Red Sox 07 Game 16

Saturday, April 21 Fenway Park | 3:55 PM ET
NYY Jeff Karstens, RHP (0-0, -.--) Yankees (8-7) @ BOS Josh Beckett, RHP (3-0, 1.50) Red Sox (10-5)

Boston 1 1/2 games ahead Baltimore, 2 Games ahead of NYY and 2 1/2 games ahead of Toronto. 2nd game of 3 game series Boston leads 1 - 0.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: Beckett has started out the season red-hot, winning his first three games. The right-hander has set up his success by commanding his fastball and going more to his offspeed stuff. After allowing 36 homers last year, Beckett has surrendered just one thus far, and it was a solo shot. In his last start, Beckett held the Angels to six hits and a run over six innings while registering five strikeouts. Beckett had mixed results against the Yankees last year, going 2-2 with a whopping 9.45 ERA.

Yankees: Karstens is a likely candidate to be activated in time for this start against the Red Sox. The right-hander, who has been on the disabled list with right elbow tendinitis that developed late in Spring Training, pitched four scoreless innings for Class A Tampa on Monday. Karstens likely would have been New York's fifth starter to open the year and could need one more rehab start, but with the Yankees in need of pitchers, an activation is possible.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter
Has never faced any of the batters.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Beckett	4	2	2	0	20	24	21	5	16	14	9.45
Karstens	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Beckett had two quality starts against the Yankees last year, his first one on 5/9/2006 and his last one on 9/16/2006. In those two starts he went 13 innings giving up 5 runs, 2 HR's and 5 walks to go with 11 K's. The walks were the killer and both of these starts were in Yankee stadium. His only Fenway start last year was the 3rd game of the 5 game series and he was atrocious. He will have his hands full because:

• A-Rod is still smoking hot at the plate.
  
• The spankees have a .304 batting average against Josh (for some reason unable to pull up player stats).
  
• Beckett has to forget Hard, Harder and Hardest and go with the flow.
  
• Is Coco out of his slump?

Since Karstens has never faced the Sox and since Beckett was atrocious last year against this team I give it a 50 /50 chance for a win. See you later my friends as its time for me to try to get some sleep.

Red Sox 07 Game 15 Recap

Final score - Boston 7 NYY 6

Hero - NESN gave it to Cora, but I feel like it was Coco. Seeing him jump on that cutter / fast ball that Mo throws, on the first pitch no less and having it blitz down the line into the corner making it a tie game and him standing on third being pumped got my heart racing. Without that triple they may still be playing this game.

Goat - Tough one to choose in a win, but it has to go to #38. He started out so well with an 8 pitch and 10 pitch 1st and 2nd inning only to lose control in the 3rd through 5th innings. Still am glad he didn't take the loss. Am equally glad that they were able to get to Mo in the 8th.

Besides my comments earlier during the game some other thoughts:

1. Made Mo work but not too much as he still only threw 14 pitches. He was well rested coming into the series so will still be available the next two games.
2. Lot of BS from the managers before this game about it being one of only 18 this year but I noticed a lot of managerial moves, with the biggest one being Mo for a 5 out save.
   
3. I hope Wily Mo was watching J.D. Drew's at bat in the eighth. When the first two batters get on in an inning you have to move them over, not take a K.
   
4. Speaking of Wily Mo, for those of you who are screaming that he should be playing every day, I hope you were watching his at bat in the seventh. Nothing but breaking balls and off speed stuff. He has to hit those if he wants to see his playing time increase.
5. What was Mientkiewicz doing so far off the line in the eighth on Coco's triple. The Yankees scouting report must have been that Crisp is not able to get around on the fast ball, otherwise he would have been guarding the line during Coco's at bat.
6. Schilling struggled badly, not good if you were expecting him to rise to the occasion. Still if every third outing is a stinker followed by two sterling starts this year I like his chances to do really well.
7. What is with Manny going after the first pitch lately?
8. Is Tito losing faith in Pedroia?
9. Varitek seems to be hitting the ball better.
10. Of the regular starters only J.D. Drew is hitting over .300, with Lowell at .296 and Papi at .291. I really wish Tito would change the batting order, because the bats need to wake up if we are going to take advantage of our pitchers going 7 or more innings.
11. Okajima was the hero in the dark tonight.
12. What was Sexy Lips talking to Daisuke about during the ninth?
    
13. If it was just another game in a 162 game season why was the dugout fences lined with players gesturing, moaning, etc. in the eighth and ninth innings

Here's hoping Beckett brings his A-game tomorrow, because we can't afford a 9.45 ERA at this juncture.

Game 16 preview later, need to do some work now.

Press pass for this game is here.

Red Sox 07 game 15 in game posting

In game thoughts -

Top 1st-

• 0-2 Damon, foul ball, 4-3 ground out. Looks like good movement on FB.
• 0-0 Jeter pops up first pitch to Lowell
• 1-1 Abreu sends Coco to the deep part of the park. 8 pitches and Schilling is done

B 1st -

• Lugo down 0-2 and grounds out to Jeter
• Ouch Youkilis hit on the hand on o-2 pitch
• Papi, Pettitte wants no part of Big Papi.
• ok, we have a hit batsman - 4 pitch walk and you swing at the 1st pitch for a 6-4-3 gdp?
• Sometimes the greatest right handed hitter makes me puke.

T 2nd -

• Hottest man alive 1-1 (foul) runs the count to 2 - 2 before hitting a bomb to Coco
• Giambi hits the 1-2 pitch deep to Manny (is the wind blowing in?)
• Posada hits the first pitch deep to Coco. I seem to be writing the word Coco a lot.

B 2nd -

• J.D. Drew single to center
• Of course Lowell hits the GDP on a change up.
• Way to snap out of the slump Varitek

T 3rd -

• 19th pitch is a ball to Cano
• 3 - 0 to Cano who hits Curt pretty well, so he is nibbling a way. 3-1 pitch single to left
• Cabrera stands in, wonder what his numbers are against the Sox. 2-0 pitch fouled off followed by single to center. Schill goes 2 -0 to two batters and they both get singles.
• M alphabet lays down the sac bunt.
• Sox killer JD steps in and we need the K. ugh, rbi for J.D. on the 1-1 pitch.
• Schilling owns Jeter - and starts him off with a fast ball for a strike. 2-1 after missing with the FB. Jeter yaps on the called strike 2. Full count - come on Schill. groan a walk
• Abreu owns Schilling hitting in the .370 range. He is one of the batters I highlighted because he does seem to have Schilling's numbers. (Matsuzaka disease, having a hard time finding the plate as he goes 2-1 to Abreu). Nice splitter there - and a K on the fifth pitch to Abreu.

B 3rd -

• Coco and Pedroia make the automatic outs
• Lugo - way to work the walk from the 0-2 count.
• grrr - Youk just misses a hit down the 3b line.
• Youk singles deep to short. Ok time for Big Papi
• 1-1 to Papi, lets make him work but we need Papi to do something because Manny will blow it
• Aaaargh into the shift, 2nd time in 3 innings we let him off the hook.

T 4th-

• A - rod goes deep on the 0-1 pitch. 2 - 0 spankees. Schill is struggling
• K for Giambi.
• 2-2 to Posada - Posada owns Schilling almost .500 OBP. Double down the line ugly
• Cano grounds to Youk on the first pitch.
• Cabrera - remember his catch against Manny last year in NY to preserve the 2-1 yankee win. That was the start of the downfall in my mind. 59 pitches takes him to 1-2.

B 4th -

• 6o pitches for Schilling - 42 in the last two innings, not good, looks like an early night for the bullpen. Title for game 15 post on 38 pitches.com "I sucked"
• ??? Posada is out of the game?
• Great success against Pettitte but Manny continues his struggles against Left handers as he K's.
• J.D. stands in, need a HR J.D., because nobody is going to knock you in buddy.
• Pettitte is approaching 6o pitches as Abreu tries to steal a single from J.D.
• Mr. Double play steps in.
• Well no double play as J.D. is thrown out. Missed sign?
• jeez - wall single for Lowell.
• If this becomes a battle of bull pens, my money is on the spankees. Torre hasn't had a chance to burn them out yet.
• Tek goes deep - yippee as we tie the game up.
• Coco - keep it going buddy - Full count, watch for the curve ball. ooh, cutter. Well, so, much for that as he ground out to jetes.

T 5th -

• Both pitchers have faced 17 batters. Not great pitching but of equal value as the 2 - 2 score shows.
• Doug M- jeez full count to M alphabet? whew - Coco is getting his moneys worth in CF.
• 1-2 to mr. I'll never play for NY unless they pay me a ton of money. KKK
• Jetes gets a single (2 - 1 or 2 - 0 or 3 - 0 counts have hits or a walk). Schilling is really struggling.
• Marsh stay behind the plate - and call a d*** strike will you.
• 2-0 goes for a single - grrr.
• Since the second it seems like Schill has constantly been behind the hitters.
• aaaghhhh 3 run homer on a 2 - 1 pitch.
• Giambi follows with a single
• Christ that did it, its time to pull Schilling. He's done

B 5th -

• Well what did you expect 1-2-3 inning.
• Anemic offense again tonight which will continue until they move Coco to the 2nd spot.

T 6th -

• 3 pitches 2 outs
• gets dougie m on a ground out - seven pitches and that takes him to 94?

B 6th -

• Papi, should of taken one for the team there bub.
• see, ground out to first.
• another 1st pitch swing by Manny for an out, let us make it easy for him ok boys.
• J.D. hits another single, well at least someone came ready to hit.
• Last out Lowell strikes again. Does Schilling start the seventh?

T 7th -

• Schilling starts the inning with 93 pitches. Not sure this is a good move.
• Romero getting up to face Abreu?
• KKKK for damon.
• Nice play by Julio - to get jetes
• K on Abreu - over 100 pitches for Schilling so let's hope this is it.

To paraphrase the Dunkin Dougnuts - time to get ready for work. An OK outing by Schilling, but I was really expecting better from him. Should be interesting to see the 38 pitch entry.

Red Sox 07 Game 15

Friday, April 20 Fenway Park 7:05 PM ET

Andy Pettitte, LHP (1-0, 1.50) Yankees (8-6) @ Curt Schilling, RHP (2-1, 2.84) Red Sox (9-5)

Boston 1 game ahead NYY and 1 1/2 games ahead of Toronto and Baltimore. 1st game of 3 game series.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: After a rough Opening Day in Kansas City, Schilling appears to be back in true form. On Saturday at Fenway, Schilling dominated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, throwing eight shutout innings and allowing four hits on just 103 pitches, 68 of them strikes. It was the first time Schilling had thrown as many as eight shutout innings since late September in the championship season of 2004. Look for more of the same this season from Schilling, who finally appears to have gained command of his new changeup.

Yankees: Although the Yankees didn't win, Pettitte put in a solid performance in his last start against Oakland on Sunday, when he threw seven innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits. The left-hander has allowed only one earned run in his first two starts. Pettitte will open the rivalry series with a 13-5 lifetime record and a 3.05 ERA 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.

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	8	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.500
K. Youkilis	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
D. Ortiz	22	9	3	0	1	3	2	6	.409
M. Ramirez	59	25	7	0	3	18	5	4	.424
J.D. Drew	8	3	1	0	2	2	1	5	.375
M. Lowell	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Varitek	36	13	1	1	0	4	3	12	.361
C. Crisp	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
D. Pedroia	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
Totals	138	54	12	1	6	27	11	29	.391

Could be interesting to see if Wily Mo Pena starts instead of Coco. WMP is 3 for 7 against Pettitte with 2 rbi's. Other than WMP though the rest of the bench has 1 hit in 12 at bats. Looking at these numbers though you have to wonder how Pettitte has such a good ERA and win loss record against this team.

If you look at Varitek, Ortiz and Manny, you can see that those three are batting .402 with a .615 slugging percentage against this guy. If you add in J.D. Drew and Lugo's numbers the BA goes to .406 and the slugging increases to .695.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Pettitte	21	13	5	0	140 2/3	138	47	4	37	114	3.01
Schilling	14	7	5	0	97 1/3	91	48	18	29	86	4.44

Out of 21 starts Pettitte has had 15 quality starts and has went six innings 17 of those starts. Schilling has 9 quality starts and gone six innings 10 times. So, you have two quality pitchers facing each other. Definitely a #1 vs # 1 game. Must see TV.

What you have to like is this - (from MLB.com press pass) Schilling is 6 and 3 as a Sox but has gone 4 and 1 in his last six starts with a 3.43 ERA. In his last 3 starts at Fenway vs the spankees he is 2 - 0 with a 2.14 ERA (5ER / 21.0 IP). Overall in Fenway as a Sox he is 4 and 1 in 7 starts. 5 of those were quality starts, and he has a 3.97 ERA.

Things to worry about:

• A-Rod is smoking hot, however he is only hitting .194 against Schilling.
• Posada has a .345 average against Curt.
• Abreu has a .370 average against Curt
• Cano has a .353 average against Curt

Those are some pretty high numbers and the way the Yankees as a whole are swinging the bats you have to worry about them. Besides its the spankees.

Recap MLB 07 - Game 14

Final Score - Bos 5 Tor 3

Hero - Cora and Ramirez. Cora for the save on the double play throw from Timlin while getting killed by Overbay saving a 3 - 3 tie in the eighth inning followed by the one out triple in the ninth that put the Sox ahead. Manny because he went from goat (bases loaded 1 out DP) to hitting his first homer of the year to tie the game.

Goat - Manny would have had this locked up if the Jays hadn't have blown the game in the eighth and ninth or I should say would have tied with the Captain. Varitek has to get going or the bottom of the order is really going to look pathetic.

Of course part of the problem is that on weekday games I usually don't get to see the game. I have to make do with WTIC, and due to the in and out nature of the job, I usually don't get to listen to a whole inning. That was true today and Manny might have played much better than it sounded, but every time I got in the car it seemed that Manny just left a ton of players on base in a game where the starter was mowing down the order. Still, I will gladly take 1 for 4 days from Manny if he will promise to hit in the winning runs in the eighth or ninth innings.

I notice by looking at the box score that Coco went 2 for 4 again with a Sac Fly. Hmm, second game in the last three that Coco was not hitting in the bottom third of the order and he gets 2 hits. Is there a pattern there?

Not much else for rambling thoughts on this game. A good win for the boys and the way you want to leave a town on an abbreviated road trip, especially a town where you have had your lunch handed to you over the last two years.

MLB.Com press pass is located here.

MLB 07 - Game 14

Thursday, April 19 Rogers Centre 12:37 PM ET

Julian Tavarez, RHP (0-1, 9.00) Red Sox (8-5) @ Roy Halladay, RHP (2-0, 2.35) Blue Jays (8-6)

Boston 1/2 game ahead of Toronto, 1 game ahead of Baltimore and NYY. Rubber game of 3 game series.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: Tavarez will be making his first start in 12 days when he finally gets the ball in the series finale against the Blue Jays. Tavarez lost his only start this season on April 7, when he allowed six hits and four runs in four innings. Command was an issue as he walked five while striking out three in his 2007 debut as Boston?s fifth starter. Tavarez has twice had his second start pushed back, with Red Sox rainouts on April 12 and again on Sunday the reason.

Blue Jays: Halladay has been his usual dominant self to start the 2007 season. On Friday, he out dueled Tigers ace Jeremy Bonderman to earn his second win of the season. The former Cy Young Award winner allowed only one run on six hits over 10 innings of work against the Tigers. Halladay is 8-7 with a 4.60 ERA in 27 appearances versus the Red Sox.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	31	6	0	0	1	2	2	5	.194
K. Youkilis	16	4	0	0	0	0	4	3	.250
D. Ortiz	58	16	4	0	5	15	2	9	.276
M. Ramirez	61	17	3	0	3	9	5	15	.279
J.D. Drew	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
M. Lowell	8	3	0	0	1	4	1	0	.375
J. Varitek	47	13	4	0	1	9	6	11	.277
C. Crisp	14	4	0	0	1	1	0	1	.286
D. Pedroia	3	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
Totals	238	63	11	0	12	40	20	44	.265

The typical subs and I don't think they will be playing in this game have 26 at bats against Halladay and only have 6 more hits and 7 more RBI's. They do add in the slugging department. Are you going to add Pena? He is 2 for 4 or Hinske who is 1 for 3? The average is good enough that they should be scoring. For what its worth, Ortiz, Varitek and Manny combined are 46 /146 with 9 HR's, 11 doubles, 33 Rbi's and have .277 BA with a .355 Oba and have a slugging of .506 against Halladay. This might be a good time to put Varitek in the 6 slot behind Drew. Don't be surprised if you see Wily Mo in there for Manny also.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Halladay	24	8	6	0	163	171	75	17	39	124	4.14
Tavarez	3	1	1	0	14 1/3	19	11	2	7	5	6.91

Both of Tavarez and Halladay figures are as starters against these teams.

Overall they have the following numbers:

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Halladay	24	8	7	0	168 1/3	185	86	17	44	127	4.60
Tavarez	3	2	2	0	33 1/3	37	13	3	13	13	3.51

As a starter Tavarez had a terrible outing against the Jays in 1993. If you take that game out of the mix Tavarez has a sparkling 3.00 ERA in 12 innings. If he can duplicate his start from 9/22/2006 in the Rogers center (complete game with 1 ER), the team will be in good shape.

Halladay is one of the best pitchers out there. Has a good record against the Sox and is definitely an ace of the Jays staff. Question is whether Tavarez can do like he did last year against the Jays and keep the ball in the infield. I really think the team has a chance in this game if Tavares goes out and gives us 6 solid innings.

Interesting that while Halladay is 97 and 48 overall with a 3.60 ERA that the Sox would have the success that they have had against him.

Other bits of useless trivia - Sox have had 8 straight games where they have allowed 3 or fewer runs. This is the most since they had an 11 game stretch from 4/12 - 4/25, 1988. They have had one seven game stretch with 3 or fewer from 5/11 - 5/19, 1994.

The starters have earned every decision this year. The last time that the starters had decisions in the first 13 games or more was in 1918. That year the first 39 games of the season the starters had the decisions.

The last non-quality start by a starter was Tavarez's start on 4/17/2007 in Texas.

Recap MLB 07 - Game 13

Final Score 4 - 1 Sox, Wakefield wins his 2nd and Papelbon gets his 3rd save. HR's by Lowell, Mirabelli and Ortiz.

Hero - Lowell for breaking up the no hitter with the 2 out Homer in the 5th. I almost gave it to Mirabelli for knockin in 2 of the 4 runs, but Lowell's homer seemed to say, look, we can hit this guy.

Goat - None, a very crisp game for both teams with no errors and good pitching. 2:24 time for the game so this one really moved along well.

Yo, Tito, did you notice how uncomfortable Crisp looked again. Please, I beg of you, move him into the second slot or just admit that you are sabotaging his season so that Ellsbury can start in CF.

Good pitching by Donnelly and Papelbon. Though Papel-bot did make it interesting by giving up his first single and walking his first batter this season. Now, hopefully the game tomorrow won't require his services so that he is fully rested for the Yankee series.

Tomorrow's preview up shortly.

Today's press pass is here.

MLB 07 - Game 13

Wednesday, April 18 Rogers Centre 7:07 PM ET

Tim Wakefield, RHP (1-1, 1.38) Red Sox (7-5) @ Tomo Ohka, RHP (0-1, 7.84) Blue Jays (8-5)

Boston 1/2 game behind Toronto, 1 game ahead of Baltimore, and NYY. Second game of 3 game series. Toronto leads series 1 - 0.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: Wakefield's signature knuckleball had extra bite on a brisk Friday at Fenway, where the 40-year-old starter shut down Vladimir Guerrero and the Angels' bats. Wakefield gave up just five hits and one run in seven innings, lowering his season ERA to a sparkling 1.38. Wakefield yielded just one earned run in his first start of the year against Texas. Wakefield has thrown more Major League innings (217 2/3) against the Blue Jays than any other team. He has a 3.93 ERA against the Jays, but that number rises to 4.75 at Toronto's Rogers Centre.

Blue Jays: Ohka has gotten off to a rough start this season. In his previous outing, the 31-year-old took the loss after allowing four earned runs on eight hits over six innings against the Tigers. That start followed a disappointing performance in Tampa, in which he allowed five runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings. This will be Ohka's first appearance vs. Boston in his career.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	8	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	.250
K. Youkilis	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
D. Ortiz	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
M. Ramirez	18	3	1	0	1	4	1	4	.167
J.D. Drew	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.125
M. Lowell	35	10	1	0	2	5	1	4	.286
D. Mirabelli	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
C. Crisp	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
D. Pedroia	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
Totals	72	17	3	0	3	9	2	11	.236

Cora has faced Ohka 9 times with 1 hit, Hinske 12 times with 2 hits, Varitek has never faced Ohka and Wily Mo has faced him 12 times with 3 hits. The bench players actually lower the BA for the team against Ohka to a .219. Pena might be the only one to play but I would not count on it since that would be 3 games in a row (unless they decide to give Manny the night off) which migh not be a bad idea since he is batting a whopping .167 and has started all of the games so far this year.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Ohka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	----
Wakefield	30	12	8	0	217 2/3	217	95	19	77	172	3.93

Wakefield has appeared in 40 games vs the Jays with 10 being in relief. Below is his records as a starter and reliever.

Role	Games	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Starter	30	11	8	0	195 2/3	193	82	15	67	157	3.77
Relief	10	1	0	0	22	24	13	4	10	15	5.32

In his 30 starts he has 17 quality starts, has went 6+ innings 23 times and gave up 3 or less runs 21 times. Overall, Tim has done a pretty good job against the Jays as a starter.

This is a team that Tim does good against but as usual, the batters in a Wakefield game are facing an unknown pitcher. Don't be surprised if the offense struggles again letting Timmy down. In his last 5 starts against the Jays, Wakefield is 5 and 1 with a 3.18 ERA. His last start was the only loss when the Sox were blanked by Shaun Marcum 5 - 0.

Recap MLB 07 - Game 12

Press Pass for this game here.

Final Score - 2 -1

Hero - Chacin

Goat - Except for Coco and Pena the entire offense for the Sox.

Following are thoughts made during the game action:

3rd inning

• Wily Mo leads off with homer to deep center field. Sox lead 1 - 0. Bottom 1st #9 hitter gets first hit off of Daisuke.

Bottom 4th

• Lowell makes what seems to be an out on a bare handed throw (Vernon Wells), only to have it become the 2nd hit of the game against Daisuke. A walk to the big hurt followed by a single off the glove of Lugo and the score is tied at 1. Another walk loads the bases with still 1 out. Greg Zaun at the plate goes to 3 - 1, followed by ball 4 and the Jays lead 2 - 1. Clayton goes down swinging bringing up the 8th batter of the inning. Last out made on a deep fly ball to Coco. Whew - a base hit by Zaun, Clayton or Smith could have busted this wide open.

Bottom of 5th

• Bouncing back from the horrible 4th, first 2 batters go down by the K. Vernon Wells is the 3rd hitter of the inning and the man who started the down ward spiral of the 4th and he goes down by the K.

Daisuke - goes 6 innings walking 3 (all in the 4th) and striking out 10. His third quality start of the season. Unfortunately for him, the team has holes in the bat all night long.

Top 7th

• Chacin is pulled after two out single by Varitek. Sox had six hits off of Chacin, while Daisuke gave up 3 hits in his six innings. Wily Mo Pops up on first pitch from relief pitcher. Another quality outing by Chacin against the Sox.
• Sox are 0 - 4 this year when trailing after six innings.

Bottom 7th

• Okajima replaces Daisuke, only half of the tvs in Japan switch channels.
• Okajima K's the side. Think he would like to have that first pitch in KC back?

Top of 8th

• How about we get the bats heated up? Pedroia to start the 8th.
• What? J.D. starts the 8th and immediately he goes to 3 - 0 and gets the BB on 5 pitches.
• 1st walk of the evening for the Jay pitchers, Sac bunt by Lugo?
• Wily Mo has no plate discipline in my opinion.
• Lugo goes to 3 - 0, Remdawg says take two strikes, sounds like a plan to me.
• Lugo hits it hard but because J.D. is running its a double play on the line drive. Thus ends the threat as the last batter of the 8th will be Coco, who tries to lay down the first pitch for a bunt hit.
• Coco gets his 2nd hit of the night. Papi needs to take a pitch or two to see if Crisp can steal.
• Time to go get the daughter from dance class.

Top of 9th

• Manny goes down. Pitcher who can't get out lefties? Why is Hinske still on the bench.
• Lowell makes the final out and once again the Sox go down weakly to Chacin.
• Toronto 1/2 game up in the division and the Spankees are killing Cleveland.

Final 2 - 1.

MLB 07 - Game 12

Update: Am I good or what - Pena in, Crisp batting second. Not bad if I do say so myself (pat, pat).

Tuesday, April 17 Rogers Centre 7:07 PM ET

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (1-1, 2.57) Red Sox (7-4) @ Gustavo Chacin, LHP (1-0, 4.91) Blue Jays (7-5)

Boston 1/2 game ahead of Toronto, 1 game ahead of Baltimore, and 2 ahead of NYY. First game of 3 game series.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: Matsuzaka was solid though not spectacular in his last start, giving up eight hits and three runs over seven innings in a 3-0 loss to the Mariners. Matsuzaka has allowed 14 hits over 14 innings over his first two starts. His control has been as advertised, with Matsuzaka striking out 14 batters while walking just two. Opponents are hitting .240 against him. Thanks to a rainout against the Mariners, Matsuzaka will have five days of rest in this start, which is what he became accustomed to in Japan.

Blue Jays: In his last outing, Chacin recorded his first win of the season and continued his strong start to 2007. The 26-year-old lefty surrendered three runs on five hits over five innings against the Royals. Chacin has experienced a lot of success versus Boston during his three-year career. He is 5-0 with an ERA of 4.29 in seven starts.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	15	4	1	0	0	2	0	1	.267
K. Youkilis	10	2	0	1	0	0	2	2	.200
D. Ortiz	16	5	1	0	2	4	2	2	.313
M. Ramirez	11	2	0	0	0	0	3	0	.182
J. Varitek	13	3	0	0	0	2	2	2	.231
M. Lowell	9	3	2	0	0	0	1	1	.333
W.M. Pena	5	2	1	0	0	0	1	0	.400
C. Crisp	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.429
D. Pedroia	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Totals	90	24	5	1	2	8	12	9	.267

I haven't seen the starting line ups yet, but I have the feeling that J.D. Drew will sit out this game since he has never faced Chacin while Wily Mo will be in the line up since he has had some success against this pitcher (although in a limited history). I also, think that Coco will be in the line up since he has success and I would not be surprised if he bats 2nd in the hopes that he can get off the slide he is in. We need Coco to hit and as I have said before, he should be #2 in this line up.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Chacin	7	5	0	0	35 2/3	42	17	3	15	11	4.29
Matsuzaka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-----

Chacin has to be one of the most frustrating pitchers the Sox face. In 7 games against the Sox he has 2 quality starts. However in 5 of those starts he has only given up 3 or less earned runs. What has to kill the Sox is that he seems to get out of trouble all the time and only once has he not lasted at least 5 innings (9/27/2005).

As for Daisuke, he has never faced this team and it will be interesting how he approaches a line up that is patient and yet very potent. This will be a true test of his ability, so let us hope he approaches it the same way as he did the Mariner game.

Recap MLB 07 - Game 11

Final score 7 - 2. Beckett goes 6 innings giving up six hits, walking one and striking out six.

Hero - Beckett for becoming only the third Red Sox pitcher to begin a season by winning each of his first three outings, allowing no more than one run and striking out at least five batters in each of those three appearances. Babe Ruth did that for the Red Sox in 1916, and Roger Clemens did it in 1991 (from Elias).

Goat - give it to the entire Angel team for being swept in this 3 game series by a 25 - 3 score.

Tonight it's a battle of first place teams as Toronto sends Chacin against Matsuzaka.

Press pass for this game was here.

MLB 07 - Game 11

Monday, April 16 Fenway Park 10:05 AM ET
Ervin Santana, RHP (1-1, 6.35) Angels (6-6) @ Josh Beckett, RHP (2-0, 1.50) Red Sox (6-4)

Boston tied with Toronto 1 game ahead of Orioles and 1 1/2 ahead of Yankees. This is the 3rd game of series, Boston leads 2 - 0.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: In Tuesday's home opener, Beckett took another step towards proving that he can break out in the American League in 2007. He was masterful in seven innings against Seattle, allowing just two hits and one earned run while striking out eight. He did not walk a batter, and threw 61 of his 84 pitches for strikes. In two career starts against the Angels, he is 1-0 with four earned runs allowed in 12 innings.

Mariners: Santana struggled with his command early against the Indians on Tuesday night in Milwaukee, and he never found his rhythm, lasting only 4 1/3 innings and giving up six earned runs on seven hits and four walks. He had trouble driving through his delivery and keeping his fastball down, and he also left his slider and changeup in bad locations at key moments. Santana must focus on more first-pitch strikes and getting ahead of hitters to take advantage of his superior stuff.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	9	3	1	1	0	1	0	2	.333
K. Youkilis
D. Ortiz	4	2	1	0	0	2	1	1	.5
M. Ramirez	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
J.D. Drew	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
M. Lowell	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1.000
J. Varitek	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
C. Crisp	2	2	2	0	0	1	1	0	1.000
D. Pedroia
Totals	28	8	5	1	0	4	3	7	.286

Not a lot of history here against Santana. The papers are hinting that Wily Mo will start, but he has never faced Santana while Crisp is 2 for 2 against the Angel starter. Don't be surprised if he does play for Crisp. Along with batting Coco in the worst spot of the line up for him to be batting, I fully expect Tito to sit him for Pena. Most likely Wily Mo will bat 6th, moving everybody else down.

The other 3 subs have 3 at bats with only Cora having a hit against this starter.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Santana	2	1	1	0	11 2/3	10	8	1	4	9	6.17
Beckett	2	1	0	0	12	8	4	0	6	9	3.00

Both of Santana's starts came in 2005, while Beckett's came last year. Santana had one quality start while Beckett had two quality starts. The best thing about his starts were no Home Runs.

The way Beckett is pitching right now you would have to think that the Angels will not have much of a chance, however with a BB every other inning look for the Angels to try to be patient at the plate. Of course all of this is based on the chance that there is a game on Patriots day.

Wk 1 & 2 Stats

Weekly Looks at Batting and Pitching Stats

Week 1 Batting

Team	G	AB	R	H	2b	3b	HR	TB	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	BA	OBP	Slug
Sox	6	198	19	47	11	0	3	67	17	21	39	2	0	.237	.315	.654
Opp.	6	194	21	44	7	3	4	69	20	20	46	2	1	.227	.304	.356

Week 2 Batting

Team	G	AB	R	H	2b	3b	HR	TB	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	BA	OBP	Slug
Sox	4	133	32	37	10	1	3	58	28	23	22	2	0	.278	.451	.436
Opp.	4	129	7	23	8	0	0	31	7	6	23	2	0	.178	.230	.240

Week 1 Pitching

Pitchers	G	W	L	SV	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	K9	BB9	HR9
Bullpen	22	0	0	2	0	18	15	7	2	5	13	3.50	6.5	2.5	1
Starters	6	3	3	0	0	33	29	13	2	15	33	3.55	9	4.09	.55

Week 2 Pitching

Pitchers	G	W	L	SV	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	K9	BB9	HR9
Bullpen	9	0	0	0	0	7	4	2	0	2	4	2.57	5.14	2.57	0
Starters	4	3	1	0	0	29	19	5	0	4	19	1.55	5.9	1.24	0

Recap MLB 07 - Game 10

Not a lot to say, Schilling came out and dominated by throwing 8 shut out innings and thanks to a G. Mathews error and a Molina passed ball, he had all the runs he needed. At the end of 5 innings he had thrown 57 pitches. Overall after 8 he threw 103 pitches with only 1 walk, 4 hits and 4 K's.

Star of the Game - Schilling

Goat - Matthews

Sox are now back in first place with Beckett (hopefully) going to the mound today.

Introducing Tito's Corner

At PLLS we are always looking to help the Sox become a better team. So, today we introduce a new category here at PLLS - Tito's Corner. This will be the label I place on those posts where I think Tito needs some help or if he has done a good job.

I have been looking at some numbers, lets compare a couple of players, both of them young players, at a couple of different places in the batting order. The numbers are their career numbers when batting in certain spots of the line up.

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	GDP	BA	OBA	Slug
Player B	523	163	38	4	14	63	40	67	8	.312	.357	.480
Player A	103	28	7	0	5	20	11	17	1	.272	.356	.485

Now take a look at those averages. Player A has a higher BA and OBA (slightly) while the slugging percentage is also really close to being identical.

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	GDP	BA	OBA	Slug
Player A	88	27	6	0	2	13	19	15	0	.307	.434	.443
Player B	192	53	9	1	7	35	15	27	5	.276	.327	.443

In this situation player A is the one with a higher BA (31 points), has a 107 point higher OBA and they have the same slugging percentage.

So how should these players be batting in the order? Ready for some hints - Player A is Youkilis, player B is Coco. The first comparision is Coco and Youkilis's numbers batting in the 2nd slot of the line up. The 2nd comparison is batting in the 8 spot. It seems clear to me that you should be batting Coco 2nd in this lineup.

MLB 07 - Game 10

Saturday, April 14 Fenway Park | 3:55 PM ET

Hector Carrasco, RHP (0-0, 1.80)Angels (6-5) @ Curt Schilling, RHP (1-1, 4.91) Red Sox (5-4)

Boston 1/2 game behind Toronto, 1 1/2 games ahead of NYY and Baltimore. Boston leads series 1 - 0.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: Schilling proved that his Opening Day debacle was a fluke, bouncing back with a vintage performance against the Rangers. In that one, Schilling held the Rangers to four hits and one run over seven innings while striking out six. Nobody loves pitching at Fenway more than Schilling, who posted a 9-1 record at home last year with a 3.06 ERA. In his career at Fenway, Schilling is 25-8 with a 3.99 ERA. Against the Angels, the righty is 4-1 with a 3.44 ERA in nine outings.

Mariners: Carrasco, 37, is a durable, versatile pitcher who has made 618 big-league appearances, including nine starts. He has almost as much variety as the man he replaces, Kelvim Escobar, and is capable of throwing five pitches in any count. Carrasco stretched out in Spring Training, peaking at 90 pitches, and feels he can get into the sixth inning even though he has thrown only five innings in five games. Escobar is on the 15-day disabled list with an irritation of his right shoulder.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	4	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	.500
K. Youkilis	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
D. Ortiz	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
M Ramirez	14	7	2	0	1	8	3	4	.500
J.D. Drew	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	.667
M Lowell	6	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
J Varitek	6	2	1	0	1	1	2	0	.333
C Crisp	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500
D Pedroia
Totals	24	10	3	0	2	9	5	4	.417

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Carrasco	0	1	2	0	33 2/3	23	8	1	14	29	2.14
Schilling (starter)	4	3	1	0	29	31	12	6	0	23	3.72
Schilling (relief (5 games)	0	1	0	0	5	5	1	0	2	5	1.80
Schilling (total)	4	4	1	0	34	36	13	6	2	28	3.44

Carrasco has never started a game against the Red Sox in his career. However, a his 2.14 ERA is a really good one. His longest outing against the Sox was a 4 1/3 inning performance on 4/12/2000. He had zero hits and runs allowed on that day, but he did walk two batters and struck out two more.

Schillings numbers are good, just not great against the Angels. The good is that only once has he not went 7 2/3 innings against this team and he has not walked any one in those 3 starts. The bad that was his last start on 7/30/2006 (and his only loss). That loss was brutal - 5 innings, 6 earned runs. That was also the game that Trot went down, and Varitek tweeked his knee going around second base. Overall, just a disastrous game for the Sox.

What I think?
Look for Schilling to come out firing on all cylinders. He loves pitching in Fenway and this is six days since his last start so, he should be well rested. The question is how will the bats respond. While most of the starters have good BA's against Carrasco, only Manny and Tek have faced him enough that you can feel comfortable about their outlook. The players on the bench do not have a good history against him as only Hinske has a hit (Cora, Pena and Hinske are 1 - 7).

Recap MLB 07 - Game 9

A close game that became a blow out after Papel-bot came in and went WOW. 4 pitches to Vlad for the K and then the line out to end the 8th with the game in the balance on his sixth pitch of the inning. Will have to look at the rules, but giving him an H in that situation is totally nutty. As far as I am concerned Papel-bot deserves a big S. Was good to see that the bats can make contact when Wakefield pitches.

Star of the game - Mirabelli as it was his Home Run in the 5th that tied the game and his rbi in the sixth put the game out of reach. Kudos's also go to Big Papi and Lowell for contributing 3 rbi's apeice.

Goat - Angel bull pen which did the melt down in the bottom of the 8th.

Glad to see that Timlin can throw an effective 9th with a 9 run lead.

Press pass for this game located here.

MLB 07 - Game 9 Take 2

John Lackey, RHP (2-0, 0.75) Angels (6-4) @ BOS Tim Wakefield, RHP (0-1, 1.50)
Red Sox (4-4)
Boston 1/2 game behind Toronto, tied with NYY and 1 1/2 games ahead of Orioless. Series Opener

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: The knuckleballer continued an unfortunate theme from last season when he was unable to get run support in his first start. Wakefield took a 2-0 loss to Robinson Tejeda and the Rangers. He hopes to have better luck in his home debut against the Angels. This will be appearance No. 228 for Wakefield at Fenway Park, where he is 67-60 with a 4.33 ERA.

Angels: Lackey has it going in the early season, a rarity for him. He says he's made tremendous strides in controlling his emotions during the course of the game -- "I've stepped behind the mound," he said after throttling Oakland on Saturday -- and the results through his last start included the Angels' best start (5-1) since 1970.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	15	2	0	0	0	0	2	4	.133
K. Youkilis	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250
D. Ortiz	20	7	3	1	1	6	4	4	.350
M Ramirez	18	9	3	0	4	11	7	3	.500
J. D. Drew	6	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	.167
M Lowell	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.167
D Mirabelli	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
C Crisp	17	4	0	0	2	2	2	2	.235
D Pedroia
Totals	92	27	7	1	7	19	15	20	.293

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Lackey	9	1	4	0	50 2/3	70	33	8	24	39	5.86
Wakefield	20	8	10		135 2/3	137	71	19	50	88	4.71

Wakefield's numbers include 5 relief appearances against the Angels.

Drew may still get the day off, since Wily Mo is 1 for 1 against Lackey with a double and J.D. is batting .167 against Lackey.

I also would not be surprised if Cora got in the game since he is batting 4 for 13 against Lackey, If he does go in I expect he will take Lugo's place.

Hinske's numbers are terrible agains Lackey so I do not expect him to enter the game.

What I think?
After 8 games this team has been shut out twice. That is not good, not good at all. What is even worse is the Average run per game if you throw out the two shut outs and the two offensive explosions. This team still needs to do better with the bat.

Latest press pass is here.

MLB 07 - Game 9

UPDATE: 5:25 p.m. 4/12/2007 - Game Cancelled make up in May (3 ?) Not sure who will be the starting pitcher tomorrow, or when Tavares will pitch. More later.

Thursday, April 12 Fenway Park 4:05 PM ET

Jarrod Washburn, LHP (0-0, 3.00) Mariners (3-2) @ Tim Wakefield, RHP (0-1, 1.50) Red Sox (4-4)

Boston 1 game behind Toronto tied with NYY and 1 game ahead of Devil Rays. Series tied at 1 game apiece.

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report:

Red Sox: The knuckleballer continued an unfortunate theme from last season on Friday when he was unable to get run support in his first start. Wakefield suffered a 2-0 loss to Robinson Tejeda and the Rangers. He hopes to have better luck in his home debut against Seattle, a team Wakefield is 3-8 lifetime against with a 4.37 ERA. This will be appearance No. 228 for Wakefield at Fenway Park, where he is 67-60 with a 4.33 ERA.

Mariners: The veteran Washburn, who led the staff last season in quality starts with 16, is one-for-one in 2007 but settled for a no-decision as Seattle squandered a three-run lead. He held the Athletics to two runs over six innings in his first start of the season. Washburn has a 3-3 record and 4.66 ERA in his career against the Red Sox, going 0-1 in two starts against them last season.

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

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	15	5	1	0	0	0	2	1	.333
K. Youkilis	7	3	1	0	0	2	2	0	.429
D. Ortiz	14	4	3	0	0	3	4	3	.286
M Ramirez	19	6	0	1	1	4	9	1	.316
W.M. Pena	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	1.000
M Lowell	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
D Mirabelli	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
C Crisp	18	10	5	0	1	4	1	2	.556
D Pedroia
Totals	87	30	11	1	2	14	18	10	.345

MLB.Com says that Wily Mo Pena will be starting today instead of J.D. Drew. Drew has an 0 - 5 history against Lackey, so probably not a bad day to rest Drew.

Historical Pitching lines

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Lackey	10	3	3	0	58	57	30	3	26	40	6.07
Wakefield	13	3	8	1	111 1/3	115	54	15	52	78	4.37

Once again Wakefield gets a tough match up. He faces a team where he has only 4 quality starts out of 13. The good news is his ERA against the Mariners is 1.70 runs better than Lackey's numbers against the Sox. Bad news is you have the #4 starter for the Sox going against the #2 starter for the Mariners.

For those of you who think Varitek should be in the game (discounting the Wake situation), you should take a look at Tek's numbers against Lackey. A .227 BA just doesn't cut it. In fact of the bench players only Cora has any success against Lackey, with his 2 for 3 outing.

What I think?
After 8 games this team has been shut out twice. That is not good, not good at all. What is even worse is the Average run per game if you throw out the two shut outs and the two offensive explosions.

This team is only averaging 3 runs per game (1, 4, 4, and 3). If we expect this team to have an ERA in the 1's then we can live with that average, but it will produce a tremendous strain on our starting pitching. While pitching and defense wins championships, you have to get to the playoffs for that to pay off. A good offense helps you get to the playoffs (see spankees - NY).

The time has come to do what is only natural - PUT COCO IN THE #2 spot of the order. Don't give me this crap about Youkilis is more patient etc. Coco in 523 At Bats (not a small number) has a .312 BA, .357 OBA, and is slugging .480.

Just think about those numbers for a little while. Will post more on this later.

Recap MLB 07 - Game 8

7 innings of no hit ball, while Daisuke Matsuzaka looked like a rookie pitcher, which of course he happens to be at this time in his Red Sox career. Maybe after this outing the hoopla will die down for a while, well until the first time he faces the Yankees.

Star of the game King Felix.

Goat of the Game - you could say the entire batting order but there were at least 4 very good defensive plays behind Hernandez to keep the no hitter going, so no goat tonight. Also, I am not surprised that the bats were stifled; 1) it always seems like when the Sox score 10+ runs like they did yesterday, the next game they stink. 2) as it has been mentioned before this year, the Sox always struggle the first 2 or 3 times in his career they face a pitcher.

Sox Play of the game - lets go for the inning ending double play in the 7th. Nice scoop by Daisuke on the Lugo throw.

Second shut out of the season which is highly unusual for this team. It does get better tomorrow afternoon as Washburn takes the mound. A pitcher that you light up for a 6.07 ERA after a game like this can only be good.

Press pass for this game (#8) is here.