Red Sox 2008 Game 85 Preview

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J. Masterson		4-1, 3.43		J. Shields		5-5, 3.76
Red Sox		50-34		Rays		49-32

Monday, June 30      Tropicana Field  ✠ 7:10 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	49	32	-	7-3	14	10	46	35
Boston	50	34	.5	5-5	11	12	49	35
New York	44	38	5.5	5-5	14	9	43	39
Baltimore	41	39	7.5	5-5	17	12	40	40
Toronto	40	43	10.0	5-5	12	20	45	38

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Red Sox: Masterson earned his second career win against Tampa Bay on June 3, a 7-4 decision at Fenway Park. It wasn't his most dominant performance, allowing four runs on six hits during six innings of work. But it did set the tone for the three-game set as the Red Sox swept the Rays to regain first place in the AL East. Masterson's last start was very similar to that game against the Rays; he allowed four runs on seven hits against Arizona on Tuesday.

Rays: Shields is coming off a resounding victory over the Marlins on Wednesday night in which the right-hander broke a seven-game dry spell to notch the win. He tossed seven innings of four-hit ball, allowing only a solo home run to Mike Jacobs in the sixth inning. Shields will face a new rival in the Red Sox, as the right-hander was one of five Rays suspended in June 5's on-field melee at Fenway Park. Monday's game will be the 27-year-old's fourth appearance against the Red Sox this year. Shields has beaten Boston once this season, in April 27's game at Tropicana Field, but sports an impressive 1.99 ERA in home starts.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Shields

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	7	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.143	.250	.143	.393
D. Pedroia	7	4	1	0	0	1	0	0	.571	.625	.714	1.339
J. D. Drew	12	4	2	0	0	1	0	1	.333	.333	.500	.833
M. Ramirez	11	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.364	.417	.364	.780
M. Lowell	10	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.300	.300	.300	.600
K. Youkilis	14	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	.000	.176	.000	.176
J. Varitek	8	1	0	0	0	1	0	4	.125	.125	.125	.250
B. Moss	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
J. Lugo	10	4	2	0	0	2	1	3	.400	.455	.600	1.055
Totals	79	21	5	0	0	5	4	19	.266	.337	.329	.666

Right now Jason Varitek, aka "the Captain" is stinking up the place at the plate. Tonight would be a good night for Tek to sit. Give him a couple of days off in a row, and maybe, just maybe, he will be ready for New York.

I would also sit Youkilis, though he has been swinging the bat well lately, Shields owns him. Give him a night off also and let Casey swing the bat tonight. Of course, Terry will ignore my advice so, confidence level of them winning tonight 20%.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Masterson	1	1	0	0	6	6	4	2	2	5	6.00	1.33	6.00
Shields	7	1	4	1	35	35	22	5	10	36	5.66	1.29	5.00

Masterson has been, well, masterful in most of his games this year. His one appearance versus the Rays being one of his worst starts. Look for him to come out firing tonight though and I expect that slider of his to be working down and away to the left handed hitters.

Shields has beaten the Sox once this year. That is his only win ever against the Sox. With that ERA I can see why. Look for a patient Sox team to take him deep tonight and I fully expect him to be knocked out by the sixth inning. The question is can the bull pen for the Sox hold off the Rays.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Masterson	7	4	1	0	42	29	16	6	21	32	3.43	1.19	6.00
Shields	16	5	5	2	103	100	43	11	19	83	3.76	1.16	6.44

Pretty evenly matched between these two pitchers. Still I think I'm going to give a slight edge here to Masterson.

Inside Edge

Type (%'s)	All	1st P	Early	2 S	Ahead	Behind	RHB	LHB	Op. BA (avg)
Fastball	52	68	57	31	32	68	51	53	.313
Curves	10	9	11	9	15	2	13	6	.204
Sliders	10	10	12	6	10	7	14	5	.262
Change Ups	28	12	19	54	43	22	23	34	.179
Totals	4,278	1,194	2,691	1,111	1,482	962	2,226	2,052	.249

Shields has been tough to beat, but if you can get into the Fastball counts you can beat him. The Sox will need to be patient against this guy.

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 84 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0		2	9	0
Houston	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	x		3	10	0

W: D. Brocail (4-3) L: D. Aardsma (2-2) S: J. Valverde (21)
HR ➢ Bos: D. Pedroia (8), M. Ramirez (16) Hou: G. Blum (5)

✫ 1st star - Beckett - Seven innings only two runs
✫✫ 2nd star - Manny - his home run in the seventh tied the game
✫✫✫ 3rd star - Loretta - Game winning hit in the eighth (eases the pain somewhat)
⋔ Pitchfork - 3-2 game - there is no fork tonight.

Game thoughts!

A tight game from the first pitch. Of course with thirteen men left on base, it should not have been that tight. It did not help the cause to leave the bases loaded twice and strand 10 runners in the first six innings.

Hard to fault anybody but the offense in this game. It is time to admit that this team stinks on the road. Not for sure why, but it just stinks. Oh well, another day and another game today.

Factoid - Boston is now 2-10 in one-run games on the road this year.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 84 Preview

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J. Beckett		7-5, 3.73		B. Moehler		4-3, 4.03
Red Sox		50-33		Astros		38-43

Sunday, June 29      Minute Maid Park  ✠ 2:05 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	50	33	-	6-4	11	11	49	34
Tampa Bay	48	32	.5	7-3	13	10	46	34
New York	44	37	5.0	6-4	14	9	43	38
Baltimore	41	38	7.0	6-4	17	11	39	40
Toronto	39	43	10.5	4-6	11	20	44	38

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Red Sox: Beckett has allowed just two runs in his last two starts, against Arizona and Cincinnati, logging 15 innings in the process. Unfortunately for Beckett, his last outing, against the D-backs, went to waste when the Red Sox ran into Dan Haren, dropping a 2-1 decision at Fenway Park. Beckett is 2-2 lifetime against Houston and owns a 2.92 career ERA at Minute Maid Park.

Astros: Moehler has been the most reliable arm since joining the rotation. Counting his impressive performance against Texas on Tuesday night -- 6 1/3 innings, one run allowed on five hits -- the Astros are 5-4 in Moehler's nine starts but could easily be 7-2. Moehler is 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA. The 36-year-old right-hander is 4-2 with a 4.01 ERA in eight career starts against Boston.

No splits, inane stats, or other stuff. ITS A FREAKING INTER-LEAGUE GAME AND THE THIRD
GAME IN MINUTE MAID PARK. SO I STILL DON'T FREAKING CARE!!!!!!!!!!!

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 83 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	4	0	0	5	0	0	1		10	13	0
Houston	0	0	5	0	1	0	2	3	x		11	14	0

W: D. Brocail (3-3) L: M. Delcarmen (0-2) S: J. Valverde (20)
HR ➢ Bos: M. Lowell (12) Hou: M. Loretta (3), C. Lee (18), T. Wigginton (5)

✫ 1st star - C. Berkman - Key two run double in the eighth
✫✫ 2nd star - T. Wigginton - A home run in the eighth to tie the game
✫✫✫ 3rd star - M. Lorreta - A three run home run in the third to take a lead in the third
⋔ Pitchfork - The Bullpen - six runs allowed

Game thoughts!

A four run lead, not safe, a three run lead, not safe. This game was there to be had but Lester and the bullpen competely sucked. Today is another day, tomorrow was yesterday.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 83 Preview

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J. Lester		6-3, 3.13		B. Backe		5-8, 4.82
Red Sox		50-32		Astros		37-43

Saturday, June 28      Minute Maid Park  ✠ 7:05 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	50	32	-	6-4	11	10	48	34
Tampa Bay	48	31	.5	8-2	13	9	45	34
New York	43	37	6.0	6-4	13	9	42	38
Baltimore	40	38	8.0	6-4	17	11	38	40
Toronto	38	43	11.5	3-7	11	20	43	38

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Red Sox: Lester is becoming one stingy innings-eater for the Boston Red Sox. In the month of June, he hasn't given up more than two runs in any outing while at least pitching into the seventh inning in all four starts. He's 5-1 since the beginning of May, and the Sox have won each of the five outings he's pitched in since May 31.

Astros: Backe earned his first win in a month when he beat the Rays in his last outing. The right-hander yielded a two-run homer to Evan Longoria in the second inning but held the Rays scoreless through the remainder of his 6 2/3 innings. Backe has appeared in four games against the Red Sox, all in relief. He has allowed eight runs over 5 1/3 innings for a 13.50 ERA.

No splits, inane stats, or other stuff. ITS A FREAKING INTER-LEAGUE GAME AND THE SCOND GAME IN MINUTE MAID PARK. SO I STILL DON'T FREAKING CARE

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 82 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	2		6	12	0
Houston	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		1	4	0

W: D. Matsuzaka (9-1) L: R. Hernandez (0-1) S: J. Papelbon (24)
HR ➢ Bos: J.D. Drew (15) Hou: R. Abercrombie (1)

✫ 1st star - J. D. DREW - Another home run, this time a 3 run blast for the first runs of the game.
✫✫ 2nd star - D. Matsuzak - Way to come back from the last start (though you allowed way to many walks) 5 Innings pitched of 2 hit ball
✫✫✫ 3rd star - K. Youkilis - 4 for 5 night
⋔ Pitchfork - Nothing - I could put Okajami but a solo home run with two outs, not going to worry about.

Game thoughts!

Not much happened in this game (what, striking out 3 Astros is nothing? - ed, Ok something then) until the third inning. After Daisuke struck out Crisp walked and then Pedroia doubled to left field. Well, I should say he singled and then evaded the tag on a beautiful move at second, but the scorer said double so double it is in the books. This was followed by a home run by J. D. on a 2-0 count and really that was the only runs that the Sox would need.

Daisuke looked good except for the three walks that he issued. The five innings could have been better, but according to Remy and Orsillo and others he was pulled more for cautionary reasons then because he was tired or hurt. I can't blame Francona for that since his last start he only lasted the one inning and this was basically the first real start after coming off of the disabled list. Besides, 87 pitches in five innings means he probably would have and could have given them six strong innings if it was needed to spare the pen.

It was a good move by the Sox brass, especially since Hansen and Delcarmen had 1-2-3 innings. The only other hits for the Astros came off of Okajima, but I am not really worried about him, because I think he is just having a rough go of it, but will soon make the adjustments that are needed.

Still, since the bull pen had to go four innings in this game it would be nice to see Lester go out and pitch a seven or eight inning affair tonight. That would not be an unreasonable request the way he has been pitching lately.

Factoid - Crisp starts his five game suspension tonight, which means he will miss the rest of this series and all of the Rays series. MLB front office played it safe but I was glad to see the suspension reduced from seven games.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 82 Preview

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D. Matsuzaka		8-1, 3.46		R. Hernandez		0-0, ---
Red Sox		49-32		Astros		37-42

Friday, June 27      Minute Maid Park  ✠ 8:05 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	49	32	-	6-4	11	10	47	34
Tampa Bay	47	31	0.5	7-3	13	9	44	34
New York	42	37	6.0	6-4	13	9	41	38
Baltimore	40	37	7.0	6-4	17	11	38	39
Toronto	38	42	10.5	3-7	11	20	43	37

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Red Sox: Matsuzaka came off the 15-day disabled list for his last start against the Cardinals, and he looked nothing like the 8-0 starter that mowed down opposing lineups before suffering a right rotator cuff strain on May 27. Coming into his start against St. Louis, opponents were hitting .195 off the right-hander. But the Cardinals touched him up for four runs and five hits in the first inning alone. He faced 12 batters, leaving without recording an out in the second and giving up seven earned runs.

Astros: Hernandez takes over Shawn Chacon's spot in the rotation and will face the Red Sox Friday at Minute Maid Park. The 30-year-old right-hander is 6-3 with a 3.72 ERA over 15 starts for the Triple-A Round Rock Express this year. He's allowed 35 earned runs over 84 2/3 innings and has allowed 11 home runs. He's issued 23 walks while striking out 63. Opponents are hitting .233 against him. Hernandez has made two career starts against the Red Sox, taking no-decisions in both. He has a 4.85 ERA over those two games, having allowed seven earned runs over 13 innings. His last outing versus Boston occurred on Aug. 10, 2006.

No splits, inane stats or etc. ITS A FREAKING INTER-LEAGUE GAME AND THE FIRST TIME IN MINUTE MAID PARK. SO I DON'T FREAKING CARE.

Go Sox!!!

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 81 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Arizona	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	3	0
Boston	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	-		5	12	0

W: T. Wakefield (5-5) L: R. Johnson (4-6) S: J. Papelbon (23)
HR ➢ Bos: K. Cash (1)

✫ 1st star - Wakefield - 7 Innings of 2 hit ball
✫✫ 2nd star - Cash - His three run home run off of cruz in the 8th sealed the deal
✫✫✫ 3rd star - Moss - His 0 for 3 accounted for the early lead as he scored Lowell twice.
⋔ Pitchfork - Consistency - Would love to see a game where one of the relievers has back to back good outings.

Game thoughts!

Wakefields knuckle ball was knuckling and Johnson was being good enough to make you bite your nails. In the first six innings the Sox were only able to score two runs off of Johnson even though they had 8 hits and 2 walks off of him. Both of those runs were driven in by Moss, 1 on a ground out, the second on a sacrifice fly.

With Wakefield mixing in his curve ball and fast ball effectively he was just a little bit better than Johnson. Ok, he was a lot better than Johnson, but after six innings the Sox were only up by those two runs.

Of course Wakefield is used to that but it was nice to see the eight inning start off with a walk by Lowell and then for the second straight time and third over all, Crisp hit a double putting runners on second and third. This time instead of scoring the run with an out, Cash sent one way over the monster seat. A huge sigh of relief was heard in my house and I naturally just assumed that this game was toast.

In fact I was thinking, Hansen comes in and gets 1-2-3 inning and everybody is happy. Just not meant to be though.

Hansen immediately made the game exciting again as he walked the first batter, got two outs and then allowed an infield single and another walk to load the bases. Instead of Papelbon getting two days of rest, Francona had to bring him in with the bases loaded. This being the bot though, he struck out Tracy on five pitches. The water was dirty.

Factoid - For June the Sox are batting .276 / .356 / .474 overall and a horrendous .267 / .357 / .453 at home. That is how you have a 3 and 3 home stand.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 81 Preview

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R. Johnson		4-5, 5.09		T. Wakefield		4-5, 4.17
Diamondbacks		40-38		Red Sox		48-32

Wednesday, June 25      Fenway Park  ✠ 7:05 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	48	32	-	6-4	11	10	46	34
Tampa Bay	45	31	1.0	7-3	13	9	41	35
New York	41	36	5.5	7-3	13	9	40	37
Baltimore	39	36	6.5	7-3	17	11	36	39
Toronto	37	41	10.0	3-7	11	19	42	36

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Diamondbacks: Johnson has dropped his last four starts and over that span has a 7.77 ERA. In his last outing against the Twins, he allowed seven runs on 11 hits while tossing his first complete game since Aug. 24, 2006. Six of the seven runs came during the third inning and only two of the six hits that inning were hit hard. Johnson has allowed 10 or more hits in back-to-back starts for the first time in his career and his outing against the Twins was the first time he had struck out one or fewer batters since Aug. 4, 2006.

Red Sox: Wakefield has given up three earned runs or less in each of his last five starts since allowing eight runs in five innings against Oakland on May 23. He's gone at least seven innings in all of those outings, but is just 1-2 in that span. His last outing resulted in a 5-4 Red Sox loss to the Cardinals. Still, his ERA has continually dropped in each start from its highest point of the season on May 23 -? it rose to 5.19 after that rough outing against the A's.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Johnson

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	2	1	1	0	0	0	3	1	.500	.800	1.000	1.800
J. D. Drew	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.125	.222	.125	.347
M. Ramirez	42	11	3	0	5	17	7	12	.262	.367	.690	1.058
M. Lowell	44	8	2	0	1	4	3	13	.182	.234	.295	.529
K. Youkilis	16	5	1	0	1	3	3	1	.313	.421	.563	.984
K. Cash	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	.500	.500	2.000	2.500
C. Crisp	10	3	2	0	0	2	0	6	.300	.300	.500	.800
J. Lugo	33	4	0	0	1	3	2	13	.121	.167	.212	.379
Totals	157	34	9	0	9	30	18	49	.217	.301	.446	.747

One out every three batters strikes out, a .217 batting average against Johnson. Is there any hope for an offensive break out? Not if you see the norms, but you know what, they have been sucking versus the pitchers who they should be hammering so maybe turn about. Nope, I ain't buying that, confidence level in a win tonight - 10 %.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Johnson	29	16	7	1	181 1/3	149	90	24	92	222	4.47	1.33	6.25
Wakefield	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	2	0.00	.50	0.00

Wakefield has never made a start versus the Diamondbacks but he has matched up against Randy Johnson in the past. That was back in 2005 when the Sox were trying to catch the Yankees. He lost a 1-0 game in Yankee Stadium.

That was a huge loss for the Sox as the Yankees were trailing the Sox by 4.0 games prior to that game. Just to remind you, the Sox ended up losing the division by 1 game that year after Johnson also beat the Sox on 10/31/2005. In fact you could say that Johnson was the reason why the Yankees won the division that year since he went 5-0 versus the Sox.

The question is how does Johnson keep on beating the Sox? In 2005 and 2006 while Johnson was with the Yankees he pitched five games at Fenway. His record in those games is 4-0 and he accomplished this with a 6.06 ERA. In fact in the five games he only had one quality start. All other starts he gave up 4 runs (1 start) or 5 runs (all the rest). Yet he did not lose a single game.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Johnson	13	4	5	0	76	86	43	9	22	71	5.09	1.42	5.85
Wakefield	15	4	5	0	95	84	44	14	41	63	4.17	1.32	6.33

I think Randy can say that he's been the victim of some bad luck since he has allowed, or since eight un-earned runs have been scored while he ws pitching. However, he has nothing on Wakefield who is 1-2 in his last five games while averaging 7.20 innings and only giving up 10 earned runs. That is a sparkling 2.50 ERA with a 1.03 WHIP. What has hurt him though is the five Home Runs that he has allowed. The question is how long can Wakefield keep up this hot streak though? Let's hope he gets the win.

Inside Edge

Type	All	1st P	Early	2	Ahead	Behind	RHB	LHB	Op. BA
Fastball %	53	59	52	55	55	51	53	57	.276
Curves %	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Sliders %	38	34	38	40	37	37	38	40	.220
Change Ups %	7	6	9	4	6	10	7	3	.344
Totals (pitches)	1803	476	1078	538	711	360	1563	240	.252

Only Randy's sliders have consistently been good versus his opponents. The history versus the Sox though is so good, you have to feel that he will really be good. Another close game, yep, I think so.

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 80 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Arizona	0	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0		4	7	0
Boston	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	x		5	11	1

W: C. Smith (1-0) L: C. Qualls (1-6) S: J. Papelbon (22)
HR ➢ Ari: C. Tracy (4) Bos: D. Pedroia (7)

✫ 1st star - C. Smith - Two innings of no hit ball and gets his first career win.
✫✫ 2nd star - J. Varitek - His two out single scored Lowell for the winning run.
✫✫✫ 3rd star - D. Pedroia and M. Lowell - Two RBI's for each of them.

⋔ Pitchfork - C. Qualls - Thanks for pouring the gas on the fire baby.

Game thoughts!

After Masterson set down the Diamondbacks in order in the first it looked like the Sox would start this game off strong with Pedroia homering over the wall and two other singles in the inning. However, Varitek ended the inning stranding both runners so the Sox were only able to get the one run.

Masterson struggled right away in the second as he gave up a single to Jackson who stole second and Tracy immediately drove him home. After a fly out by Young a walk was issued to Ojeda but Salazar and Snyder got retired without any further damage. Game was now tied, so the offense needed to do some damage, but they could not get the job done as Moss struck out, Crisp singled and then Lugo and Ellsbury grounded out to the middle infielders.

The top of the third started off good for Masterson when he retired the first two batters on a ground out and a strike out. Orlando Hudson though decided to make it interesting by singling to left followed by Masterson walking Jackson on four straight pitches. On the second pitch to Tracy the young pitcher left a pitch up in the zone and Tracy deposited it in the Sox bull pen. The game shifted from tight to uh oh territory right there.

Davis continued to be good. From the third inning to the seventh he only faced 16 batters while allowing only a walk to Lowell in the third and a single by Ramirez in the sixth. Lowell was erased on a Varitek double play ball, so not one Sox even reached second during those five innings.

I was really thinking that the Sox were out of this game the way that Davis was just making the batters look bad when the Sox got the rally rolling in the eighth. It is hard to blame Davis for the meltdown since he had thrown 92 pitches and isn't really back from his thyroid cancer at 100%. So you have to question sending him out for the eighth.

The late inning comeback Sox decided to show up in the eighth in a big way. Lugo singled, Ellsbury singled and it was good night to Davis who was replaced by Qualls. Pedroia singled on the seventh pitch (after four foul balls) and the Sox trailed 4-2. Drew though continued his struggles as he struck out on seven pitches and it looked like Qualls might quell the rally when Ramirez grounded out to third on the second pitch.

The ground out was lucky for the Sox though as the ball short hopped the third baseman which made first base his only play. With two runners in scoring position on a 2-0 pitch Mike Lowell smoked a two run double off the wall and the Sox had tied up the game at four all. This brought up Varitek who was batting .083 (at the start of the game) on the homestand. On a 0-1 pitch he hit a looping single to right field that scored Lowell and the Sox were finally back in the lead and Qualls was gone from the game.

As soon as the Sox tied up the game, Papelbon was up and throwing and sure enough he was brought in to face the number nine, one and two batters. Snyder struck out on four pitches, Byrnes drew a walk after fouling off four strikes and then Drew struck out swinging. This left Hudson to keep the inning going but he quickly grounded out to Lowell and the game was finally in the books.

Factoid - In the first five games of this home stand the Sox are batting .251 with a .321 OBA. Hence a 2-3 record.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 80 Preview

			@
D. Davis		2-3, 3.65		J. Masterson		4-1, 3.00
Diamondbacks		40-37		Red Sox		47-32

Tuesday, June 24      Fenway Park  ✠ 7:05 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	47	32	-	5-5	10	10	46	33
Tampa Bay	44	31	1.0	6-4	13	9	41	34
New York	41	35	4.5	8-2	13	9	40	36
Baltimore	38	36	6.5	6-4	17	11	36	38
Toronto	36	41	10.0	2-8	11	19	40	37

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

Diamondbacks: Davis had a strong performance for the second consecutive outing, allowing just one run on three hits over six innings. He also had a season-high eight strikeouts. The one run he did allow was a bloop single to Oakland left-fielder Jack Cust. Davis is 3-2 against the Red Sox over his career, with a 3.78 ERA in 33 1/3 innings.

Red Sox: Masterson continues to make the most of his callup from the Minor Leagues, first filling in for the injured Daisuke Matsuzaka and now for Bartolo Colon. Though Masterson labored a bit in his last start, he still earned the win against a heavy-hitting Phillies team. In that one, Masterson gave up four hits and two runs over five innings, throwing 92 pitches. Opponents are hitting .176 against Masterson. The righty has allowed 22 hits over 36 innings.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Davis

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.333	.000	.333
J. D. Drew	7	2	0	0	1	3	0	2	.286	.286	.714	1.000
M. Ramirez	11	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.273	.333	.273	.606
M. Lowell	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	.000	.500	.000	.500
K. Youkilis	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
J. Varitek	8	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.375	.444	.375	.819
C. Crisp	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
J. Lugo	12	3	0	0	1	1	1	1	.250	.308	.500	.808
Totals	45	11	0	0	2	6	7	6	.244	.346	.378	.724

A mixed bag versus Davis as far as the hitters go. None of them really dominate him but they have had some success against him. The way the offense is going right now though you have to think that Davis will shut them down.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Davis	5	3	2	0	33 1/3	41	14	3	11	15	3.78	1.56	6.4
Masterson	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Davis has been up and down versus the Sox. When he has been good he has been lights out, as in all three of his Wins he has gone at least six innings and only given up four earned runs. When he has been bad though he has been bad as in both of his losses he has given up five earned runs. Let us hope we get the bad tonight.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Davis	8	2	3	0	44 1/3	46	18	2	25	38	3.65	1.60	5.54
Masterson	6	4	1	0	36	22	12	5	17	28	3.00	1.08	6.00

Masterson by far has the better numbers this year. The kid has good stuff. Davis has too many walks which really raises his WHIP. Look for a patient Sox team to wait him out.

Inside Edge

Type	All	1st P	Early	2 S	Ahead	Behind	RHB	LHB	Op. BA
Fastball	66 %	71 %	64 %	62 %	56 %	76 %	67 %	63 %	.305
Curves	17 %	14 %	16 %	25 %	28 %	5 %	16 %	23 %	.167
Sliders	7 %	7 %	7 %	7 %	6 %	8 %	7 %	7 %	.269
Change Ups	10 %	9 %	13 %	6 %	9 %	11 %	11 %	7 %	.296
Totals	4,041	1,041	2,343	1,064	1,286	1,113	3,145	896	.278

Is this an important game? Yes I think it is, for the first time this year the Sox are about to lose two series in a row at Fenway Park. After last nights loss this is the only game that they can win versus the Diamondbacks.

"Wait there is another game tomorrow night", you say. Well, take a look at Johnsons career stats versus the Sox. He fragging owns them. So tonight is the night to prevent the sweep. My confidence level for that is at 10%.

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 79 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

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

W: D. Haren (8-4) L: J. Beckett (7-5) S: B. Lyon (16)

✫ 1st star - J. Beckett - 8 innings pitched striking out 8 and only walking two batters. A quality start for sure.
⋔ Pitchfork - The fragging offense.

Game thoughts!

Beckett was brilliant as he shut out the D-backs for six innings. One bad inning, started by a lead off walk drawn by C. Jackson. One out later a bloop hit put runners on first and second and then Young doubled to drive in the first run of the game.

Snyder then hit a ground ball to first that Moss (in for an injured Youkilis) misplayed allowed Reynolds to score and the D-backs had the only two runs they would need.

Haren was also very good, as he didn't give up his second hit of the game until the 7th. The first hit was a lead off double in the third by Varitek. Coco though popped up his bunt attempt, Lugo grounded out and after Ellsbury walked, Pedroia struck out ending the threat. Shades of the game played yesterday.

After Pena replaced Haren starting the eighth inning the Sox looked like they might be able to tie up the game, but it just was not meant to be on this night. Of course in June this has been the standard as the Sox were only batting .229 with runners in scoring position and overall are batting .265 at home.

Anyway, the Sox started the inning with an out by Crisp, a walk by Lugo, a single by Ellsbury and a single by Pedroia to load the bases for Drew. On a 2-0 count he hit a deep fly ball to center field that scored Lugo. Manny, after fouling off a couple of pitches then hit a screaming line drive that was caught by the third baseman in a defensive catch. Like I said earlier on this night, it just wasn't meant to be.

Factoid 1 - Jacoby Ellsbury's walk in the third was the first free pass given by Haren to any of the present day Sox batters.
Factoid 2 - At the end of April the Sox were 7-2 in one run games. After tonights loss the Sox are 3-8 since then.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 79 Preview

			@
D. Haren		7-4, 3.26		J. Beckett		7-4, 3.87
Diamondbacks		39-37		Red Sox		47-31

Monday, June 23      Fenway Park  ✠ 7:05 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	47	37	-	6-4	10	9	45	33
Tampa Bay	44	31	1.5	6-4	13	9	41	34
New York	41	35	5.0	8-2	13	9	40	36
Baltimore	38	36	7.0	6-4	17	11	36	38
Toronto	36	41	10.5	2-8	11	19	40	37

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

Diamondbacks: Haren had his finest outing of the year Wednesday night against the A's at Chase Field. The right-hander held his former team to just one run on four hits over seven innings. Haren threw more cut fastballs than he normally does, in part because he figured the A's were more familiar with his repertoire than other teams. He began using the cut fastball this spring but got away from it early in the season. It's an important pitch for him because it gives him something to throw rather than just a straight fastball when he falls behind in the count 1-0 or 2-0.

Red Sox: The right-hander looks for his third win of the month and his first three-game winning streak since winning 20 in 2007. Beckett held the Reds scoreless over seven innings on Sunday at Great American Ball Park, allowing just six hits while fanning six and walking two. Beckett makes this start on seven days of rest after the Red Sox built in a break for him simply for maintenance reasons. Beckett earned a win against the Diamondbacks last June, allowing two runs over eight innings. In his career against Arizona, Beckett is 1-3 with a 5.65 ERA.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Haren

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
J. D. Drew	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333	.333	.333	.667
M. Ramirez	12	6	2	0	1	3	0	2	.500	.538	.917	1.455
M. Lowell	8	4	2	0	0	3	0	1	.500	.444	.750	1.194
K. Youkilis	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.111	.111	.111	.222
J. Varitek	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.167	.000	.167
C. Crisp	12	5	0	0	0	1	0	3	.417	.417	.417	.833
J. Lugo	7	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	.143	.143	.143	.286
Totals	60	18	4	0	1	8	0	16	.300	.323	.417	.739

This line up has faced Haren quite a bit and has some success against him. Haren also has some success against them also as his K rate is better than once every four batters and no walks. If I was Francona though, I would start Casey over Youkilis and Cora over Lugo. Just by making this switch that bottom line would be 70-24-7-0-2-10-0-13-.343-.361-.529-.890.

How about it Terry? Make the smart move here.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Haren	5	1	3	0	30 1/3	28	11	3	8	26	3.26	1.19	6.07
Beckett	5	1	3	0	28 2/3	37	18	5	8	30	5.54	1.57	5.73

A 3.26 era is pretty good versus the Sox but the worrisome detail is that Haren lost his first three games versus the Sox and is 1-0 in his last start versus the Sox. However when one looks at Haren's history at Fenway we see that he has a 4.60 ERA with a 1.66 WHIP. He also only goes 5.22 innings per start at Fenway.

Maybe, after the Sox struggling with the Cardinal starters who had their numbers a look at an old reliable will help this offense.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Haren	15	7	4	0	96 2/3	81	35	10	16	84	3.26	1.00	6.44
Beckett	13	7	4	0	86	80	37	11	17	89	3.87	1.13	6.62

Very similar numbers for Haren and Beckett this year. The ERA is the glaring statistic where Haren has Beckett beat. However, I am confident that Beckett can contain this team. I'm thinking we'll see another fine pitched game by both starters. I'll take the home team in that situation, and what a surprise, thats the Sox!

Inside Edge

Type	All	1st P	Early	2 S	Ahead	Behind	RHB	LHB	Op. BA
Fastball	54 %	62 %	57 %	39 %	40 %	68 %	53 %	55 %	.291
Curves	3 %	5 %	4 %	2 %	2 %	3 %	4 %	3 %	.291
Sliders	23 %	26 %	26 %	17 %	19 %	23 %	25 %	20 %	.213
Change Ups	17 %	5 %	10 %	37 %	34 %	4 %	16 %	18 %	.167
Totals	4,597	1,188	2,767	1,324	1,692	977	2,251	2,346	.243

Nobody is having a lot of success against Haren. Still, he is a fastball - slider pitcher and the Sox actually do fairly well against those type of pitchers. For example, Manny is hitting .280 and Drew .298 versus Right Handed Pitchers on fastballs. They also are hitting very similar numbers on sliders. I really think that Haren will not present as much of a problem as to the big guns as you would think.

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.

Red Sox 2008 Game 78 Recap

Final

Press Pass ✠ Box Score ✠ Play - by - Play ✠ Game Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13		R	H	E
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		3	16	0
Boston	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	2		5	13	0

W: J. Lopez (2-0) L: M. Parisi (0-3)
HR ➢ ➢ Bos: K. Youkilis 2 (13)

✫ 1st star - J. Lester - 7 1/3 innings of two run ball Kevin Youkilis for ending it in the 13th with a bomb.
✫✫ 2nd star - Kevin Youkilis - for ending it in the 13th with a bomb.
✫✫✫ 3rd star - J.D. Drew - a strike to Varitek in the 13th keeps the game tied.
⋔ Pitchfork - The offense - A lead off double in the 10th, 11th, and 12th resulted in bupkis.

Game thoughts!

I have to admit that Jonathan Tyler Lester is making me look bad for placing him in the 3 or 4-starter category. After today's game he is now seventh in the AL with a 3.13 ERA. Not bad, not bad at all for the young left handed pitcher.

Game was delayed for almost an hour and then became a pitching duel. Lester started the game by facing only seventeen batters in five innings with the help of two double plays. He did not run into any trouble until the sixth inning when the Cardinals got back-to-back doubles and a one out single to plate their first two runs.

Pineiro was just as good though as he went into the eighth inning. The only runs he allowed were a seventh inning home run by Youkilis with two outs and he was relieved by Perez in the eighth after Crisp tripled to center field on a ball that Ankiel slipped and fell on while pursing to open the inning.

Perez immediately gave up a sacrifice fly to Lugo to tie the game. After an Ellsbury ground out, Pedroia then singled and stole second, Drew walked, Manny walked and then Lowell walked to force in the second run of the inning and the Sox were finally in the lead 3-2. All three walks came on fourteen pitches with Ramirez and Lowell walking on four straight pitches. Those were the first walks of the game for the Sox.

One run lead going into the bottom of the ninth and Papelbon, who hadn't pitched since the 18th, rested in the pen and I am feeling pretty good. After the bot struck out Ankiel on three swinging strikes and then on four pitches strikes out the hard to strike out Molina I am really feeling pretty good about this game. Then disaster struck.

After throwing seven straight strikes, Jonathon threw four straight balls to walk Duncan. Ok, the winning run, Adam Kennedy, is at the plate so no big deal especially when bot gets to 0-2 on Kennedy with his first two pitches. Only, Kennedy fouled off the next two pitches then hit a ball deep to center field that Coco could not track down (I think he lost the ball in the clouds, possibly what happened to Ankiel also) and bounced off the wall scoring Duncan from first base. This game became the fourth blown save of the year for Papelbon.

The rest of the game was part anxiety and part frustration.

Okajima gave up a bloop single and a walk in the tenth, but escaped trouble by getting a pop up and a strike out of Ankiel. Of course the Sox couldn't take advantage of the lead off double in the bottom of the tenth so anxiety (Okajima) was followed by frustration. Game should have been over but was going to the eleventh inning.

Molina started the eleventh with a single off the wall and Kennedy singled to right with one out. Edge of the seat time once again. After Schumaker flied out to Coco, Aaron Miles loaded the bases on a swinging bunt. I was ready for the blindfold and the cigarette, especially when Terry Francona strode out to the mound calling for Hansen. Three pitches later it was Hansen striding to the dugout and the game was still tied. Only, once again, the Sox could not take advantage of a lead off double (this time by Lowell). Anxiety, frustration, same song, second verse, could get better but going to get worse.

The twelfth saw Hansen retire Glaus, Stavinoha and Ankiel in a one, two, three inning and when Pedroia lead off with a ground rule double I thought the game was about to be over, except the fates wanted more frustration. On the first pitch Drew hits a broken bat line drive that Villone was able to graze and Pedroia was thrown out at third. Two pitches later Sean Casey hit into an inning ending double play and frustration followed. On to the thirteenth inning we went.

After Hansen got Molina to pop out to Youkilis, Francona went to the pen. Don't ask me why he did that, because I don't have a fragging clue. Hansen had been mowing them down and Francona went for the left versus left match up instead of sticking with the hot hand.

Immediately, it looked like it was going to come back to haunt the Sox as Duncan doubled off the wall and two pitches later Kennedy singled to right field. It was on this play that J.D. earned his star for this game.

Charging the ball, he quickly transferred it from the glove to his hand and threw a one-hop strike to Varitek in enough time for Jason to gather himself for the impending collision. Duncan was out by 10 feet and two pitches later the Sox were out of the inning and racing into the dug out. Another extra inning another anxiety attack, by now I was praying for the Sox to get put this game in the win column.

For the fourth straight inning, the Sox had the lead off batter reach base as Lowell singled to left field on the first pitch. Maybe the key to this game was don't hit doubles as five pitches later Youkilis earned his star by depositing the ball into the monster seats. Finally, the Sox were able to close the deal.

The water was dirty!

Factoid - Talk about having someones number - J.D. Drew versus the Cardinals was batting .169 / .290 / .339 going into this game. Needless to say, his 0 for 5 today just makes those numbers even worse.

♊ - Then don't strain your brain trying. Might break something.

Red Sox 2008 Game 78 Preview

			@
J. Pineiro		2-3, 4.02		J. Lester		6-3, 3.18
Cardinals		44-32		Red Sox		46-31

Sunday, June 22      Fenway Park  ✠ 1:35 p.m. ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	46	31	-	6-4	10	9	45	32
Tampa Bay	44	30	.5	6-4	13	8	40	34
New York	40	35	5.0	7-3	13	9	39	36
Baltimore	38	35	6.0	6-4	17	11	35	38
Toronto	35	41	10.5	2-8	11	19	39	37

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

Cardinals: Exhibit 14,591 on why wins are a bad way to judge a pitcher: Pineiro hasn't won since April 29. In the interim, however, he's pitched well enough to win at least three times, most notably in his most recent start, when he allowed a single run over seven innings. Fenway Park probably isn't high on Pineiro's list of favorite places, but he's going well enough that he might be able to erase the bad memories of a frustrating '07 with the Red Sox.

Red Sox: Lester has been Boston's best pitcher over the last few weeks. He has won his last three starts, giving up a total of three runs in 20 1/3 innings. Lester is holding opponents to a .249 average on the season and has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 10 consecutive starts. Lester has thrived at Fenway this season, going 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Pineiro

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
J. D. Drew	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
M. Ramirez	23	10	0	0	3	5	3	3	.435	.536	.826	1.362
M. Lowell	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	--	---	---	---	---
K. Youkilis	9	2	1	0	0	1	0	2	.222	.222	.333	.556
J. Varitek	13	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	.000	.125	.000	.125
C. Crisp	11	4	0	0	1	2	1	3	.364	.417	.636	1.053
J. Lugo	9	3	1	0	1	1	1	1	.333	.400	.778	1.178
Totals	71	21	2	0	5	10	7	14	.296	.375	.535	.910

Unlike the last two days where the Sox have been facing the pitcher for the first time, they know Pineiro. Boy do they know Peneiro. If I was Terry I would sit Lowell for this game and start Casey at first base. At least Casey has seen this guy and is 1 for 4 with a walk. Will be interesting to see what Terry does.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Pineiro	9	3	5	0	50 2/3	69	38	8	22	40	6.75	1.80	5.63
Lester	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

A fragging 6.75 ERA, are you kidding me? Look if the Sox can't torch this guy then this season will be a repeat of 2006. They own this guy, absolutely own this guy. Break out the bats and get ready for a show.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Pineiro	10	2	3	0	56	57	25	6	14	33	4.02	1.27	5.60
Lester	16	6	3	1	96 1/3	90	34	7	38	62	3.18	1.33	6.02

All across the board, except for the K/BB ratio Lester has been better. He needs to challange these Cardinals, especially since the Cards are only 14-12 versus Lefties. He also needs to be a stopper for this team.

Taking a look at espn's scouting / inside edge for Pineiro:

Inside Edge

	ALL	1st PITCH	EARLY	2 STRIKES	AHEAD	BEHIND	VS RHB	VS LHB	OPP BA
Fastballs	58%	63%	60%	49%	49%	73%	59%	57%	.294
Curves	14%	14%	14%	18%	20%	5%	11%	18%	.241
Sliders	17%	16%	16%	20%	18%	12%	25%	6%	.287
Change Ups	11%	7%	11%	14%	13%	10%	5%	19%	.211
Totals	2125	588	1316	593	808	427	1209	916	.273

A fastball pitcher with a pretty good change up and curve ball. Even better is the fact that this year his ERA is over 2 runs higher on the road (2.84 home, 4.99 road) and his ERA during a day game is a horrendous 6.33. I like our chances versus this guy.

♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.