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!