Red Sox 2008 Game 45 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Milwaukee	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0		6	9	4
Boston	2	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	-		7	6	3

W: C. Hansen (1-2) L: S. Torres (3-1) S: M. Timlin (1)
HR ➢ Bos: M. Lowell (5) Mil: C. Hart (2)

☼ Sun - Milwaukee's defense in the seventh which placed runners at 2nd and 3rd with no outs on zero hits.
☁ Cloud - Boston's middle relief which entered the game with the score 5-1 in the 6th and allowed both inherited runners to score, then allowed three unearned runs to score in the 7th. Aardsma, Hansen and Lopez have got to start getting outs.

Game thoughts!

This game moved along pretty well until the sixth inning with the Sox scoring runs in the 1st, 3rd and 5th innings while Wakefield kept the Brewers in check. Even though Timmy only had one 1-2-3 inning (3 k's in the first) he kept the bats in check. Only Counsell was able to reach third and that was with two outs, so overall he was looking good those innings.

Trouble though struck in the 6th as he allowed Hart's homer with one out and then allowed a Gabe single and hit B. Hall. 5-1 when he left and I thought, the Sox should be able to escape but Aardsma decided he would make the evening interesting.

Double A struck out Rivera on three pitches then hit Counsell to load the bases. The HBP was followed with a single by Weeks, and then he walked Cameron but escaped further damage by getting Braun to foul out to Youkilis over by the camera wells on the first base side. Six innings in the books and the Sox were holding onto a tenuous lead.

Francona brought in Hansen to start the 7th and for once the Sox defense started acting like little leaguers. With Fielder on 1st with one out, Lowell made a throwing error, followed by an error by Cora, which loaded the bases. Rivera knocked in a run on a fielder’s choice and then reached second on a wild pitch by Hansen. Counsell then doubled down the right field line scoring both Kapler and Rivera and all the previous good feelings were gone for the night.

In the bottom of the 7th though, the Sox were able to capitalize on errors themselves. First Weeks made an error, which allowed Ellsbury to reach 1st, and then Hall threw the ball into right field on Pedroia's grounder, which allowed Ellsbury to reach 3rd and Pedroia to reach 2nd. An RBI ground out by Papi and a Youkilis's single allowed the Sox to retake the lead and it was up to Lopez and Timlin to hold onto the lead. Thankfully both were able to get through the 8th and 9th without any further runs scoring.


Factoid: After losing three straight games in which the Sox led 3-0, the Sox got out to 4-0 leads in both games of the double header and were able to achieve the victory in both games.


♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 45 Preview

			@
D. Bush		1-4, 6.06		T. Wakefield		3-2, 4.25
Brewers		20 - 22		Red Sox		25 - 19

Saturday, May 17 (game 2 of Double header)        Fenway Park  ✠ @8:35 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	25	18	-	8-2	4	6	24	19
Boston	25	19	.5	4-6	7	6	25	19
Baltimore	22	19	2.0	6-4	10	5	20	21
Toronto	21	23	4.5	5-5	6	9	21	23
New York	20	23	5.0	3-7	5	5	21	22

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Brewers: Bush put together his best start this season against the Cardinals on Monday, allowing a Rick Ankiel home run with two outs in the first inning but then blanking St. Louis through the end of the sixth. It was his first win this season and his second win in 11 starts dating to last year, when Bush tied for the team lead with 12 victories. It's been a much tougher road this year, but Bush found success in his most recent start by using the inner half of the plate, somewhat of a departure from pitching coach Mike Maddux's philosophy.

Red Sox: The knuckleballer is coming off his shortest outing since Sept. 2003, allowing seven hits and seven runs -- six earned -- in just 2 2/3 innings last Sunday night at Minnesota. Wakefield has had an up and down month, going 1-2 with a 4.58 ERA in three starts. Wakefield is looking forward to returning to Fenway Park. The right-hander is 3-1 this season with a 2.95 ERA on grass in five starts. He is 0-1 with a 7.36 ERA in three starts on turf.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Red Sox Batting History vs Bush

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
D. Ortiz	8	3	1	0	0	4	1	1	.375	.444	.500	.944
M. Ramirez	5	3	1	0	1	4	3	0	.600	.778	1.400	2.178
M. Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
J. D. Drew	3	3	2	0	0	2	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.667	2.667
K. Cash	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
J. Lugo	14	1	0	0	0	3	0	1	.071	.167	.071	.238
Totals	30	10	4	0	1	13	4	2	.333	.436	.567	1.003

Basically one game, of course results like that for one game would be a blow out with those 13 rbi's. Not sure what to think about these results, but some players should feel comfortable, and winning the first of the double header games should help. Will have to see.

Pitching Comparisions Career vs teams

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Bush	4	0	3	0	16	22	16	3	8	9	9.00	1.88	4.00
Wakefield	10	5	2	0	67 2/3	67	24	6	26	54	3.19	1.37	6.77

Bush has been horrible vs the Sox in his career (all with Toronto) so you have to like the Sox chances. In two games at Fenway he has been even worse with an 11.25 ERA / 2.13 WHIP and is 0-2. Yep, I like are chances!!!


Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Bush	6	1	4	0	35 2/3	36	24	7	16	21	6.06	1.46	5.78
Wakefield	8	3	2	0	48 2/3	44	23	6	23	27	4.25	1.38	6.08

Really the only terrible start for Tim was his last start. Giving up 6 runs in 2 2/3 innings in Minnesota was horrendous. In all of his other starts this year he has gone at least 5 inning (once) and has went 8 innings twice. If you take out the Minnesota start he has a 3.33 ERA with a 1.26 WHIP. So, taking his usual solid starts and his career record vs the Brewers into consideration, I am saying look for Mr. Timothy Wakefield to come out smoking tonight!!!


♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 2008 Game 44 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Milwaukee	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1		3	9	1
Boston	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	-		5	11	1

W: D. Matsuzaka (7-0) L: J. Suppan (2-3) S: J. Papelbon (12)
HR ➢ Bos: D. Ortiz (8) Mil: M. Cameron (4), R. Braun (11)

☼ Sun - Going with Daisuke here, though Papi's 3 run dinger certainly helped.
☁ Cloud - Offense, kept on getting double plays or wasted chances when they could have tacked on as Mr. T. Francona says.

Game thoughts!

Started off good as the Sox started a 2 out rally in the bottom of the first. Papi walked, Manny got hit, Youkilis then singled to load them up for J.D. Drew. A patient Drew got the free pass on the 8th pitch and it was 1-0. Of course the only bad thing, was that meant bases were loaded for Tek so that meant 1 would be all that we would get in the first.

In the second inning the Sox decided to get things going earlier as Lugo singled with one out, Ellsbury reached on a bunt single and then Pedroia popped out to right. This brought up Big Papi and he delivered with a three run home run into the monster seats on a 3-2 count. 4-0 after two and for the first time in 4 games the Sox didn't stop at 3-0.

The only frustration with the Sox bats were later in the game. A leadoff double in the 4th resulted in no runs as Casey was stranded at second. The fifth inning saw men on 1st and 2nd with no outs but ended on a 4-3-6 double play on J.D. Drew's at bat. The 6th had another lead off double and had men on 1st and 3rd with no outs only to have Lugo ground into a 3-2-5 double play that left Casey at second base with 2 outs. Just frustrating as a fan to watch those wasted chances.

As for Daisuke, well, he was good, very good until the 7th. Six K's and only 2 walks in the first six innings led to shut out ball. In the 7th, he retired the first two batters and at 95 pitches, it looked like he might have a chance to start the 8th inning. Except Youkilis made an error at third base on a hard shot by Weeks, and then Cameron hit his home run over the. A single by braun then had Francona calling for the pen and it was good night Daisuke. Still, a good outing and I would love to see 20+ more starts just like this one.

Factoid: Tek 0-4 with bases loaded this year.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 44 Preview

Update: Its Saturday and they will play two!! Will update the game links after I know for sure the correct ones for each game.
Game 1 is still this match-up!!

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J. Suppan		2-2, 4.63		D. Matsuzaka		6-0, 2.45
Brewers		20 - 21		Red Sox		24 - 19

Friday, May 16                 Fenway Park  ✠ 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	24	17	-	8-2	4	5	23	18
Boston	24	19	1.0	4-6	7	6	24	19
Baltimore	21	19	2.5	5-5	10	5	19	21
Toronto	21	22	4.0	5-5	6	9	21	22
New York	20	22	4.5	4-6	5	5	20	22

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Brewers: Suppan will be facing the team with which he broke into the Major Leagues in 1995 and spent parts of three seasons, going 7-9 with a 6.10 ERA in 29 outings at Fenway Park. He will hope for better results as the Brewers begin Interleague Play and is coming off one of his best starts this season, a seven-inning, one-run performance against the Cardinals at Miller Park. The win snapped Suppan's two-game losing streak.

Red Sox: Matsuzaka is looking for his seventh win in eight starts this season. After a season-high eight walks on May 5 in Detroit, Matsuzaka settled down last Saturday in Minnesota and issued three over his seven innings, allowing six hits and two runs while earning his second win of the month. The right-hander will look to become the fourth Red Sox hurler this decade to start a season 7-0, joining Josh Beckett (9-0 in 2007), John Burkett (7-0, 2002) and Pedro Martinez (7-0, 2002).

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Red Sox Batting History vs Suppan

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
D. Ortiz	27	9	2	0	1	4	2	5	.333	.355	.519	.873
M. Ramirez	21	7	1	0	3	7	4	5	.333	.440	.810	1.250
M. Lowell	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
J. D. Drew	17	6	2	0	1	5	1	3	.353	.421	.647	1.068
J. Varitek	16	8	1	0	1	1	1	1	.500	.529	.750	1.279
J. Lugo	11	5	2	0	0	2	1	1	.455	.500	.636	1.136
Totals	103	35	8	0	6	19	9	16	.340	.391	.592	.984

.984 OPS for the starters, I'll take that everyday of the week and twice on Sundays. I also would replace the 0 for 11 Mike Lowell and play S. Casey, who's lifetime is .333 / .368 / .556 /.924 in his career vs Suppan.

In fact replacing Lowell changes those to .373 / .423 / .645 / 1.068 for the team. As much as I like a .984 OPS, trust me I like a 1.068 that much better.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Suppan	8	3	3	0	49	28	26	8	18	21	4.78	1.35	6.13
Matsuzaka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Suppan has pitched well at times vs the Sox. He has two complete game victories and his last win he only gave up 2 runs in six innings. Overall in his eight starts he has only given up more than three runs in three games. So, even though his ERA is fairly high, he has done very well, except in Boston. Three games in Boston and he is 0-2 and only lasted 13 innings while allowing 15 earned runs. Would be nice to see him get shelled tonight.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Suppan	8	2	2	0	46 2/3	54	24	6	19	21	4.63	1.56	5.83
Matsuzaka	8	6	0	0	47 2/3	28	13	3	30	40	2.45	1.22	5.96

The only area that Suppan beats Matsuzaka is in his walks. Of course that has been the main complaint vs Daisuke all year.

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 2008 Game 43 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0		3	12	0
Baltimore	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	x		6	8	0

W: D. Cabrera (4-1) L: C. Hansen (0-2) S: G. Sherrill (15)
HR ➢ Bos: J. Varitek (4), M. Lowell (4) Bal: J. Payton (3)

☼ Sun - Payton - Grand slam in the 7th off of Okajima changed a 3-2 game to a 3-6 game.
☁ Cloud - The relief could not get it done as Hansen couldn't get anybody out, and Okajima gave up the grand slam to the first batter he faced.

Game thoughts!

What looked like a win quickly became a loss as the Sox middle relievers and the setup arm coughed up the lead in the seventh. Lopez got the first two outs and then gave up an infield single that Pedroia smothered on the outfield grass. Hansen strode to the mound but did not retire a batter by giving up a single, then walking Roberts to load the bases.

Mills called for Okajima with the bases loaded and on the second pitch to Payton it was deposited into the left field seats and that was the ball game.

Factoid - Okajima has now allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score.

Eckersly is killing Mills, that was Hansen's inning, he should have faced Payton, not Okajima. If Hansen can't get out Payton, he shouldn't be in the big leagues.

4-6 on this road trip and blown saves littering the trail, most notably today's and the two blown by Papel-bot. That is the difference between this being a good road trip and a fragging huge disapointment.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 43 Preview

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J. Lester		2-2, 4.06		D. Cabrera		3-1, 3.54
Red Sox		24 - 18		Orioles		20 - 19

Wenesday, May 14  Oriole Park at Camden Yards  ✠ 3:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	23	16	-	7-3	4	4	22	17
Boston	24	18	.5	5-5	7	6	23	19
Baltimore	20	19	3.0	4-6	10	5	18	21
New York	19	21	4.5	5-5	4	5	20	20
Toronto	19	22	5.0	5-5	4	9	20	21

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: The left-hander looks to rebound from Friday's performance in Minnesota when he allowed eight hits and five runs -- three earned -- over 5 1/3 innings. He had allowed just five hits and one run over his two starts prior to Friday. Lester will be making his fifth start on the road, where his ERA (4.87) is more than a run higher than at Fenway (3.52). On the positive side, Lester has gone at least five innings in each of his last five starts overall.

Orioles: It's going to be tough for Cabrera to improve from his last outing. Manager Dave Trembley called it the best of his pitcher's career. Cabrera threw a complete game, allowing just one run and three hits against the Royals on Thursday. Using mainly his fastball and sinker, he forced 18 groundouts and struck out seven batters. Trembley said Cabrera has been steadily improving since Spring Training.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Red Sox Batting History vs Cabrera

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	6	2	0	0	1	1	0	1	.333	.333	.833	1.166
D. Pedroia	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	.600	.600	1.000	1.600
D. Ortiz	17	4	0	0	0	2	8	3	.235	.480	.235	.715
M. Ramirez	10	2	0	0	0	3	3	2	.200	.385	.200	.585
M. Lowell	10	5	1	0	1	7	3	0	.500	.571	.900	1.471
K. Youkilis	13	4	3	0	0	3	3	6	.308	.412	.538	.950
J. D. Drew	9	3	1	0	0	0	3	1	.333	.500	.444	.944
J. Varitek	15	3	1	0	0	3	3	9	.200	.333	.267	.600
J. Lugo	19	3	0	1	0	1	3	3	.158	.273	.263	.536
Totals	104	29	8	1	2	20	26	26	.279	.417	.433	.849

Ok, not bad numbers but lets assume that Lugo and Crisp and Drew can't go in todays game, further more, since it is a day game after a night game lets assume that Tek isn't also playing. By starting Cora, Cash, Casey and playing Youk in right field, we would have a team that would have a 33 for 91 with .363 / .446 / .571 / 1.018 against Cabrera. A man can dream.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Lester	3	3	0	0	18	19	6	2	8	8	3.00	1.50	6.00
Cabrera	11	1	9	0	49 1/3	59	43	3	43	51	7.84	2.07	4.48

Lester has looked good against this team and each time his start has been better than the preceeding start against the O's. If we followed a progression we should see an eight inning start by Lester of shut out ball and only allowing two hits.

Cabrera on the other hand is a disaster waiting to happen vs the Sox. 7.84 ERA! 2.07 WHIP! Almost as many walks as strike outs, the Sox must be salivating to face this guy.

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 2008 Misc post 01

Filed under hmmm from 2003 to 2007

Loc	G	CG	W	L	Sv	Sho	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Home	405	15	261	144	101	4	3679	3778	1936	1769	373	1140	2750	4.33
Away	405	8	209	196	100	1	3546	3624	1928	1780	435	1226	2701	4.50
Total	810	23	470	340	201	5	7225	7402	3864	3549	808	2366	5451	4.42

I was surprised when I looked at this that the team ERA at home is lower, that the pitchers in more innings had given up fewer HR's and had walked fewer batters. A hitters park, has actually been better to the pitchers than the road.

Red Sox 2008 Game 42 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		4	9	0
Baltimore	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	x		5	11	2

W: J. Guthrie (2-3) L: J. Beckett (4-3) S: G. Sherrill (14)
HR ➢ Bal: L. Scott (2)

☼ Sun - Scott - 3 Run HR with two outs in the 3rd was the nail in the coffin.
☁ Cloud - Ramirez - Bases loaded, 0 outs in the 7th and its a 1 - 2 - 3 gdip.

Game thoughts!

Beckett made one huge mistake in the 3rd but that did not decide this game. The third inning started with two singles, but Josh bore down and got back to back K's before facing Millar. On the 1-2 pitch, his fast ball broke over the plate and Millar stroked it to left for a run scoring single. One batter later on the 1-0 pitch, on a very good pitch down and inside to the leftie, Scott crushed one over the scoreboard in right. That would be the last Oriole run of the night.

Still, the Sox had a chance to either tie or get closer in this game. The 7th inning started with a single by Casey (who replaced Crisp in the 6th), a single by Pedroia, and a walk to Ortiz (a wild pitch on the 5th pitch moved up the runners). Bases loaded and the man child was striding to the plate. Tremblay brought in the right handed J. Johnson to face Manny with the game on the line. After four straight foul balls on the 2-2 count, Manny hit a one hopper back to the mound and it became an easy 1-2-3 GIDP. Rally over.

Another road loss, another blown game by the starters and now the Sox need to win the last game of the road trip to make it a non-losing trip. After 42 games the Sox fall out of 1st place behind the Tampa Bay Rays who beat the Yankees in the 11th inning.

Factoid - 2003-2007 the Sox on the road was 209-196. This year the sox are now 10-13 on the road. This includes two 3 game sweeps and one series where they went 1-3. The other four series they have went 3-1 twice, 2-0 once and 1-1 in the last. I'm not ready to jump off the bridge, but it would be nice to see them get back to .500.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 42 Preview

			@
J. Beckett		4-2, 3.70		J. Guthrie		1-3, 4.32
Red Sox		24 - 17		Orioles		19 - 19

Tuesday, May 13  Oriole Park at Camden Yards  ✠ 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	24	17	-	6-4	7	5	23	18
Tampa Bay	22	16	0.5	6-4	3	4	21	17
Baltimore	19	19	3.5	4-6	9	5	18	20
New York	19	20	4.0	5-5	4	4	19	20
Toronto	18	22	5.5	5-5	4	9	19	21

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Beckett turned in one of his best starts of the season against a Tigers lineup that ranks among the toughest in the Majors. He put runners on in the early innings, but allowed just one run before retiring the final 10 batters he faced. He also struck out eight, including the 1,000th strikeout of his career. Beckett has six career starts against the Orioles, going 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings.

Orioles: Guthrie's been consistent but not spectacular so far this season. His last start went so much like his previous ones. He went 5 2/3 innings and gave up four runs as the O's lost to the Angels. That outing came after his best of the season, when he went seven innings and picked up his first and only win of the season.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Red Sox Batting History vs Guthrie

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
D. Pedroia	5	3	1	0	0	0	2	1	.600	.714	.800	1.514
D. Ortiz	9	3	2	0	0	1	1	2	.333	.400	.556	.956
M. Ramirez	7	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	.286	.286	.286	.571
M. Lowell	7	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	.143	.143	.143	.286
K. Youkilis	10	2	1	0	0	0	1	2	.200	.273	.300	.573
J. D. Drew	5	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.200	.333	.400	.733
J. Varitek	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.167	.167	.167	.333
J. Lugo	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
Totals	59	14	5	0	0	4	5	9	.237	.297	.322	.619

Not a lot of success against Guthrie. Which makes it all the more surprising that he has no record vs the Sox.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Beckett	6	4	1	0	42 2/3	36	14	4	4	28	2.95	.94	7.11
Guthrie	3	0	0	0	20 2/3	21	6	2	8	12	2.61	1.40	6.22

Good matchup tonight, so Joshie needs to bring his A-game, because Guthrie has had some good success against this team, including Mothers day of last year. Oh, yeah, its the exact same matchup pitching wise. I want the result, just don't wait until the 9th this year.

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 2008 Game 41 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		3	12	1
Minnesota	2	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	2		7	11	0

W: L. Hernandez (6-1) L: C. Buchholz (2-3)
HR ➢ Bos: M. Ramirez (8)

☼ Sun - A toss between Young and Monroe
☁ Cloud - HH - He got hammered.

Game thoughts!

After Manny hit his bomb in the first I really thought this would be a win. Unfortunately, every time the Twins needed a big hit they got it as they went 5 for 11 with RISP. 6 walks did not help the cause either. That is two horrible starts in a row (both on the road) for the kid. I hope Tito and Farrell have the right buttons to push to get him straightened out of this type of pitching.

Thank god no more games in Minnesota this year.

Factoid - Twins were 13 for 33 RISP in this series and overall 39 of 133. Both are much higher than their season averages.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 41 Preview

			@
C. Buchholz		2-2, 4.50		L. Hernandez		5-1, 3.83
Red Sox		24 - 16		Twins		19 - 17

Monday, May 12  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  ✠ 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	24	16	-	7-3	7	5	23	17
Tampa Bay	21	16	1.5	6-4	3	4	20	17
Baltimore	19	19	4.0	4-6	9	5	18	20
New York	19	19	4.0	5-5	4	4	19	19
Toronto	17	21	6.0	6-4	4	9	18	20

ESPN.Com Preview .
Yahoo's Preview .
ESPN.Com after the game Recap.
MLB.Com Press Pass
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Buchholz did not look good in his last start. After winning two of his last three starts, he earned a no-decision, allowing five runs on 10 hits in just four innings in his first career start against the mighty Tigers' lineup. Buchholz let in four runs in the third and one in the fourth to put the Red Sox in a hole. Buchholz faces the Twins for the first time in his short career on Monday.

Twins: In his first career start against the White Sox, Hernandez delivered his 44th complete game. The crafty veteran held Chicago to just one run on seven hits with the lone run coming on a Jermaine Dye solo homer. Mixing in pitches ranging from 59 mph to 85 mph, Hernandez has been teaching the younger arms in the Twins rotation how to keep lineups off-balance by changing speeds. The hope is that Hernandez can do the same in his next start against the Red Sox.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Sox Batting vs Hernandez

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Ellsbury	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
D. Pedroia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
D. Ortiz	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
M. Ramirez	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.500
M. Lowell	47	17	7	0	1	5	5	7	.362
K. Youkilis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
J. Drew	32	8	0	1	3	5	7	9	.250
J. Varitek	3	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333
J. Lugo	18	6	1	0	0	0	2	5	.333
Totals	105	34	8	1	5	13	15	21	.324

Among the bench players only Kevin Cash has not faced Hernandez in their career. While Cora only has so so numbers against him (.231/.279/.282/.561 (ba/obp/slg/ops)), well actually those are bad numbers I would not be surprised to see him play for Pedroia tonight.

The best numbers though are by Sean Casey. In 30 PA's he is hitting .520/.567/.760/1.327. He owns Livan, absolutely owns the man. Tito would be foolish to sit him tonight.

In fact Tito should be making sure he has in the lefties tonight. This year lefties are going off on a .323/.343/.521/.864 clip. Those are appreciably above his career stats vs lefties (.285/.357/.444/.801).

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Buchholz	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hernandez	2	0	2	0	8	16	11	2	6	5	12.38	2.75	4

Both of Livans starts came at Fenway and neither of them were good. His first start back in 1999 was his best since he went 6 1/3 innings and only gave up 6 runs (5 earned). Needless to say, the Sox are probably licking their chops to get at him tonight.

Buchholz has never faced the Twins, but I expect an impatient team to have problems with his change up and curve ball. I fully expect HH to win this game.

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 2008 Game 40 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	1	3	0	0	2	0	2		8	15	1
Minnesota	0	5	2	1	0	0	1	0	X		9	10	1

W: N. Blackburn (3-2) L: T. Wakefield (3-2) S: J. Nathan (12)
HR ➢ Bos: C. Crisp (2) Min: C. Monroe (2) (4), A. Everett (1)

☼ Sun - Craig Monroe - 2 home runs and 4 RBI's. Which gives him 4 and 13 for the season.
☁ Cloud - Wakefield - By far Wakefield's worst outing at the HHH Metrodome. Brutal, absolutely brutal.

Game thoughts!

Absolutely brutal outing by Timmy. 2 2/3 IP with 6 ER's. This outing was so horrible that it raised his ERA in the dome by .59 and lowered his ip/g by 1/3 of an inning. Going into the game Timmy was 7-3 in 11 games at the dome and had averaged 7 innings plus per win. 8 of his 11 starts had been quality starts, so with that history I liked our chances going into this game.

Still even with the troubles of our starting pitching the Sox made this a game as they kept on putting up runs. 5-0 after the 2nd, was followed by 7-1 after 3, then 8-4 after 4, then 9-6 after 7 and the tying run was on 2nd when Manny made the final out in the 9th. This team is a battling team and no lead is completely safe until the last out is made.

Factoid -
Wakefield's numbers in his 7 wins at HHH - 2.16 ERA, 6.48 k's/9, 2.88 BB's/9, 0.36 Hr's/9, 2.25 k's/bb's and a 1.00 WHIP
Wakefield's numbers in his 4 l's at HHH - 11.42 ERA, 6.75 k's/9, 4.16 BB's/9, 3.12 Hr's/9, 1.63 k's/bb's and a 2.02 WHIP

Those numbers sum up why we love Knuckleball pitchers and why we loath them. When they are good they are borderline greatness. When they are bad though, its open up the windows and let the stink out of the building.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 08 Game 39 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	1		5	12	0
Minnesota	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		2	7	2

W: D. Matsuzaka (6-0) L: G. Perkins (0-1) S: J. Papelbon (11)
HR ➢ Bos: K. Youkilis (8), C. Crisp (1), J. Lowrie (1), M. Lowell (3)

☼ Sun - Crisp and Lowrie - back to Home runs in the 7th made the difference.
☁ Cloud - Home run derbies can't be relied on

Game thoughts!

More games like that are what is needed from Mr. Matsuzaka. After walking 3 batters in the first 2 innings he settled down and pitched a strong 7 innings for the win. Keep it up Daisuke!!!

First career home run for Lowrie and Coco had his first home run of the year. Keep it up guys!!!

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.