As my knees hit the floor to do hail mary's etc.

Update: fixed links

Well, 5 games in the next 4 days against the hated spankees. The latest probables show Johnson vs Wang, Lester vs Ponson, Beckett vs Johnson, Schilling vs Mussina and Wells vs Lidle. If you look at ERA's only the series would go Yankee Win, Boston Win, Yankee Win, Yankee Win and Yankee win. What does that remind me of? Of course if that was to happen then the spankees would leave town 4 1/2 games ahead 5 games in the loss column and with 6 weeks left in the season that would mean looking at the wild card again.

If you looked at the pitchers winning percentages then it would go Yankee Win, Boston Win, Boston Win, Boston Win, and a tie. That would be better result for everybody in Boston for sure. Of course the problem is that Denton at Surviving Grady has said 4 wins for the good guys, which means that the first scenario is more likely to happen.

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

Now, just because I am a sucker for punishment I did a little digging over at Baseball Musings and dug up these for you (caution strong stomach required):
Stats from the Sept. 1978 massacre at Fenway:

Yankee Batting Stats here:
Yankee Pitching Stats here:

Red Sox Batting stats here:
Red Sox Pitching stats here:

Those four games were not pretty so lets hope we have better success here.

Idle thoughts since the spankees got spanked today. I took a look at the next few games after the Yankees lost by 10 or more runs this year.

On May 9 the Yankees lost 14 to 3 to the Sox then won their next game (Mussina over Schilling), lost one game (Wakefield), won 2, lost 2, won 2 and then lost 1 at Yankee stadium.

On July 4th at Cleveland the Yankees lost 19 to 1 and then won the next 4 on the road.

On July 29th they lost to the Devil Rays 19 to 6 and then won 5 straight at home.

As you can see, when the spankees lose big, the next day they pull on their pants, shrug their shoulders and forget all about the loss and then start winning games. That was not was I was hoping to find out when I looked at their schedule. Oh, well!

Espn.com's previe here.
MLB.coms press pass should be here sometime before the game 1.

Game 119 in the books

Well, been absent for awhile due to some personal problems. Of course the lackadaisical play of the Red Sox have done nothing to pick up my spirits. 16 and 16 since the All Star break which had 21 games at fenway during those 32 games and watching them just blow a 3.5 game lead and are now 2 games back with 3 more losses just makes me want to relive my Navy days and go on an all night bender that ends with me not remembering anything during the night while I end up praying to the porcelain gods.

Of course this weekend could rejuvenate me, but my feeling is that the Yankees are going to come in and win 4 of the 5 this weekend. The question is can we win 95 games this year, which was my preseason prediction.

Later

Game 108 - Devil Rays 15th of 19

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

Schilling vs James Shields tonight at the beginning of a Six game road trip, followed by an eleven game homestand with the last 5 being against the spankees (1 double header). The Sox need to go no worse than 4 and 2 on this trip and then real off a string of wins. The next 2 and half weeks can make or break this team for this year.

Shields has started one game against the Sox earlier this year. In 5 innings he gave up 5 runs, 3 hrs, 3 walks and 5 k's. Overall in his career he has a 5.43 ERA in 12 starts and a 4 and 5 record. Half of his games have been quality starts and he is 4 and 0 in those starts. Its simple with him, get him out before the 6th inning and you can win baby win.

I am not going to give you any stats for Schilling. I will tell you that he has lost both games at the Trop this year. A recap of the games can be found here and here. The first one was against Kazmir who is not facing us this series. The Devils are 5 and 2 against the sox at the trop. and 1 and 6 in boston. This is a little bit better than against all teams as they are 2 games over at home (27 and 25) and 18 and 39 on the road. Still this is a team that the Sox should stomp all over. Lets go for 3 in a row here boys.

Tonights game will mark the 2/3 point of the season, will be working on a review of the second third to go along with my first third of the season review, which you can find here. I expect to post that sometime on sunday.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
Not sure if there will be a press pass before this game but if there is it will be found here.

Game 107 - Indians 7th of 7

UPDATE: Well that sucked, the Indians win this years series 4 games to 3. grrrrrr

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

Game 107 tonight which closes out the Indians for the year. So far 3 and 3 against these turkeys. We need to get this one badly especially since the Spankees have already won their getaway game today against the Blue Gags. It is definetly turning into the usual 2 team race in the division with the boys in red chasing the pinstripes (however, I think we are alright since we have more wins, can't take those wins away).

As for last nights game well, what can you say, another meltdown by the Indians and another walk off by Loretta. Hey, 12 more and he will catch up with Big Papi. Lets look at today's starting pitchers.

We have Westbrook pitching for the Indians. In his career he has made 4 starts against the Red Sox. You could say that he has had an up and down career against the boys. He has started 1 game at Fenway and was terrible. 6/22/2000 while pitching for the Spankees he went 2 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs for a 13.50 ERA and took the loss. Overall he is 2 and 1 with all of but one his starts in Cleveland being quality starts. In 3 games in the Jake he is 2 and 0 with a 1.59 ERA. Career against the boys he has a 3.20 ERA.

The troubling stat is that this is a sub 500 pitcher (48 and 50) with a 4.39 ERA in 159 games (119 starts). That means he has the soxes number. Let's hope his fenway stats hold out as opposed to his career stats against the boys.

Beckett was pummeled by the Indians earlier this year. This was his first start after the meltdown in Toronto. He went 3 2/3 innings with a one game ERA of 19.64. He only struck out 6 while walking 5. In the last three games Josh is 2 and 0 with a 2.7 ERA. All three of these games have been quality starts. (the last 2 barely qualify). The thing to remember is that he can bounce back after getting drubbed. On 7/14 of this year he got pounded by the A's but on the 24th he got the win by going 6 innings and only gave up 3 runs in his six innings. One, we know that Josh is ultra competitive and he just watched Lester gut out a solid effort last night. Two, Beckett normally gets good run support, as in 5.9 runs per in 22 starts. Thirdly, he is 6 and 1 in 10 starts at Fenway with a very respectable 3.22 ERA. The previously mentioned debacle against the A's has been his only loss at home. He also has seven of his 14 quality starts at home. I look for a big night from the former World Series MVP.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Game 105 - Indians 5th of 7

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

Tonight its Jason Johnson (one of 3 sox starters who have team records under .500) vs CC Sabathia. Did Johnson rediscover his sinker ball in the minors? His record with the PawSox was 2 and 0 with a 3.32 ERA. This will be his first start at Fenway as a Sox. Has started 16 games with the Indians and the Sox this year with a 3 and 10 record ( 0 and 2) and a 6.35 ERA. Can he duplicate Snyder and knock off a run on his ERA?

CC is 7 and 7 this year with a 3.82 ERA. Sabathia has started 5 games against the Sox since 8/29/2001. 3 of these games were quality starts with his first game being his only win. Overall he is 1 and 3 against the Sox pitching 33 1/3 innings giving up 36 hits, 20 runs (19 earned), 7 home runs, 7 BB's, 20 K's, 3 HBp with a 5.13 ERA. His career Stats are 76 and 52 with a 4.07 ERA. This year he has had 11 quality starts in 17 starts. However, his defense has let him down as he has 9 unearned runs in 4 games. All have been losses.

At Boston CC is 0 and 1 in 2 starts with a 3.00 ERA. Both of his starts were quality starts.
* * * * *
As for last night's game? What can we say, as you can see I added Coco's quote to the top of the blog. That says it all.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Game 103 - Angels 3rd of 6

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

Schilling against Lackey in the Series finale. Lackey is 9 and 6 with a 2.89 ERA and Schilling strides to the mound 13 and 3 with a 3.60 ERA. From MLB.com's probable pitchers:

The big right-hander has won his last three starts. The Red Sox are 17-5 when Schilling takes the ball in 2006. At Fenway, he's been masterful, going 8-0 with a 2.71 ERA in nine starts. Lifetime against the Angels, Schilling is 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA.

Lifetime Schilling has started 3 games and appeared in a total of 8 games. As a starter he is 3 and 0 with a 2.25 ERA with 3 quality starts (shortest outing 7 2/3 innings) for a total 0f 24 innings pitched in those 3 games. In two of the games (7/13/2001 at Anaheim and 7/18/2004 at Anaheim) the only runs he allowed were off of 3 home runs. The other start was in Boston and went 7 2/3 innings, 9 hits, 3 runs, 0 hrs, 0 BB and 4 K's.

Lackey has made 8 starts against the Sox with a lifetime record of 0 and 4 with a 6.04 ERA. Half of the starts have been quality starts but his record is 0 and 2 in those. Overall, I think it looks like the Sox have his number. Still this year he has pitched quite well and is 4 and 1 in July. Lets hope, that the Ortiz walk off leads to the bats staying awake tomorrow.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Game 102 - Angels 2nd of 6

Update: Two words to describe this game: BIG PAPI

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

Beckett versus the Angel wonder kid Jered Weaver. Beckett is 13 and 5 with a 4.77 ERA this year. To say the least Beckett has been a streaky pitcher this year. Won his first 3 starts going 7 innings in each of them and all were quality starts. His next 3 starts he went 0 and 1 giving up 5 runs in 7 1/3 innings, 8 runs in 3 2/3 innings and 4 runs in 5 innings. His next 4 starts were all quality starts going at least 6 inning. In his next 3 starts Josh wen 0 and 2 and he had no quality starts giving up 7 runs in 4 2/3 innings, 7 runs in 1 1/3 innings and 3 runs in 5 1/3 innings. His next 3 starts (all against NL teams) he went 3 and 0 with all three starts being quality starts. He then alternated his wins over the next 5 starts with all of the wins being quality start and all of the losses being horrendous.

Weaver is 7 and 0 with a 1.15 ERA in 7 starts this year. All seven of his starts have been quality starts and he has allowed 0, 2, 2, 0, 1, 0, and 1 run in those starts. He has gone at least 6 1/3 innings in each start but has not gone more than 7 innings. To quote Bob Ryan of the Globe "This guy is the goods".

Weaver has never faced the Sox in his short time in the majors, let's hope that he is like his brother when he does face them today. Jeff has made 11 starts and 2 relief appearnces with a 3 and 4 record and a 6.05 ERA. In those 11 starts he had 5 quality starts against the Sox and won 2 of them. At Fenway Jeff was 2 and 2 with a 6.28 ERA in 7 starts (3 quality).

As for the Spankees they get to face Jae Seo of the sparkling 2 and 9 record and 5.71 ERA. I would not be surprised if tomorrow we find the Sox looking up at the Yankees in the standings.


ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Game 101 - Angels 1st of 6

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

Escobar Vs Lester today. Lester has never faced the Angels so it should be interesting to see how Varitek calls the game for him today. I hope that Lester is able to go 7 plus innings but would settle for 6. Escobar has started 9 games against the Sox in his career with 2 wins and 3 losses.

This year Lester is 5 and 0 in 9 starts with a 3.04 Era. In those 9 starts he has had 4 Quality Starts and the team is 6 and 3. He would have more quality starts if he could consistently pitch past the 5th inning. So far he has 5 starts of 5 innings or less.

Escobar is 6 and 9 this year with a 3.88 ERA. This is .45 runs lower than his career ERA and is .42 lower than his career era as a starter. Out of 18 starts he has 12 quality starts this year. Hmmm, 12 quality starts and yet he has a losing record. Looking closely in his 12 quality starts he is 5 and 4 with 3 no decisions. The key to beating him is to come out firing and get him out of the game early.

Escobar at Fenway is 2 and 2 with a 4.70 ERA in 6 games. He has thrown 3 quality starts with his last 2 games (7/18/2003 and 6/3/2005) in Fenway being by far his best starts against the Sox. In his career he has a 4.82 ERA against the Sox as a starter (compared to 4.30) and in all 26 games that he has faced the Sox he has a 4.66 ERA (compared to his 4.33). It looks to me like the Sox have his number compared to the rest of the league in ERA, but his overall record is 78 and 78 and is 5 and 6 against the Sox (62 and 61 as a starter).

It should also be pointed out that the Angels are also in a pennant race as they ar 1/2 game back of the Oakland A's.

Of course I fully expect the lead for the Sox to disappear this weekend. We have 3 games vs the Angels and are facing their top 3 pitchers, while the Yankees are facing the Devil Rays at the Bronx and as usual, no Kazmir in sight for the Spankees. Come Monday morning I expect the Sox to be up by 1/2 game over the Yankees since I find it hard to see a sweep of the Angels.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Game 100 - A's 7th of 10

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

Snyder tries to continue his good starts by facing Oakland for the 5th time in his career. In 24 1/3 innings he has a 4.44 ERA against the A's with his worst start being 10 days ago in Fenway. Personally I thought he pitched ok in that game and was 1 pitch away from getting out of a bases loaded jam with no outs with only 1 run being scored. Unfortunately for Kyle he was replaced by Seanez who promptly allowed 2 more runs to score.

At McAfee Colisuem he is 0-1 having pitched there in 2003 while with KC. In that game he went 7 innings (one of 2 quality starts against the A's), giving up 10 hits and only 2 earned runs. In his 4 starts against the A's he has struck out 16, walked 5 and given up zero home runs. All in all not a bad outings against the A's, just a little unlucky it seems to me.

Haren has started 3 games against the Sox, all of them in Fenway. He is 0 and 3 with a 4.60 ERA in 15 2/3 innings. His last start against the Sox was 11 days ago when he matched up with Schilling. Only one of his starts has been a quality start.

Danny has a career record of 12 and 9 at McAfee, with a 3.75 ERA and as a starter for the A's he is 20 and 21 with a 3.85 ERA. The Sox seem to have his number so lets hope that continues this afternoon.

ESPN.com's baseball preview is found here.
MLB.com press pass is found here.
Yahoo.com baseball preview is found here.

Game 99 - A's 6th of 10

Update: A close game becomes a laugher thanks to plays like these (Nixon sliding in on Teks 3 run double). AP file picture found at Weei.com

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

Schilling goes for number 13 and a tie with Beckett for the lead in victories tonight. Schilling has never started at McAfee stadium. He is however 4 and 0 as a starter against the A's with a solid 3.12 ERA. All but two of his starts has been a quality start, and in the non quality starts he went 5 1/3 innings giving up 3 runs and 6 2/3 innings giving up 4 runs. He has also averaged over 6.5 innings per start against this team. I think the competitive juices will be flowing and when they are flowing in the ace of the staff you can look for him to come out firing on all cylinders. A win tonight would also tie the season series at 3 games each (presently the Sox have losing records against the Indians, Twins, Blue Jays and the A's).

ESPN.com's baseball preview is found here.
MLB.com press pass is found here.
Yahoo.com baseball preview is found here.

Game 98 - A's 5th of 10

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

Well Beckett gets to see if he can exact some revenge for the last time he faced this team (see that disater here) in this opening game of a 3 game series in Oakland. On the road his ERA is over 6 (6.33 to be exact) so there shouldn't be a lot of hope for a quality start by the number 2 man in the rotation. I think that he will respond though. I also expect Randy Johnson to dominate Texas so a win will be necessary to keep that 2.5 game lead in the standings.

The Sox are 16 and 16 against Lefties this year and Zito has already pitched a good one against this team this year, however, I think the Sox typically do better the second time around on these guys and the bats are starting to wake up. The key will be to get to Zito early in the game and not let up on these guys.


ESPN.com preview is here.
MLB.com press pass here.
Yahoo sports preview here.

Game 94 - Texas Game 9 of 9

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

Schilling goes for his 9th straight win at Fenway today. He does it with the following lineup:

Rf - Coco Crisp
2b - Mark Lorretta
1b - Kevin Youkilis
Lf - Manny Ramirez
C - Jason Varitek
DH - Willy Moe Pena
Rf - Gabe Kapler
SS - Alex Gonzalez
3b - Cora

So for all of those WEEI callers who have been calling for Youkilis to bat somewhere else than lead off and for Coco to jump back to the top of the order, you have your wish. Of course if you were to look at my Ideal Line up you will notice that I have Coco leading off, and today shows another reason why this is the way it should stay that way. Two people have jumped around in the order this year Youk and Lowell. Though Lowell has not done well when batting above the 6th spot, Youkilis has been consistent no matter where he starts.

Schilling has made two starts against the Rangers as a Red Sox. In 2004 at Fenway he went 8 1/3 innings giving up 5 hits (2 hrs.) for 3 runs in a quality start that led to a win. This year he started in Texas on opening day going 7 innings with 5 hits (1 hr.) for an opening day win. His only other appearance against the Rangers in a Sox uniform was a relief appearance last year going 2 innings and getting the win for his 1 hit shutout pitching. Overall, 3 appearances for 17 + innings with 17 K's and a 2.60 ERA.

Rheinecker has faced Boston once this year, going 5 2/3 innings with 9 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 bb's and 1 K for a 4.76 era, this game was on 6/10 of this year at fenway park and he had a no decision.

Overall, you have to like the matchups and you know that Schilling is going to try to go 9 innings of shut out ball. Lets hope the bats finally wake up today though or it will be another nail biter.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Wakefield update

According to Gordon Edes, wake is out up to a month with a cracked rib. Hold on to your horses, the next 3 weeks could be a killer.

Game 93 - Kansas City 3rd of 9

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

Beckett against All Star Pitcher Mark Redman today. This will be Beckett's 20th start of the year. In 19 starts he has 11 quality starts and the team record is 12 and 7. Out of 8 starts at home he has had 5 quality starts, all of them wins. His only loss of course was his last one against the A's in which he just stunk, giving up 7 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. Even with this stinker though his ERA at home is still a respectable 3.58. The question with Beckett is which pitcher shows up. Troubling trend is that his last 3 games he is 1 and 2 with a 7.79 ERA.

Redman has started 8 games against the Sox in his career. Overall he is 1 and 7 with a 9.32 ERA and the only win was a quality start (his only one vs. Sox) back in 2002 when he was playing with Detroit. At boston his numbers are actually worse having started 4 games, losing 3 of them with a 10.00 ERA. In his last 3 games he is 1 and 0 with a 5.00 ERA.

What I expect is for the competitor in Beckett to emerge in which he says to Lester, hey kid, watch this as I go out and no hit these boys. Ok, Ok, thats what I hope happens. I honestly think that he will go out and give up 2 or 3 runs, which the way this team is sucking at the plate on this homestand means that he could easily lose this game. Still, you have to like the match up.

ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Game 92 - Kansas City 2nd of 9

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

Lester goes for win number 5 tonight against Brandon Duckworth. Number 5 would be the most wins in a row for a rookie starting pitcher since Suppan had 6 and Duckworth is a good one to try to get that from, since he is 7-17 with a 6.43 ERA in his career on the road. Right handed batters are batting .417 against him this year. Lets hope the bats break out early and often tonight (no more of these late inning come backs in this series ok?).


ESPN.com preview is here.
Yahoo sports preview here.
MLB.com press passe here.

Game 91 - Kansas City 1st of 9

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

What a pathetic performance against the A's this weekend. Only Schilling brought his A game. The worst team in baseball is in tonight and anything less than a sweep of the Royals will, and should be considered a complete failure, especially since you know the M's will choke against the Spankees.

ESPN.com preview is here.
MLB.com press pass is here.

Game 84 - Vs Chi Sox (game 1 of 6)

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

Well, its the Rookie against the grizzled veteran tonight and bragging rights between the last two world series champions at stake. The Sox need to sweep to go 6 and 4 on this road trip (the last long one of the year), chances of that? Who knows? I sure don't, but I think that it is possible to win 2 and that would make them 5 and 5 which would be acceptable. (unlike Surviving Grady I am an optimistic gus)

In 5 starts Lester is 3 and 0 with a 3.08 ERA, but has not faced the ChiSox this year. This is a dangerous lineup so he will need to be on his game to win, personally, I give it a 50 - 50 chance. Too, many times this year we have seen the Red Sox get into a city at 4:30 a.m. only to play flat at the plate.

Of course Buerhle will have a big say in this and if you look at his record against the Sox it is more than respectable. In eight starts, he is 4 and 2 with a 3.93 ERA. The good news, he is only 1 and 1 at home vs the boys with a 4.93 ERA. So, he is hittable at home and we can always hope that the boys come out swinging like they did last night.

ESPN.Com preview here.
MLB.com press pass here.

Tampa Bay wins 3 in a row

You have got to be kidding me. TB wins three in a row! Way to roll over and play like dogs. In order to have a winning record on this road trip the Sox will have to win 4 in a row. Yeah right, like that is going to happen. What a freaking joke.

Game 81 - Tampa Bay (game 12)

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

Well the last game of the first half of the season (all star break is really past the mid point), and the boys are 2 and 2 on this current road trip. Today (it is after midnight right?), Schilling goes against former Sox Casey Fossum. This will be the second Left Hander to start this series for Tampa Bay and the second time this year that Fossum will face the Sox at home.

Schilling has a 7 and 3 record against the Devil Rays as a Sox starter. In those games he has had 6 quality starts with a 4.08 ERA. His numbers at Tampa are actually better than his overall numbers, with a 5 and 3 record, 3.86 ERA and 5 quality starts. He has one loss at Tampa this year (another Kazmir gem) but he did go 6 innings only giving up 3 runs. Curt is 1 and 0 in his last 3 starts this year pitching 19 innings and only allowing 7 earned runs for a 3.32 era. In 13 of his 17 starts this year he has 13 quality starts with the team going 14 and 3 in those starts.

Fossum faced Boston at home once this year going 6 innings and allowing no runs and getting the win back on 4/28. Overall, he has faced the Sox as a starter 4 games with a 1 and 2 record (3 quality starts). His last 3 starts he has went 1 and 1 pitching 16 2/3 innings and allowing 9 earned runs. Casey has made 14 starts this year with 8 being quality starts and a team record of 7 and 7.

With numbers like those I am going with Schilling for the win. (the only disturbing thing that I noticed and makes me pensive, is that the Sox are only 3 and 10 on the turf this year).

ESPN.com preview is here.
If there is a MLB.com press pass it will be here.

Game 80 - Tampa Bay (game 11)

Update: Well a good pitched game by Beckett (another Quality Start 11 this year), but the three solos were more than enough against that Sox killer named Kazmir. Speaking of Kazmir. Do you think the Mets are regretting the trade of Kazmir for Zabrano?

ESPN.Com recap can be found here.

Tampa Bay is the next stop in the 10 game road trip that leads to the All Star Game. Am still catching up on some of my data collecting, been hit or miss here for a while as both work and home activities (see below picture) took up some of my spare time. Should be back to a regular type of posting now though.

Beckett goes against Kazmir tonight, the lefty for the Devils has given us fits in the past but the Sox solved him the last game. I haven't seen any starting line up yet but I fully expect it to be Youkilis in the lead off spot tonight.

ESPN.com's preview is here.

Will post more later, but have to go mow the lawn and do some other outside work.