Red Sox 07 Game 92

			@
B. Bannister		5-5, 3.71		K. Gabbard		2-0, 4.87
Blue Jays		39-52		Red Sox		55-36

Mondy, July 16    Fenway Park | 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	55	36	-	5-5	55	36
New York	45	44	9.0	7-3	51	38
Toronto	45	46	10.0	6-4	46	45
Baltimore	41	50	14.0	5-5	45	46
Tampa	35	56	20.0	2-8	34	57

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Royals: After reeling off a 5-1 record and being named AL Rookie of the Month in June, Bannister ran into a first-inning firecracker on the Fourth of July, when the Mariners jumped on him for four runs. But Bannister, an intelligent pitcher, quickly made adjustments and followed that with six shutout innings. He'll make this start after an 11-day rest period so it'll be interesting to see if he shows signs of rust. Bannister has never pitched at foreboding Fenway Park, either.

Red Sox: Though he didn't get a decision in his last start, Gabbard was on his game against Detroit on July 7. He allowed two runs and only three hits in 6 1/3 innings in Boston's 13-inning loss. His command of his fastball was much improved from his previous starts, so he was able to use the pitch effectively to set up his breaking pitches. It was Gabbard's fourth start of the season, and third since being recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket on June 26.

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

Sox Batting vs Bannister

Nobody on the Sox has faced Bannister except for J.D. Drew who is 1 for 2. Like yesterday, that is not a good sign.

Pitching Comparisions (neither pitcher has faced each team so last 5 starts)

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Bannister	5	3	2	0	31 1/3	33	15	2	12	21	4.31	1.44	6.27
Gabbard	5	2	0	0	25	23	11	2	17	19	3.96	1.60	5.00

Looking at their last five starts this appears to be a pretty even matchup. Gabbard has the edge in ERA and Bannister has the edge in WHIP and IP/GS.

This will be Gabbards third start at Fenway this year. In his previous Fenway starts on 5/20 and 7/2. The lack of being able to go six innings have kept him from getting a quality start. He needs to start getting to the seventh inning if he really wants to help this club. Today just might be that day.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 91 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

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

W: Litsch (2-3) L: Beckett (12-3) S: Accardo (13)

► Hero - The wind - you didn't know how any balls were going to fall
► Goat - The wind - I'm not giving this to Beckett when he goes out and pitches 8 innings of 2 run ball.

Game thoughts!

A freaking pitchers duel that was decided by three batters in the second. The only time that Beckett even came close to struggling. After 8 innings his ERA is now 3.35.

Two for nine with RISP and a player thrown out at the plate to end the fourth leads to this loss. The biggest failure came in the third when Lugo and Crisp started off the inning with singles. With Cora at the plate he tried to lay down a bunt towards third that Litsch was able to grab and get Lugo at third. Papi then swung at the next pitch and hit into a 1-6-3 double play.

With the following numbers - Varitek vs Accardo - 1 for 1, Drew vs Accardo - 0 for 2, Pena vs Accardo - 2 for 5. Why was Hinske batting in the bottom of the ninth? Its even more perplexing when you see that left handed batters were 8 for 64 vs Accardo this season.

Sox have lost 14 games decided by 1 run. Jays are 3 - 0 in those games vs the Sox.

Freaking Jays.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 91

			@
J. Litsch		1-3, 4.74		J. Beckett		12-2, 3.44
Blue Jays		44-46		Red Sox		55-35

Sunday, July 15    Fenway Park | 2:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	55	35	-	6-4	55	35
New York	44	44	10.0	7-3	51	37
Toronto	43	46	11.0	5-5	46	44
Baltimore	40	50	15.0	5-5	44	46
Tampa	35	55	20.0	2-8	34	56

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Blue Jays: Litsch made his first Major League start in more than a month on July 3, against the Athletics. He picked up the loss despite allowing only two unearned runs over seven innings while striking out five. The 22-year-old was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to replace the injured A.J. Burnett, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder. This is the second time Litsch is replacing one of Toronto's top pitchers. Earlier this season, he went 1-2 with a 6.63 ERA while filling in for ace Roy Halladay.

Red Sox: On July 5, Beckett became the 17th Red Sox pitcher to record 12 wins before the All-Star break, joining luminaries such as Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Luis Tiant and Lefty Grove. He allowed three earned runs and nine hits against the Rays over six innings, striking out nine in what was his ninth quality start of the season. Beckett has pitched at least six innings in 12 of 15 starts this year.

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

Sox Batting vs Litsch

No one has faced Litsch - that could be bad.

Pitching Comparisions (Beckett overall VS Jays / At Fenway)

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Overall	6	2	2	0	36	33	21	9	13	22	5.25	1.28	6
Fenway	3	1	1	0	17	13	8	1	9	7	4.24	1.29	5.67

Josh has a mixed bag vs the Jays, when he's good he's good when he's bad he's very bad. The good games were last year in Fenway on 4/11/2006 and this year at Toronto on 5/8/2007.

Aaron Hill and Alexis Rios have been the thorn in Beckett's side. Rios is 3 for 7 with a double and a home run. Hill is 5 for 14 with 3 doubles.

Last nights starters for Toronto are 18 for 77 with three homers and 11 RBI's and 8 walks. They do have 21 k's against him. So, the question is which Beckett shows up the good Beckett or the lousy Beckett. I say the good one.
Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 90 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Toronto	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0		4	11	0
Boston	1	0	2	1	0	5	0	0	X		9	12	0

W: Matsuzaka (11-6) L: McGowan(5-5)
HR - Toronto: Glaus (12), Hill (10) Boston: Ortiz (15), Varitek (9), Hinske (4)

► Hero - Varitek his two run home run broke the Jays backs and started the flood.
► Goat - McGowan - 6 runs in six innings just doesn't cut it.

Game thoughts!

Now that is the way to play the game! Ortiz started this game off with his first home run at Fenway in 34 games. It was good to see the man finally homer at Fenway.

Coco and Julio added another run with a single and a triple. Good to see these two contributing also.

Daisuke had a mediocre start in this game. Four runs in six innings of work. His location was off and he allowed two home runs. Still, he has now faced the Jays three times and earned the win in two of them. He keeps on doing that and we all will be happy.

Finally someone figured out how to shut down Rios. A zero for three night with a walk after killing us for the last two nights. Kudos to the JOS crowd who put the jinx on him.

Was glad to see Hinske playing and blasting the home run. He appears to be a good role player (though it would help if he hit higher than a buck ninety). You never hear or read anything about being unhappy with his playing time etc. You like to see those type of players rewarded and tonight was a good night for him.

Manny Delcarmen is here to stay. Another solid outing from him with four k's. Best of all was seeing him get his last out after a line drive up the middle did a Charlie Brown on him.

Tonight we saw Delcarmen in the eighth and Okajima in the ninth. Worked out well!

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 90

			@
D. McGowan		5-4, 4.65		D. Matsuzaka		10-6, 3.84
Blue Jays		44-45		Red Sox		54-35

Saturday, July 14    Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	54	35	-	5-5	54	35
Toronto	44	45	10.0	5-5	46	43
New York	43	44	10.0	6-4	50	37
Baltimore	39	50	15.0	4-6	43	46
Tampa	35	54	19.0	2-8	34	55

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Blue Jays: In his last outing, McGowan recovered from a rough start against the Mariners to finish his West Coast performance with a bang. The 25-year-old didn't allow a run over seven innings against the Athletics en route to his fifth win of the season. McGowan is now 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA in his past three starts. He is 1-0 with 0.00 ERA in two appearances against Boston over his three-year career.

Red Sox: Matsuzaka definitely didn't have his command in a 6-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers on July 8, the final game before the All-Star Break. His fastball was up and got too much of the plate, as he allowed six runs on 10 hits, including a season-high three home runs, in five innings. That was definitely a departure from most of his starts this season. But Matsuzaka is a polished pitcher, depsite being in his first Major League season, and he should bounce back.

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

Sox Batting vs McGowan

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
M. Ramirez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1.000
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
J. Lugo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	7	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	.143

Not a lot of history here for the bats. Of course that is to be expected since McGowan has only made two appearances and both of those were in relief. Still, he is a right handed pitcher and they have seen him before, so they should not be surprised by anything that he throws at them.

The only bench player to have batted against him is Wily Mo who went 1 for 1. After last night though I would not expect Wily Mo to be starting this game. If Francona does sit Drew, because of his hammy, look for Hinske to be in the line up for that left vs right.

Pitching Comparisions

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
D. McGowan	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	2	0.00	.67	-
D. Matsuzaka	2	1	1	0	13	8	3	1	6	18	2.08	1.08	6.5

Two appearances for McGowan against this team, one on 9/27/2005 and the other 0n 5/3/2006. As you can tell from the numbers, he was pretty effective in both games. His win came in the 2006 game and is vivid because that was Papel-bot's first loss last year. The other appearance was a game in which Timlin notched his 12th save and the bot had his 4th hold in a masterpiece by Wakefield. So, both of his appearances came in high pressure situations and he did the job.

In his two plus seasons, McGowan has made 22 starts averaging 5.23 innings with a 1.52 WHIP and a 5.79 ERA to go with his 6 and 9 record. So, a pitcher with a losing record should be no problem for these bats, but these are the Boston Red Sox we are talking about.

As for Daisuke, what can we say, this will be his third start vs the Jays and he has been very, very good in both of those games. This will be the first time he faces the Jays at home though.

In both of his games vs the Jays he has struck out the side once in each game and struck out four in a row in both games. Of the eight hits only two have been for extra bases, a home run by Overbay in the second game and a double by Rios. Overbay and Rios are the only two who have more than 1 hit vs Daisuke (Rios 3/6 and Overbay 2/6).

Look for him to beat these guys up and notch his eleventh win.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 89 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Toronto	0	0	4	0	0	2	0	0	0		6	12	1
Boston	2	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0		5	10	0

W: Marcum (5-3) L: Snyder(1-2) S: Accardo (12)

► Hero - Rios who just kills the Sox.
► Goat - Snyder - back to back doubles with two outs provides the winning runs.

Game thoughts!

It looked good until the sixth. Manny provided an early pop by depositing a ball into the monster seat with Ortiz on base and just like that the Sox were on the score board. Alas, it was not to last as Tavarez gave up four runs in the third.

Surprisingly, at least from their performance lately the Sox were able to grab a one run lead in the bottom of the third, thanks to a hit by Manny and a triple by Lowell. With Tavarez out after one batter in the fifth though it was left to the bullpen. Theirs won.

How much did Drew going out with a strained hamstring hurt the Sox? In the sixth Hinske was unable to get to Johnsons double before it rattled around the boards allowing Wells to score from first. If Drew is in the game I don't think the runner would have been able to score. More importantly, because J.D. was out, Wily Mo came up to bat in the ninth. Since he had singled earlier in the game, it was only a matter of when he would strike out, and of course he did.

Ortiz is hitting .222 when it is close and late this year. The last three years the lowest he batted was .280 and his OPS for the last four years sees a lowest of .942 (the only one below 1.000).

Lets hope Manny keeps on hitting like this for the rest of the year.


Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 89

			@
S. Marcum		4-3, 3.62		J. Tavarez		5-7, 4.97
Blue Jays		43-45		Red Sox		54-34

Friday, July 13    Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	54	34	-	5-5	53	35
New York	43	43	10.0	6-4	50	36
Toronto	43	45	11.0	4-6	45	43
Baltimore	38	50	16.0	4-6	43	45
Tampa	34	54	20.0	1-9	33	55

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Blue Jays: Marcum is coming off his worst start of the season. He allowed eight runs on nine hits over 3 1/3 innings against the Indians. The long ball caused him the most trouble, as Cleveland went deep three times for a total of five runs. It was the first outing since June 3 that Marcum did not record a quality start, with his ERA as a starter rising a full run, to 3.02. Marcum is 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA in six career outings against the Red Sox.

Red Sox: Tavarez had his worst outing as a Red Sox starter, giving up eight runs on 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings in a 9-2 loss to the Tigers on July 6, his final start before the break. It was the most runs Tavarez had given up since he allowed 10 runs with the Marlins in 2002. Tavarez said he was looking forward to getting some rest and spending time with his son during the All-Star break. He is 2-3 with a 4.57 ERA in 21 career games against the Blue Jays.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
D. Pedroia	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	.000
M. Ramirez	3	1	0	0	1	2	1	1	.333
K. Youkilis	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.200
M. Lowell	5	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	.200
J. Varitek	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
C. Crisp	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
J. Lugo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	28	5	1	0	1	3	3	9	.179

28 at bats does not make a season, but this guy has done very well against the Sox batters and he has been the Jays equivalent of Tim Wakefield, no run support. Now having said that this line up has a potential of creating havoc. The first six all have good OBA and can hit the ball. Tonight they make Marcum hit the shower by the sixth.

Historical Pitching Lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
S. Marcum	1	1	1	0	15	9	3	1	6	15	1.80	1.00	8.00
J. Tavarez	5	2	3	0	43 1/3	50	22	6	14	19	4.57	1.48	4.87

Marcum has pitched six times against the Sox, with his best game being his start last year at Toronto where he went eight innings of two hit ball. Still he has a good record vs the Sox, but I like the way the bats came out of the closet last night, lets hope that continues tonight.

Julian as a starter in Boston has faced the Jays four times with his 4/24/2007 outing being his worst. This year he has pitched 10 inning and allowed 9 runs and 25 hits and 1 walk. Both of his starts this year were early in the season so, I look for him to improve on these numbers.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 88 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Toronto	1	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0		4	12	1
Boston	4	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	X		7	11	0

W: Wakefield (10-8) L: Halladay (10-4) S: Papelbon (21)
HR Tor: M. Stairs (14), A. Rios (18)

► Hero - MANNY - 3 rbi's for the future HOFer
► Goat - Halladay - 41 pitches in the first, 30 in the second - nuff said.

Game thoughts

J.D. Drew started it off by stroking a single to right and it was down hill from there as Youkilis made the first out of the inning by driving in Ortiz on a fielders choice. Biggest at bat of the inning was the ten pitch effort by Dustin Pedroia that led to a walk. Wierdest play was Coco being thrown out at third after rounding the bag to far that ended the inning.

3-4-5 hitters - 5 of 11 with six RBI (Youkilis had 2 walks).

Lugo crawls above the Mendoza line by going 2 for 4.

Really this was a hum drum type of game after the first inning. The only excitement came in the sixth when Stairs and Rios hit back to back home runs to lead off the inning, but Ortiz and Ramirez pushed the lead back to three runs in the bottom of the inning. Both runs scored with two outs in the inning.

Delcarmen looks like he has cemented his position in the pen. Another 1-2-3 inning from him on 12 pitches (9 for strikes).

Another batter with 500 + home runs goes down by the K from Okijima. Everybody drink!
Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 88

Thursday, July 12    Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET

		@
R.Halladay	10-3, 4.46		T. Wakefield	9-8, 4.39
Blue Jays	43-44		Red Sox	53-34

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	53	34	-	5-5	52	35
Toronto	43	44	10.0	4-6	45	42
New York	42	43	10.0	6-4	49	36
Baltimore	38	49	15.0	4-6	42	45
Tampa	34	53	19.0	1-9	33	54

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Blue Jays: Halladay picked up his team-leading 10th victory of the season in his last outing against the Indians. The Jays ace didn't have his best stuff, but he battled through 5 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits while striking out three. Halladay is now 5-1 since returning from an emergency appendectomy on May 31.

Red Sox: Wakefield left to a standing ovation in his last start against the Devil Rays. Unfortunately for his final line, he also left the bases loaded. All three runners eventually scored, as the Red Sox's setup corps were unable to hold the inherited runners. Ultimately, Wakefield hung on for his ninth win, running his career record against the Rays to 16-2. He owns a more modest 14-9 record against the Blue Jays, but a career ERA of 3.75.

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

Historical Pitching Lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
R. Halladay	27	9	8	0	188 2/3	207	98	19	47	141	4.67	1.35	6.99
T. Wakefield	33	13	9	0	215 2/3	208	86	16	73	171	3.59	1.30	6.54

Tim has a pretty good record vs the Jays. The question is which offense will show up tonight, the one who hits Halladay hard or the one who gets shut down?

Red Sox 07 all star break

Standings as of 7/10/2007 (at the all star break).
American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	53	34	-	5-5	52	35
Toronto	43	44	10.0	4-6	45	42
New York	42	43	10.0	6-4	49	36
Baltimore	38	49	15.0	4-6	42	45
Tampa	34	53	19.0	1-9	33	54

Have been mulling over what kind of grades I would give this team this year. Still working on what should be fairly simple chore, but to be honest I am having a hard time getting a feel for this team. June was simply horrible, and yet the lead in the East is still double digits.

Still, here are quick thoughts:

• Starting Pitching - B+


• Relief Pitching - A-


• Infield - B


• Outfield - C


• DH - B


• Bench - B-


• Overall - B

Nothing in depth, those are just what I feel right now. Still, I expect to have something up in the next 24 hours with better a grasp.

Chow!
Why a B for the pitching this is the MLB Rankings for the starters:
1st in ND's
12th in ERA (all) 6th AL
10th in QS (all) 5th AL
2nd in Win %, behind Detroit
6th in WHIP, 3rd AL
3rd average innings pitched (all), 2nd AL
T 7th 8 innings or more (all), T 5th AL
9th 7 innings or more (all), 3rd AL
1st Wins (all)
T 6th fewest losses, 3rd AL

ERA figures for starters:
June 1st to Jul 8th
4.49 ERA for Starters
4.18 ERA entire year
3.98 prior to that

All Star 2007 Report Cards

Various report cards from various writers.

Mike Fine of The Patriot Ledger. (how do you spell disaster?)

Steven Krasner of the Providence Journal. I like how he dissects the various leads, but a Superlative for the nibbler? Not buying that, he's been good, but not superlative.

Tony Massarotti of the Herald. D+ for Coco? (What happened to the text link?)

Bill Burt of the Eagle Tribune. The american league is going through Detroit?

Scott Miller of Sportsline.com

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com.

Red Sox 07 Game 86

Saturday, July 6    Comerica Park  7:05 PM ET

		@
K. Gabbard	5-6, 4.39		J. Bonderman	3-2, 3.81
Red Sox	53-32		Tigers	50-34

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	53	32	-	5-5	52	33
Toronto	42	43	11.0	4-6	44	41
New York	41	42	11.0	5-5	47	36
Baltimore	37	48	16.0	5-5	41	44
Tampa	34	51	19.0	1-9	32	53

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Red Sox: Gabbard couldn't make it out of the sixth on Monday against the Rangers, but he was otherwise effective in a game in which he received seven runs of support. The second-year lefty struck out five, allowing three earned runs over 5 2/3 frames and earned his second win of the season. He has never faced Detroit.

Tigers: Bonderman will know his fate in the All-Star Final Vote a couple days before he takes the mound for his final start before the break. He followed up his first loss of the season by tossing eight scoreless innings last Sunday night in a nationally televised duel with Minnesota's Scott Baker, earning the win in a 1-0 victory. He's 3-4 in his career against the Red Sox, but had two quality starts against them last year while striking out 14 batters over 15 1/3 combined innings.

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

Sox Batting vs Bonderman

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	3	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	.333
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	19	2	0	0	0	2	3	4	.105
M. Ramirez	13	5	1	0	1	2	2	2	.385
K. Youkilis	9	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	.000
M. Lowell	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
J. Varitek	9	1	1	0	0	0	3	4	.111
C. Crisp	38	9	3	0	1	4	4	2	.237
J. Lugo	11	3	0	0	0	1	0	5	.273
Totals	108	21	5	1	2	9	15	25	.194

Since Youkilis is probably sitting this game out he won't have a chance to improve his anemic numbers vs Bonderman. Although Hinske only has one hit in ten at bats vs Jeremy. Of course Hinske's hit was a home run!

Lugo and Cora have almost the same identical stats with Cora striking out less and having a triple. So, don't be surprised to see Cora in the game with his .273 average.

The best stats are by Manny so hopefully he does well today. Of course if I had my way, I would sit big Papi and his .105 average and DH Manny while playing (god, I can't believe I'm saying this), Wily Mo in left.

Wily Mo is 3 for 2 with a double and no strike outs vs the guy, so he might not be a bad choice today. Mirabelli also has better numbers than Varitek (2 / 8).

I wouldn't be surprised to see either or both in the line up today. With the schedule fast approaching the all star break, Tito just might give Papi and Varitek the day off, but we will have to see.

Pitching Stats for Bonderman (since Kason has no history)

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Overall	8	3	4	0	47	50	26	2	19	32	4.98	1.47	5.88
At Home	4	3	1	0	25	25	12	0	13	18	4.32	1.38	6.25

Jeremy has faced the Sox twice every year since 2003. In his last 4 starts he is 3 and 0 with a 3.58 ERA in 27 2/3 innings. His no decision was August 8, of last year. Even that was a good start though as he went 7 2/3 innings only allowing 2 earned runs. The Sox are 40 and 20 against right handers and 25 and 18 on the road, so they have a good chance to do some damage tonight.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 85 Recap

Final

Press Pass || Recap || Box || Play by Play

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1		2	5	1
Detroit	0	0	0	3	5	0	0	1	X		9	15	0

W: A. Miller (4-2) L: J. Tavarez (5-7)
BOS: D. Mirabelli (3) - DET: M. Thames (9), C. Granderson (12)

► Hero - Thames - The grand Slam ended this game
► Goat - Tavarez - A lead off home run in the fifth and with two outs the grand salami, nuff said.

Idle thoughts

No idle thoughts since the game really ended after the fifth, but it was not an unforseeable game since you had the unknown lefty facing the Sox and the fifth starter going.

Chow!!!

Red Sox 07 Game 85

Friday, July 6 Comerica Park 7:05 PM ET

		@
J. Tavarez	5-6, 4.39		Andrew Miller	3-2, 3.81
Red Sox	53-31		Tigers	49-34

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	53	31	-	5-5	52	32
Toronto	41	43	12.0	4-6	44	40
New York	40	42	12.0	4-6	46	36
Baltimore	37	47	16.0	5-5	41	43
Tampa Bay	33	51	20.0	0-10	32	52

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

Red Sox: Tavarez held his own against the Texas Rangers on Sunday at Fenway Park, but received a single run of support in what has become an all-too familiar trend for the Boston rotation. He allowed two runs, only one of them earned, in 5 2/3 innings, but allowed 10 baserunners. He threw 62 of his 106 pitches for strikes.

Tigers: Miller allowed six runs over five innings in his first start against an American League team in an 8-5 loss to the Twins on Saturday. Miller had experienced few problems in his first four starts, with a 3-1 record and 2.70 ERA, all of which came in Interleague Play. While the stats against the Twins may not have looked good, Miller said he felt good that his curveball and changeup have continued to develop into usable pitches to complement his fastball.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

There is no history for any of these players vs Miller. We know what that usually means.

Historical Pitching Line (Tavarez vs Tigers)

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
All Games	2	3	0	0	19 1/3	17	8	2	11	13	3.72	1.45	5.33
Starter	2	1	0	0	10 2/3	11	4	1	8	4	3.38	1.78	5.33

In his career Miller has appeared in 13 games (5 starts), and has a 4.42 ERA. All of his career wins (3) came against the National league. His WHIP is 1.38 and he averages 5.67 IP's / GS. Not bad numbers but it is definitely influenced by his national league appearances. His lone American league start was against the Twins on 6/30 - going five innings and giving up five earned runs in a loss at Comerica.

The last time Julian faced the Tigers in Detroit he stunk (7/6/2001), going 3 1/3 innings with 9 runs (3 earned) and allowing 7 hits and 4 walks. Surprisingly he had a no decision. Earlier this year (5/17), Julian went 7 innings giving up 1 earned run on 4 hits and 4 walks.

I really think that Julian will have another good game, the question is will the Sox support him with some runs of their own? Will have to see.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 game 84 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa Bay	0	0	2	0	0	1	1	0	0		4	11	0
Boston	6	3	4	0	0	2	0	0	X		15	21	0

W: Beckett (12-2) L: Howell (1-3)
HR Bos: M. Lowell (14), C. Crisp (5)

► Hero - Hmmm, Coco for his grand Slam, Beckett for his K's, Lowell for his 3 run home run, and that was just through three innings. - Am going for Coco as his blast just opened the flood gates
► Goat - Howell - for making it a 2 out tour.

Game thoughts

When the game starts with a single up the middle, single to center, a hard hit fielders choice, single to left, single to center, a walk, a bases loaded home run, a strike out, a walk, the second single by the lead off hitter (pitching change) and a fly out to left to end the inning, you know the batters are not being fooled. 11 men sent to the plate and the visiting team after the first inning is down six.

Every batter in the line-up reaches first base via a hit or a walk (Varitek, Lugo and Hinske) before two outs in the second inning. From a Devil Ray stand point, who were in the midst of a 10 game losing streak, to see three runs score on another home run (this time by Lowell) while your team has struck out five times in the first two innings you know its going to be a long night.

Only starter without a hit is Eric Hinske, who walks three times. Thank god for the Devil Rays, as their pitching cures all ills.

Looking Ahead

Looking ahead to the weekend (all games at Comerica Park):

Julian Tavarez, RHP (5-6, 4.39) Red Sox (53-31)        @    Andrew Miller, LHP (3-2, 3.81) Tigers (49-34)
Kason Gabbard, LHP (2-0, 5.79) Red Sox (53-31)         @    Jeremy Bonderman, RHP (9-1, 3.58) Tigers (49-34)
Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (10-5, 3.53) Red Sox (53-31)    @    Nate Robertson, LHP (4-6, 4.86) Tigers (49-34)

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 84

Thursday, July 5    Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET

		@
J.P. Howell	1-2, 5.19		Josh Beckett	11-2, 3.38
Devil Rays	33 - 50		Red Sox	52-31

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	52	31	-	5-5	50	33
Toronto	41	43	11.5	4-6	40	40
New York	40	42	11.5	3-7	36	36
Baltimore	37	46	15	5-5	42	42
Tampa Bay	33	50	19	0-10	51	51

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

Devil Rays: Howell suffered his second loss of the season Saturday night against the Indians, yielding five earned runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings. Howell now has a 9.21 ERA on the road as opposed to his 2.25 ERA at Tropicana Field. He is 0-0 with a 7.71 ERA in one start against the Red Sox in his career.

Red Sox: Beckett was hittable on Saturday night against the Texas Rangers, for no other reason than leaving the ball over the plate throughout a damaging four-run fourth inning. Despite falling short in his bid to win his 12th game, Beckett kept his fastball in the mid-90s and looked sharp for three innings, and he seems primed to bounce back against a struggling Tampa squad.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	3	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	.333
M. Ramirez	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
M. Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000
E. Hinske	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
J. Lugo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	14	2	0	0	1	1	1	4	.143

Most of these players have only faced Howell in one game, we should be able to tell if Coco is out of his slump though since he has almost half of the at bats and struck out three times in six at bats.

Youkilis is sitting due to his quads acting up, but don't be surprised to see him make a pinch hit appearance and maybe even Ellesbury pinch running, if it is a close game.

Historical Pitching Lines vs Opponents

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
J. P. Howell	1	0	0	0	4 2/3	5	4	1	3	7	7.71	1.71	4.67
J. Beckett	3	1	2	0	19 2/3	19	11	5	5	21	5.03	1.22	6.56

Beckett and Howell both made all of their starts last year.

Howell has a pretty good K rate in his start last year but the Sox made him work and knocked him out in the fifth inning. That is good for this team, since they know that they have a game plan for their at bats that worked. Should be interesting to see how it goes tonight.

As for Beckett, what stands out is the K rate, which was greater than one per inning vs the Rays. It also stands out that he gave up five home runs in less than twenty innings (all five in both losses), which helps to explain his high ERA vs this team. Two of his three starts were quality starts. Look for Beckett to rebound from his poor performance against Texas.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 game 83 Recap

Final
Press Pass l Box Score l Play-By-Play l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Tampa Bay	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	0	0		5	9	0
Boston	1	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	X		7	9	0

W: Wakefield (9-8) L: Jackson (1-9) S: Papelbon (20)
HR - TAM: R. Casanova (4) - BOS: M. Lowell (13)

► Hero - a lot to choose from here but I am going with Mirabelli for his 2 run single
► Goat - Jackson - for being a batting practice pitcher

Game thoughts

Coco is in a groove. A lead off triple to start the game and with super utility player Cora at the plate a squeeze play made sure that Wakefield would have a lead in this game, though it would be short lived thanks to Casanova.

Still for Wakefield, you have to celebrate every run that you can get, and with Manny, Varitek, Youkilis and Pedroia sitting this game out you had to figure that the runs would be in short supply. Fortunately for him, they were not as Drew, Ellesbury, Mirabelli and Lowell provided six more runs for him.

Though I am not a big Delcarmen fan, it looks like he is rapidly earning his spurs. Once again Tito brought him into a high leverage situation and he was able to get the job done. Its possible that the Sox have found their late inning right handed pitcher. No more shuttle for this guy.

Drew is officially out of his slumber as he went 2 for 4, scoring a run and knocking in one run with his two doubles. With Coco's resurgence, look for J.D. to fill the five hole in the batting order.

The bot did his job in the ninth as he once again set the Rays down 1-2-3 with two K's.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 83

Wednesday, July 4    Fenway Park  1:05 PM ET

	@
Edwin Jackson, RHP (1-8, 6.88)		Tim Wakefield, RHP (8-8, 4.31)
Devil Rays (33-49)		Red Sox (51-31)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	51	31	-	4-6	50	32
New York	39	41	11.0	4-6	45	35
Toronto	40	43	11.5	4-6	42	41
Baltimore	36	46	15.0	5-5	40	42
Tampa Bay	33	49	18.0	1-9	32	50

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

Devil Rays: Jackson started against the Indians on Friday night and had by far his best outing of the season, holding the Indians to one run on six hits and two walks while striking out six over six innings. Jackson showed good fastball command and a mound presence unseen this season, striking out the final three batters he faced.

Red Sox: Despite admitting that his knuckler lacked its usual bite, Wakefield used his primary pitch to great effect against the Rangers on Friday night at Fenway. He allowed 11 baserunners but just one run over 6 1/3 frames, working his way out of some difficult situations to earn a 2-1 win. Wakefield has dominated the Rays over his career, going 15-2 with a 2.91 ERA in 32 appearances -- including 22 starts -- against Tampa Bay.

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

Hitting History vs Opposing Starter

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
M. Ramirez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
M. Lowell	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Mirabelli	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
C. Crisp	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
J. Lugo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	9	1	0	0	0	0	3	2	.111

Not a lot of history here as the team has only faced Jackson for a total of 14 at bats. I would not be surprised, seeing how Youkilis was limping around last night to see Hinske playing today. It is also likely that we will see Cora today also (1 for 2) for Pedroia.

Historical Pitching Lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Jackson	0	0	0	0	4 1/3	4	2	0	5	4	4.15	2.08	0
Wakefield	22	13	2	0	141	113	48	15	47	87	3.06	1.13	6.41

As you can see Jackson is not totally unknown by the Sox but this is the first game that he has started vs them. Patience has been the key in the past, and should be today also.

Wakefield overall has faced the Devil Rays 32 times (10 relief). Overall he has a 15 and 2 record in 161 innings with a 2.91 ERA. At Fenway he is 7 and 2 in 11 starts with a 3.55 ERA and a WHIP of 1.14 while averaging 6.45 innings per start. Will take those numbers against any team at Fenway. Here's hoping the bats stay alive today for Timmy.

Chow!