Red Sox 07 Game 106

			@
E. Bedard		10-4, 3.05		J. Beckett		13-4, 3.27
Orioles		49-55		Red Sox		64-41

Tuesday, July 31    Fenway Park ✠ 7.05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	64	41	-	8-2	65	40
New York	56	59	8.0	7-3	63	42
Toronto	52	53	12.0	6-4	55	50
Baltimore	49	55	14.5	7-3	53	51
Tampa	40	65	24.0	2-8	39	66

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Orioles: Bedard allowed more hits in his last start than he had in any of his previous six, but that's because he's been almost unhittable. He held Tampa Bay to one run on six hits in six innings for his fourth straight win. The talented lefty also stuck out eight batters in that game, the 16th time in 22 starts he's fanned at least seven. He leads the Majors with 175 strikeouts. Bedard's biting curveball and accurate fastball have been working perfectly of late, as he's 6-0 with a 1.89 ERA in his last seven starts.

Red Sox: Though Beckett suffered a loss in his last start, it was one of his best performances of the season. The right-hander gave up four hits and a run over eight innings in what turned out to be a complete-game, 1-0 loss to the Indians. Beckett has held opponents to a .232 batting average this season. He is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts vs. Baltimore this season.

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

Sox Batting vs Bedard

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	24	7	1	0	0	0	3	1	.292
K. Youkilis	14	1	0	0	0	1	3	5	.071
D. Ortiz	16	3	1	0	0	2	5	4	.188
M. Ramirez	14	4	1	0	0	3	2	6	.286
J. D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	9	1	1	0	0	3	1	0	.111
J. Varitek	13	2	0	0	0	2	3	6	.154
D. Pedroia	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	97	18	4	0	0	11	17	22	.186

.186 for a batting average, well, that just royally sucks. Up and down that line up you see a lot of sub mendoza batting average. What should the Sox do? Well, if I was Francona I would rest Drew and put in Wily Mo who is 5 for 8 and I would play Hinske over Youkilis since Hinske is 3 for 9 with the only home run vs Bedard.

Replacing those two players would raise the average to .250, that I could live with. The only other bench player with any history is Mirabelli who is 1 for 6, which is not much different from Varitek's numbers.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Bedard	8	3	4	0	46 1/3	43	28	3	26	34	5.44	1.49	5.29
Beckett	3	2	0	0	19	12	5	1	2	16	2.37	.74	6.33

After seeing the batting average's I am quite surprised that the Sox have done as well as they have against Bedard. The good news is that they beat Erick the last time they faced him and are 3 and 2 vs him in the last six starts. The bad news is he had three quality starts in those games.

Beckett on the other hand has dominated this team, with his last start being on mothers day this year. You may remember that game since Beckett left with an avulsion on his finger after throwing four shut out innings. That was his shortest outing vs the Orioles. Look for Beckett to dominate again tonight!
♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 105 Recap

Final

Press Pass✠Box Score✠P-By-P ✠ Recap

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

W: G. Glover (4-3) L: D. Matsuzaka (13-4)
HR ➢ Bos:M. Ramirez (18), K. Youkilis (11) TB: D. Navarro (3), B. J. Upton (13), C. Pena (25).

☼ Sun - Navarro - Crushed Daisuke's pitch in the seventh that started the Home Run barrages.

☁ Cloud - Delcarmen - the three runs he gave up made it impossible to come back.

Game thoughts!

Wasted opportunities followed by wasted opportunities. First two batters reach in the first and second zero runs scored. That's right zero runs. Kazmir and Daisuke went pitch for pitch and just as I predicted the one to make the mistake would be the one to lose and the mistake was an 0 -2 pitch that Navarro deposited in the right field seats. The only good thing was that Kazmir did not get the win!

Lugo watch - 1 for 5, with 2 k's, back to .224.

Crisp watch - 0 for 3, with 2 k's, falling to .279.

Drew watch - 0 for 1 (sharp line out to third, two ground outs), now batting .248.

♊ - all else fails get a bigger hammer.

Red Sox 07 Game 105

			@
D. Matsuzaka		12-7, 3.79		S. Kazmir		7-7, 4.02
Red Sox		64-40		Devil Rays		38-65

Sunday, July 29    Tropicana Field ✠ 1:40 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	64	40	-	8-2	65	39
New York	55	49	9.0	6-4	62	42
Toronto	51	52	12.5	6-4	54	49
Baltimore	49	54	14.5	8-2	53	50
Tampa	38	64	25.5	1-9	38	65

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Red Sox: Matsuzaka broke out of a three-start slump by pitching a masterpiece in his last start against Cleveland. Matsuzaka fired seven shutout innings and allowed three hits while lifting the Red Sox to a 1-0 win over C.C. Sabathia and the Indians. This is Matsuzaka's second start against the Devil Rays. On July 3, he earned the win by striking out nine over eight shutout innings.

Devil Rays: Kazmir gave the Rays his third consecutive quality start Tuesday night against the Orioles, but unfortunately the performance came on a night when his teammates managed just two hits against O's pitching and the Rays lefty took his seventh defeat of the season. Kazmir's stuff continues to be electric and he's found a comfort zone, which has translated to lower pitch counts in his past two starts. Kazmir is 5-3 with a 2.76 ERA in 12 starts against the Red Sox.

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

Sox Batting vs Kazmir

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	.500
K. Youkilis	15	2	1	0	0	0	4	6	.133
D. Ortiz	29	5	1	0	1	4	4	9	.172
M. Ramirez	31	4	1	0	1	1	3	10	.129
J. D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	13	4	0	0	1	2	1	2	.308
J. Varitek	17	4	1	0	0	2	4	5	.235
D. Pedroia	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
C. Crisp	13	4	1	0	0	0	1	3	.308
Totals	123	25	5	0	3	11	17	36	.203

The entire team bats .205, with Manny, and Youkilis leading in Suckitude vs this guy. The good news is that when they get a hit, 1/3 of them are for extra bases! Still, those who do hit him have good success while those who don't really, really suck! I expect this to be a nip and tuck game so nibbler has to be on his best game.

Oh, yeah don't be surprised to see Mirabelli playing since its a day game after night game and he also hits Kazmir better than Tek (2 for 7 with a double and 2 BB). Wily Mo is only 1 for 10 so I would be surprised to see him in the game.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	1	1	0	0	8	4	0	0	1	9	0.00	.625	8.0
Kazmir	12	5	3	1	71 2/3	54	22	5	34	75	2.76	1.23	5.97

Matsuzaka faced this team on 7/3 this year winning four to one. In fact his opposing starter was Kazmir. That was a very good game and was easily one of Daisukes better outings. Let us hope for a repeat today!

Kazmir has had great success vs the Sox. Mainly it is by controlling Manny and David and keeping his walk total down while having a K/9 of 9.42. In those twelve starts six of the games have been quality starts and in nine of those starts he has held the Sox to three runs or less. Pretty good pitching for the kid. The good news is that he has lost two of his last three starts vs Boston, so the Sox bats appear to be getting used to his deliver and maybe solving their problems vs this left handed pitcher. Look for a well pitched game with the team making the fewest mistakes winning this duel today!

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 104 Recap

Press Pass ✠ Recap ✠ Box ✠ Play by Play

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12		R	H	E
Boston	0	2	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	6		12	15	0
Tampa	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	0		6	11	1

W: K. Snyder (2-2) L: B. Stokes (2-7)
HR ⇛ TB: J. Gomes2 (10), J. Paul (1)

☼ The Sun - Lugo - Bases loaded walk in the 12th scores the winning run.
☁ The Cloud - Stokes - Totally ineffective in the 12th inning

Idle thoughts!

Admit it, bottom of the ninth with Papel-bot coming into the game you though this one was over, I know I did and boy were we wrong.

This game started out well with the Sox getting a two out single from Varitek to score Drew from second (a double to left center). Crisp laid down a bunt single which seemed to tick off / disturb Shields who then hit Cora somewhere around the elbow loading the bases. Lugo plated another run by taking the first of his two walks for the night and the Sox were quickly up two - zip.

Lester was pitching well, but a lot of fly balls, which would become an issue later in the game. The first three innings he only allowed two base runners and with runners on, he did not do his usual nibble at the plate. Even though he would end up with a no decision and a non quality start, he did not once face a bases loaded situation.

In the third the Sox tacked on another run due to an Ortiz double to open the inning and after Manny was robbed on a shot that was gloved by Iwamura, Drew singled to center scoring David. The bottom of the fourth inning set the tone for the rest of this game as Lester gave up a run on two singles and a SF.

With neither team scoring in the scoring in the fifth, it looked like things were well in hand, but the bottom of the sixth saw the Rays creep closer as Harris hit a ground rule double and after advancing to third on B.J. Uptons fly ball to right, scored on another SF by C. Pena.

The top of the order for the Sox though, decided to put some distance as Lugo hit an infield single with one out, stole second and after a Youkilis walk, scored on Ortiz's single to center with Youkilis going all the way to third. Manny then scored Youk by hitting a SF to right. Big easy breaths as the lead was now five to two. Unfortunately, Francona made one of his rare mistakes this year as he allowed Lester to start the seventh inning.

Gomes hit the first of his two home runs to start the inning an with two outs J. Paul smacked his home run to bring the home team back within one run. Nail biting time as Tavarez strode in from the pen, but he easily handled Iwamura and the Sox were going to the eighth with a one run lead.

Lowell scratched out a double to lead off the eighth, just barely avoiding the tag at second base. Varitek singled and then Coco hit a double play ball that scored Lowell. Once again the Sox had a two run lead with the familiar formula about to be put into use, Okajima in the eighth and the Bot in the ninth.

Okajima did his part by facing only three batters, thanks to Pena grounding into an inning ending double play. In the ninth the Sox went down 1-2-3 and in strode the Bot! Except the bot wasn't automatic, in fact he allowed a broken bat single on his first pitch and on his one and two pitch to Gomes he hung a slider and the game was suddenly tied. Meanwhile in Baltimore, the Yankees were making a comeback against the Orioles in the top of the ninth and visions of disaster were dancing in my head.

Nine pitches later Papelbon was out of the inning but it was too little, to late. With the game going into extra innings, Francona sent Snyder out to take the mound in the bottom of the tenth. He struggled, but was able to get out of the inning even though he allowed a single and intentionally walked Pena.

The Sox had base runners in the tenth and eleventh innings against the Devil Rays closer but were unable to score. Snyder pitched a 1-2-3 eleventh and it was to the top of the twelfth inning. Finally the Rays bull pen reverted to their normal selves and J.D. flew out to right robbing him of another hit. Lowell singled, Varitek walked, Crisp walked and Cora made the second out on a force play at home. Trouble was brewing and it looked like they blow their chance to win this game.

With the bases loaded though Lugo drew his second walk of the night. This run scored with two outs and the Rays bull pen fell apart. Ryu was greeted with a three run double by Youkilis, Ortiz walked, and Manny finished the scoring by doubling home Youkilis and Ortiz. Ball game over as the Rays were set down handily by Lopez in the bottom of the twelfth.

Lugo watch - 2 for 5 with 2 runs scored, 2 rbi's, 2 BB and 2 K's (dueces were wild) BA back to .225.

Coco watch - 1 for 5 with 1 of everything but K's. BA at .281.

Drew watch - 2 for 7 with a run scored and 1 RBI. BA up to .248.

Lester - 6 2/3 innings with 1 walk, 3 K's and 4 earned runs. Of the 27 batters he faced 16 of the outs were on fly balls and the 1 ground out was a sacrifice bunt. Sox are now 24 games over .500 at 64 and 40!

♊ - When all else fails get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 104

			@
J. Lester		1-0, 3.00		J. Shields		8-6, 4.44
Red Sox		63-40		Devil Rays		38-64

Saturday, July 28    Tropicana Field ✠ 7:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	63	40	-	7-3	64	39
New York	55	48	8.0	6-4	62	41
Toronto	51	51	11.5	6-4	54	48
Baltimore	48	54	14.5	7-3	52	50
Tampa	38	64	24.5	2-8	37	65

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Red Sox: Lester made a successful comeback start to the Major Leagues on July 23 in Cleveland, giving up five hits and two runs over six innings while fanning six. Lester made 17 starts in the Minor Leagues this season, going 4-5 with a 3.61 ERA. This is Lester's first career start against the Devil Rays.

Devil Rays: Shields experienced the worst outing of his career Sunday afternoon against the Yankees when he allowed 10 runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings to take his sixth loss. Shields has been the Rays' best pitcher all season, effectively using a fastball, changeup, curve, and cutter to retire hitters. The changeup remains his best pitch. He is 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA in two starts against the Red Sox.

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

Sox Batting vs Shields

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000
D. Ortiz	5	2	0	0	2	3	1	0	.400
M. Ramirez	4	1	0	0	1	2	2	3	.250
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	20	5	0	0	3	5	3	7	.250

Not a lot of history vs Shields for this team. What history there is says that when the do hit him, they hit him well. Even the bench doesn't have a lot of history with Cora, Mirabelli and Pena being the only ones to have faced him. Combined the three are 2 for 5 with one home run, one walk and two strike outs. The good news is they have faced him in the past, so he is not completely unknown to these hitters.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Shields Vs Sox	2	0	1	0	10 1/3	9	7	4	5	12	6.10	1.35	5.17
Shields last 5	5	2	3	0	30 1/3	39	23	5	6	21	6.82	1.48	6.07

Lester has never faced the Devil Rays.

Though his record isn't very good against the Sox he has done better this year as he has cut way down on his walks. In the last five games he has two quality starts against Cleveland and the Angels, two very good teams. He also though was smacked around against the spankees.

In two starts vs the Yankees he has pitched 9 1/3 innings allowing 15 earned runs. Those starts came at New York on the 22nd and in Tampa on the 12th. Take those two games out and he went 21 innings with a 3.43 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Those are very good numbers, so he can be tough to hit this year. Still, I expect the Sox to hit him pretty good the Question of the Day is how will Lester fare against this line up?

Overall the Devil Rays are hitting .278/.344/.466 vs lefties. That is quite an improvement over their .260/.329/.411 vs right handed pitchers. Those numbers vs left handed pitchers improve at Tropicana Field, as they have hit .281/.345/.497 at home. This just might turn into a slug fest! Well, actually, I expect it to turn into a slug fest as I expect a huge let down from Lester with at least two bases loaded situations in the four innings that I expect him to pitch. Would be nice if he proved me wrong but I sincerely doubt that he will make it to the fourth inning.

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 103 Recap

Press Pass ✠ Recap ✠ Box ✠ Play by Play

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

W: T. Wakefield (12-9) L: J. Hammel (1-1)
HR ⇛ Bos: K. Youkilis(10)

☼ The Sun - Youkilis - his three run home run ignited the fire
☁ The Cloud - Tampa Bullpen - they poured the gas on the fire

Idle thoughts!

Once again Mr. Wakefield was outstanding in the Trop. That is eight wins at Tropicana Field, seven as a starter against no losses. Six inning of one run pitching will win you a lot of games and last night it won the number twelve (season) and number 163 of his career. Good for Tim!

For a while it looked like the Sox would be in trouble as Hammel retired the first fourteen batters sent to the plate by the Sox. Fortunately, David Ortiz broke up the perfect game by singling with two outs in the fourth. With the perfect game Hammel seemed to settle down and in the fifth retired Drew, Lowell and Crisp on six pitches. Hammel had thrown @75 pitches in the first five innings and was looking to get through the sixth or @90 pitches in his second start of the year.

Meanwhile, Wakefield was matching Hammel pitch for pitch with his only blemish being a single run in the second. After retiring Young and Harris, Ty Wigginton singled to left, a walk to Gomes moved Wiggington to second and Navarro single him home on a 3-1 pitch, but he was able to entice Crawford to ground out to Cora at second to end the inning.

So, the Sox entered the sixth inning down by one run and only one batter had reached base (the afore mentioned Ortiz's single). Mirabelli started the sixth with a three pitch strike out and was quickly followed by Cora drawing a four pitch walk. Lugo worked the count by taking the first two pitches for a one ball, one strike count, fouled off the third, took ball two while Cora stole second, which seemed to distract Hammel who delivered two more balls. This is where Maddon went to the bullpen as he brought in J. Salas to face K. Youkilis.

On the two - one count Kevin deposited the ball into the left field stands. The Rays were lucky that those were the only runs in the inning as Salas struck out Ortiz, allowed a double to Manny, walked Drew and walked Lowell to load the bases, but Casey Fossum came in and got a sharp hit line drive to right field that Delmon Young was able to grab for the third out of the inning.

Wakefield, once given the lead did what good pitchers do, he shut down the offense in the bottom of the sixth only allowing a two out walk on a eight pitch at bat by Wigginton. After 104 pitches his night was done once again giving his team a chance to win the game and in line for his twelfth win of the year.

Neither team was able to generate anything in the seventh as Fossum set down the Sox in order on ten pitches and Delcarmen was able to retire the Rays on seven pitches. Still a tight game, but with Okajima and Papel-bot waiting in the pen, you had to feel like this game was well in hand. The Sox though decided not leave it to the one-two bull pen punch.

Fossum looked like he was going to keep on retiring the Sox as he retired Youkilis on three pitches and was facing Ortiz, but David worked a check swing 3-2 walk and Maddon again went to the bull pen. Bringing in the right handed Camp to face Manny. Manny made them pay by lining the second pitch to right field with Ortiz running hard all the way to third.

With a runner on third with one out, Drew slapped the fourth pitch to right scoring Ortiz. Lowell hit an infield fly to second bringing up Coco Crisp. On the three - zero pitch, Crisp hit a line drive to left that Crawford dove and got his glove on the ball, but upon hitting the ground the ball popped out of the pocket and started rolling towards the foul line. This allowed Manny and Drew to score and Crisp was able to reach second. Mirabelli then finished the scoring in this game by singling in Crisp.

Delcarmen pitched an uneventful eighth, allowing only a lead off single and Snyder pitched a similar ninth. Ball game over and with the Yankees losing in Baltimore the Sox lead in the American League east crept back up to eight.

Lugo watch - 0 for 4 - average at .222
Coco watch - 1 for 4 - average at .282
Drew watch - 1 for 3 - average at .247

Lester will go for the Sox in game two, tonight!

♊ - When all else fails get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 103

			@
T. Wakefield		11-9, 4.74		J. Hammel		1-0, 5.82
Red Sox		62-40		Devil Rays		38-63

Friday, July 27    Tropicana Field ♊  7:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	62	40	-	6-4	63	39
New York	54	47	7.5	7-3	61	40
Toronto	51	50	10.5	6-4	53	48
Baltimore	47	53	14.0	7-3	51	49
Tampa	38	63	23.5	3-7	37	64

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Wakefield pitched well enough against the White Sox on Sunday -- yielding four earned runs in 6 1/3 innings -- to earn his 11th win and 20th decision in 20 starts. The right-hander also faced, for 1 2/3 innings, Chicago's Charlie Haeger, the Majors' only other knuckleball pitcher. It was the first time Wakefield had taken the mound against a fellow knuckleballer since 2002, when he faced Detroit's Steve Sparks.

Rays: Hammel made a spot start Saturday against the Yankees and pitched well, allowing two runs in four innings. He would have gone farther, but he has been pitching in relief and was not "stretched out" enough. Hammel possesses a nice variety of pitches and will be given a strong opportunity to show he belongs in the rotation. He is 0-1 with a 10.50 ERA in three appearances against the Red Sox.

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

Sox Batting vs Hammel

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
C. Crisp	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
D. Pedroia	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
D. Ortiz	5	4	0	0	1	3	0	1	.800
M. Ramirez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
K. Youkilis	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
M. Lowell	3	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.667
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Mirabelli	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	.000
J. Lugo	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Totals	15	7	0	0	1	5	5	2	.467

Limited appearances vs Hammel, but they have seen him and they did hit him pretty good. I would not be surprised to see Hinske play (giving Youkilis a night off), especially since he is 2 for 2 with a double vs this guy.

Still, Hammel has decent stuff, but the last start was his first one for the year, so I expect to see a stamina issue. Will have to see, but look for the bats to stay alive for one more night.

Caution - the Rays have lost six in a row coming into this game, so the pitching will have to step up, since this is a dangerous hitting team.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Wakefield	23	16	2	0	167 1/3	131	56	17	53	111	3.01	1.10	6.41
Hammel	1	0	1	0	6	13	7	1	6	5	10.50	3.17	4.00

Hammel made one start vs the Sox at Fenway last Sept., 26. He took the loss as he allowed 9 hits and 5 runs in his 4 innings. So, this is not the first time he has started vs the Sox and that is good news!

Wakefield has a very good record against this team. To see how good look at the table below:

Pitching Comparisions overall starts and at Tropicana

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Overall	23	14	2	0	147 1/3	120	52	16	49	89	3.18	1.15	6.41
Tropicana	11	6	0	0	70	50	20	7	29	47	2.57	1.13	6.36

Timmy dominates this team at Tropicana, then again that is no surprise since it is a dome. Look for that to continue tonight.

Later - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 102 Recap

Press Pass ♊ Recap ♊ Box ♊ Play by Play

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	1	1	2	5	0	3	2	0		14	17	1
Cleveland	0	0	1	0	4	0	4	0	0		9	6	1

W: J. Tavarez (6-8) L: C. Lee (5-8)
HR ⇛ Bos: M. Ramirez2 (17), W.M. Pena (5) Cle: R. Garko(13), F. Gutierrez (7)

☼ The Sun - Manny - 481 foot home run in the second start the barrage
☁ The Cloud - Lee - He got toasted coming out in the 5th with no outs.

Idle thoughts!

What a change from the previous two nights. The only bad from a pitching standpoint is that Gabbard after cruising through four innings fell apart in the fifth. Of, course he had a long wait on the bench as the Sox sent batter after batter to the plate in the top of the inning. Still, that is by far his worst start since the first one in Seattle. It also did not get him off of the snide as far as being winless on the road.

Everybody got hits on this team except for Youkilis who walked twice. Good to see that the Sox dead ball era ended. Now, lets hope that the late arrival in Tampa does not cool off the bats!

Lugo watch - 1 for 6 and maintaining a .225 average. Continued his hitting streak, and you know he will be jacked to face Tampa!

Coco watch - 2 for 5 and average at .282, look for that to continue to rise in Tampa!

Type of game that if you snoozed you missed scoring, maybe even lots of scoring.

Tavarez made his first appearance from the pen and looked good until Lugo's throwing error in the seventh. All four of the runs he allowed were un-earned. Still will take his bases loaded entrance with two outs that shut down the Indian offense. That is what I expect from him, and look for more to come!

Later - When all else fails get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 102

			@
K. Gabbard		4-0, 2.97		Cliff Lee		5-7, 5.95
Red Sox		61-40		Indians		59-42

Wednesday, July 25    Jacobs Field ♊  7:05 PM ET

American League 

East
W
L
GB
L 10
X W
X L
Boston
61
40 
-
6-4
62
39
New York
54
46
6.5
8-2
61
39
Toronto
51
50
10.0
6-4
53
48
Baltimore 
46
53
14.0
7-3
50
49
Tampa
38 
62
22.5
3-7
37
63

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ESPN.Com after the game Recap.
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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Gabbard's July is providing a serious lift to his team and to his own rotation hopes. When Curt Schilling returns from shoulder tendinitis around Aug. 1, the Red Sox will have to make a decision about whom to keep in the starting rotation, a decision made easier by each Gabbard start. On Saturday against the White Sox, Gabbard allowed one run and two hits in seven innings. In July, he is 3-0 with a 1.92 ERA, with 11 hits allowed in his past 28 innings. On Thursday at Cleveland, nevertheless, Gabbard will be seeking the first road win of his career, and he is the third pitcher in franchise history to win his first five home starts. He has found it tougher away from home, going 0-3 in eight road appearances.

Indians: Lee was hit hard again on Saturday in Texas, giving up seven runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings to lose his third consecutive start. In going 0-3 since July 6, Lee has allowed 19 earned runs in his past 16 innings (10.69 ERA). Lee already lost to Boston once this year, allowing three runs on six hits in five innings of a 5-3 defeat on May 28 at Fenway Park. In six career starts against the Red Sox, Lee is 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA and has held Boston hitters to a .235 batting average.

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

Sox Batting vs Lee

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	19	5	1	1	0	1	0	3	.263
D. Pedroia	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.000
D. Ortiz	12	3	2	0	0	0	0	3	.250
M. Ramirez	12	4	2	0	1	4	5	3	.333
K. Youkilis	9	2	2	0	0	1	0	2	.222
M. Lowell	9	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	.111
J. Varitek	10	2	1	0	0	0	0	6	.200
J.D. Drew	4	2	2	0	0	2	1	0	.500
C. Crisp	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Totals	79	20	11	1	1	9	7	18	.253

I wouldn't be surprised to see Wily Mo play tonight in center field, since he has good numbers vs Lee. Still, the Sox have struggled against this pitcher in the past, and even though he is struggling this year, don't be surprised to see him have his way with this line up.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Gabbard	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lee	6	2	2	0	36 1/3	32	15	4	17	36	3.72	1.35	6.06

Lee has been brutal against this team. In six starts he has went less than six innings only twice, both times at Fenway Park. As good as his numbers are in Cleveland he is even tougher.

Three starts he is 1-1, 20 innings, 13 hits, 5 runs, 3 HR's, 9 BB's, 20 K's, with a 2.25 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and averages 6.67 innings pitched. Simply brutal at Jacobs Field.

Other Bad news - Sox are only 15 - 14 vs LHP this year while Cleveland is 18-14 vs LHP.

Another tight game tonight!

♊ - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 101 Recap

Final

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

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

W: F. Carmona (13-4) L: J. Beckett (13-4) S: J. Borowski
HR ➢ Cle: F. Gutierrez (6)

☼ Sun - Gutierrez - the only run came on his home run
☁ Cloud - Varitek, Being, Lugo, and any one else that was thrown out on the bases.

Game thoughts!

A well pitched game by both starters that lived up to the hype. Unfortunately, the only threat the Indians were able to generate came on Guiterrez's third inning home run. What can you say, both pitchers are now 13-4 and their ERA's are almost identical (3.27 for Beckett, 3.31 for Carmona). That is pitching at its best.

Lugo watch - cs in the eighth, the only thing he did all game.

Drew watch - 0 for 3 (sharp line out to third, two ground outs), now batting .247.

Wtf was Manny doing in the sixth? He should have been there to signal Coco at home. MBM of course, because he wasn't even in the freaking picture. Oh well another day another 1 run loss.

6/1 - Sox were 8-3 in 1 run games, 9-4 vs lefties, 12.5 up on the MFY and 36-17 overall. 7/26 - 15-16 in 1 run games, 15-14 vs lefties, 6.5 up on MFY and 61-40 overall. That is not a good trend.

Later - all else fails get a bigger hammer.

Red Sox 07 Game 101

			@
J. Beckett		13-3, 3.41		Fausto Carmona		12-4, 3.52
Red Sox		61-39		Indians		58-42

Wednesday, July 25    Jacobs Field ♊  7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	61	39	-	6-4	61	39
New York	53	46	7.5	8-2	60	39
Toronto	50	50	11.0	6-4	52	48
Baltimore	45	53	15.0	7-3	49	49
Tampa	38	61	22.5	3-7	37	62

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Beckett set down every batter he faced after giving up a one-out, third-inning home run to Chicago's Jim Thome. All told, he allowed three earned runs and four hits and struck out 10 batters, his first 10-plus strikeout game since April 10, 2005, when he was a member of the Marlins. With the victory, Beckett joined C.C. Sabathia atop the American League wins leaderboard.

Indians: Carmona was brilliant Friday in Texas, pitching a three-hit shutout for eight innings before exiting after 105 pitches. In four July starts, Carmona is 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA. He will be facing Boston for the first time this season and the first time in his career as a starter. In two relief appearances against the Red Sox last season, Carmona blew two save chances and sustained two losses by allowing five earned runs over one inning of work.

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

Sox Batting vs Carmona

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
C. Crisp	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	1	1	0	0	1	3	0	0	1.000
M. Ramirez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
M. Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Lugo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	2	1	0	0	1	3	2	1	.500

Not a lot of history here as the Sox only faced Fausto a couple of times, one was a walk off by Loretta (his second) when he crushed a double off the wall last year on 8/2. The other game was when David hit his home run vs this kid on 7/31 of last year.

Of course that was after the Indians had traded their closer to the Braves and were looking at Carmona as the possible closer. Needless to say that experiment ended shortly after those fiasco's and that is why he is in the starting rotation.

Pitching Comparisons

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Beckett	3	1	2	0	16 2/3	20	17	6	6	16	9.18	1.56	5.56
Carmona	0	0	2	0	1	3	5	1	2	2	45.00	5.0	-

Like I said earlier Fausto only faced the Sox those two games and lost both of them on walk offs as a reliever. The good news, the Sox have seen him as a closer, the bad news is that he is now a starter and is making his first start vs the Sox. That is usually not good.

Beckett struggled against Cleveland last year (on 4/27 and 8/3), going 0-2 in 9 2/3. All of the home runs were given up in those two games (3 each) and the first game he walked 5. Needless to say he turned it around this year as he went 7 innings of 3 hit ball and only allowed 2 earned runs on 5/29.

Tonight is a night where he can really show that some of his bad starts last year were only due to unfamiliarity with the league. Look for that to hold tonight as we get another nail biter!
Later - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!

Red Sox 07 Game 100 Recap

Recap ♊ Box ♊ Play by Play

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

W: D. Matsuzaka (12-7) L: C.C. Sabathia (13-5) S: J. Papelbon (23)

☼ The Sun - Matsuzaka - 7 innings 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 K's
☁ The Cloud - Francisco - Misread of Lowell's single in the third leads to only run

Idle thoughts!

This is the Daisuke that Theo lusted after in the off season. Seven innings of shut out ball in Cleveland against this team is why he is the #2 of this staff right now, but he is only the #2 because #1 is going tonight against this offense. The future looks bright and he should wear his sun glasses at night!

Lugo watch - 1 for 4 and the only extra base hit for the Sox was his double. Now batting .226 for the year.

Crisp watch - 0 for 4 with two k's. What is it with batting 5th in this line up? Crisp was on fire coming into this game but move him to 5th and boom there goes the hitting streak. For the season Crisp is now batting .281.

Drew watch - three AB's and three K's and none really looked good, but cut him some slack, C.C. is one tough lefty.

Okajima in the eighth - 3 up 3 down.

Papelbon in the ninth - 3 up 3 down.

A game that had to be almost perfect to win, but there were three outstanding defensive plays in this game, with the first one in the first inning as Lugo cut down Sizemore at third base for the first out of the inning. The second one was in the sixth when WMP crashed into the wall while making the catch, but last and more important was the play that Youkilis made in the seventh on the sacrifice bunt.

On a play that you might just take the out at first, Youk pounced on the ball and threw a strike to second and that pretty much ended the Indians offense for the night.

Beckett tonight vs the other outstanding pitcher for the Indians, Carmona! Be there or be square!

Later - When all else fails get a bigger hammer!

oh yeah, in the roll over and die category - the Royals sucked again vs the spankees. Why can't they play like that against the Sox?

Red Sox 07 Game 100

			@
D. Matsuzaka		11-7, 3.99		C.C. Sabathia		13-4, 3.81
Red Sox		60-39		Indians		58-42

Tuesday, July 24    Jacobs Field ♊  7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	60	39	-	6-4	61	38
New York	52	46	7.5	8-2	59	39
Toronto	49	50	11.0	5-5	51	48
Baltimore	44	53	15.0	6-4	48	49
Tampa	38	60	21.5	4-6	37	61

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: On the heels of a brilliant, six-start stretch, Matsuzaka has struggled over his past three starts. He's been unable to go more than six innings in any of the outings, giving up 13 runs and 22 hits over 16 frames. In his last start, he went five-plus innings and walked six while allowing three runs in a loss to the White Sox. This is Matsuzaka's second start against the Indians, but first at Jacobs Field. On May 30 at Fenway, the Indians belted Matsuzaka around for 12 hits and six runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Indians: Sabathia gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings Thursday against the Rangers in Arlington, pitching just well enough to end a two-start losing streak. He will be facing Boston for the first time this season, and he is 2-3 with a 4.35 ERA in six career starts against the Red Sox.

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

Sox Batting vs Sabathia.

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	15	4	1	0	1	2	2	1	.267
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250
M. Ramirez	18	10	3	0	4	7	1	2	.556
J. D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.250
J. Varitek	7	1	0	0	1	3	1	2	.143
W. Pena	9	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	.333
C. Crisp	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.667
Totals	60	22	4	0	6	13	4	11	.367

Led by Manny's .556 average against C.C. this team should hit this guy and hit him hard. 1 home run every 10 at bats helps also. Look for J.D. to struggle, but he will not be replaced by Wily Mo since Ortiz is out and WMP will probably be playing left field while Manny DH's.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	1	0	1	0	5 2/3	12	6	1	0	4	9.53	2.12	5.67
Sabathia	6	2	3	0	41 1/3	46	20	8	8	28	4.35	1.31	6.89

Daisuke faced Cleveland on 5/30, a game the Sox lost 8-4 to Paul Byrd. To say that Matsuzaka struggled in that game would be an understatement. Look for improvement from Daisuke.

C.C. is having a wonderful year but the Sox have always done well against this pitcher. With Coco and Manny both torching the ball, look for the team to continue their hot hitting tonight.

Later - When all else fails, get a bigger hammer!