Red Sox 07 Game 79

Saturday, June 30    Fenway Park | 7:05 PM ET


Robinson Tejeda, RHP (5-7,6.57)
Rangers(32-47)

               @


Josh Beckett, RHP (11-1, 3.07)
Red Sox(49-29)

*** - Sox need to win this game in order to have a winning record in June. - ***

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	49	29	-	5-5	47	31
Toronto	39	40	10.5	6-4	41	38
New York	37	39	11.0	3-7	43	33
Baltimore	34	44	15.0	5-5	38	40
Tampa Bay	33	45	16.0	2-8	31	47

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Rangers: Tejeda struggled in his last start, on Sunday against Houston, giving up five hits and seven runs (five earned) with four walks and four strikeouts in a no-decision. In one career start against Boston, Tejeda allowed two hits and no runs over seven frames for a win.

Red Sox: Beckett has been masterful all year long. In his last start, he allowed six hits and two runs over eight innings and struck out eight while outdueling one of the best pitchers in the game in Jake Peavy. The right-hander is 5-1 with a 4.22 ERA in eight starts at Fenway. This is Beckett's first start of the season against the Rangers, and he's 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA in two career starts against them.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
C. Crisp	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.500
D. Pedroia	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Ramirez	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
J.D. Drew	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
M. Lowell	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
K. Youkilis	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.333
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Lugo	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	22	2	1	0	0	0	4	1	.091

The Sox have only faced Tejeda once, and that was the first game against Texas this year. That was the game that Wakefield started and lost 2 - 0. The only bench player to bat against him in that game was of course Mirabelli who went 0 for 3.

Second time around though and I expect the Sox to have a better idea of what they need to do against this pitcher. I wouldn't be surprised if the bats break out of their slumber tonight, after all its Beckett pitching and they usually support him well.

Historical Pitching Line vs Opposing Team

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Tejeda	1	1	0	0	7	2	0	0	3	1	0.00	.71	7.0
Beckett	2	1	0	0	12 1/3	12	4	1	4	12	2.92	1.30	6.17

Though Beckett hasn't faced the Rangers this year, as you can see his history is pretty good. Look for Josh to keep on rolling against the Rangers. Final score - 6 to 2 Sox.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 78 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

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

W: T. Wakefield (8-8) L: J. Wright (1-2) S: J. Papelbon (19)

► Hero - Dustin Pedroia - for pushing Papel-bot away from the Umpire
► Goat - Vasquez - for not going for the force play on Manny's ball in the 5th

Game thoughts

Wakefield had the knuckleball dancing in the first three innings in the crucial situations. In the first and the third, with two men on base he got crucial double play balls. The double play in the third ending the inning.

The bats came up missing again. In the second inning Ramirez led off with a single and took third on Drew's single to right field. 1st and 3rd with no outs and the Sox could not get the run home as Manny was tagged out in a run down on Lowell's grounder to third and Pena reached on a fielders choice with Cora striking out.

In fact the Sox went o for 6 with RISP, before Pena's infield hit in the fourth scored Manny. For the entire game the Sox went 1 for 12 with RISP. Manny's run was the only run scored via a hit.

Every time a ball was hit to center field I held my breath.

While I think that Papel-bot had struck out Lofton on his ninth pitch, the play at first was too close to really tell. It looked like the bot might of got Lofton by a toe, but I think you would have to see that frame by frame from up above to really decide that. Fortunately, Pedroia was johnny on the spot and was able to push Papel-bot away from the first base umpire before he got tossed.

Delcarmen may have cemented his place in the bull-pen but he needs to be more consistent. You can't continue to come into the game and walk people (3 bb's in 5 1/3).

For once F Catalanotto did not kill us at the plate.

Wakefield has now won two games at Fenway by the 2-1 score. The way the bats have been supporting him, that may be the only way he wins.

Don't be surprised if Okajima makes the All Star team over the Bot. His ERA is .58's of a run better and with 13 holds and 4 saves you could say he has been the MVP of this bull pen.

J.D. Drew has his average back up to .257 after going 2 for 3 last night with a single, double and a walk.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 78

Friday, June 29  Fenway Park  7:05 p.m.
Rangers (32-46)
VS
Red Sox(48-29)
Jamey Wright, RHP (1-1, 6.00) vs Tim Wakefield, RHP (7-8, 4.52) 

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	48	29	-	5-5	46	31
Toronto	39	39	9.5	6-4	41	37
New York	36	39	11.0	3-8	43	32
Baltimore	34	43	14.0	5-6	38	39
Tampa Bay	33	44	15	3-7	31	46

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Rangers: On Saturday, in his third start of the season, Wright yielded three hits, five walks and two runs over 5 2/3 innings in a victory against Houston. It was Wright's second start after missing two months with right shoulder inflammation.

Red Sox: Wakefield suffered a loss in his last start when the Padres belted him around for eight hits and six runs over 5 1/3 innings. In June, the knuckleballer is 2-3 with a 7.06 ERA. Wakefield is 3-3 with a 5.54 ERA at Fenway this season. In his career against the Rangers, he is 8-14 with a 5.85 ERA.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

There is no history since this is Wright's first time vs the Red Sox.

Historical Pitching Line (Wakefield splits)

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Wake / Texas	23	8	12	0	138 1/3	154	90	24	52	109	5.86	1.49	6.01
Wake / Fenway	9	3	3	0	51 2/3	69	39	15	19	47	6.79	1.70	5.74

Overall Wakefield has always struggled vs the Rangers, and his numbers at Fenway are worse in every category, except the win loss record. Since the Sox are facing a pitcher who has never pitched vs the Sox in his career you can expect a low scoring game for the Sox (like all Wakefield starts). The key for Wake will be how anxious the worst team in the majors is against the knuckler. Still, I just don't see the Sox losing 4 in a row again right now.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 77 Recap

Press Pass || Recap || Box

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		1	7	0
Seattle	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		2	6	1

W: J. Davis (2-0, 5.51); L: J. Pineiro (1-1, 5.04)
HR: None.

► Hero - Lopez - A double off Pinero to end the game
► Goat - Joel Piniero - for giving up said double, of course the offense runs a close second.

Idle thoughts

Started off well but the Sox could never get the big hit when needed. Eight straight losses in Seattle makes for what I am sure is a long flight back to Boston. An off day today but, if I know this team, I would not be surprised to hear of certain players at the park today working on various aspects of their game.

Lugo had two very good at bats and again was not rewarded for his efforts. I was surprised to hear during the game that his 0 for 31 is not the longest hitless streak in Sox history. Expect the boo birds on Friday to absolutely kill this guy. Here's hoping that the streak ends on his first at bat.

Papel-bot was absolutely perfect in the eighth inning with the game on the line. Ichirio at third base and one out when he came into the game. A pop up by Sexson and ground out ended the threat though. Too bad the bats couldn't do anything.

Nibbler looked good. A couple more outings like that and I will have to remove the tag.

Texas coming in for a four game series followed by the Devil Rays (first time the teams will meet this year).

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 77

Wednesday, June 27    Safeco Field  4:35 PM ET

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (9-5, 4.01) Red Sox (48-28)

  @

Ryan Feierabend, LHP (1-2, 8.20) Mariners (41-33)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	48	28	-	6-4	46	30
Toronto	38	38	10.0	6-4	40	36
New York	36	38	11.0	3-7	43	31
Tampa Bay	33	42	14.5	4-6	30	45
Baltimore	33	43	15.0	4-6	37	39

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Red Sox: Matsuzaka is in a groove. He's given up just five runs over his past four outings and despite getting a total of four runs of support, has won his past two starts. Dice-K is 5-3 on the road this season and has already faced the Mariners twice in his fledgling Major League career, posting an 0-1 record and a 7.50 ERA against them.

Mariners: On Friday, in just his fifth Major League start, Feierabend was roughed up by the Reds, allowing nine earned runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings of work, nearly doubling his ERA. He struggled with his command throughout the contest, walking five and yielding two homers. The 21-year-old earned his first big-league win on June 3, allowing four earned runs in 7 1/3 innings against the Rangers.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
D. Ortiz	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
M. Ramirez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
M. Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
C. Crisp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
J. Lugo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
Totals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000

As you can see there is no history against this guy since he has never faced the Red Sox in his 4 months of service in the Majors. Usually, that means the offense will struggle, but Matsuzaka should be used to that by now.

Historical Pitching Line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	2	0	1	0	12	13	10	0	6	5	7.5	1.58	6.00
Feireabend	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Daisuke has had one outstanding game vs the Mariners but lost when King Felix pitched his 1 hitter earlier this year. The second time he faced the Mariners he got the no decision but walked a ton of players. Look for Daisuke to continue to pitch well. This game will come down to how well the offense does.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 76 Recap

Press Pass || Recap || Box || Play by Play

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	1	0		7	14	1
Seattle	3	1	0	0	2	2	0	0	X		8	12	1

W: E. O'Flaherty (5-0, 2.08); L: J. Lopez (1-1, 3.38); SV: J. Putz (22)
HR: BOS: E. Hinske (3). SEA: R. Sexson (15), W. Bloomquist (2).

► Hero - Sexson - a two run blast off of Lopez
► Goat - Kason Gabbard - for his wildness in the 1st

Idle thoughts

Four straight singles to start off the game and you are thinking, yea boy only to have Drew strike out on a foul tip and LOL making his appearnce with a double play. Teeth are grinding since the Sox only got the one run.

Kason Gabbard could not find the plate. Forty plus pitches in the first and the Mariners score three freaking runs on 1 hit. The shortest outing by any starter this year and it comes from someone who has the reputation of throwing strikes.

Sexson is just killing us at Safeco during this 7 game losing streak. 8 for 25 with 2 home runs and 3 rbi's. You can also add in 5 walks against his 8 K's. He is just killing us.

What the hell is wrong with Ortiz in the big spot? I can't think of a single game this year in the late innings where David has a big hit.

Gabbard started this losing streak in Seattle, it would have been nice to have seen him end it.

Sox have to win tonight to prevent their second straight road trip having a losing record. Daisuke has the chance to be the stopper tonight. Nibble better be on!

Red Sox 07 Game 76

Tuesday, June 26    Safeco Field | 10:05 PM ET

Kason Gabbard, LHP (1-0, 3.60) Red Sox (48-27)

 @

Felix Hernandez, RHP (4-4, 4.00) Mariners (40-33)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	48	27	-	7-3	46	29
Toronto	38	37	10.0	7-3	39	36
New York	36	37	11.0	4-6	42	31
Tampa Bay	33	41	14.5	4-6	30	44
Baltimore	32	43	16.0	3-7	36	39

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Red Sox: The left-hander will be recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to make the start in place of Curt Schilling, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder tendinitis. Gabbard was called up for a start on May 20 against the Braves and he earned the win, giving up six hits and two runs over five innings. Safeco Field was where Gabbard made his Major League debut on July 22, 2006. In that one, Gabbard took the loss, but pitched well, giving up two earned runs over 5 1/3 innings. At Pawtucket this season, Gabbard is 7-2 with a 3.24 ERA.

Mariners: Hernandez got back on the right track in his last outing, shutting out the Pirates in eight innings of work while striking out nine. The last time he faced the Red Sox he recorded the ninth one-hitter in Mariners history on April 11 at Boston, the first nine-inning one-hitter for Seattle since Randy Johnson did it on July 16, 1998.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333
D. Pedroia	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
D. Ortiz	6	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.167
M. Ramirez	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167
K. Youkilis	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
M. Lowell	6	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	.167
J. Varitek	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
C. Crisp	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
J. Lugo	7	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.143
Totals	45	6	0	0	1	2	4	11	.133

The starters have a small sample size against King Felix and the history against him is pretty weak. Of course it doesn't help that he pitched a complete game 1 hitter earlier this year. Sooner or later this team will find a way to hit him, but will it be in the proper moments. I think we will see them try to work the count tonight and get him out of the game early.

Historical Pitching Line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Gabbard	1	0	1	0	6 1/3	8	2	0	2	4	.284	1.58	5.33
Hernandez	2	2	0	1	16	5	2	1	4	12	1.13	.56	8.00

Was surprised to see that Kason had faced Seattle once before. In his one start he went 5 1/3 innings only giving up the two earned runs, but since the game was in Seattle he lost the game. Sooner or later this team is going to bust out against this team in Safeco.

It is hard to imagine that they have lost six straight games there. Hopefully, more later.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 75 Recap

Final ||Box Score ||Play-By-Play

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

W: Weaver (2-6) L: Tavarez (5-5)
HR: A. Beltre (10), K. Johjima (8)

► Hero - Weaver - for going against his sucky history and pitching well
► Goat - Tavarez - If you hurt your hamstring come out of the game

Game thoughts

After the top of the third you thought here we go, two runs because of Weaver throwing the ball away and Drew hitting a seeing eye grounder up the middle scoring Crisp and Lugo. 2-1 and looking like Weaver would melt as usual. Unfortunately it was Tavarez and Snyder who melted in the fifth.

One word for this loss - UGLY! Six losses in a row at safeco. Ugly!

Red Sox 07 Game 75

Monday, June 25   Safeco Field  10:05 PM ET

Julian Tavarez, RHP (5-4, 4.50)
Red Sox (48-26)
 @
Jeff Weaver, RHP (1-6, 8.56)
Mariners (39-33)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	48	26	-	7-3	46	28
Toronto	37	37	11.0	7-3	39	35
New York	36	37	11.5	4-6	42	31
Tampa Bay	33	40	14.5	4-6	30	43
Baltimore	32	43	16.5	3-7	36	39

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Red Sox: Tavarez is coming off his best start of the year, shutting down the Braves in a seven-inning masterpiece. In four June starts, Tavarez is 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA, and he has allowed three earned runs or fewer in seven of his past nine starts. Tavarez has thrived against the Mariners in his career, going 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA.

Mariners: Weaver had his best outing of the season last time out, allowing just four hits in his first shutout since Sept. 12, 2005. He struck out a season-high five batters en route to his first win of the season, all while helping the Mariners snap their six-game losing streak. He's recorded two consecutive quality starts.

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	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	12	3	0	0	3	5	1	6	.250
D. Pedroia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	23	7	1	0	2	4	4	2	.304
M. Ramirez	23	7	0	0	3	7	4	3	.304
K. Youkilis	5	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	.400
M. Lowell	10	3	0	0	1	2	2	0	.300
J. Varitek	19	8	1	0	2	5	5	2	.421
C. Crisp	5	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	.400
J. Lugo	12	4	1	0	0	1	2	1	.333
Totals	110	36	5	0	10	27	18	15	.327

A good history here for the bats. Its too bad that Hinske can't play shortstop since he is 10 for 25 with 5 doubles, a triple and a home run against this guy. Overall, the batters have a .331 BA against Weaver. Which makes you wonder why the Mariners would even think about starting him against the Sox.

Historical Pitching Line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Tavarez	0	2	0	0	27 1/3	27	6	2	8	18	1.98	1.28	0
Weaver	12	3	5	0	74 2/3	89	56	21	32	45	6.75	1.62	6.22

First off Tavarez has appeared in 18 games, all as a reliever vs the Mariners. Still, success is success and the way he has been pitching lately would you bet against him? Look for another good outing from Sexy Lips.

How is Weaver in the league? The man sucks! Against the Sox he has made two relief appearances and stunk in both of those games also. About the only good thing he has done is go into the sixth inning fairly consistently (7 of 13). Look for his luck to be the same tonight against the Sox.

One more thing - Sox have lost five straight at Safeco Field. Weaver is the pitcher you want to face to break a streak like that.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 game 73

Saturday, June 23 | 10:05 PM ET

Tim Wakefield, RHP (7-7, 4.18) Red Sox (47-25) @ Chris Young, RHP (6-3, 2.26) Padres (41-31)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	47	25	-	7 - 3	45	27
New York	36	35	10.5	6-4	42	29
Toronto	35	37	12.0	5-5	37	35
Baltimore	32	41	15.5	3-7	36	37
Tampa Bay	31	40	15.5	3-7	28	43

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Red Sox: The knuckleballer pulled his record up to .500 by beating the Giants in his last start. Wakefield didn't have his best stuff in that one, giving up eight hits and five runs over 5 2/3 innings. In four June starts, Wakefield is 2-2 with a 6.38 ERA. Wakefield is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA lifetime in three starts against the Padres.

Padres Young was working on another gem on Saturday in his previous start, opening the game with three scoreless and hitless innings before plunking Derrek Lee with a pitch to start the fourth frame. On his way to first base, Lee took a swing at Young and the benches cleared. Both players were ejected. Up until that point, Young had walked two and struck out two.

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.D. Drew	11	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	.091
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	3	1	0	0	1	2	2	1	.333
M. Ramirez	4	2	0	0	1	4	1	0	.500
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
D. Mirabelli	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
J. Lugo	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Totals	26	5	0	0	2	6	5	6	.192

Not a lot of history here for the batters and what is there is pretty anemic, except for the BB to K's ratio. Still, the way the Sox are swinging the bats I don't think it will really matter. I think Lowell may sit once again just to give his thumb more rest. He has no history vs Young so you can't say it is a bad move to take.

Look for good at bats and scrounging for runs to start early and then watch Young self destruct. Player to watch, Lugo goes 2 for 4 with a double and a triple!

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Wakefield	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.5
Young	2	1	1	0	8	7	7	3	2	3	7.88	1.38

Wakefield as a Sox has only faced the Padres twice, both in relief appearances. He has made one start against San Diego, but that was way back in 1993. It was a very good outing though as he went seven only allowing 3 runs on 2 hits and 9 walks, and earned the win.

Young has faced the Sox before, so he should not be fooling any of the batters. Still he has had a decent start this year as he is 6 and 3 with a 2.26 ERA. On an ERA basis, you would have to think that Young and the Padres have the advantage. Still, I like the way the Sox are playing right now so I expect them to hit Young fairly well, look for doubles and triples to come in bunches and for Young to be gone by the sixth.

Historical Pitching Line Last 5 Starts

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP / GS
Wakefield	5	3	2	0	31	29	21	3	11	20	6.10	1.29	6.20
Young	5	1	0	0	30 2/3	17	4	0	10	27	1.17	.88	6.13

How weak is the Padre offense? Just look at the last five starts for Young. Someone pitching into the seventh with a 1.17 ERA should be better than 1 and 0. His worst game was his three inning stint against Chicago, when he got thrown out after going three innings. In the other four games he went seven innings three times and 6 2/3's in the other game. All of the those starts were good quality starts.

Wakefield on the other hand has been up and down. He had a bad outing vs Texas and the spankees which he followed with very good games vs Oakland and Colorado, followed by his mediocre game vs the Giants last weekend. Still, I think the baseball will be knuckling like mad and the Padres will striking out a lot today.

Looking Ahead

Sox are now 3 and 1 on this road trip. Two more wins in the next five games will give them another winning road trip. The only game that looks like a good match up for the Sox would be game one in Seattle when Tavarez faces Weaver. Tuesday will see either Gabbard or Lester vs King Felix.

I really think that the Sox should keep Lester down on the farm. Don't bring him up until he is ready to stay up with the big league team. In fact, I wouldn't be surpised if he didn't get called up until mid August. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Gabbard has already been up once this year and he was great against the Braves, so he has definetly earned another chance IMHO. Knowing Theo and them though, since the Mariners are a right handed hitting team, I would not be surprised if Pauley was called up to pitch. Will know for sure in a couple more days.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 72 Recap

Final
Box Score|Play-By-Play|Recap|Press Pass

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0		2	8	0
San Diego	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	7	0

W: D. Matsuzaka (9-5) L: G. Maddux (6-4) S: J. Papelbon (17)

► Hero - Varitek and Youkilis for knocking in the game winning RBI's
► Goat - Hard to give it to anyone in a 2 - 1 game but its going to the Padre Offense

Idle thoughts

Bottom of the first I was ready to throw things at the TV. You just knew that disaster was about to happen after watching the big boys fail to get Coco home from third with one out, though Papi hit the ball hard, just right at someone.

I know that Maddux is a very good pitcher but I don't understand why Pedroia was bunting after Coco had led off the inning with a single and on the first pitch to Dustin easily stole second. Why give up an out in the first? Of course Dustin's bunt might have been a base hit if it had been anyone but Greg Maddux on the mound. Still, with a man on third and one out, you have to get that runner home.

As for throwing things at the TV, nibbler drove me crazy in the bottom of the first. Throw the ball over the plate, especially if you want to emulate one of your Idols ( Maddux), of course if one of your other idols is truly Nolan Ryan, you have his wildness covered already. 3 and 2 on the first three batters and he walked all three. After the third walk all I could think of was Matt Clement.

Still, once he got in a groove he did well. 80 % of the pitchers in baseball would not have been able to give up only one run in that situation. So, good job by Daisuke to minimize the damage.

Delcarmen, Okajima and Papel-bot were great. I hope Tito keeps giving the ball to Manny. Just don't do like last year when you ran him out there every night. I still think he is a quality right hander to bring into the game, however, he hasn't reached the untouchable status yet.

Well, pitched game that was decided by four singles in the fourth. Singles by Pedroia, Manny, Youkilis (who was out) and Varitek took advantage of the opportunity. Any time you can beat Maddux at home, especially when he has your number in the past, you take it.

Wakefield vs Young today, should be another good game as Petco Park is probably big enough to prevent any knucklers from going out of the park. Still, we will have to see!

Red Sox 07 Game 72

Friday, June 22    Petco Park |  10:05 PM ET
Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (8-5, 4.18)
Red Sox (46-25)

      VS

Greg Maddux, RHP (6-3, 3.90)
Padres (41-30)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	46	25	-	6-4	44	27
New York	35	35	10.5	6-4	41	29
Toronto	34	37	12.0	5-5	36	35
Tampa Bay	31	39	14.5	4-6	28	42
Baltimore	31	41	15.5	2-8	35	37

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.
MLB.Com press pass
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: The Red Sox's big offseason acquisition from Japan is finally showing signs of making a run. After losing stellar starts at Oakland and Arizona, Matsuzaka made sure a single run of support against San Francisco would be enough, shutting out the Giants through seven. At 4.18, Matsuzaka's ERA is creeping down to its mid-May levels, and his next start comes in the pitcher's paradise of San Diego.

Padres Maddux won his first road game of the season in his start on Sunday at Wrigley Field -- a place Maddux is very familiar with. The Padres provided Maddux with nine runs of support over the first five innings, and he didn't run into trouble until the sixth inning, when the Cubs scored twice. All told, Maddux allowed three earned runs over six innings on seven hits. He didn't walk a batter and had one strikeout.

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.D. Drew	15	3	0	0	0	0	0	4	.200
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	3	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	.333
M. Ramirez	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
M. Lowell	49	18	2	0	4	8	3	5	.367
J. Varitek	14	4	2	1	0	1	1	2	.286
C. Crisp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Lugo	8	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	.125
Totals	97	27	4	1	5	11	4	15	.278

So, basically the team that should be out there has faced Maddux about two games worth of at bats. Of, course Mike Lowell has half of those bats and the most success of the starters. However, I would not be surprised if Wily Mo starts since he is 5 for 14 with 3 home runs vs Maddux. Will have to see, but if Tito is cautious with Drew then WMP might be playing right field tonight, with Coco moving up to the 1st or 2nd slot in the Batting order.

Since Daisuke has never faced the Padres before I will just recap Maddux's history against the Sox. Its pretty good, he's faced the Sox 7 times and is 5 and 0 with a 3.42 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP.

He has went six plus innings or greater in all of the starts but one, and the one he didn't go six in he had a no decision after going 5 innings with 0 earned runs (1 unearned). So even in his bad start he was pretty good. So, the nibbler better be on his game and challenge the Padre hitters or this could get ugly. Still, I like the Sox chances, it seems they have gotten back their mojo, my pick for final score is 3-1 Sox.

Chow!

Game 69 - 70 and 71 Idle Thoughts

Whew! The Sox win two games by shutting out the Braves, while the Rockies do their best impression of Yankee Killers by sweeping the spankees in Colorado. Maybe, I should not blog at all. Just kidding MikeT9485!

Nothing bad happening at the s1c homestead just lots of "Dad" things happening. The BH otherwise known as significant other, etc has been fighting a sinus infection which meant that "Dad" became chauffeur and other things for last couple of nights while the daughter wrapped up the end of school type of things. Fortunately I was able to listen to most of the games or see significant parts of the last three games, but was not in a blogging type of situation, ie. no Internet available type of situation.

So, sorry for any missed inane statistics but things should be back to normal for a few days or at least I hope they will approach normal. One other thing, I would like to welcome Victoria (the second niece) to the family. I hope that fatherhood brings you nothing but happiness Phillip!

So, what have I not commented on? Hmmm, no recap for the Schilling game (#69) because I was so disgusted and tired I just went to bed without doing anything on the blog. Of course that paid off as we got to see that he has been freaking hurt most of the year. Schill, you know I like you and I understand you are pitching for the contract, but dude if you are hurt and look crappy, you ain't helping the contract or the team. Just get well and pitch brilliantly in the playoffs and you will get the contract, see Weaver, Jeff (who I hope is facing Gabbard on Tuesday).

Game 70 of course lifted a lot of spirits in RSN but should we have been surprised? After all coming into that game Hudson was 3 and 8 lifetime against the Sox with a 6.22 ERA. Hard to believe that he pitched a 2 hit gem against Pedro back on 8/11/2003. In five games since then (prior to tuesday) Hudson was 0 and 5 with a 9.49 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. His WHIP in those 5 games was a grotesque 2.23. Actually his performance improved his stats vs the Sox. Safe to say that the Sox just own him!

The real hero of that game though was "Lord Beckett" though as Kristen would say, though I had to like the comment from Varitek, "six is all you got". Good stuff from the captain to the ACE of the staff.

Yes, I said ACE of the staff. I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating; "Joshua is the ace of this staff now and should be for years, hopefully decade plus years to come". I can't be plainer than that about his ability and potential. If the playoffs started today, I think its likely that the Rotation would be Beckett, Schilling (but only because of experience) and Matsuzaka with Wakefield and Sexy Lips being the all hands on deck 4th starter.

Speaking of Sexy Lips, I had to leave just as the top of the first inning was ending last night to do one of those "Dad" things, i.e. being the chaperone of the "date". So let me sum up the game for you. Drew - home run, Pedroia - double down the left field line, Ortiz - fooled on a breaking pitch for the K, Manny - doubles scoring Pedroia, Youkilis - (don't remember but I know it was an out and he was pissed), Varitek - lets walk him to get to the guy who smashed two home runs on us in game one of this series and Crisp - why thank you very much and we'll take the 5 run lead. From the looks of it, the solo home run would have been enough for Sexy Lips. By the way, the date was Rise of the Silver Surfer - "dad" is not a fan of this movie, enough said.

Hmmm, I don't think I missed anything but you never know. Will add the standing tables later for the last two three days, but right now its time to get something to eat.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 69

Monday, June 18    Turner Field  7:05 PM ET
Curt Schilling, RHP (6-3, 3.80)     @    Chuck James, LHP (5-6, 4.16)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	44	24	-	7-3	42	26
New York	35	32	8.5	9-1	40	27
Toronto	33	35	11.0	5-5	35	33
Tampa Bay	30	37	13.5	5-5	26	41
Baltimore	29	40	15.5	2-8	33	36

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

Red Sox: Schilling was hittable at home against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, just six days after nearly no-hitting the Oakland Athletics. He allowed nine hits and six runs, five of them earned, and has now allowed 99 hits in 90 innings. The back-breaker was a fifth-inning, three-run home run to right off the bat of Brad Hawpe. Schilling did throw 72 of his 98 pitches for strikes.

Braves: James entered Wednesday night'’s outing against the Twins with three consecutive quality starts and exited it having matched a season high by surrendering three homers. Each of the six runs he surrendered came before he’'d recorded the first out of the third inning. The 25 year-old southpaw is primarily a two-pitch pitcher (fastball and changeup) who doesn’t have the dominant stuff to get away with pitches that he leaves up in the zone.

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
James has never faced the Sox so only three players have any history against him, those being Drew, Lugo and Lowell. Combined they are 2 for 6 with 1 BB and 0 K's. The problem is that he is a lefty and a soft tossing one at that, so who knows how the bats will respond.

Historical Pitching Line For Schilling

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Overall	31	13	10	3	221 1/3	206	84	23	61	225	3.42	1.21
Starts	31	13	10	3	210 2/3	198	79	22	57	214	3.38	1.21
Starts at Atlanta	18	10	4	1	130	108	40	13	30	136	2.77	1.06

Since James has never faced the Sox I figured I would just show Schillings stats for the various situations. As you can see Schilling has a pretty good history against the Braves. As a Red Sox he has faced the Braves twice, both times in Atlanta. He went 15 innings with a 1.80 ERA and a 1 - 0 record.

Curt has been on an up and down type of run with his starts. I would not be surprised to see him string together a very good outing today. Game start at 7:05.
Chow!

test color

Red Sox 07 Game 68 Recap

Final l Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
San Fran	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	0		5	9	0
Boston	2	0	5	1	0	0	1	0	X		9	11	0

SFO: Morris (7-4, 3.21 ERA)
BOS: Wakefield (7-7, 4.18 ERA)

W: Wakefield (7-7) L: Morris (7-4) S: (0)
HR » SFO: B. Bonds (14), P. Feliz (9) - BOS: M. Ramirez (10)

► Hero - Manny - Home Run and three RBI's
► Goat - Morris - for being a batting practice pitcher.

Game thoughts!

From today's press pass:

► The Sox are 31-10 (.756) from Thursday through Sunday but just 13-14 (.481) combined on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Is J.D. Drew the answer for the Sox lead off troubles? 1 for 3 today with two walks scoring two runs. J.D. and Pedroia have been setting the table well for the Ortiz, Ramirez and Youkilis trio of bashers. Since Drew has moved into the lead off spot I show them with a .353 BA, .421 OBA, .529 Slugging and 9 runs scored with 8 RBI's.

The team has scored 21 runs in those 4 games. If Drew and Pedroia hadn't sucked on 6/14 when they went a combined 1 for 10 those figures would be much, much higher. Of course this is all based on a small sample size but you do have to like the way it is going with those two right now.

Teeth gritting moment of the game:

Bases Loaded on a double, HBP and walk in the bottom of the first, zero outs and Manny swings at the first freaking pitch grounding into a Double Play. I don't know what is more aggravating, Manny staring at strike three with men in scoring position or this type of thing.

Good Wakefield - 5 innings of six hit ball (3 runs)
Bad Wakefield - With an 8 - 3 lead can't get out of the sixth.

Youkilis had his 28th multi hit game today, he only trails Ichiro 33, Orlando Cabrera 30 and Maglio Ordonez 29.

Overall, the offense shows signs of coming to life and just in time as they start a nine game road trip to Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle. The Sox will have played 42 games on the road at the end of this coming trip.

Looking Ahead

Monday, June 18            Turner Field 7:05 PM ET
Curt Schilling, RHP (6-3, 3.80) @ Chuck James, LHP (5-6, 4.16)

Tuesday, June 19           Turner Field 7:35 PM ET
Josh Beckett, RHP (9-1, 3.39) @ Tim Hudson, RHP (6-4, 3.25)

Wednesday, June 20         Turner Field 7:35 PM ET
Julian Tavarez, RHP (4-4, 4.97) @ Buddy Carlyle, RHP (1-1, 4.44)

Friday, June 22            PETCO Park 10:05 PM ET
Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (8-5, 4.18) @ Chris Young, RHP (6-3, 2.26)

You have to like your chances since there is only the one LHP in the first four games. The Saturday game could be interesting since it looks like it will be Maddux vs Wakefield. If the knuckler is on that could be a very short game since both pitchers work quickly.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 68

Sunday, June 17    Fenway Park |  2:05 PM ET
Matt Morris, RHP (7-3, 2.56)
Giants (30-37)

    VS

Tim Wakefield, RHP (6-7, 3.92)
Red Sox (43-24)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	43	24	-	6-4	41	26
New York	34	32	8.5	9-1	39	27
Toronto	33	34	10.0	5-5	34	33
Tampa Bay	29	37	13.5	5-5	26	40
Baltimore	29	39	14.5	2-8	33	35

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.
MLB.Com press pass
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Giants: Morris turned in yet another top notch performance in his last start. He pitched his second consecutive complete game for his seventh consecutive win. After giving up three runs in the first inning, Morris settled down to shutdown Toronto over the next eight innings. The win halted a three-game losing streak and was Morris' third complete game of the second. Morris has made a habit of halting losing streaks. He is 7-4 on the mound following a Giants' defeat.

Red Sox: The veteran knuckleballer is coming off one of his best starts of the season, a 2-1 victory over the Rockies. In that one, Wakefield allowed four hits and a run over eight innings, striking out three. Wakefield is 1-3 lifetime against the Giants with a 5.68 ERA. This season at Fenway, Wakefield is 2-3 with a 5.12 ERA.

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.D. Drew	18	6	2	0	2	4	0	2	.333
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200
M. Ramirez	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	.167
K. Youkilis	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	18	6	0	0	1	3	1	4	.333
C. Crisp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Mirabelli	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
J. Lugo	25	6	0	0	0	2	2	1	.240
Totals	76	21	3	0	3	10	3	11	.276

Basically the Sox have two games worth of at bats vs Morris. While the .276 is not a bad batting average you would like to see some players who actually hit this guy. Don't be surprised to see Wily Mo play since he has had some success against Morris. A four for sixteen is not the greatest but he does have a double and home run with a walk and only two, thats right two K's in those appearances.

Any other subs would be just to give somebody the day off since Hinske and Cora are a combined 1 for 7.

Historical Pitching Line Vs Sox

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Morris	1	1	0	0	9	4	1	0	1	1	1.00	.56
Wakefield	5	1	3	0	31 2/3	32	20	7	17	15	5.68	1.55

The first four games that Wakefield pitched against the Giants came as a Pirate (when Bonds was a team mate). The last time he faced these guys was in San Francisco on 6/18/2004. That game he went four innings giving up 6 runs in a no decision.

As for Morris, he faced Boston at Fenway on 6/6/2005 as a Cardinal.

Historical Pitching Line Last 10 Starts

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Morris	10	5	3	0	73 1/3	64	22	5	19	35	2.70	1.13
Wakefield	10	4	6	0	62 2/3	58	33	7	28	38	4.75	1.37

Morris's last ten games he has had nine quality starts. Compare that to Wakefield's five quality starts and on paper, Morris should beat this team easily. However, Wakefield's last two starts have been lights out.

In 14 2/3 innings he has allowed 11 hits, 4 earned runs, 3 BB's and 11 K's. Unfortunately he is 1 and 1 as he lost the Oakland game and beat Colorado. Still, if the Sox can just give him some runs, he has a good chance of winning this game.

Chow!