a bad hop to the chest during the top of the second inning. It really looked like it took the wind out of him.

Bonderman v. Lester (Game 9)

The story of this game was, once again, Lester's propensity for walking batters. He pitched five and a third innings and walked four without striking out a single batter. Although through the first three innings he gave up two walks and a hit, he managed to emerge unscathed. He was not as lucky, however, in the fourth inning. He got a put out at first for the first batter and then proceeded to walk two in a row. He followed that up by giving a double to tie the game and then a home run to put the Tigers up by two. Once the bases were cleared he ended the inning with two put outs at first.

His performance in the fifth inning was either not bad or lucky. He got a fly out, a put out, gave up a base hit, and then had a force out at second. In the sixth inning, he had a put out and gave up a double before he was pulled. When he left the game, the game was still manageable; in typical Jon Lester fashion, some timely hitting could have gotten Jon Lester the win.

David Aardsma came in to relieve Lester and while his performance didn't sparkle, it did its job. He pitched one and two thirds innings without allowing any runs. He did walk two but he also had the first Red Sox strike out of the night. Corey came in to replace him and didn't do nearly as well. He walked the first batter he faced, gave up a base hit to the second, got a put out at first on the third, and the fourth (and last) batter he faced hit a ground ball to center that allowed two additional runs to score. He was replaced by Julian Tavarez who gave up a base hit, hit a batter with a pitch, but then turned a very nice double play to end the inning and save a run (it went Tavarez to Varitek to Casey.) The last Red Sox pitcher of the night was Javier Lopez. He started off well-he got a put out at first and a strike out on the first two batters. In quick succession, though, he then gave up a home run, a walk, and a base hit, before getting the fly out.

The problems in the game weren't solely the fault of the lackluster pitching. There was a distinct lack of offensive production going on. The two runs that the Red Sox did score both came in the second inning; the first was off a bases loaded walk to Ellsbury and the second off a base hit by Lugo. In every inning after that, with the exception of the fifth, the Red Sox had at least one man on base. The Red Sox had a total of nine hits (three for extra bases) but didn't seem to be able to do much with them. Both Youkilis and Lugo were caught stealing (though Lugo was pretty much safe.)

Rogers v. Matsuzaka (Game 8) or Opening Day: Take 4

Daisuke to the rescue!

Another nice outing for Daisuke. He pitched six and two thirds scoreless innings and gave up only four hits and four walks. He struck out seven batters. He threw 108 pitches, sixty-two of them for strikes. He did load the bases with two outs in the sixth (on two base hits and a walk) but the next batter flew out to center for the third out.

Manny Del came in for an inning and a third and did much better than he had done against the Jays. He got two fly outs, two strike outs, and allowed a base hit. Okajima closed the game with a strike out, a fly out, and another strike out.

Offensively, Kevin Youkilis played really well today. In his five plate appearances, he had three hits (one of which was a double), a walk, and a sacrifice fly. Drew continues to play pretty well. He had a base hit, a strike out, and two walks. Dustin Pedroia, Jason Varitek, and Julio Lugo each had two base hits. Coco had a base hit and sacrifice fly. And then there was Manny. Manny had a double that, for some reason, he decided to try to leg it into a triple. He probably would have been out at third if it wasn't for a throwing error by Polanco. Instead, the ball ended up in Detroit's dugout and they gave Manny the base.

So that's how you win against the Tigers: You have excellent pitching to stymie their lineup, have very good defense to prevent any runs, get to their bullpen as quickly as you can, and hit the ball as often as you can because they struggle defensively.

Another Op'nin' Another Show

That was lovely.

I got a little teary-eyed at times. David Ortiz and Johnny Pesky raising the flag. Tim Wakefield walking off the field with his arm around Pesky. The idea that Alex Cora flew in Momma Cora (who apparently never leaves Puerto Rico) was extremely sweet. Doug! I read in the Herald yesterday that he was going to be there but I squealed when he came out anyway. The reception that Bill Buckner got and him wiping away a tear as he walked in from left field. It was very nicely done.

All of the John Williams music was a little strange. I know that he was the conductor of the Boston Pops for something like thirteen years but it was odd-especially starting with the Jurassic Park theme. I did think that using the Pirates of the Caribbean music for the bullpen pitchers was rather clever.

Next Up: Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are in a tailspin. At some point they will get their act together, pull the throttle up and right themselves, before they smack into a barn (Forgive me. For some reason whenever I think flying metaphor I go back to my first flying experience: Barnstorming on Atari.)--it's not likely that they would finish 0-162--hopefully, though, Tuesday isn't their lucky day.

Kenny Rogers is a lefty with a lifetime win-loss record of 210-144. He's a ground ball pitcher who isn't afraid to run up the pitch count. He's very good at fielding (he's got five gold gloves) and has an excellent pickoff move. He also has a temper and was accused of cheating during the 2006 World Series. He missed a large portion of the last season due to having surgery for a blood clot but historically, has been a very good pitcher. He did pitch very well in his last outing. He went six innings and gave up hits and two runs. He struck out four and walked only one.

Jeremy Bonderman is a power pitcher who finished last year with a record of 11-9. His fast ball sits in the mid-nineties and he has a very nice slider; both of which he commands well. He doesn't walk a lot of batters (only 6% of the batters he faced last year) and he doesn't give up too many home runs (23 last year.) He got 145 batters to strike out last year (19.25%). His last outing was not a good one for Jeremy Bonderman. He went sixth and one third innings and gave up eight hits and four runs. He walked two, gave up two home runs, and only struck out one batter.

Nate Robertson is a lefty who went 9-13 last year. He's got low nineties fast ball and a good slider that he uses to get right-handed hitters out. He also tends to tire as he gets deeper into a game-his fastball comes up and gets hit hard. Defensively, he struggles a little. His concentration seems to wane as he gets deeper into a game. He's also easy to steal on. His last outing wasn't pretty. He went five innings, gave up seven hits, five runs-one of which was a home run, and he walked two. He did strike out five, though.

I don't know what is up with the Detroit line up. They should be fierce. From their catcher all the way around to their designated hitter, the only player without very good career averages is their third baseman, Brandon Inge-but he's been doing well so far this year. Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, and Miguel Cabrera are probably the best hitters on the team.

If they're down-trodden because of their lousy start, then it'd be a good thing. It should be a very difficult team to beat. The Royals did it-so it can be done-but it should be a couple of hard fought games.

And the Moral of the Series (Toronto: Games 5-7) is...

Pretty simple, really. If you play that badly, then the only way you are going to win is if the other team plays just as badly. Which didn't happen. The bullpen couldn't handle the job given to them, the defense really struggled, and the offense had a difficult time as well.


Drew is swinging the bat really well, though; as is Jason Varitek. The starting pitchers, for the most part, turned in decent performances. That's all I can come up with for positive things from this series.

Beckett v. Halladay (Game 7)

The much awaited return of Josh Beckett to the rotation started out well enough. His first three innings went well. In the first inning, he gave up a base hit to the first batter that was aided by an error on the part of Mike Lowell and a double to the third but got out of the inning without allowing any runs. The second inning he got a line out to Drew and two strike outs. The third inning ended after a line out to Pedroia, a walk, a strike out, and a pop out.

As his pitch count started to climb, his performance started to slip. He walked to the first batter he faced in the fourth and then gave up a two-run shot to Vernon Wells. Manny made a nice defensive play on a line drive to left to keep Thomas, as the next batter, from getting a double. They got a put out at first on the next batter but the fifth batter of the inning got a base hit. Finally, he managed to strike out the last batter of the inning but the Jays were up 1-2.

He was scheduled to throw around eighty pitches today and when he came back in for the fifth inning he had already thrown seventy of them. He got two quick outs to start the inning-both put outs at first-but gave up a base hit to the third batter. Then, he proceeded to walk the next two batters before Francona pulled him.

He was replaced by Manny Del who threw one bad pitch to one very good hitter; which resulted in the Jays being up 2-6. He did end the inning by striking out the next batter. If I was the type to question the decisions of the manager, then I would wonder about the choice to go with Manny Delcarmen after he gave up a two run home run to Thomas the other day; but I'm really not so I won't. David Aardsma came in for the sixth inning. He gave up a base hit to the first batter (aided by an error by Lugo), struck out the next two batters, walked a batter, allowed a base hit (score 2-7), and got a pop out to end the inning.

Okajima came in for the eighth and had a one-two-three inning, even though he gave up a base hit to the first batter. They managed to turn a double play on the next batter and got a put out at first on the last batter. Papelbon came in for the ninth and struck out the three batters he saw.

Defensively and offensively, Lugo really had a rough game. He committed three errors and missed some plays. He had four at bats and made contact with the ball each time but failed to get to first each time. Hopefully, with some rest he can get over this and it doesn't become a problematic slump of sorts.

There was some good news to come out of this game, though. JD Drew continues to swing the bat really well; he had two hits (a single and a home run), he only struck out once, and he popped out in the ninth. Varitek and Ellsbury both hit home runs. Youkilis hit a triple and Ortiz had a base hit. And they very nearly came back in the ninth (not that I saw it what with NESN going black and all.)

Summer Reading List

In the Hartford Courant today there is a review of a couple of books about baseball. The book about the Bucky Dent game sounds like a really interesting read. That said, I don't think I could read it.

The author also mentions Tony Massarotti's book as having lots of information on "behind the scenes front, office machinations and dirt about players and management off the field..." Massorotti isn't my favorite Herald writer but it does sound like my kind of book. Plus, the forward was written by Jason Varitek.

Speaking of forwards, I was right. The forward to Mike Lowell's book, which I'm pretty sure comes out in May, was written by Josh Beckett.

Buchholz v. Litsch (Game 6)

Well that sucked. What happened to the spectacular bullpen of last season?

For the most part Buchholz pitched well. He faced twenty-four batters and struck out seven of them. He allowed eight hits, only one of them for extra bases. He was mostly in control of his pitches, walking only two. His breaking stuff was a little high in the early going but he settled down as he got deeper into the game. He did allow four runs but they were greatly aided by less than stellar defense. What was good to see from Buchholz was that after a rough fourth inning he came back in the fifth with a one-two-three inning (two put outs at first and a strike out.)

Other good things to come out of this game: Drew and Manny are swinging the bat really well. Pedroia is starting to find his swing. He had a base hit in the third, did some nice defensive base running on his way to second, and hit a double in the seventh that was very close to being a home run.

And then there was the bullpen. Snyder (who according to Boston.com has been DFA'd) came in for the seventh inning and faced three batters. He walked two of them (one who advanced to second on a wild pitch) and got a put out at first. He was replaced by Bryan Corey who had a terrible third of an inning. He gave up four hits, including a two-run home run by Thomas, and allowed four runs of his own and two runs for Snyder. Corey was pulled after the home run and replaced by Tavarez who ended the Blue Jays efforts at scoring.

The bullpen wasn't totally to blame for the debacle, though. The defense that the Red Sox put up was spotty at times. They committed two errors (a throwing error by Lugo and a fielding error by Casey) and they failed to make a couple of routine plays. They just seem tired.

Hopefully, tomorrow's game will have a more positive result. Josh, having not left Florida until a few days ago, should be well rested. I, also, don't imagine that all of this losing is sitting well with him.

Wakefield v. Marcum (Game 5) or Opening Day: Take 3

It wasn't really that bad of an outing for Tim Wakefield. He pitched five score-less innings to start the game. During which he gave up only two hits and one walk. To start the sixth inning he threw a knuckle ball that didn't appear to do anything and Stairs knocked it back for a home run. He followed that up with a walk, a strike out, another walk, and three base hits before inducing a double play off Zaun.

What the Jays did (and what the Red Sox failed to do) was to beat up the bullpen. The three runs off Wakefield were answered almost immediately by three runs off Marcum and things were all tied up heading into the bottom of the seventh. David Aardsma came in, in relief of Wakefield, and walked Eckstein. Lopez came in, in relief of Aardsma, and gave up a base hit to Stewart. Manny Del came in, in relief of Lopez, and got two quick outs before throwing a bad change up to Thomas that resulted in a two run double. He got the last out as a put out at first.

The Red Sox answered those two runs with a pop out, a strike out, and another pop out. Manny Del came back in and promptly gave up a base hit before getting a put out, a strike out, and allowing another hit (that knocked in the last Jays run.) Manny Del was relieved by the cartoon-ish Corey who struck out the last batter.

In the ninth inning, the Red Sox bats couldn't come up with anything useful against Accardo. Youkilis flied to right and Ortiz was put out at first. Manny did get a base hit but Lowell popped up for the final out.

The bright spots of the game were J.D. Drew's three run homer and Kevin Cash's double. I think I must have really low expectations of those two guys. Cash's double was less useful production wise but it was good to see. He should be careful though I might start expecting him to be able to hit and not just be any easy out. Drew's home run was both useful and a pretty thing to see-especially since he had struck out twice earlier in the game.

Tires, It Seems, Are in Pedroia's Blood.

Perhaps a widely known fact, but new to me, is that Dustin Pedroia's family owns a tire store called Valley Tire out in California.

It's mentioned briefly in a story about him that was published in the Sacramento Bee. He brought his own little cheering section to Tuesday's game by giving tickets to the employees.

I think, however, that it's pretty clear that the writer didn't get an accurate impression of little Dusty. She writes:

"Did we mention his genuine aw-shucks humility? His persistence? He won't, but others do."

Mr. "Check out the gun show"-"Mandatory ab check" is humble? Doesn't really seem likely.

Next Up: the Toronto Blue Jays

Pitching tonight against Wakefield is Shaun Marcum. He's got only two full years in the majors and he's spent that time bouncing between the 'pen and the starting rotation. In May of last year, though, they moved him to the starting rotation and there he stuck. He pitched 159 innings and gave up 149 hits. He struck out 122 of the batters he faced (roughly 18.5%) and he walked only 49 batters (7.4%). He gave up 149 hits, resulting in 76 runs. His battery of pitches includes a change-up, a curve ball, a low nineties fast ball, and a good slider. Lefties have a better average against him (it might be David Ortiz' night.) He's got decent control but starts to fall apart as the pitch count gets higher.

On Saturday, Clay Buchholz is scheduled to face Jesse Litsch. Litsch is a baby pitcher. He pitched 111 innings in 20 games last year. He gave up 116 hits (or just under 6 per game on average.) He allowed 56 runs (or just under 3 per game.) He gave up 14 home runs ( or just about 3 for every 4 games he started.) He walked 36 batters (or just under 2 per game) and he struck out 50 (2.5 batters per game.) He has a sinking fast ball that's pretty good and that's about it. He is a good defensive player, though.

On Sunday, Beckett is scheduled to face Roy Halladay. Halladay is a very good pitcher with a reputation for being on the fragile side. He has excellent command of the strike zone. He works quickly and induces a lot of ground outs (rather than strike outs.) He throws both a four seam and a two seam fast ball, and has a very good knuckle curve. He gave up just 15 home runs last year (about 1 every other start.) He walked only 48 batters he faced last year (about 1.5 per game.) He struck out 139 batters last year (about 4.5 per game.) He allowed 232 hits (about 7.5 per game) but only 93 of them turned into earned runs (3 per game.)

Their best hitters are probably Shannon Stewart, Vernon Wells, and Frank Thomas. Stewart is not a particularly patient hitter. He strikes out more often than he walks. He's not a real power guy, with only 12 home runs last season, but he is quite speedy. Vernon Wells is a power guy, though the home runs were down last year. He tends to hit line drives and knock in a good number of runs. Frank Thomas started out as a short stop but as age has caught up with him lives in the role of designated hitter. He can't hit lefties or finesse pitchers. He can't run. But last year he hit 26 home runs and knocked in 95 runs. Both his OBP and SLG were above league average.

Alex Rios could very well prove to a threat offensively, as well. He's a very streaky hitter and right now is on a hot streak.

The Blue Jays are a tough opponent. They have good pitching (especially in Halladay and Burnett), backed up by good hitting.

And the Moral of the Series (Oakland Games 1-4) is:

It may be too early to try to pretend that we can learn anything valuable about this ball club from the first series. The whole thing seemed to have everyone slightly off balance, the first two games were more like Spring Training games, and the whole endeavor lacked the monotony, and general drudgery, of the baseball season. But is that going to stop me from attempting to extract some meaning? Hardly.

One thing you could come away from that series inclined to believe is that on the strength of their lineup (and with a little luck) they could muscle out a win against a pitcher of Blanton’s caliber. Are they going to slug out a win against every back end of the rotation starter? Of course not. A couple of bad outings by their own pitching staff, however, might not be disastrous.

The same cannot be said for a pitcher of Harden’s caliber. During the eleven innings they saw him, the only one capable of doing any damage against him was Manny. Quite obviously, the pitching and defense will have to be on their toes to win those games. I believe that in their second game against him they showed they were capable of doing that.

Offensively, Youkilis, Manny, Ortiz, and Varitek have all found their swings. No doubt at some point during the season it might look like each of them have picked up a bat made of spaghetti but they’re off to a good start. Lowell, Pedroia, and Ellsbury, are still struggling at the plate. Coco and Lugo are doing reasonably well for the kind of hitters they are. And Drew? Well, Drew’s only played in one game and, therefore, hasn’t had enough at bats to display his pretty swing and what he intends to do with it this season.

Defensively, there were a couple of dropped plays, grabs that probably could have (and probably would have) been made if the players were more deeply entrenched in their grooves. But, as I said, it’s been kind of wacky and they haven’t had a chance to establish those grooves as of yet. Right at this moment, it’s hard to remember which games counted and which plays really didn’t matter but there were a couple of balls that just got by Lowell, the ball got away from Pedroia in his face-planting leap in the last game, and I think there might have been a ball that Coco couldn’t quite get to in center. Not really anything to worry about at this point, though.

Congratulations Youk!

With today's successful game, Kevin Youkilis is now the proud owner (I assume) of the Major League record of the longest streak of error-less games at first base. Congratulations Youk! Papi approves.

Lester v. Harden (Game 4)

So that wasn't too bad. Maybe, just maybe, I don't have to be so terribly concerned for Lester's starts. Who am I kidding? One decent start doesn't a season make. But he did go six and two thirds innings without allowing a run and kept his pitch count down. Otherwise, it was a game of threes; he allowed three hits, walked three batters, and struck out three batters.

And contrary to what I said earlier about him, for the most part Lester pitched well without any run support. He did have an excellent set of defenders behind him. They turned three double plays for him.

Offensively, they weren't able to do much against Harden. Harden loaded the bases with no outs to begin the game but then struck out the next two batters and got a put out at first. Once he came out of the game, they again loaded the bases to start the inning and ended the inning without scoring any runs. They loaded the bases for the third time to start the eighth inning and were finally able to convert those runners into earned runs.

David Ortiz had a big night. He got both his first base hit of the season in the fifth and knocked a two run home run in the seventh. He also drew a walk in the first. Varitek also had a good game. He drew a walk in the sixth, had a base hit and crossed the plate on Pedroia's single in the eighth, and knocked a home run in the ninth.

Besides being error-less at first, Youkilis had a double, a single, and knocked in a run. Alex Cora also had a nice night. He had four at bats and got to first base four times; he had two base hits, one walk, and was hit by a pitch.

Matsuzaka v. Blanton (Game 3)

Now that? That is the Matsuzaka we like to see. I guess that nerves are a legitimate excuse for pitching poorly because he was on today. He went six and two thirds innings and threw just under one hundred pitches. He struck out nine and didn't walk a single batter. He did give up a home run to Jack Cust in the second but the only other hit he allowed was a single by Kurt Suzuki in the third. It was a beautiful performance.

Papelbon also had a really stellar performance. He struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning.

Offensively, Youkilis had a really good night. He had three hits: two singles and a triple. He also scored both of Boston's runs (one off Ellsbury's base hit and one off Varitek's double.) Other bats besides Youkilis' decided to show up tonight; Ellsbury, Manny, Varitek, Coco, and Lugo each had a hit.

Besides his single, Varitek had a home run that was ruled a double. Don and Jerry seemed absolutely certain that it was a home run and it certainly seemed that way to me. A question though: Didn't they agree during the winter meetings to have video set up so they could do instant replays on suspicious home runs? Whatever happened to that plan?

Watching Foulke pitch to Varitek was a strange experience. I kept thinking: He must know exactly where that ball is supposed to go just from the way the ball comes out of Foulke's hand. And Varitek did get a base hit off him.

It was a good game though, well pitched on both sides. In the first four innings, Blanton allowed only two hits. He did have a wild pitch in the second (that moved Manny over to second) but no damage was caused as a result. He might have become a little bit flustered in the fifth because he walked Pedroia and he rarely walks anyone. But he stymied Ortiz and Lowell the three times each of them came up to bat.

Woot!

Kielty is headed to Rhode Island!