MLB 07 - Game 9 Take 2

John Lackey, RHP (2-0, 0.75) Angels (6-4) @ BOS Tim Wakefield, RHP (0-1, 1.50)
Red Sox (4-4)
Boston 1/2 game behind Toronto, tied with NYY and 1 1/2 games ahead of Orioless. Series Opener

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: The knuckleballer continued an unfortunate theme from last season when he was unable to get run support in his first start. Wakefield took a 2-0 loss to Robinson Tejeda and the Rangers. He hopes to have better luck in his home debut against the Angels. This will be appearance No. 228 for Wakefield at Fenway Park, where he is 67-60 with a 4.33 ERA.

Angels: Lackey has it going in the early season, a rarity for him. He says he's made tremendous strides in controlling his emotions during the course of the game -- "I've stepped behind the mound," he said after throttling Oakland on Saturday -- and the results through his last start included the Angels' best start (5-1) since 1970.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	15	2	0	0	0	0	2	4	.133
K. Youkilis	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250
D. Ortiz	20	7	3	1	1	6	4	4	.350
M Ramirez	18	9	3	0	4	11	7	3	.500
J. D. Drew	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	.167
M Lowell	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167
D Mirabelli	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
C Crisp	17	4	0	0	2	2	2	2	.235
D Pedroia
Totals	92	27	7	1	7	19	15	20	.293

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Lackey	9	1	4	0	50 2/3	70	33	8	24	39	5.86
Wakefield	20	8	10		135 2/3	137	71	19	50	88	4.71

Wakefield's numbers include 5 relief appearances against the Angels.

Drew may still get the day off, since Wily Mo is 1 for 1 against Lackey with a double and J.D. is batting .167 against Lackey.

I also would not be surprised if Cora got in the game since he is batting 4 for 13 against Lackey, If he does go in I expect he will take Lugo's place.

Hinske's numbers are terrible agains Lackey so I do not expect him to enter the game.

What I think?
After 8 games this team has been shut out twice. That is not good, not good at all. What is even worse is the Average run per game if you throw out the two shut outs and the two offensive explosions. This team still needs to do better with the bat.

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