Sox 4/25/2006 - Cleveland

ESPN Box Score

Well what more do you want? Oritiz kills the first and only pitch from Sauerbeck, Mota walks Ortiz to get to Manny who makes them pay by hitting one to the opposite field, and even that speedster Youkilis gets a stolen base.

8-6 against the Indians is fine with me, but what the **** was Schilling doing throwing 133 pitches?? Game two tonight


Scouting Report:
Tim Wakefield is hoping Red Sox bats come alive for him after suffering consecutive tough-luck outings. In his last start, a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay last Thursday, the knuckleballer gave up just three runs, two earned, over eight innings, allowing just four hits in the process. But for the third time this season, he left the game with his team posting fewer than two runs. Wakefield has a 1.56 ERA in his last three starts since allowing seven runs and seven hits in his first start April 4 at Texas.

Sox 4/23/2006 - Toronto

ESPN Box Score

Papi hits a dinger and lays down a bunt to keep an inning alive and the Red Sox salvage a win at the Rogers Centre. The Sox have lost two series now and both have been to the Blue Jays. They are 7-5 against the AL East and have yet to play the Yankees (2 game series 1 week from today). Twice they left the bases loaded yesterday with out scoring any runs. I do not like the fact that they are leading the majors in LOB. Somebody besides Youkilis and Papi need to help out the boys.

6 games left in this road trip and today is the only day off before May 8. A brutal stretch of games without an off day. They have the second best record in the AL (tied with Detroit!!!). Finally getting over my cold but Friday and Saturday are like lost days in the wilderness. Friday's loss I blame on Francona, and Saturdays' loss is due to playing the b team all together again. That is 3 losses so far this year that I lay directly at the feet of Tito.

More later this afternoon as I preview the Cleveland series. Ciao baby.

Sox 4/20/2006 - Tampa Bay

Espn Box Score

Dev Rays - 000 200 102 - 5 7 1
Red Sox -  010 000 000 - 1 6 0

Well Tim W. gets my hard luck pitcher of the year, last 2 games he pitched well enough to win but when the bats have holes in them. Start a 9 game road trip today. Lets hope it goes as well as the first one went.

Sox 4/19/2006 - Tampa Bay

ESPN Box Score

Dev Rays - 000 010 000 - 1  7 4
Red Sox -  107 010 00X - 9  9 0

A laugher and well earned. Cold medicine kept me just alert enough to enjoy the game. See you tommorrow

Sox 4/18/2006 - Tampa Bay

ESPN Box Score

Dev Rays - 000 000 220 - 4 11 1
Red Sox -  001 000 33X - 7 10 0

Other people have covered this quite well and since I am still a little bit under the weather, I plan on curling up tonight with a good blanket and watching Game 2 of this series. It was good to see Manny break out and hit a double and drive in a couple of runs. Am glad I kept him in my baseball challenge pool. Different day, different hero's make this a team.

Tampa Bay vs Red Sox game 1 Preview

Casey Fossum tonight vs Clement, another left hander faces the Sox, another night that could be trouble. I always liked Fossum and thought the Sox should have kept him instead of trading him to the Diamondbacks.

Manny has faced Fossum 7 times with 2 hits and 4 k's, Tek is 1 for 3 against him, Lowell is 1 for 8, Gonzales is 2 for 6, Pena is 0 for 3, Mohr is 2 for 5, Cora is 2 for 10, Bard is 1 for 3 and Ortiz, Snow, Youkilis, Stern, Loretta have never faced him. As you can see there is not a lot of success against the lefty.

However as MLB.com has noted: "Clement's chances for getting back on track are good as he is 3-0 lifetime against the Devil Rays, with a 2.53 ERA. " (click the pic to read the whole scouting report from MLB.com).

Lets play ball!

Update: From today's MLB.com Press Pass (must be member of MLB.com) this following tidbit:

BIG INNINGS: Through 13 games in
2006, the Red Sox have allowed nearly half of their runs in only 7.0 separate
innings, as 27 of the club’s 55 runs allowed have crossed the plate in those
7.0 frames…Boston has allowed only 28 runs scored in its remaining 109.0
innings.

► The Red Sox have allowed one run in an inning 13 times and 2 or more 14
times, including 7.0 innings of 3 or more and 4.0 innings of 4 or more.

Player Stats VS Tampa Bay

PLAYER	AVG	AB	H	HR	RBI
BARD	.250	20	5	0	1
CORA	.286	35	10	1	9
GONZALEZ	.257	109	28	1	11
LORETTA	.417	12	5	0	1
LOWELL	.262	145	38	5	25
MOHR	.415	41	17	1	4
NIXON	.320	300	96	19	57
ORTIZ	.307	264	81	19	53
PENA	.357	14	5	2	5
RAMIREZ	.326	436	142	35	112
SNOW	---	0	0	0	0
STERN	.000	6	0	0	0
VARITEK	.302	288	87	12	46
YOUKILIS	.190	42	8	1	10

LOL

Continuing our L(ast) O(ut) L(owell) watch we add the following table for your enjoyment:

Games	# Chances	Made	Percent
56	75	48	64.00 %

What can I say but the man is good. LOL

Updated 6/6/2006

Less Than 2 outs

Through 13 games the Red Sox have had a runner at 3rd with less than 2 outs 18 times, surprisingly, 2 games have not had this situation (the 1st and 9th).

The break downs are as follows:

Stat	Value
At Bats	46
Hits	13
Runs	24
Avg.	.283

Twice a run scored due to an error. Twice a runner was thrown out at the plate. 3 times the inning ended on a double play (once a run scored due to 3rd out being a run down).

Will place this link in the side bar to facilitate ease of finding.

Sox 4/17/2006 - Seattle

Espn Box Score

Mariners - 110 002 101 - 6 10 0
Red Sox -  110 002 012 - 7 12 1

DiNardo pitched well, Seanez pitched like Seanez giving up a cheap home run to Everett, Tavarez got the dp to end his outing, Foulke pitched better than it seems in the box score (both of the batters in the 9th who got hits should have been out) and Timlin did his job by getting a hard hit ground ball that was unfortunately not hit in the right place to turn the dp.

A good game batting wise also with few wasted chances on the base paths. Ortiz was a man among boys by hitting 2 home runs and the sweet home run by Loretta in the ninth sent everybody home happy. The nice thing was to see Youkilis able to keep the inning alive by beating out that infield hit.

Yankees are off today so the Sox pick up a half game.

Sox 4/16/2006 - Seattle

ESPN Box Score

Mariners - 002 000 000 - 2  7 2
Red Sox -  200 100 00X - 3  5 2

Quote: Beckett "is anybody else's number one," Seattle's Richie Sexson said. "We had our hands full today."

That sums it up pretty well. Beckett got the big outs when he needed them again, the team played just well enough to win, and once again Willy Mo misplayed another fly ball. A good start for the Sox in the first, scratched out another run in the 4th after Seattle had tied it and smooth 8th and 9th innings by Timlin and Papelbon.

Yankees won to stay two games back tied for 4th with Toronto, yes, I said Toronto not Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is tied with Baltimore for 2nd, 1 1/2 games back. I kind of like the standings the way they are and I notice that the AL East is the only division in baseball where all of the teams are .500 or better. It could be a very interesting season in the AL East this year.

Am working on stats for men on 3rd with less than 2 outs and LOL's, I hope to have those completed today and will try to have them up on the side. Will see how this works, as I took the day off today to work around the house. Spring appears to have finally taken hold.

Sox 4/15/2006 - Seattle game 2

Espn Box Score

Mariners - 003 000 000 - 3  9 0
Red Sox -  000 000 000 - 0  5 0

I have one word for today's game Fargh!!!!

Sox 4/14/2006 - Seattle game 1

ESPN Box Score

Mariners - 000 010 000 - 1  4 0
Red Sox -  000 200 00X - 2 10 0

Now that is how you stop a losing streak! Schilling goes 8 innings giving up 3 hits and one run followed by a 1 hit inning by Papelbon leading to the 7th win of the year for the BoSox. Only one thing could improve this type of outcome, a Yankee loss (whats that? you say the twins won!)

A pretty smooth game overall as both pitchers pitched a quality start. The aggravation came with the Sox leaving a ton of players on the Bases. 8 through the first 4 innings and 10 through 7 innings. The Sox should have had a 3 run inning in the 4th but failed to get the runner home from 3rd with less than 2 outs. It would also be nice if the batters would quit striking out as much as they have the last 2 nights (another double digit strike out night).

Youkilis seems to be really adapting to first base, a couple of good plays tonight with one being a web gem. I think that the first 10 games has shown he has the tools defensively for the job and any uneasiness in the field has definetely not carried over to the plate.

I am glad they keep on showing how bad Manny did last year and comparing it to this year, but it just isn't helping the man do any better. Another lousy performance at the plate by Ramirez with an 0'fer with 2 K's.

However, will take the win counting and I am counting on Manny to outright win a couple of games later on for the team.

See you later.

Sox 4/13/2006 - Toronto

ESPN Box Score

Blue Jays - 060 011 000 - 8 12 1
Red Sox -   100 000 023 - 6  9 0

I can't stand Clement, this guy will drive me crazy this year like last year. See, its really simple, Varitek throws the ball to you, he puts down the sign, you shake your head yes and then you rock and fire. Throw strikes and you will be successful, but if you keep on being 3 and 1 or 3 and 2 on a hitter he's going to grand slam you. Jeez, quit laboring too, 2nd inning you had those deer in the headlights look again. Throw the d*** ball.

That second inning just killed the team, and you just knew that Lily was going to throw another gem. You have to wonder why the Yankees never have offered anything for this Sox killer. Put him and Randy Johnson together and you could probably have 9 wins against the Sox every freaking year. Add our arch nemesis from Baltimore and make sure that those three pitch in every sox game you could sweep the sox.

So, looking at the first 9 games, the Sox have 5 quality starts (6 innings, 3 runs or less) and are 5 and 0 in those games. The opposing teams have 3 quality starts and are 2 and 1 (the Loe / Beckett game in Texas).

The starting pitching for the Sox are averaging 5.85 innings per game, and have an ERA of 5.30. 65% of their pitches are for strikes and only one unearned run has been scored while they are pitching. Overall the team ERA is 4.61, with 65% of all pitches being for strikes.

Yankee update

See ya tomorrow (today, Seattle at the Ballpark with Moyer v Schilling).




Preview here

Sox 4/12/2006 - Toronto

ESPN Box Score

Blue Jays - 320 020 010 - 8 16 1
Red Sox -   000 211 000 - 4  6 0

Earlier I said that Wells was a big game pitcher who would rise to the occasion, I should have taken into account his abysmal record against the Blue Jays. David deserved every bit of the boos that came raining down on him last night. 3 runs in the first coming via 2 home runs and his curve ball was just spinning up to the plate with no break on it. Not the way to follow the pitching performances of Beckett and the rest. The bright spot is that Wells did worse in Oakland last year on his first game back from the DL and then settled down the rest of the year. Maybe this will happen again this year.

The good news is that Papi homered again, with home runs by Willy Mo and Dustan Mohr also adding to the final score. Coco is now signed up through 2010. I missed the last couple of innings due to the cold medicine I'm taking putting me out like a light, so not much else to add to this post. A win tonight though will mean that the Sox will start the season off with three series wins.

Looking ahead I see that the two games against the Yankees have projected starters of Beckett and Wakefield.

Empire Update

KC gets three in the first and then allows three in the first. Thanks alot boys!!

todays preview brought to you by: ESPN

ESPN

Wells is a big time pitcher and I expect him to step up to the mound and own it tonight for the first 5 innings. After that, I expect a quick hook because of conditioning. First pitch at 7:05 p.m. LETS GO RED SOX!!!!

From Yanks V Sox blog

A nice table and comments by Neil H. at Yanks V Sox on the winning of games with less than 3 runs. Read and discuss.

Sox 4/11/2006 - Toronto (home opener)

ESPN Box Score

Blue Jays - 100 000 020 - 3  5 0
Red Sox -   040 000 10x - 5 10 0

36 pitches in the first inning and ends up with 108 pitches total. It is obvious that if you let Beckett off the hook early in the game that he will settle down and pitch a good game. You have to like the competitiveness of Sir Beckett. Another fiery personality to go with the Big Schill is always welcome.

It would be nice if the offense decided to catch up with the pitching but if you told me before the season that after 7 games Manny and Big Papi would have only 2 home runs and 7 RBI's and the BoSox would still be 6 and 1, I would have laughed my head off.

Not sure about Coco's status, depending on who you believe he will be out 3 weeks or 2 months. I think that Stern will play a good center field in his place and even though he is not as fast as Coco (not many are) he still brings speed on the base paths. The injury to Nixon can be more troubling though since I do not have any faith in Pena, especially after this fiasco yesterday (all I could think at the time was "Another Canseco").

Did we really trade Arroyo for a guy who seems to strike out swinging on every at bat? So far it seems like every at bat he is over powered by the pitchers fast ball. It also seems like each at bat lasts 3 pitches, he may have potential but the Big Leagues is not where he needs to develop it, send him to Pawtucket and bring up Dustin Mohr.

Yankee Update

It would be nice if the other teams in this league besides the Angels, Red Sox and A's could hold the lead against the Yankees. Letting 5 runs score in the Bottom of the 8th doesn't help anybody win games, least of all the Royals.

Sox 4/9/2006 - Baltimore

ESPN Box Score

Bring out the brooms! Boston completes the sweep of the O's with a gritty performance by Wakefield and for the 5th time the BoSox starter outlasts the other teams starter. LOL watch was 2 for 2.

Nip and tuck game for the Red Sox until Stern drove home the insurance run in the 6th inning. A quick inning by Timlin and a very good inning by Foulke led to Papelbon. I think he definetly nailed down the closer job by struggling but still getting the outs that were needed to finish off the game.

Wakefield and Bard looked comfortable with each other and I think we can put to rest the "why did they trade Mirabelli" whines. I liked Doug, I thought he was an excellent team person and the perfect back up for Tek, but Bard has been OK.

Coming up next is the home opener with Towers facing Beckett. On paper it should be a blow out for the Sox, but last couple of years the home opener hasn't followed the paper.

Sox 4/8/2006 - Baltimore

ESPN Box Score

Schilling goes 7 strong innings and shuts down the O's with only 3 hits, and 2 walks. For a while I thought he was going to be able to go 8 and then we wouldn't have to worry about Timlin but the seventh was a struggle that he finished well by striking out Conine on a 96mph fast ball on his 111th pitch.

Pitching wise you have to give the team a solid A, but the offense struggled for the 2nd time in 3 games. The biggest mistakes were made in the 6th when the boys had base runners on 2nd and 3rd base with no outs and did not get them home. Those type of things normally come back to bite you in the rear during a game but the arms bailed out the offense by only allowing the lead off home run in the bottom of the inning.

Today its Wakefield and I fully expect him to try and one up Schilling and Beckett. Should be a good game and starts at 1:35 today.

Evil empire update

Sox 4/7/2006 - Baltimore

ESPN box score

The Walkathon of the year. 6 Walks in the first inning lead to a 4-0 lead right off the bat. I kept on waiting for the Orioles to jerk the starter but didn't happen until the 2nd and by then it was too late to stop the bleeding, all they could do was slow the bleeding down.

Schilling on Saturday. If Schilling or Wake win either one of their games then its a 4- 2 road trip. Like I said earlier, just keep on winning series and the playoffs will come.

Was good to see Youkilas and Manny break out of their mini struggles. I just hope that we don't need any of those 14 runs in the next two days.

Ciao

Sox 4/5/2006 - Texas

Espn Box Score

A good way to end the series. Beckett struggled right off the bat giving up 3 hits and a first inning run. The first 4 innings were a struggle for the big Texan but he was able to hold them to the one run. Pitch count was 61 after 3, 81 after 4, 97 after 6 and 109 after 7. If the starting pitching can go 7 innings giving up less than 4 runs this team will be winning a lot of series. Just go 2-1 each series and 108 wins is there for the taking.

Good things that happened: 1) Beckett 7 innings 1 run 2) Nixon hitting a 2 run homer on the only mistake that Loe made all night 3) Pitching had 1, 2, 3 inning three times. 4) No errors!! 5) Rangers running themselves out of a big inning.

Bad things that happened - Papi hitting into two double plays and striking out. Timlin stinking up the place by going single, fly ball out, 4 pitch walk, single (runner thrown out at the plate 7 - 5 - 3) and 4 - 3 ground out in the eighth.

Grades -
Offense C (only 2 runs and failed to get runner home from 3rd with only 1 out).
S. P. A- (high pitch count through 4 brings that down).
R.P. C (Timlin stunk up the place, Papelbon was mighty).

Things noted during the game:
Crisp can flat out motor and I liked the way he picked up the 3rd base coach on his triple.
Remdog saying how Francona would spin the Papelbon relief appearance (he was wrong).
Manny showing his defensive prowess again by getting an assist (snicker).
The combativeness shown by Beckett and Papelbon.
7th inning Beckett still hitting 96 on the gun.

LOL watch - 1 for 2. (taken from Simmons of espn page 2 "E-mail from Matt in Salem, N.H.: "I want early credit for Mike Lowell's new nickname, 'Last Out Lowell,' or for short, LOL." You got it.")


that's all for tonight folks - last look at the Yankees - A's game shows it 4-4 top of 7th with Damon (Judas) batting.

Game 1 of the year a funny look

Simmons writes a good column about opening day full of Sox love and Yankee hating. Enjoy it here.

Sox 4/4/2006 - Texas

ESPN Box Score

Not a lot to say here, Wakefield gives up 4 in the 1st before he even gets an out and the blow out followed. The good thing is that Wakefield is just as likely to pitch 8 innings of 1 hit ball in his next outing so no worries there. As for the passed balls well the two are still working out the kinks and its not like Bard pull a Eucher.

The positives were the offense did ok by still getting 10 hits and scoring 4 runs in the game. There just wasn't timely hits.

Grades offense C+
Defense - C+ (passed balls will do that)
S.P. - F
R.P. C

Hey what did you expect, 162 - 0 season?

Road to Final Four ends with SEC championship

Love it, Gators win by getting out fast and never looking back, way to go Gators!!! SEC rules.

Half time of championship

Florida leading by 11!!!!. Noah is the man with 5 blocks (a new record), come on gators!!!!

Sox 4/3/2006 - Texas

ESPN Box Score

A good game for the Red Sox. Varitek knocks in 2 runs in the 4th with a 2 out double, Loretta plates one run in the 5th and scores along with Ortiz on Papi's home run. Big Papi adds another run in the 7th thanks to Coco's speed and Lowell adds the insurance run leading off the 8th with his home run. Final score 7 - 3 bosox.

Looking at box score you will see that everyone who started the game except for Youkalis got at least one hit. All of the runs scored by the sox except for Lowell's home run came with 2 outs. Only four batters struck out (with Coco Crisp doing the double dip) and there were two walks for the boys. The Red Sox made the opposing pitchers throw 168 pitches (4.2 per plate appearance).

Schilling went 7 innings throwing 117 pitches of which 79 were for strikes. In the first inning he threw a 93 mph fast ball, and on his 103rd pitch he registered 92 mph. Overall a strong start and will give him a solid B for this outing. His only struggles came in the 5th and the 6th innings with the 6th providing 2 runs on a Blalock home run down the right field line.

Papelbon went 1 - 2 - 3 in the 8th with a K throwing only 13 pitches, 10 for strikes. Give him a solid A for this outing. Foulke on the other hand struggled. 1 inning pitched 2 hits 1 earned run given up and if it hadn't been for Crisp making a fine running catch it would have been worse. Give the Foulkster a D.

Over all grade for the pitching B+ thanks to Schil and Papel. Question raised is how long is the leash for Foulke? Just like last year it seems like he gets hit around after he has gotten 2 strikes on the batter. For some reason he is having a hard time getting that 3rd strike for the out. I also think that like last year his pitching motion is different than it was in 2004. Maybe it is the camera angle but it just looks different.

Offense gets overall grade of A. Any time you can have the team do a .375 obp. you will score well, and with 6 of 7 runs coming with 2 outs that means clutch hitting. Question raised -Gonzalez what were you thinking in the 7th when you were doubled off on a fly ball to center and no outs? Varitek, I know that you are like hitting .220 with bases loaded but can't you at least hit the ball hard (I was hoping that hitting the grand slam in the WBC would help you)?

Tomorrow - Wakefield - here's hoping he has his A knuckleball.

Update: added ESPN Box score link

UCLA vs Florida for all the marbles

UCLA has tradition (11-1 in championship game), plays tough defense and has celebrity players rooting them on tonight. I fully expect to see Walton, R. Miller and other former players at the game tonight rooting the bruins on to a 12th championship. I have picked the Bruins wrong in this tournament against Gonzaga (grrrr) and against LSU. I expect this to be a tough battle tonight and would not be surprised if it stays low scoring and is tight throughout with neither team getting double digit leads.

Florida has no tradition (sorry 3 final fours in the last 12 tournaments is not a history) but in 1994 the gators lost in semi's, in 2000 lost in championship game and tonight is in the championship game again. Is this the time they win it all? Gators also play good defense with lots of blocks and their guards are tall and have long wingspan that make passes into the paint tough from the backcourt.

In 1994 there were two SEC teams in the final 4 and Arkansas won it all. In 1996 Mississippi St. and Kentucky made the last four and the wildcats won it all. In 2006 there are two SEC teams in the final 4. My heart says the progression for Florida and the SEC history has them winning it all. My head says - who knows!!!

Opening Day 2006

Sox vs Rangers at 2:00 p.m. today. Will be listening to WTIC ten eighty here in CT. while doing the work of the mundane so we can have money to eat today. I am excited about the season. I personally think the sox will win the division this year. Pitching and defense will always outdo big bats and bad defense and that is what the Jays and Yankees are today.

Coco and Loretta will set the table and Big Papi and Manny will clean the plates. Schilling and Beckett make a good one two followed by Wakefield, Wells and Clement. I see Schilling and Beckett winning 38 games and Wakefield, Wells, and Clement will add 45 games and the spot starters and bullpen will add another 10. This should get us to 95 games finishing 1 game ahead of the Blue Jays and Yankees.

See you after the game.

Finals All Set for Monday 4/3/2006

Florida broke the slipper and UCLA had it easy. Should be an interesting game.

Men's Semifinals tonight

Well I have thought about this one all week and I think that the glass slipper breaks tonight. I Like George Mason and I think it has been an enjoyable ride but I look for Florida's athleticism and depth to win this game. Looking for Florida to win by 10.

The UCLA and LSU game should be a doozy, but I say go with the better frontcourt and that means Big Baby and his compadres will win. A close game because of the defensive abilities of UCLA but look for the Tigers to play the Gators on Monday night.