Red Sox 2008 Game 107 Preview

			@
J. Weaver		8-8, 4.08		D. Matsuzaka		11-1, 2.63
Angels		64-40		Red Sox		61-45

Monday, July 28      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
Tampa	61	43	-	6-4	17	15	56	48
Boston	61	45	1.0	5-5	14	17	62	44
New York	58	46	3.0	8-2	20	11	57	47
Toronto	53	52	8.5	6-4	16	22	56	49
Baltimore	49	55	12.0	4-6	18	20	50	54

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

Angels: Weaver had his shortest start of the season when he pitched just three innings against the Indians on Tuesday, exiting with back stiffness. He allowed two runs on three hits, walking two and hitting another. The only positive from his start was that he struck out four of the 15 batters he faced. His outing broke a streak of four straight starts in which pitched at least five innings and allowed two earned runs or fewer. Weaver is 0-2 with a 5.46 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox.

Red Sox: Matsuzaka turned in one of his best performances of the season in his last start, allowing five hits and two runs over 7 1/3 innings in a 4-2 win over the Mariners. After struggling in his first start back from the disabled list, Matsuzaka has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his past five starts. The righty is 6-1 with a 3.02 ERA in nine starts at Fenway Park this season. Matsuzaka is holding opponents to a .202 average. This is his first start of the season against the Angels.

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

Red Sox Batting History vs Weaver

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
D. Pedroia	8	3	2	0	0	0	1	2	.375	.444	.625	1.069
K. Youkilis	15	5	0	0	2	4	1	1	.333	.375	.733	1.108
D. Ortiz	13	6	0	0	2	8	2	2	.462	.500	.923	1.423
M. Ramirez	9	1	0	0	0	1	1	5	.111	.182	.111	.293
M. Lowell	7	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	.286	.375	.286	.661
J. D. Drew	9	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.444	.444	.444	.889
J. Lowry	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
J. Varitek	8	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	.125	.125	.250	.375
J. Ellsbury	3	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	.333	.333	1.333	1.667
Totals	72	23	3	0	5	14	6	12	.319	.367	.569	.937

Not much to say here, those are great numbers against one of the good young pitchers in the league. The bench, except for Cora stinks against this guy and Cora has only faced him 4 times so not much history.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Weaver	5	0	2	0	28	17	17	5	6	23	5.46	1.46	5.60
Matsuzaka	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Wow, I was sure that Daisuke had started a game in the regular season vs the Angels, but I guess not, however this Angels team should be made to order for him since they are not exactly known for their patience.

Pitching Comparisions this year

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Weaver	20	8	8	0	119	116	57	13	35	92	4.08	1.27	5.95
Matsuzaka	17	11	1	0	95 2/3	70	28	5	60	83	2.63	1.36	5.63

Edge Daisuke. All the way except for that WHIP (thanks to the BB's). Would be nice if we saw a blow out tonight.
♊ - Well, let's hope we get some funny hats too.