Red Sox 07 Game 52

Wednesday, May 30                             Fenway Park | 7:05 PM ET
Paul Byrd, RHP (5-1, 3.81) Indians (31-19)

                  @

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (7-2, 4.43) Red Sox (36-15)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	36	15	-	7-3	34	17
Baltimore	25	27	11.5	6-4	27	25
Toronto	24	27	12.0	6-4	25	26
New York	21	29	14.5	3-7	27	23
Tampa Bay	21	29	14.5	3-7	19	31

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

Indians: Byrd was aided by some stellar defensive work and some early offense in getting his fifth win of the season Friday against the Tigers. He gave up four runs on nine hits with no walks and a strike out over 6 1/3 innings and was elevating his pitches by the end of the outing. Byrd said he shouldn't have pounded the strike zone as much as he did, especially ahead in the count. But pounding the zone has helped Byrd go 37 1/3 innings without issuing a walk.

Red Sox: Matsuzaka rode an offensive surge to his seventh win on Friday, prevailing over the Rangers despite giving up five runs over five innings in his first career start in Arlington. Matsuzaka is 3-1 with a 5.00 ERA in his first five starts at Fenway Park, where he has allowed a .259 opponents' batting average and three home runs in 36 innings. He will be facing the Indians for the first time in his career.

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	10	4	1	0	0	0	0	1	.400
K. Youkilis	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	23	7	0	0	2	6	1	2	.304
M. Ramirez	11	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	.091
J.D. Drew	7	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.286
M. Lowell	17	7	2	0	1	4	0	0	.412
J. Varitek	15	5	0	0	1	1	0	3	.333
C. Crisp	9	5	1	0	0	0	2	0	.556
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	98	31	4	0	5	15	3	11	.316

With Manny batting .091 vs Byrd, Wily Mo may get his third straight start tonight in left. I also would not be surprised to see Cora in for Dustin since he is 2 for 6 against Byrd. Hinske is 2 for 10 and Mirabelli is 2 for 2 with 2 walks. I fully expect them to be sitting on the bench.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Byrd	6	3	2	0	37 2/3	42	19	8	6	17	4.54	1.27
Matsuzaka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

You have to wonder how in the heck Byrd has three wins vs the Sox. 4.54 ERA against this team and he is 2 and 1 in Fenway. The way this team is playing I fully expect that to become 3 and 3 vs Boston.
Chow!