Red Sox 2008 Game 44 Preview

Update: Its Saturday and they will play two!! Will update the game links after I know for sure the correct ones for each game.
Game 1 is still this match-up!!

			@
J. Suppan		2-2, 4.63		D. Matsuzaka		6-0, 2.45
Brewers		20 - 21		Red Sox		24 - 19

Friday, May 16                 Fenway Park  ✠ 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	24	17	-	8-2	4	5	23	18
Boston	24	19	1.0	4-6	7	6	24	19
Baltimore	21	19	2.5	5-5	10	5	19	21
Toronto	21	22	4.0	5-5	6	9	21	22
New York	20	22	4.5	4-6	5	5	20	22

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

Brewers: Suppan will be facing the team with which he broke into the Major Leagues in 1995 and spent parts of three seasons, going 7-9 with a 6.10 ERA in 29 outings at Fenway Park. He will hope for better results as the Brewers begin Interleague Play and is coming off one of his best starts this season, a seven-inning, one-run performance against the Cardinals at Miller Park. The win snapped Suppan's two-game losing streak.

Red Sox: Matsuzaka is looking for his seventh win in eight starts this season. After a season-high eight walks on May 5 in Detroit, Matsuzaka settled down last Saturday in Minnesota and issued three over his seven innings, allowing six hits and two runs while earning his second win of the month. The right-hander will look to become the fourth Red Sox hurler this decade to start a season 7-0, joining Josh Beckett (9-0 in 2007), John Burkett (7-0, 2002) and Pedro Martinez (7-0, 2002).

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Suppan

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
D. Ortiz	27	9	2	0	1	4	2	5	.333	.355	.519	.873
M. Ramirez	21	7	1	0	3	7	4	5	.333	.440	.810	1.250
M. Lowell	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---	---	---	---
J. D. Drew	17	6	2	0	1	5	1	3	.353	.421	.647	1.068
J. Varitek	16	8	1	0	1	1	1	1	.500	.529	.750	1.279
J. Lugo	11	5	2	0	0	2	1	1	.455	.500	.636	1.136
Totals	103	35	8	0	6	19	9	16	.340	.391	.592	.984

.984 OPS for the starters, I'll take that everyday of the week and twice on Sundays. I also would replace the 0 for 11 Mike Lowell and play S. Casey, who's lifetime is .333 / .368 / .556 /.924 in his career vs Suppan.

In fact replacing Lowell changes those to .373 / .423 / .645 / 1.068 for the team. As much as I like a .984 OPS, trust me I like a 1.068 that much better.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Suppan	8	3	3	0	49	28	26	8	18	21	4.78	1.35	6.13
Matsuzaka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Suppan has pitched well at times vs the Sox. He has two complete game victories and his last win he only gave up 2 runs in six innings. Overall in his eight starts he has only given up more than three runs in three games. So, even though his ERA is fairly high, he has done very well, except in Boston. Three games in Boston and he is 0-2 and only lasted 13 innings while allowing 15 earned runs. Would be nice to see him get shelled tonight.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Suppan	8	2	2	0	46 2/3	54	24	6	19	21	4.63	1.56	5.83
Matsuzaka	8	6	0	0	47 2/3	28	13	3	30	40	2.45	1.22	5.96

The only area that Suppan beats Matsuzaka is in his walks. Of course that has been the main complaint vs Daisuke all year.

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