Shields v. Beckett (Game 32)

After a series of nine games that largely featured goose eggs on the Sox-line of the box score, this was a fun game to watch.

Beckett didn't have as good of a game as he did last Sunday in St. Pete. It was a perfectly acceptable outing, just not as dominating as he can be. He did work very efficiently; he threw one hundred pitches over eight innings. He gave up seven hits (including two home runs) and allowed four runs. He walked only one batter and struck out only five. The closest he got himself to being in real trouble was in the fourth inning. Eric Hinske started off the inning by doubling to deep left center. Carlos Pena *tilde implied* hit a single to right and moved Hinske to third. With no one yet out, Longoria got a single and Hinske scored. The Rays had runners on first and second, when the next batter (Navarro) lined out to left for the first out. Beckett walked the next batter (Gross) to load the bases. Thankfully, the next batter (Haynes) lined out to Manny; who, with a very good throw, got the ball back to Varitek in time to get Pena *tilde implied* out at the plate for the double play. The other three Rays runs came as a result of the home runs that Beckett allowed; the first of which was a two-run shot in the second inning and the second was a solo in the eighth.

Aardsma came in to pitch the ninth inning and he didn't have the easiest time of it. He did his job (the score was the same at the end of the inning to what it was at the beginning) but he throws a lot of balls. You've (or at least, I've) got to wonder what gets said in those conferences on the mound. I imagine it goes something like: John Farrell trots out there, intimately places his hand on the pitcher's lower back, leans in, and whispers "Throw strikes."

The first batter Aardsma faced fouled out to Youkilis on a two and two count. The second batter got a base hit on a two and two count. The third batter walked. After seeing three balls and two strikes, the fourth batter grounded into a fielder's choice for the force out at second. And the last batter grounded out to the short stop on a two and two count.

The Red Sox got four hits and three runs in the bottom half of the first inning. Ellsbury singled. Pedroia singled. Ortiz doubled (Ellsbury scored.) And Manny singled (both Pedroia and Ortiz scored.)

They got two hits and one run in the second inning. Ellsbury walked with one out. Pedroia singled and Ellsbury came around to score. Ortiz also hit a single.

They got two hits and one run in the third inning. With one out, Drew singled. After Varitek struck out, Lugo hit a double to deep center and Drew scored.

They had two hits and two runs in the fourth inning. Pedroia started it off with a double. Ortiz followed him with a double of his own, on which Pedroia came around to score. Manny grounded out but moved Ortiz over to third. Lowell struck out but Youkilis walked. With runners on first and third, Drew drew a walk to load the bases. Varitek got hit in the knee with a pitch and knocked in Ortiz.

They didn't score in the fifth inning but they came back in the sixth to get two more hits and two more runs. Manny walked to start things off. Lowell doubled. Youkilis singled and Manny scored. Drew reached on a fielder's choice and Lowell scored.

They didn't score in the seventh inning but did in the eighth. In the eighth inning they had three runs on two hits. Manny again started it off by walking. Lowell lined out before Youkilis drew another walk. Drew got a double and Manny scored. Varitek singled and both Youkilis and Drew scored. Varitek then got himself out at second trying to stretch his single into a double.

Jacoby Sellsbury

For his first commercial endorsement Jacoby has chosen to put his face behind Owater. Says Jacoby (though it certainly sounds like a line someone fed him):

"I first tried infused owater at spring training and I was so excited to finally find a sports drink that doesn't taste too sweet. I think about everything I put in my body when I am training, so I want a drink that's tasty, healthy and functional, not something loaded with sugar and artificial ingredients. infused owater is a better sports drink, and I am glad to help get the word out about it."

With recommendations for Vitaminwater (Ortiz), Monavie (Drew, Kielty, and Papelbon), and SoBe Life Water (Varitek) coming out of the Red Sox clubhouse, how is a girl to choose her beverage?

Though the idea of an Ellsbury radio commercial amuses me greatly. I imagine it will be on par with Varitek's Life Water ad-which I greatly enjoyed. I cannot wait.

Jackson v. Buchholz (Game 31)

Woot for offense!

Buchholz didn't have an easy time pitching tonight's game. He didn't pitch poorly but it wasn't his best performance to date either. He threw ninety-six pitches in five and one-third innings. He allowed five hits and handed out four walks. He struck out six. Twice, in the second and third innings, he worked himself into a mini-jam by allowing the first two batters to reach first (in the second inning by walking two and in the third by giving up a single and a walk) but both times he escaped unscathed by returning the next three batters to their seats.

Buchholz did run into trouble in the fifth inning. He walked the first batter, then got a fly out for the first out. The next batter hit a double to left field. With runners of second and third, Clay threw a pitch that got away from Varitek, rolled to the backstop, and allowed the first Rays' run to score. The play that ended the inning was a pretty one, though. With a runner still on third, the next batter hit a grounder down the left field line that Lowell scooped up and tossed to Youkilis for the out at first. After Lowell decided to go to first, the runner at third took off for home but he couldn't beat the throw from Youkilis to Varitek and was out at the plate.

Buchholz started the sixth inning by giving up a single to the first batter and getting the second batter to fly out to center. He was then replaced by Lopez. Lopez finished the inning relatively easily (he got a ground out and a pop out) but ran into some trouble when he came back out for the seventh. I'd like to think that I'm a kind and generous, forgiving and understanding soul, but Javier Lopez seems determined to test me (as does Julio Lugo-they might be working in tandem.) The two of them started off the seventh inning with a high throw from short to first that allowed the base runner to reach safely-though, in the replay it did look like Youkilis got down in time for the out. Next, Lopez gave up a double and on a sacrifice fly from the third batter of the inning, the first runner scored. The fourth batter of the inning grounded out to short and the second run of the inning scored. Manny Delcarmen came in to replace Lopez at that point. Delcarmen looked a little shaky to start things off. He walked the first batter and gave up a single to the second one he saw. He got it together, though, and struck out the last batter without any further damage done.

Okajima pitched the eighth inning, saw three batters, and got three fly outs. Papelbon pitched the ninth inning, saw three batters and got two ground outs and a strike out.

So, yeah. Hooray for offense and runs! Hooray for runners in scoring position and extra base hits! Hooray for home runs and rookies with something to prove!

They got their first run in the third inning. Lugo was up after Varitek had grounded out to short. After seeing a ball, Lugo shot the next pitch to deep center for a double (it's all part of his testing the limits of my patience strategy-hitting streaks, going through error-less phases.) Ellsbury flew out to left for the second out of the inning. But then Pedroia, with an ugly hack, sent one down the left field line for a double and Lugo came around to score. Manny struck out to end the inning.

The big offensive push came in the fourth inning with two outs. Brandon Moss sent the first good pitch he saw to straight away center field for a home run. Next, Varitek got a single and Lugo walked. Ellsbury got a hit that knocked in Varitek and sent Lugo to third. Ellsbury then stole second and Pedroia got a single that scored both Lugo and Ellsbury. Pedroia moved himself over to second on the throw and then came around to score on a single by Ortiz. Manny ended the Rays misery by striking out to end the inning.

The Sox picked up another run in the eighth inning. Moss started off with a single and then took home on a double by Varitek. And although they had loaded the bases by the end of the inning, no more damage was done when Manny struck out.

Manuel Aristides Ramirez, I Love You.

On the Sox website there was an article about Manny and the Quest for 500 Home Runs. I wouldn't normally bother to say anything about it but there was a quote that was just too wonderful to let fall by the wayside.

"I'm already [at 500.] So if it's not in my future I could stop playing today. I'm already there. But, you know something? My Hall of Fame is not baseball. It's my kids. Like I always say, I want to see them go to college, go to a bar with them and drink a beer. That's what I want to do. That's my goal.

"Baseball? Baseball is just a game. I could care less about the game. I like to play. I like to compete. But it's just a game to me that I come to work and play in. But my main goal is that I want to do that for my kids. I try to stay home but, you know, when I don't have [baseball], I could be the same guy. I'm not trying to get a big head or just hit home runs -- blah, blah, blah. Because I'm going to leave, and the game [is] always going to stay there.

"It's like Cal Ripken, when he was with the Orioles. Everybody [said], 'Oh, Cal Ripken, Cal Ripken, blah, blah, blah.' He retired, then Miguel Tejada came. They forgot about [Ripken] and it was, 'Tejada, Tejada.' You know? That's part of the game. You got to understand that. Enjoy it while you can."

and he ended the interview with:

"But I'm still mad, though. I said I was going to hit 500 home runs last month, and I didn't do it. But, I know, I know. I got five more months to do it."

Next Up: the Tampa Bay Rays

Both Jackson and Shields pitched well the last time they faced the Red Sox. Luckily for the Sox bats, they weren't hitting well at the Trop. So, if their lineup doesn't get their act together and figure out how to move guys across the plate, at least they can't perform more miserably than they did down in Florida. Red Sox pitching, however, was generally very good for the last series and they still got tapped for ten runs. If they're to have any hope (especially if the lineup continues along this anemic path), then the pitching will have to be damn near perfect.

That being said, Sunday sees Scott Kazmir's return to the rotation after recovering from an elbow strain. He throws a high nineties fastball and a great slider. He's also been working on a change-up. He has work to do on his command but he strikes out a lot of batters (239 last year or 7-ish per game.) In his last rehab start, he went five innings and threw eighty-one pitches. He allowed three hits, one run, walked a batter and struck out three. The good thing is that they'll likely be very, very cautious with him-probably keeping him around eighty pitches.

And the Moral of the Series (Toronto: Games 28-30) is...

This series featured a continuation of the excellent pitching that was started down in St. Petersburg. The problem was that the bats still haven't warmed up enough. It's true that they've faced a stream of very good pitching but they also only managed to scrape together three runs in three games. They did show that you can't count them out in a close game. If they could show that they remembered how to score runs in innings one through eight-well, that would be great.

Burnett v. Wakefield (Game 30)

Wakefield pitched pretty well. You know what you're going to get when Wakefield takes the mound and a haul of seven innings with only three runs (all of them earned) isn't too bad. Normally, I would say it would be an easily surmountable obstacle; as it is, they still aren't hitting well and the Jays were in get-on-base-any-way-you-can mode-including not making any real effort to get out the way of errant pitches, so what are you going to do? Wakefield losses are always easier to dismiss then losses from other pitchers. Any fan who goes in expecting Wake to pull out a win probably also expects them to win 162 games on the season.



During his six innings, Wake gave up six hits (including a home run), walked four, hit two Jays with a pitch, and didn't strike out anyone. He had nine ground outs and fourteen fly outs. He was also aided by some good defensive play. Manny made some good grabs out in left, Coco was Coco in center, there was a lousy throw down by Cash but he also had one that succeeded and had the added bonus of embarrassing David Eckstein.


[Aside: I've recently developed an extreme distaste for the man. Most things about him rub me the wrong way-the way he chokes up on the bat, the excessive fidgeting entailed in his batting stance, but mostly it's the way he sprints to first base when he draws a walk. Just jog, man. It's like he thinks they're going to change their minds and make him go back. I can easily imagine him to have been a combination of the teacher's pet and the classroom snitch in elementary school. I'm really glad their gone for awhile now.] The play went like this: Eckstein (who had reached on a double) stood on second and Scott Rolen (who had been hit by a pitch) stood on first. Matt Stairs hit a double off the wall in left center but Eckstein didn't get moving until it was too late. Once the ball hit the wall he took off for home but the ball got there before him. So, he turned around to go back to third but because Stairs was on second, Rolen was on third, and Eckstein was caught in the run down.



Aardsma, Lopez, and Timlin finished off the game for Wakefield. And while it wasn't pretty, they did their job. Aardsma got the first three outs but not before he gave up a double. Lopez struggled to get the next two outs. He gave up two hits but then got a nice pick off at third by Cash for the first two outs. He then got the next batter to ground out. Timlin got the last batter to ground out, as well.



As for offense, there really wasn't any. Ortiz continues to claw his way out of the hole he dug for himself (he was two for four tonight.) Mike Lowell hit a double and Coco got himself a single at the end.