Red Sox 2008 Game 44 Recap

Final

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

W: D. Matsuzaka (7-0) L: J. Suppan (2-3) S: J. Papelbon (12)
HR ➢ Bos: D. Ortiz (8) Mil: M. Cameron (4), R. Braun (11)

☼ Sun - Going with Daisuke here, though Papi's 3 run dinger certainly helped.
☁ Cloud - Offense, kept on getting double plays or wasted chances when they could have tacked on as Mr. T. Francona says.

Game thoughts!

Started off good as the Sox started a 2 out rally in the bottom of the first. Papi walked, Manny got hit, Youkilis then singled to load them up for J.D. Drew. A patient Drew got the free pass on the 8th pitch and it was 1-0. Of course the only bad thing, was that meant bases were loaded for Tek so that meant 1 would be all that we would get in the first.

In the second inning the Sox decided to get things going earlier as Lugo singled with one out, Ellsbury reached on a bunt single and then Pedroia popped out to right. This brought up Big Papi and he delivered with a three run home run into the monster seats on a 3-2 count. 4-0 after two and for the first time in 4 games the Sox didn't stop at 3-0.

The only frustration with the Sox bats were later in the game. A leadoff double in the 4th resulted in no runs as Casey was stranded at second. The fifth inning saw men on 1st and 2nd with no outs but ended on a 4-3-6 double play on J.D. Drew's at bat. The 6th had another lead off double and had men on 1st and 3rd with no outs only to have Lugo ground into a 3-2-5 double play that left Casey at second base with 2 outs. Just frustrating as a fan to watch those wasted chances.

As for Daisuke, well, he was good, very good until the 7th. Six K's and only 2 walks in the first six innings led to shut out ball. In the 7th, he retired the first two batters and at 95 pitches, it looked like he might have a chance to start the 8th inning. Except Youkilis made an error at third base on a hard shot by Weeks, and then Cameron hit his home run over the. A single by braun then had Francona calling for the pen and it was good night Daisuke. Still, a good outing and I would love to see 20+ more starts just like this one.

Factoid: Tek 0-4 with bases loaded this year.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

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!!

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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

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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!

Red Sox 2008 Game 43 Recap

Final

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

W: D. Cabrera (4-1) L: C. Hansen (0-2) S: G. Sherrill (15)
HR ➢ Bos: J. Varitek (4), M. Lowell (4) Bal: J. Payton (3)

☼ Sun - Payton - Grand slam in the 7th off of Okajima changed a 3-2 game to a 3-6 game.
☁ Cloud - The relief could not get it done as Hansen couldn't get anybody out, and Okajima gave up the grand slam to the first batter he faced.

Game thoughts!

What looked like a win quickly became a loss as the Sox middle relievers and the setup arm coughed up the lead in the seventh. Lopez got the first two outs and then gave up an infield single that Pedroia smothered on the outfield grass. Hansen strode to the mound but did not retire a batter by giving up a single, then walking Roberts to load the bases.

Mills called for Okajima with the bases loaded and on the second pitch to Payton it was deposited into the left field seats and that was the ball game.

Factoid - Okajima has now allowed 11 of 14 inherited runners to score.

Eckersly is killing Mills, that was Hansen's inning, he should have faced Payton, not Okajima. If Hansen can't get out Payton, he shouldn't be in the big leagues.

4-6 on this road trip and blown saves littering the trail, most notably today's and the two blown by Papel-bot. That is the difference between this being a good road trip and a fragging huge disapointment.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 43 Preview

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J. Lester		2-2, 4.06		D. Cabrera		3-1, 3.54
Red Sox		24 - 18		Orioles		20 - 19

Wenesday, May 14  Oriole Park at Camden Yards  ✠ 3:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Tampa Bay	23	16	-	7-3	4	4	22	17
Boston	24	18	.5	5-5	7	6	23	19
Baltimore	20	19	3.0	4-6	10	5	18	21
New York	19	21	4.5	5-5	4	5	20	20
Toronto	19	22	5.0	5-5	4	9	20	21

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: The left-hander looks to rebound from Friday's performance in Minnesota when he allowed eight hits and five runs -- three earned -- over 5 1/3 innings. He had allowed just five hits and one run over his two starts prior to Friday. Lester will be making his fifth start on the road, where his ERA (4.87) is more than a run higher than at Fenway (3.52). On the positive side, Lester has gone at least five innings in each of his last five starts overall.

Orioles: It's going to be tough for Cabrera to improve from his last outing. Manager Dave Trembley called it the best of his pitcher's career. Cabrera threw a complete game, allowing just one run and three hits against the Royals on Thursday. Using mainly his fastball and sinker, he forced 18 groundouts and struck out seven batters. Trembley said Cabrera has been steadily improving since Spring Training.

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 Cabrera

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	6	2	0	0	1	1	0	1	.333	.333	.833	1.166
D. Pedroia	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	.600	.600	1.000	1.600
D. Ortiz	17	4	0	0	0	2	8	3	.235	.480	.235	.715
M. Ramirez	10	2	0	0	0	3	3	2	.200	.385	.200	.585
M. Lowell	10	5	1	0	1	7	3	0	.500	.571	.900	1.471
K. Youkilis	13	4	3	0	0	3	3	6	.308	.412	.538	.950
J. D. Drew	9	3	1	0	0	0	3	1	.333	.500	.444	.944
J. Varitek	15	3	1	0	0	3	3	9	.200	.333	.267	.600
J. Lugo	19	3	0	1	0	1	3	3	.158	.273	.263	.536
Totals	104	29	8	1	2	20	26	26	.279	.417	.433	.849

Ok, not bad numbers but lets assume that Lugo and Crisp and Drew can't go in todays game, further more, since it is a day game after a night game lets assume that Tek isn't also playing. By starting Cora, Cash, Casey and playing Youk in right field, we would have a team that would have a 33 for 91 with .363 / .446 / .571 / 1.018 against Cabrera. A man can dream.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Lester	3	3	0	0	18	19	6	2	8	8	3.00	1.50	6.00
Cabrera	11	1	9	0	49 1/3	59	43	3	43	51	7.84	2.07	4.48

Lester has looked good against this team and each time his start has been better than the preceeding start against the O's. If we followed a progression we should see an eight inning start by Lester of shut out ball and only allowing two hits.

Cabrera on the other hand is a disaster waiting to happen vs the Sox. 7.84 ERA! 2.07 WHIP! Almost as many walks as strike outs, the Sox must be salivating to face this guy.

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

Red Sox 2008 Misc post 01

Filed under hmmm from 2003 to 2007

Loc	G	CG	W	L	Sv	Sho	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Home	405	15	261	144	101	4	3679	3778	1936	1769	373	1140	2750	4.33
Away	405	8	209	196	100	1	3546	3624	1928	1780	435	1226	2701	4.50
Total	810	23	470	340	201	5	7225	7402	3864	3549	808	2366	5451	4.42

I was surprised when I looked at this that the team ERA at home is lower, that the pitchers in more innings had given up fewer HR's and had walked fewer batters. A hitters park, has actually been better to the pitchers than the road.

Red Sox 2008 Game 42 Recap

Final

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

W: J. Guthrie (2-3) L: J. Beckett (4-3) S: G. Sherrill (14)
HR ➢ Bal: L. Scott (2)

☼ Sun - Scott - 3 Run HR with two outs in the 3rd was the nail in the coffin.
☁ Cloud - Ramirez - Bases loaded, 0 outs in the 7th and its a 1 - 2 - 3 gdip.

Game thoughts!

Beckett made one huge mistake in the 3rd but that did not decide this game. The third inning started with two singles, but Josh bore down and got back to back K's before facing Millar. On the 1-2 pitch, his fast ball broke over the plate and Millar stroked it to left for a run scoring single. One batter later on the 1-0 pitch, on a very good pitch down and inside to the leftie, Scott crushed one over the scoreboard in right. That would be the last Oriole run of the night.

Still, the Sox had a chance to either tie or get closer in this game. The 7th inning started with a single by Casey (who replaced Crisp in the 6th), a single by Pedroia, and a walk to Ortiz (a wild pitch on the 5th pitch moved up the runners). Bases loaded and the man child was striding to the plate. Tremblay brought in the right handed J. Johnson to face Manny with the game on the line. After four straight foul balls on the 2-2 count, Manny hit a one hopper back to the mound and it became an easy 1-2-3 GIDP. Rally over.

Another road loss, another blown game by the starters and now the Sox need to win the last game of the road trip to make it a non-losing trip. After 42 games the Sox fall out of 1st place behind the Tampa Bay Rays who beat the Yankees in the 11th inning.

Factoid - 2003-2007 the Sox on the road was 209-196. This year the sox are now 10-13 on the road. This includes two 3 game sweeps and one series where they went 1-3. The other four series they have went 3-1 twice, 2-0 once and 1-1 in the last. I'm not ready to jump off the bridge, but it would be nice to see them get back to .500.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 42 Preview

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J. Beckett		4-2, 3.70		J. Guthrie		1-3, 4.32
Red Sox		24 - 17		Orioles		19 - 19

Tuesday, May 13  Oriole Park at Camden Yards  ✠ 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	24	17	-	6-4	7	5	23	18
Tampa Bay	22	16	0.5	6-4	3	4	21	17
Baltimore	19	19	3.5	4-6	9	5	18	20
New York	19	20	4.0	5-5	4	4	19	20
Toronto	18	22	5.5	5-5	4	9	19	21

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Beckett turned in one of his best starts of the season against a Tigers lineup that ranks among the toughest in the Majors. He put runners on in the early innings, but allowed just one run before retiring the final 10 batters he faced. He also struck out eight, including the 1,000th strikeout of his career. Beckett has six career starts against the Orioles, going 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings.

Orioles: Guthrie's been consistent but not spectacular so far this season. His last start went so much like his previous ones. He went 5 2/3 innings and gave up four runs as the O's lost to the Angels. That outing came after his best of the season, when he went seven innings and picked up his first and only win of the season.

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 Guthrie

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA	OBA	Slug	OPS
J. Ellsbury	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
D. Pedroia	5	3	1	0	0	0	2	1	.600	.714	.800	1.514
D. Ortiz	9	3	2	0	0	1	1	2	.333	.400	.556	.956
M. Ramirez	7	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	.286	.286	.286	.571
M. Lowell	7	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	.143	.143	.143	.286
K. Youkilis	10	2	1	0	0	0	1	2	.200	.273	.300	.573
J. D. Drew	5	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.200	.333	.400	.733
J. Varitek	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.167	.167	.167	.333
J. Lugo	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000
Totals	59	14	5	0	0	4	5	9	.237	.297	.322	.619

Not a lot of success against Guthrie. Which makes it all the more surprising that he has no record vs the Sox.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Beckett	6	4	1	0	42 2/3	36	14	4	4	28	2.95	.94	7.11
Guthrie	3	0	0	0	20 2/3	21	6	2	8	12	2.61	1.40	6.22

Good matchup tonight, so Joshie needs to bring his A-game, because Guthrie has had some good success against this team, including Mothers day of last year. Oh, yeah, its the exact same matchup pitching wise. I want the result, just don't wait until the 9th this year.

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

Red Sox 2008 Game 41 Recap

Final

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

W: L. Hernandez (6-1) L: C. Buchholz (2-3)
HR ➢ Bos: M. Ramirez (8)

☼ Sun - A toss between Young and Monroe
☁ Cloud - HH - He got hammered.

Game thoughts!

After Manny hit his bomb in the first I really thought this would be a win. Unfortunately, every time the Twins needed a big hit they got it as they went 5 for 11 with RISP. 6 walks did not help the cause either. That is two horrible starts in a row (both on the road) for the kid. I hope Tito and Farrell have the right buttons to push to get him straightened out of this type of pitching.

Thank god no more games in Minnesota this year.

Factoid - Twins were 13 for 33 RISP in this series and overall 39 of 133. Both are much higher than their season averages.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 41 Preview

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C. Buchholz		2-2, 4.50		L. Hernandez		5-1, 3.83
Red Sox		24 - 16		Twins		19 - 17

Monday, May 12  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  ✠ 7:05 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	24	16	-	7-3	7	5	23	17
Tampa Bay	21	16	1.5	6-4	3	4	20	17
Baltimore	19	19	4.0	4-6	9	5	18	20
New York	19	19	4.0	5-5	4	4	19	19
Toronto	17	21	6.0	6-4	4	9	18	20

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox: Buchholz did not look good in his last start. After winning two of his last three starts, he earned a no-decision, allowing five runs on 10 hits in just four innings in his first career start against the mighty Tigers' lineup. Buchholz let in four runs in the third and one in the fourth to put the Red Sox in a hole. Buchholz faces the Twins for the first time in his short career on Monday.

Twins: In his first career start against the White Sox, Hernandez delivered his 44th complete game. The crafty veteran held Chicago to just one run on seven hits with the lone run coming on a Jermaine Dye solo homer. Mixing in pitches ranging from 59 mph to 85 mph, Hernandez has been teaching the younger arms in the Twins rotation how to keep lineups off-balance by changing speeds. The hope is that Hernandez can do the same in his next 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.

Sox Batting vs Hernandez

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Ellsbury	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
D. Pedroia	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
D. Ortiz	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
M. Ramirez	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.500
M. Lowell	47	17	7	0	1	5	5	7	.362
K. Youkilis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
J. Drew	32	8	0	1	3	5	7	9	.250
J. Varitek	3	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.333
J. Lugo	18	6	1	0	0	0	2	5	.333
Totals	105	34	8	1	5	13	15	21	.324

Among the bench players only Kevin Cash has not faced Hernandez in their career. While Cora only has so so numbers against him (.231/.279/.282/.561 (ba/obp/slg/ops)), well actually those are bad numbers I would not be surprised to see him play for Pedroia tonight.

The best numbers though are by Sean Casey. In 30 PA's he is hitting .520/.567/.760/1.327. He owns Livan, absolutely owns the man. Tito would be foolish to sit him tonight.

In fact Tito should be making sure he has in the lefties tonight. This year lefties are going off on a .323/.343/.521/.864 clip. Those are appreciably above his career stats vs lefties (.285/.357/.444/.801).

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Buchholz	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hernandez	2	0	2	0	8	16	11	2	6	5	12.38	2.75	4

Both of Livans starts came at Fenway and neither of them were good. His first start back in 1999 was his best since he went 6 1/3 innings and only gave up 6 runs (5 earned). Needless to say, the Sox are probably licking their chops to get at him tonight.

Buchholz has never faced the Twins, but I expect an impatient team to have problems with his change up and curve ball. I fully expect HH to win this game.

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

Red Sox 2008 Game 40 Recap

Final

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Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	0	1	3	0	0	2	0	2		8	15	1
Minnesota	0	5	2	1	0	0	1	0	X		9	10	1

W: N. Blackburn (3-2) L: T. Wakefield (3-2) S: J. Nathan (12)
HR ➢ Bos: C. Crisp (2) Min: C. Monroe (2) (4), A. Everett (1)

☼ Sun - Craig Monroe - 2 home runs and 4 RBI's. Which gives him 4 and 13 for the season.
☁ Cloud - Wakefield - By far Wakefield's worst outing at the HHH Metrodome. Brutal, absolutely brutal.

Game thoughts!

Absolutely brutal outing by Timmy. 2 2/3 IP with 6 ER's. This outing was so horrible that it raised his ERA in the dome by .59 and lowered his ip/g by 1/3 of an inning. Going into the game Timmy was 7-3 in 11 games at the dome and had averaged 7 innings plus per win. 8 of his 11 starts had been quality starts, so with that history I liked our chances going into this game.

Still even with the troubles of our starting pitching the Sox made this a game as they kept on putting up runs. 5-0 after the 2nd, was followed by 7-1 after 3, then 8-4 after 4, then 9-6 after 7 and the tying run was on 2nd when Manny made the final out in the 9th. This team is a battling team and no lead is completely safe until the last out is made.

Factoid -
Wakefield's numbers in his 7 wins at HHH - 2.16 ERA, 6.48 k's/9, 2.88 BB's/9, 0.36 Hr's/9, 2.25 k's/bb's and a 1.00 WHIP
Wakefield's numbers in his 4 l's at HHH - 11.42 ERA, 6.75 k's/9, 4.16 BB's/9, 3.12 Hr's/9, 1.63 k's/bb's and a 2.02 WHIP

Those numbers sum up why we love Knuckleball pitchers and why we loath them. When they are good they are borderline greatness. When they are bad though, its open up the windows and let the stink out of the building.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 08 Game 39 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	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	1		5	12	0
Minnesota	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		2	7	2

W: D. Matsuzaka (6-0) L: G. Perkins (0-1) S: J. Papelbon (11)
HR ➢ Bos: K. Youkilis (8), C. Crisp (1), J. Lowrie (1), M. Lowell (3)

☼ Sun - Crisp and Lowrie - Home runs in the 7th made the difference.
☁ Cloud - Home run derbies can't be relied on

Game thoughts!

More games like that are what is needed from Mr. Matsuzaka. After walking 3 batters in the first 2 innings he settled down and pitched a strong 7 innings for the win. Keep it up Daisuke!!!

First career home run for Lowrie and Coco had his first home run of the year. Keep it up guys!!!

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Game 39 Preview

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D. Matsuzaka		5-0, 2.43		G. Perkins		0-0, --- (first career start)
Red Sox		23 - 15		Twins		18 - 16

Saturday, May 10  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  ✠ 7:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	23	15	-	7-3	7	4	22	16
Tampa Bay	19	16	2.5	5-5	3	4	19	16
Baltimore	18	18	4.0	3-7	8	5	17	19
New York	18	19	4.5	4-6	4	4	19	18
Toronto	17	20	5.5	6-4	4	9	19	18

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

Red Sox: Matsuzaka did not have his best control in his last start. He allowed just two hits and one earned run in five innings, but he set a new career high with eight walks. He worked out of four two-on jams, disallowing Detroit to put a runner on third base. Matsuzaka has only faced Minnesota once in his short MLB career, but he gave up two runs on six hits in eight innings.

Twins: Following the move to put Scott Baker on the disabled list with a strained right groin muscle, the Twins called up Perkins to fill Baker'’s rotation spot. The left-hander struggled early this season with Triple-A Rochester but has settled in recently, going 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in seven appearances (six starts). Perkins pitched only 28 2/3 innings in the Majors last season after being sidelined with a muscle strain near his left shoulder. The time he’ has spent with the Twins has also been in a relief role; this will be his first career start for Minnesota.

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

Sox Batting vs Pettitte

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Ellsbury	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
M. Ramirez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
J. D. Drew	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
J. Varitek	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
J. Lugo	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	8	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.250

Not a lot of history here vs Perkins. In fact overall the team has only had 13 plate appearances vs Perkins. Not sure what to think about their chances, but at least the players have seen him before. Still it is the first time he has started at the major league level.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Matsuzaka	1	1	0	0	8	6	2	1	2	8	2.25	1.00	8.0
Perkins	0	0	0	0	4 2/3	2	0	0	1	2	0.00	.64	0.0

Daisuke has one start, last year on 9/28/2008 vs the Twins. It was a very good outing and the Twins didn't score until the 7th inning. Can he repeat that today? I say, Daisuke makes the Twins look silly today!!!


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

Red Sox 2008 Game 38 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	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	0		6	12	1
Minnesota	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2		7	11	1

W: J. Crain (1-1) L: J. Papelbon (2-2)

☼ Sun - Lamb - 2 out, 2 strike single scores the tying and the winning runs..
☁ Cloud - Papelbon - 2/3 ip, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 BB, 0 K's, 18 pitches.

Game thoughts!

Lester puts the team in a hole with a 2 run 1st and a 2 run 2nd and overall, goes 5 1/3 innings with 94 pitches thrown. Still, Lester was in position to get the win thanks to the fifth inning comeback and scoreless pitching by Aardsma and Okajima.

Now normally I'll take my chances with Papelbot in the 9th inning, but even though his Fastball was over 94 mph, everything seemed to be high to me. Including the splitter that he threw to Lamb (pitch was hit just above the knee) after the break, that pitch needs to be diving out of the zone, but it stayed high. 2 games, 2 blown saves for the bot. Not what we needed.

Factoid - since 2001 the record in Red Sox / Twins games at the Metrodome is 7-15. Surprisingly, the overall era is 4.38 for the Sox (3.22 for Twins) in those 22 games. Leading winners for the Twins, Radke 4-0, Santana 3-1 and all others only have 1 win.

♊ - Morbid and creepifing I can handle as long as we do it quiet like.

Red Sox 2008 Season Game 38 Preview

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J. Lester		2-2, 3.94		Boof Bonser		2-4, 4.29
Red Sox		23 - 14		Twins		17 - 16

Friday, May 9  Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  ✠ 8:10 PM ET

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	1 R W	1 R L	X W	X L
Boston	23	14	-	8-2	7	3	21	16
Tampa	18	16	3.5	5-5	3	4	18	16
New York	18	18	4.5	5-5	4	3	18	18
Baltimore	17	18	5.0	3-7	8	5	16	19
Toronto	17	19	5.5	6-4	4	9	19	17

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

Red Sox: Lester snapped a five-start winless streak with his second straight strong outing in a win over the Rays at Fenway Park last Sunday. After going eight innings of one-hit shutout ball in a no-decision against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays, he struggled at the start but worked six effective innings to beat Tampa Bay. He is 1-0 with a 2.84 ERA in his last four starts. The lefty pitched two scoreless innings of relief against the Twins in the final game of the regular season last year, his only work against Minnesota.

Twins: After a terrible first inning against the Tigers in which he threw 45 pitches and gave up six runs, Bonser turned into the hero of the game his last time out. The right-hander pitched five consecutive scoreless innings following the first. He retired 17 of the last 19 hitters he faced on just 54 pitches. He attributed it to locating his fastball and gaining control of his off-speed pitches. Bonser will face another tough challenge when he starts the opener of a four-game series 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.

Sox Batting vs Bonser

Player	AB	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Ellsbury	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
D. Pedroia	6	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	.667
D. Ortiz	6	5	1	0	2	3	0	0	.833
M. Ramirez	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
M. Lowell	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
J. Drew	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	.500
J. Varitek	4	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	.250
J. Lugo	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200
Totals	31	11	1	1	2	5	2	2	.355

Limited history vs these batters, but then again not bad numbers for that limited history. It should be noted that Boof's splits this year shows him doing slightly better vs right handers. Righties are hitting .255/.283/.383 while lefties are at .260/.308/.397 clips.

Pitching Comparisions Career

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP	IP/GS
Lester	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.00	0.00	0.00
Bonser	2	2	0	0	12	13	5	2	2	7	3.75	1.25	6.00

Both of Booth's starts have came at Fenway, and as you can see he is 2-0 against the Sox. Could be an interesting night. Taking a look at Lester's splits I see that he is actually doing better vs right handed hitters. Overall he is .250/.351/.411, but righties are .237/.353/.398 and lefties are .280/.345/.440 this year. Let us hope that the Twins aren't looking at those splits!!!

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

Game 26 of 2008 Red Sox Season Preview

Game 26 at Tampa Bay

AL East Standings  

Team	W	L	Pct	GB	X W	X L
Boston	15	10	.600	--	13	12
Baltimore	13	9	.591	0.5	11	11
Tampa Bay	12	11	.522	2.0	13	10
New York	12	12	.500	2.5	12	12
Toronto	10	14	.417	4.5	12	12

Clay Buchholz, RHP (1-1, 4.79) Red Sox (15-10) @ Edwin Jackson, RHP (2-2, 4.63) Rays (12-11)

Scouting Report: Red Sox: Buchholz pitched brilliantly in his last start, firing six shutout innings in a victory over the Rangers. He allowed five hits and struck out six. Opponents are hitting .274 against Buchholz. This will be his first career appearance against Tampa Bay. Buchholz has given up three earned runs or less in three of his four starts. Buchholz has pitched eight games in his young career, going 4-2 with a 3.12 ERA. Rays: Jackson suffered through another sub-par start Sunday against the White Sox when he allowed six earned runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander continues to show electric stuff, but struggles on the days when his stuff is not at its best. Jackson has worked to try and minimize the big inning, which he did not do well against the White Sox, when he allowed the White Sox to put away the game with a four-run fifth inning.

Associated links for tonights games:

MLB.coms probable.
ESPN.com preview.
ESPN.com recap.
ESPN.com boxscore.
MLB.com Press Pass.

Probable Line Up Vs Jackson

Player	PA	AB	H	2b	3b	HR	RBI	BB	K's	BA	OBP	SLG
Ellsbury	6	5	2	1	0	0	1	1	0	.400	.500	.600
Pedroia	5	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.667	.600	.667
Ortiz	14	9	4	1	0	1	4	5	1	.444	.643	.889
Ramirez	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Youkilis	8	7	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	.143	.250	.286
Drew	12	9	4	3	0	0	2	3	4	.444	.583	.778
Lowrie	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Cash	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000
Lugo	11	11	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.182	.182	.182

Totals

57

45

15

6

0

1

7

11

9

.333

.456

.533

Some pretty good numbers vs Jackson especially from Ortiz and Drew (Pedroia discarded since only 5 PA's). If I was Terry Francona though I would consider sitting Manny tonight and play Coco. In Coco's 14 PA's he is batting .308 / .357 / .462, which is better than Manny's 0-1. Still, Manny is on a roll so, it is defensible to start Manny.

Oh, even if Varitek is healthy, play Cash. At least he has no history which is better than Varitek's 0 for 7.

Pitcher Comparison

Player	GS	CG	GF	W	L	Sv	Sho	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Jackson	4	0	0	2	1	0	0	26 2/3	31	16	16	2	17	23	5.40	1.80
Buchholz	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0

As a starter Jackson has went 22 1/3 innings in 4 starts (high 6 twice, low 5) with both of his wins coming at the Tropicana field. In Tampa he has given up only 4 runs in 11 1/3 innings. So, this guy is tough at home. Very tough at home.

So, do not be surprised if Jackson is tough tonight at the Trop.!

2008 Bruins Playoffs Round 1 Game 7

Fantastic game 5, followed by a beautiful game 6 and now its time for game 7. Go Bruins!!!

Oh, yeah, I say the B's pull it off!!!

Open Thread

Is It 1967 For the Bruins?

A friend asked the following question after the Bruins made their comeback Saturday night; "Does this series at all remind you of the '67 World Series?". My immediate answer was, "Only if they win the series." Promising a recap / thought on that I have probably thought about sixteen hundred ways to make this post (ok, slight exaggeration). Herewith, are my thoughts on this Bruins team and the '67 Sox.

In 1967 I was still in elementary school in a very, very small town in the middle of Arkansas. My father was not a huge sport fan, but he enjoyed baseball and taught me how to follow teams from afar by looking at the box scores. This led to my first experience with algebra, but that is a story for another time. So, even though I remember the 1967 season and the World Series I followed that season from afar and I have to rely on accounts from friends, written stories and various shows that have high lighted the role that team had in the rebirth of Red Sox mania.

Without a doubt, that team brought the Sox back into the forefront of the Boston area. Decades had passed since the last time the Sox had made the World Series and the team was not really expected to make the series that year, but game after game the team had battled, staying in the pennant race. Yaz was having a triple crown season and late in the season seemed to come up with big hit after big hit. Still the race went down to the wire with 4 teams going into final weekend with a chance to win the division.

There was more to that season though than Yaz though. Looking at 1967 from Baseball Race you can see that on 7/9 the Sox were 6.0 games back of the White Sox, in 5th place at 41-39. The first day after the all star break they split a double header with the Orioles. The win in the first game made them 42-39, so they were on pace for an 84 win season. Nothing to really be excited about. Then the magic started to happen.

One week later the Sox were 48-40 and trailed the White Sox by 1.5 games and sitting in 3rd place. Another week went by and the Sox were at 54-41 and had trimmed the lead down to 1.0 games and were in 2nd place. The pennant race was on!

Two spectacular weeks and the Sox were on a major roll, 13 and 2 in those two weeks. That is went the excitement hit Boston. By the trading deadline, Boston was still in 2nd place 2.0 games back. By the end of August, the Sox were in first place .5 games ahead of Minnesota. From that point on, only the Angels would play better (.5 games) for the rest of the season.

Still, they needed a good finish. After splitting two games with Cleveland, the Twins came to Boston with a 1.0 game lead. Two wins later and the Sox were finally back in the World Series. Baseball was back on the map in Boston.

So, how does this relate to the Bruins?

Different level of frustration. In 1967 you had to win the American League to make the playoffs, which oh yeah, was the World Series. The Bruins had the best record of the East in the 2001-2002 season. They were the #1 seed and were set to play the #8 seed Canadians. That is a short time period, and of course they Bruins made the playoffs for the '02-'03, '03-'04, and '04-'05 seasons.

Two seasons of missing the playoffs is not the same as waiting decades.

The frustration with the Bruins has been that they kept on losing in the first round. The frustration is that the Bruins seemed to be discombobulated in the office. So, I think I will stick with my first answer, if the Bruins win this series then the magic will be back. Right now, there is excitement, but is it at the level of '67? I don't think so! No, to really get back on the map, the Bruins need to win this series, then the buzz will be about Hockey and next year the Bruins will see a return of their fans.

2008 Bruins Playoffs Round 1 Game 6

They smoked the Canadiens in game 5, can they do the same at home in game 6? Yes they can!

Bruins Playoff Round 1 Game 5

It is do or die time tonight. Personally, I think they can win this game tonight, but most likely the season will be over for the B's.

Open Thread!!!

bruins playoff game 4 vs le habs

Game 4 tonight!!!

Womens 2008 Final Four Preview

Well, the women get to play their final four games tonight. First up is the #1 Connecticut Huskies vs the #4 Stanford Cardinals. Maya Moore vs Candice Wiggins, well not really as I doubt that Moore will be guarding Wiggins or vice versa. Still it should be a very good game for oh, until about mid way of the second half, at which point I fully expect the Huskies to steadily increase their lead until the final buzzer.

The second game features the #3 Tennessee Volunteers vs the #6 Louisiana State Tigers. This will be the third game between these two conference rivals and will give one of them double bragging rights as this rivalry will continue to grow. In the past I would say that this is a slam dunk win for the Volunteers because of Pat Summit's ability to out coach her SEC rival, but not this year. This year the other coach is pretty good and I expect him to be up to the task. LSU squeezes out a victory.

2008 March Madness Final Four Games Recap

Well, that was enjoyable. Outside of World Series wins by the Sox, nothing makes me smile more than seeing North Carolina getting tarred. Both games ending up being double digit wins but seeing North Carolina down 40-12 after an 18-0 run by Kansas just made me smile. Roy Williams was again out coached, no surprise there, and again failed to win the championship.

So, we have the mid-major Conference representative, Memphis State vs the Mid Major representative, Kansas in Monday nights championship game. Must see TV for sure.
Makes me smile all day just to think about North Carolina being bounced.

2008 March Madness Final Four Games

Well it is Final Four time of the 2008 March Madness, and that means the college basketball season is down to three games, thats right, three games. Four teams left, three games and then it will be time to turn our eyes to the Celtics playoff run, the Bruins playoff run and regular season baseball.

The first game tonight will have the UCLA Bruins vs the Memphis State Tigers at 6:05 p.m. ET. Two contrasting styles as the brutal defense of the Bruins takes on the flashy offensive Tigers. In my opinion, the Tigers are getting no respect and while I believe that defense wins championships, offense wins a lot of semi-final games. I'm going with the Tigers in this game.

The second game has the UNC Tar Heels vs the Kansas Jayhawks at an approximate time of 8:47 p.m. ET. Of course the official "story line" of this game is the "Roy Williams faces his old team". While it is true that Williams did once coach the Kasas five, it is also true that was five fracking years ago, so this team is not Roy's old team but is the Bill Self team that broke the barrier allowing Self to reach the Final Four for the first time in his coaching career.

I'll admit that this game is tough for me to pick. I have an inherent hatred of UNC, I can not fragging stand the school, the team etc., but I have to admit that this UNC team is pretty good, in fact it is probably better than Kansas and should be considered the favorite, but you know what, I just can't stand Roy Williams and I hate, absolutely hate UNC. I'm going with the Jayhawks.