Red Sox 2008 Game 54 Preview

A Prayer to all in Harms Way, and a thank you to those who have paid the Utlimate price.

			@
B. Colon		1-0, 3.60		F. Hernandez		2-4, 3.34
Red Sox		31 - 22		Mariners		18 - 33

Monday, May 26                 Safeco Field  ✠ 10:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	30	20	-	7-3	7	7	28	22
Boston	31	22	.5	7-3	9	6	30	23
Toronto	28	25	3.5	7-3	8	10	28	25
Baltimore	25	25	5.0	4-6	11	8	24	26
New York	25	26	5.0	5-5	7	5	25	26

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

Red Sox: Colon performed exactly how Boston wanted him to heading into his last start against Kansas City. After having his contract bought from Triple-A Pawtucket earlier in the afternoon, Colon gave up two runs in five innings while striking out four. He hurled 74 pitches in the outing while sprinkling six hits throughout. And while he didn't hit the high-90s velocity he did during his dominant years, Colon managed to escape jams in the third and fifth innings. Lifetime against the Mariners, Colon is 12-10 with a 4.40 ERA. But he tends to pitch well in Seattle; the righty is 8-1 with a 2.17 ERA at Safeco Field.

Mariners: The young right-hander, whose start was pushed back two days because of a calf injury, has pitched better than his record indicates. The 22-year-old has allowed two or fewer runs in six of his 10 starts but takes a three-game losing streak into his start 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.

Red Sox Batting History vs Hernandez

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	6	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167	.286	.167	.452
D. Ortiz	8	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.375	.444	.375	.819
M. Ramirez	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167	.167	.167	.333
M. Lowell	9	2	0	1	1	4	0	1	.222	.222	.778	1.000
K. Youkilis	6	2	0	0	0	2	1	2	.333	.429	.333	.762
J. D. Drew	9	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	.333	.333	.333	.667
J. Varitek	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167	.167	.167	.333
J. Lugo	7	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.143	.250	.143	.393
Totals	57	14	0	1	1	6	4	13	.246	.295	.333	.628

In the Navy we would call those number Fugly, think about it and the name fits. After getting killed in Oakland, I just don't have a lot of faith in the Sox going into Safeco and doing any damage. In the last five years the Sox were 12-11 in Oakland, and they just got swept. During that same time period the Sox were 8 and 16 in Seattle. In fact not one Sox starter has more than 1 win in that time period. Needless to say, Safeco has not been very safe for Sox pitchers.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Colon	26	12	10	0	161 2/3	165	79	17	42	111	4.40	1.28	6.22
Hernandez	3	2	0	1	21 2/3	16	7	2	6	17	2.91	1.02	7.22

King Felix has never been beaten by the Sox, in fact he has had two stellar games against the boys in red. It would be nice to see him get hit around in this game, but I am not counting on it.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Colon	1	1	0	0	5	6	2	0	2	4	3.60	1.6	5.0
Hernandez	10	2	4	0	67 1/3	70	25	6	28	57	3.34	1.46	6.73

Even though King Felix has a losing record that 3.34 ERA looks pretty good. His walks appear to be up this year, so I would expect the Sox to try and be patient tonight against the young pitcher.

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