Red Sox 07 games 132, 133 and 134

			@
Red Sox		80-51		Yankees		72-59

August 28 & 29 & 30  ✠  Yankee Stadium 7:05, 7:05 and 1:05 p.m. ET

American League (8/28/07)

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	80	51	-	7-3	18	19	83	48
New York	72	59	8.0	5-5	11	17	77	54
Toronto	66	65	14.0	4-6	23	20	70	61
Baltimore	58	71	21.0	2-8	10	24	61	68
Tampa	51	80	29.0	5-5	16	15	51	80

ESPN.Com previews Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Yahoo's previews Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday..
ESPN.Com after the game Tuesday Recap, Wednesday Recap, and Thursday Recap..
MLB.Com Press Pass
From MLB.Com Tuesday Scouting Report, Wednesday Scouting Report, Thursday Scouting Report.

Matsuzaka: Dice-K held the Rays to a single hit through his first 5 1/3 innings then watched as his hard work went to waste in the form of a two-run homer in the sixth that handed both he and the Red Sox a loss. The Japanese rookie has often fallen victim to poor run support and Wednesday was more of the same as his teammates mustered just one run in his defense. Matsuzaka said afterward that he was disappointed with too many "wasted pitches," but the lone obvious error was the home run ball.

Beckett: The right-hander will be going after a career-high win No. 17 in this one. Beckett was far from his best in his last start, giving up seven hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings. But he still managed to get the win, downing the White Sox by a score of 11-3. This is Beckett's final start in August, a month in which he's gone 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA in four starts. Beckett is 1-0 with a 5.54 ERA in two starts against the Yankees this season. This is Beckett's first start of 2007 at Yankee Stadium, where he's 2-1 with a 7.53 ERA in the regular season.

Schilling: has won his last two starts. He downed the White Sox in his last outing, holding them to four hits and a run over six innings. Schilling is 0-1 with a 7.00 ERA in three starts against the Yankees this season. He is 2-3 with a 4.91 ERA lifetime at Yankee Stadium.

Pettitte: When the Yankees need a big win -- say, on days immediately following a loss -- Pettitte has been their guy. There are no bigger games, win or lose, than the hyped contests vs. Boston, and Pettitte draws the assignment to open the Yankees' against the Red Sox. The left-hander has won five straight starts, the last of which coming on Wednesday against the Angels, as he spun seven innings of one-run ball. Pettitte is 1-1 with a 5.01 ERA in five games (four starts) against Boston this year.

Clemens: The energy level at Yankee Stadium should be high for this one, as The Rocket takes on his former team for the first time since rejoining the Yankees. Clemens saw a two-start winning streak go by the boards when he allowed six runs in five innings to the Tigers on Friday. In the outing, he battled a blister on his right foot that may have impeded his delivery.

Wang: Citing a mechanical tweak that sped up his delivery some, Wang overcame a so-so start to best the Tigers on Saturday. Trusting his sinker more by throwing to the heart of the plate -- thus letting his natural movement do the work -- Wang went eight strong innings, holding Detroit to two runs. He is 2-1 in three starts against the Red Sox this season, working Boston to a 4.50 ERA.

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

Sox Batting vs Pettitte

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
D. Pedroia	10	3	1	0	0	3	0	0	.300
K. Youkilis	9	5	1	0	1	2	2	1	.556
D. Ortiz	34	11	3	0	1	5	3	9	.324
M. Ramirez	69	29	8	0	3	18	6	6	.420
J. D. Drew	14	6	1	0	2	2	1	5	.429
M. Lowell	11	3	1	0	0	2	1	0	.273
J. Varitek	46	16	1	1	1	6	4	14	.348
C. Crisp	13	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.308
J. Lugo	19	5	0	0	0	0	3	3	.263
Totals	225	82	16	1	8	38	21	41	.364

The question is how does Pettitte have a 14 and 6 record vs the Sox. Well, actually he has struggled this year. In four starts he has had two quality starts, but he has only been able to average 5.58 innings per start with a 5.24 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP. Oh, yeah, his record is 1 and 1 this year.

Key in the first game will be if Manny, Ortiz and J.D. Drew can continue to hit Pettitte. I think they will, but it should still be a pretty close game. The big guys need some people on base so they can hit them home. Look for a good game!

Sox Batting vs Clemens

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	19	4	0	0	1	1	2	5	.211
M. Ramirez	50	9	1	0	3	6	10	18	.180
J. D. Drew	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
M. Lowell	11	2	0	0	0	0	1	4	.182
J. Varitek	19	3	1	0	0	0	2	8	.158
C. Crisp	7	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	.286
J. Lugo	9	1	1	0	0	0	0	4	.111
Totals	117	21	3	0	4	7	16	44	.179

Clemens dominates these guys. Makes you wonder how he could have a life time record of only 8 and 5 vs the Sox. Especially when you see that he averages over 6 innings per start and has twelve quality starts vs the Sox. I would count on this being a low scoring game for the Sox with those type of numbers. Let us hope that Beckett brings his A++++ game.

Sox Batting vs Wang

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
D. Pedroia	3	3	2	0	0	1	0	0	1.000
K. Youkilis	18	7	3	0	0	1	6	1	.389
D. Ortiz	24	12	3	0	2	8	5	2	.500
M. Ramirez	22	13	0	0	2	5	4	3	.591
J. D. Drew	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	19	3	1	0	0	0	3	2	.158
J. Varitek	12	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	.083
C. Crisp	17	5	0	1	0	0	1	2	.294
J. Lugo	28	6	1	0	0	1	5	5	.214
Totals	149	50	10	1	5	17	24	17	.336

Looking at these numbers it is easy to see why Wang is only 4 and 4 vs the Sox. There are some good quality numbers posted by some of these guys. The thing is though, Wang has been really hot lately. Maybe the Sox can do their part in cooling him off, of course the problem is that Schilling is the Sox pitcher in this game and he has royally sucked vs the spankees this year. Schilling is going to need to step up big for the Sox to have a chance.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	2	2	0	0	13	13	10	1	5	14	6.92	1.38	6.50
Pettitte	25	14	6	0	164	168	60	6	47	127	3.29	1.31	6.56
Beckett	6	3	2	0	33	41	29	5	21	26	7.91	1.88	5.50
Clemens	19	8	5	0	119 1/3	105	51	7	37	132	3.85	1.19	6.28
Schilling	17	7	6	0	115 1/3	120	62	24	31	96	4.84	1.31	6.78
Wang	9	4	4	0	58 1/3	72	31	6	27	21	4.78	1.70	6.48

Two games for Daisuke and two wins. However with a 6.92 ERA in thirteen innings is not something to be glad about. This is the fourth time that Daisuke will be trying to win his fourteenth win. Is the fourth time the charm?

Of course that is not entirely his fault. In his last five games he is one and three with a 3.62 ERA in thirty-two and one third innings. What is really head scratching is the three losses are against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Beckett has a very high ERA vs the Yankees but this year he has actually lowered that figured. In two games he has went 13 innings with a 5.54 ERA and a 1.69 WHIP. He is 1 and 0 this year. The good news is that he has only walked five and has K'ed 12 in those two games.

While overall Schilling has decent numbers against the Yankees this year he has been horrible. His outings this year vs the Yankees have been seven innings, six innings and five innings. Overall all he has a 7.00 era in those eighteen innings. What has killed him is the six, that is right six home runs he has allowed.

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