Red Sox 07 Game 67 Recap

Final

Press Pass l Box l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
San Fran	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	0
Boston	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0		1	5	0

W: D. Matsuzaka (8-5, 4.18); L: M. Cain (2-7, 3.15); SV: J. Papelbon (16)
HR: BOS: M. Ramirez (9).

► Hero - Matsuzaka, Okajima, Papelbon and Ramirez - 4 hit ball by the pitchers and 1 big swing by Manny.
► Goat - Bonds, Barry Bonds - 5 pitches and 1 big K in the eighth on no swings

Idle thoughts

J.D. Drew as a lead off hitter is now 4 for 13. OBA is a robust .357. Maybe he has found his stroke.

Manny's home run was a no doubter and was needed badly. Youkilis's hit right after the home run would be the last Sox hit until Coco's single in the eighth.

A good game if you are into pitching. If you are looking for offense, well go to the Mets - Yankees game to see some.

Speaking of the spankees, Mariano comes into an 11 - 5 game and gives up 5 hits and throws over 30 pitches. The spankees better hope its not a close game tomorrow.

Daisuke had me worrying in the fourth and sixth innings. Sad to say, but I keep on expecting a terrible inning from this pitcher, who nibbles too much for me, and was pleased to see that he could make the 1 run lead hold.

Okajima worried me when he allowed the first two in the eighth inning to reach base. I do not like seeing Bonds standing at the plate with the winning run on base. Say what you will about the steroids issue but the man can hit.

What did Farrell say to Okajima in the eighth? What ever it was, remember it John because it worked. Three pitches after the visit Bonds was shaking his head as he walked back to the dugout and the threat was basically over.

Papel-bot looked great. Again his pitches were in the 96-97 range on the fast ball and 95 mph on the split. No K's, but it was a quick and efficient outing.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 67

Saturday, June 16    Fenway Park |  3:55 PM ET
Matt Cain, RHP (2-6, 3.31)
Giants (30-36)

       VS

Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (7-5, 4.52)
Red Sox (42-24)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	42	24	-	5-5	40	26
New York	33	32	8.5	9-1	38	27
Toronto	32	34	10.0	5-5	33	33
Tampa Bay	29	36	12.5	5-5	25	40
Baltimore	29	38	13.5	2-8	33	34

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Giants: Cain turned in a winning performance in his last outing, but as is usually the case with his starts, the Giants struggled to produce any support. Cain has received two or fewer runs of support in eight of his 13 starts. He receive none in his last start against Oakland when he threw seven spectacular shutout innings before giving up a home run in the eighth. The eighth-inning homer was the only run Cain allowed in his eight-inning effort.

Red Sox: Matsuzaka has lost his past three starts, but that isn't indicative of the way he's pitched. In fact, his past two outings have been strong, with the righty yielding a total of four runs over 13 innings. He lost a hard-fought duel to Randy Johnson in his last start, giving up two runs over six innings while striking out nine on Sunday. Matsuzaka has taken some lumps at Fenway Park this season, where he's 3-2 with a 5.62 ERA..

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. D. Drew	7	3	1	0	0	3	1	0	.429
J. Lugo	4	2	2	0	0	3	1	0	.500
Totals	11	5	3	0	0	6	2	0	.455

Drew and Lugo are the only two players who have faced Cain. That usually means big trouble for Matsuzka, as the bats usually hibernate when facing a pitcher for the first time.

Historical Pitching Line Last 10 Games

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Cain	10	2	5	0	64 1/3	60	27	3	34	49	3.78	1.46
Matsuzaka	10	6	3	0	65 2/3	68	37	8	22	61	5.07	1.37

Historical Pitching Line last 5 games

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Cain	5	0	3	0	33 1/3	33	13	3	16	31	3.51	1.53
Matsuzaka	5	2	3	0	31 2/3	39	18	5	9	33	5.12	1.52

When Matsuzaka is bad he is really bad, when he is good he is outstanding.
Look for the Sox to score early and often against this righty.
Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 66 Recap

Final

press pass l Box l Wrap

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

W: J. Tavarez (4-4, 4.97); L: B. Zito (6-7, 4.41)
HR: BOS: D. Pedroia (3).

► Hero - Pedroia - career high 5 hits
► Goat - Zito - 5 1/3 IP, 7 runs, 6 earned.
► Horses Patooie - Umpire Tony Randazzo - Tossing Ortiz in the first

Idle thoughts!

With Julian starting the game off by giving up 2 runs in the first, this looked like it might be another one of "those" games. We couldn't have been more wrong. Thanks to Dustin Pedroia, the game was tied going into the second inning.

All in all, you have to say that Tito punched the right buttons tonight. Combined Drew and Pedroia were 8 for 9 from the top of the order (most of the game they had the only hits for the Sox). Those two also scored 5 runs, knocked in 8 runs and overall made it look easy.

Best of all, the spankees were beaten by the Mets with Perez beating Rojah. It doesn't get any better than that from a Sox fans view point. Lets hope this was not a one night occurrence, but the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Oh, yeah, Tavarez just keeps on beating the opposing teams Ace. Lester will really have to dominate with the PawSox if he wants to be called up to the big club before September.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 66

Friday, June 15                Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET
Barry Zito, LHP (6-6, 4.02)
Giants (30-35)

Vs.

Julian Tavarez, RHP (3-4, 5.25)
Red Sox (41-24)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	41	24	-	4-6	39	26
New York	33	31	7.5	9-1	38	26
Toronto	31	34	10.0	5-5	33	32
Tampa Bay	29	35	11.5	6-4	26	38
Baltimore	29	37	12.5	2-8	33	33

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From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Giants: Zito has won three starts in dominating fashion sandwiched by two awkward losses to his former team. He lost in Oakland on May 18, giving up seven runs in four innings. Over the next 20 innings, Zito gave up one earned run. In losing to the A's in San Francisco on Saturday, he allowed three earned runs on nine hits over four innings.

Red Sox: Julian Tavarez continues to keep the Red Sox in just about every game he pitches as the No. 5 starter. In his last outing against the Diamondbacks, he yielded three runs over six innings, walking one and striking out five. In fact, Tavarez has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his last eight starts. Tavarez pitched for the Giants from 1997-99. Lifetime against his former team, he is 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA.

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	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
D. Pedroia	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333
K. Youkilis	7	2	0	0	0	1	2	1	.286
D. Ortiz	24	10	3	0	2	5	1	2	.417
M. Ramirez	25	5	1	0	3	7	10	2	.240
J.D. Drew	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Lowell	9	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	.222
J. Varitek	25	6	2	0	0	5	3	4	.240
C. Crisp	18	5	2	0	1	5	0	5	.278
J. Lugo	15	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	.200
Totals	126	34	10	0	6	23	16	15	.270

Everybody on the team but Drew has faced Zito, which is good news. As last night proved its those unknown pitchers, especially left handers that give this team trouble. For the season now, the Sox are 10-9 vs lefties. So, the hitters have good numbers vs Zito with hope of success, want to bet that they go 0 for 27 tonight? The last two weeks have been ridiculous.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Zito	13	5	5	1	79	84	42	10	35	58	4.78	1.51
Tavarez	2	2	3	0	27 1/3	24	11	3	11	20	3.62	1.28

Tavarez has faced the Giants 13 times since 2000. Only 12 of those innings were as a starter. Both starts were good starts, just not quality starts as he only allowed 5 earned runs in those 12 innings. This is also the umpteenth time this year that Tavarez has faced the opposing teams Ace. The question is not how Julian is going to pitch but how the freaking offense is going to perform.

Zito has been an up and down pitcher vs the Sox. When he has been good he has been very good, when he is bad he has been very bad. At Fenway he averages 6.2 Innings per game with a 4.65 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. His last three starts at Fenway he has averaged only 5 innings.
Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 65 Recap

·Final l Press Pass l Box l Recap

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

W: J. Francis (6-5, 3.61); L: J. Beckett (9-1, 3.39)
HR: COL: M. Holliday (11), G. Atkins (5).

► Hero - Atkins - Grand Salami in the third
► Goat - Beckett - for giving up said Grand Salami

Game thoughts

Face it this team has lost its offensive mojo, and the way the starters have performed the last two games, it has lost its pitching mojo. In other words this team is playing like crap.

You could feel the game slipping away when Matsui hit a bloop double in the first which led to the Rockies first run. Of course, one run wouldn't have meant alot if with one out and men on first and second the Sox had been able to score. However, just like so many times before this year though, when you needed Manny to get a hit, he once again took a called third strike. Youkilis didn't help by striking out on a pitch out of the zone.

Still, the Sox had a chance to make this a game when in the bottom of the second they got the bases loaded with one out and J.D. Drew looking to tie the game. When you are hitting below .250 though, every hard hit ball seems to find a glove, tonight that was true again as Drew hit a scorcher past Frances only to be caught by a diving Rockie shortstop. To make matters worse, Pedroia struck out on a pitch in the dirt and it was all down hill from there.

To quote Tommy Lasorda, "I could tell in the first inning that Josh did not have his good stuff". Amen Tommy, Amen! 7 1/2 games ahead and the season is quickly going down the drain.

Red Sox 07 Game 65

Thursday, June 14               Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET
Jeff Francis, LHP (5-5, 3.81)
Rockies (31-33)

       Vs.

Josh Beckett, RHP (9-0, 2.88)
Red Sox (41-22)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	41	23	-	4-6	39	25
New York	32	31	8.5	9-1	37	26
Toronto	31	34	10.5	5-5	33	32
Tampa Bay	29	34	11.5	7-3	26	37
Baltimore	29	36	12.5	2-8	32	33

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Rockies: Francis wasn't at his sharpest on Friday night in Baltimore, but he pitched well for most of his seven innings, yielding four runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out six. He gave up a pair of two-out runs on three hits and a walk in the first, but he was most upset about a mental mistake in the fifth. He didn't have a feel for his changeup against left-handers, but gambled on fooling Nick Markakis with one on and two out. Markakis won the bet, sending the hanging changeup over the out-of-town scoreboard for the decisive blow in a 4-2 loss.

Red Sox: Beckett continues to be locked in. In his previous outing, at Arizona, he went eight innings, allowed two runs and struck out eight to earn his ninth win in 11 starts this season. Beckett is holding the opposition to a .211 batting average. He's 5-0 at Fenway with a 3.48 ERA. Lifetime against the Rockies, Beckett is 4-0 with a 2.81 ERA.

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	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M. Ramirez	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J.D. Drew	7	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.429
M. Lowell	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Varitek	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	4	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	.250
J. Lugo	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Totals	17	5	1	0	0	2	0	1	.294

The entire team has faced Francis 20 times, with Drew and Crisp having 11 AB's. That does not excite me very much, since it seems to be a given that the Sox struggle against pitchers that they haven't faced much. Still we are talking about a pitcher only 5 games over .500 in his career, oops, thats right hes a freaking lefty. Which will win? The Beckett run support or the we suck against lefties who stink syndrome.

Josh, you better have your game face on tonight.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Francis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Beckett	5	4	0	0	32	31	10	2	9	23	2.81	1.25

Francis has never started a game or appeared in a game vs the Red Sox. Not to worry, he's a freaking lefty so that means the Sox will make him look like Cy "freaking" Young. I expect Drew to suck, Varitek to suck, Lugo to suck and everybody else in the line up to suck. 7.5 games back here we come.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 64 Recap

Final l Press Pass l Box l Recap

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Colorado	1	2	0	0	3	3	0	3	0		12	14	0
Boston	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0		2	8	2

W: J. Fogg (2-5, 4.95); L: C. Schilling (6-3, 3.80)
HR: COL: B. Hawpe (9). BOS: M. Lowell (12)

► Hero - Hawpe - his three run home run sealed the deal
► Goat - Schilling - close second would be the freaking defense who threw the ball around in the first two innings like they were playing t-ball. My nephews little league team plays better defense fer chrissakes!

Idle thoughts!

Again this team decided to play like there was no consequences for a loss. Well boys, I hate to tell you this, but you see there is a team south of you who is playing for their playoff lives and they are coming through in the clutch. The question is are you going to be a championship team or are you going to go down as bigger chokers than the '78 Red Sox? The choice is yours, but I would suggest you decide quickly.

A terrible game from the first batter till the end. Lugo again made an error in the first and the runner would come around to score. Curt did a good job just to keep it at one run after that throw into the dug out, but you really don't want Curt to be throwing that many pitches in the first inning.

The second didn't go much better as the first two batters reached on seeing eye double and single down the third base line. Again it looked like the damage might be limited but an error by Lowell made sure that two runs would score. Down three to nothing and Schilling has thrown 50+ pitches in two innings. Disaster was around the corner.

Lowell, made up for his error with a lead off Home Run in the bottom of the second and the Sox scratched out another run in the third but Hawpe's home run in the fifth sealed the deal. Snyder and Piniero didn't help the cause by stinking up the joint either.

The Sox have a losing record on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays combined. You can't be losing games three of the seven days of the week if you expect to win the division and right now, I do not expecet them to win the division.

Freaking Sox.

Red Sox 07 Game 64

 Wednesday, June 13                             Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET
Josh Fogg, RHP (1-5, 5.06)
Rockies (31-33)

       VS

Curt Schilling, RHP (6-2, 3.49)
Red Sox (41-22)

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	41	22		5-5	40	23
New York	31	31	9.5	8-2	36	26
Toronto	30	33	11.0	5-5	31	32
Tampa Bay	29	33	11.5	7-3	26	36
Baltimore	29	35	12.5	2-8	32	32

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
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The recap after the game will be here.
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Rockies: Fogg struggled within the strike zone on Thursday, his first start after 15 days on the DL. He threw strikes, but his location within the zone came back to haunt him as the Astros connected for 11 hits in five innings. He struck out four while walking just one, but a tendency to elevate his pitches accounted for five extra-base hits, including three in a row in the three-run third. He said he felt no lingering effects from his groin strain. He threw 102 pitches, his second-highest pitch count of the season.

Red Sox: Coming within one out of throwing his first career no-hitter, Curt Schilling will start on Wednesday for the Red Sox when they host the Rockies in Interleague Play. Schilling surrendered a two-out ninth-inning hit to Shannon Stewart and wound up throwing his third career one-hitter.

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
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.667
M. Ramirez	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
J.D. Drew	18	4	1	0	2	2	4	3	.222
M. Lowell	14	4	1	0	0	2	1	1	.286
J. Varitek	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.333
C. Crisp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Lugo	17	4	1	0	0	1	1	3	.235
Totals	58	16	3	0	2	5	6	9	.276

The batting numbers are about what you would expect from a team that has only faced this pitcher once. Overall you have to give the Sox an advantage here though as they have faced this pitcher recently (2005), so they have some history against him.

I would not be surprised to see Cora in the line up tonight since he is 5 for 9 against Fogg. Wily Mo might also play since he is 2 for 3 with 2 doubles and a walk. Will be interesting to see how Tito plays this out. If Cora is in the line up will he bat lead off? If Wily Mo is in for Coco will he bat eighth?

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Fogg	1	0	0	0	7	8	5	1	0	3	6.43
Schilling	24	11	5	1	169 1/3	192	81	23	34	169	4.31

Historical line is probably not good indicator since Fogg last faced the Sox as a Pirate in 2005. Curt's last start vs the Rockies was at Coors field in 2004 (a brutal loss).

That is a pretty high ERA for Curt against this team. Since it is Colorado I thought that I would look at Curt's success against this team away from Mile High Coors Field (not the official name of the park but you get the idea).

In eleven starts vs this team away from Coors field, he is seven and one with a 2.87 ERA and a WHIP of 1.02 (1.33 overall). Those are the types of numbers that we like to see Curt throw out there. Those numbers would be lower but Todd Helton kills Curt. In 52 at bats Helton has 18 hits with 6 doubles and 5 home runs and 10 K's. With runners on I expect Curt to pitch very, very carefully to Helton.

Fogg has bounced around so I looked at his Colorado numbers. As a Rocky he has started 41 games with 5.38 era in 230 2/3 innings. His home / away splits are typical of a Rockies pitcher. At Coors field he has started 20 games going 6 and 7 with a 6.35 ERA and a WHIP of 1.73. On the road he has started 22 games going 6 and 7 with a 4.56 ERA and a WHIP of 1.42. Look for the batters to tee up on this guy early and often.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 63 Recap

Final
Press Pass l Box l Recap

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

W: T. Wakefield (6-7, 3.92); L: A. Cook (4-3, 4.37); SV: J. Papelbon (15)
HR: None.

► Hero - Tim Wakefield - 1 run in eight innings
► Goat - Affeldt - for giving up the double to Papi and the Sac Fly to drew.

Game thoughts!

There are those who think that Lowell should be batting 5th and Drew 6th. Here is why that should never be considered - J.D. in the 6th spot has a .235 BA compared to his career .288 BA. Tito will never move Drew into the six spot.

J.D. Drew has hit into 38 double plays in his career, that is in 2,933 AB's. This year (including tonights game) he has hit into 5 in 179 AB's. I think that hammy is still bothering him.

Don't be surprised if this move of Lugo to the 9th slot in the Batting order works. In his career Julio has batted .306 in 219 AB's with a .766 OPS.

8th inning and Wakefield is still in the game? I know he has only thrown 86 pitches but you would think that the bullpen should have been up and throwing. Not for sure that was a wise move by Tito, especially since Hawpe led off with a double to the right field fence.

Both #9 hitters figured in this game. Lugo by scoring the first run for the Sox on a Youkilis 2 out single, and Torrealba knocking in Hawpe for the Rockies run with two outs in the eighth.

Even though Drew had hit three ground outs in this game, including his 5th GIDP of this year, I had no doubt that he would get the run home in the bottom of the eighth. A good sacrifice fly to center field got the run home and like a spankee seeing Mariano, you knew that would be enough with Papel-bot coming in to face the Rockies in the ninth.

Papel-bot looked great tonight getting two strike outs and a lazy fly ball to right field in his 1-2-3 inning. More importantly, he reached 97 mph more than once in the ninth.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 63 Post 2

So, was taking a look at some of Wakefield's numbers. Did you know that 4 starts at Fenway he has a 1 and 3 record with a 6.46 ERA and a WHIP of 1.61. Averaging 5.92 IP per game. He beat the Angels, lost to Toronto (quality start), Detroit and the Spankees. If you drop the Spankees start in which he only went 3 2/3 innings, he would have a 4.05 ERA with a 1.35 Whip which is quite respectable.

He also averaged 6.67 IP per those three starts. In his last 5 starts over all he has a 7.98 ERA with a 1.70 WHIP, averaging 5.87 innings per outing. This reflects two Yankee appearances in which he went the 3 2/3 and 5 IP. If you remove those two games he has a 5.23 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. What does it all mean?

If you throw out two horrible outings he has been respectable. Todd Helton is the only Rocky that has faced Wakefield, lets hope the wind is swirling and that he has the knuckler working tonight.

Red Sox 07 Game 63

Tuesday, June 12    Fenway Park  7:05 PM ET

Aaron Cook, RHP (4-2, 4.54)

Rockies (31-32)

Vs.

Tim Wakefield, RHP (5-7, 4.22)

Red Sox (40-22) 

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	40	22	-	4-6	39	23
New York	30	31	9.5	8-2	35	26
Toronto	30	32	10.0	6-4	31	31
Baltimore	29	34	11.5	3-7	32	31
Tampa Bay	28	33	11.5	6-4	25	36

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Rockies: Cook has typically pitched six innings, while giving up three or four runs, in the majority of his 13 starts this season. But he's been winning -- he's 4-1 in his past seven starts. He allowed five runs on seven hits in six innings against Houston in his last outing, but the Rockies came back to win. Three starts ago, Cook hurled a five-hit complete game in a win over the Giants.

Red Sox: Wakefield was able to corral his knuckleball enough to strike out a season-high eight hitters and walked just two against the Oakland A's on Wednesday night. The three runs he allowed was his fewest in a start since May 10. He still took the loss though.

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	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.200
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
D. Ortiz	2	1	0	0	0	1	1	1	.500
M. Ramirez	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
J.D. Drew	8	4	1	1	1	4	1	1	.500
M. Lowell	3	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	.667
D. Mirabelli	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	21	8	1	1	1	6	3	5	.381

A pretty good line by the boys who have actually faced Cook. The bats should be able to rough him up. The question is where will Lugo bat in the order? I would not be surprised to see him batting 9th after Coco.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Cook	1	0	1	0	5	6	3	0	4	7	5.40	2.00
Wakefield	3	0	3	0	18 2/3	29	12	1	8	8	5.79	1.98

These pitcher lines probably don't mean a lot, since Wakefield's starts were while he was in Pittsburgh and Cooks start was in 2004. I look for Wakefield to come out firing and I fully expect the Knuckler to knuckle effectively.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 62 Recap

Final
Press Pass l Box l Wrap

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

W: R. Johnson (4-2, 3.52); L: D. Matsuzaka (7-5, 4.52)
HR: None.

► Hero - Randy Johnson - 1 run in six innings
► Goat - Timlin - making a close game a blow out

Game thoughts

Question for the 2007 Red Sox; "Do you want to win the American League East?" Because if you don't just let me know so that I can put my time to better use. Since winning 2 of 3 against the Braves this team is 10 and 9. Today was also the third time in the last six games that the Sox have scored three runs or less. This is not a recipe for happiness.

As for todays game, once again Daisuke pitched well enough to win only to have his offense let him down. Of course three errors did not help either. Just disgusted with this game, actually I am disgusted with the whole team. Last six games against the Yankees 2 and 4. Last 20 games they are 11 and 9. Do we see a pattern here?

Right now I feel like I did before the Sox hosted the Yankees in August of last year. It is obvious to me that this team does not have the killer instinct. Meanwhile the spankees just keep on rolling over the Pirates. Did someone say footsteps?

Red Sox 07 Game 62

Sunday, June 9    Chase Field  4:40 PM ET
Daisuke Matsuzaka, RHP (7-4, 4.63)
Red Sox (40-21)

 Vs.

Randy Johnson, LHP (3-2, 3.78)
Diamondbacks (36-28)

American League

East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	40	21	-	4-6	39	22
New York	29	31	10.5	8-2	34	26
Toronto	29	32	11.0	5-5	30	31
Baltimore	29	33	11.5	4-6	32	30
Tampa Bay	27	33	12.5	6-4	24	36

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

Red Sox: Matsuzaka made his seventh quality start when he gave up two runs on seven hits over seven innings in a 2-0 loss to the Oakland A's on Tuesday. The bad news is that he threw 130 pitches, the most by a Red Sox hurler since last April. The good news is that he's bunched good starts together, so he may do so again this time around.

D-Backs: Johnson leapfrogged Roger Clemens into second place on the all-time strikeout list with eight punchouts against the Giants in his last start. The left-hander allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings. He has hit his stride of late throwing six shutout innings in his start before against the Phillies in Philadelphia. Johnson missed the start prior to the one in Philly with tendinitis in his left forearm, but it has not bothered him since.

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	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	30	4	0	0	1	3	2	11	.133
K. Youkilis	13	3	1	0	1	3	3	1	.308
D. Ortiz	26	4	3	0	0	1	2	7	.160
M. Ramirez	41	11	3	0	5	17	5	11	.268
J.D. Drew	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.125
M. Lowell	41	7	1	0	1	3	3	13	.171
J. Varitek	23	7	1	0	2	4	4	5	.304
C. Crisp	7	2	2	0	0	2	0	5	.286
D. Pedroia	1	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	1.000
Totals	189	41	12	0	10	33	21	55	.217

Johnson owns the sox hitters, it might be a good thing that the pitcher is batting because not too many of the Sox players can hit Johnson. So, once again Daisuke gets a tough match up that dominates the Sox.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Daisuke	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Johnson	28	15	7	1	175 1/3	145	89	24	89	213	4.57	1.33

Overall Randy is 15 and 7 vs the Sox, but most disturbing is the last two years where he is 7 and 1 in 9 starts. The last 3 starts he can thank the Yankee offense for that though as he went 17 2/3 innings allowing 15 earned runs, while going 2-0.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 61 Recap

Press Pass l Box l Recap

Final		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10		R	H	E
Boston		0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	1		4	10	1
Arizona		0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		3	7	0

W: H. Okajima (2-0, 1.14); L: J. Cruz (2-1, 3.20); SV: J. Papelbon (14)
HR: BOS: J. Varitek (7). ARI: S. Drew (3).

► Hero - Mike Lowell
► Goat - Melvin for not bringing in his closer in the 9th

Game thoughts!

After a disastrous four game series in Oakland the first 10 weeks of the 2007 Red Sox have finally shown up on this road trip. Personally, I blame MLB for this situation, since the Sox should never had to play an 8:00 game on the Sunday before traveling to Oakland to play a Monday night game. Sad to say that it has taken this long for this team to get its act together.

Big night for Varitek as he knocked in the first three runs on a two run home run in the sixth and an rbi double in the eighth that scored Drew from first base. Also a very good night for Julian Tavarez as he went six inning only allowing the three runs.

Papelbon has to get more work. The bottom of the tenth was a struggle, even with his fastball registering 97 mph on the gun. A strike out followed by a hit by pitch on a 1-2 count showed how far off his control was. Thankfully he got another K and a pop up to work out of the jam.

Sox are now 3 and 3 on this road trip. Unfortunately for them they have to face the big unit in the final game of this west coast swing. Johnson has owned the Sox the last two years but more on that in the game sixty two preview.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 61

Saturday, June 9    Chase Field  9:40 PM ET

Julian Tavarez, RHP (3-4, 5.33)

Red Sox (39-21)



Vs.



Micah Owings, RHP (4-1, 3.86)

Diamondbacks (36-26)

AL East	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	39	21	-	4-6	38	22
Baltimore	29	32	10.5	5-5	32	29
New York	28	31	10.5	7-3	33	26
Toronto	28	32	11.0	5-5	29	31
Tampa Bay	26	33	12.5	5-5	23	36

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

Red Sox: Tavarez has lasted 5 2/3 innings in each of his past three starts. He gave up nine hits to the Oakland A's on Monday night, just one shy of his season-high. Tavarez has allowed nine runs over 17 innings following his best outing of the season on May 17, when he gave up one run on four hits in seven innings in beating the Detroit Tigers.

D-Backs: Owings has not started since May 29, when he faced the Phillies in Philadelphia. The right-hander didn't have his best stuff in that game, but still allowed just one run on seven hits over five innings. Owings has twice been skipped when the team has had off-days, but it's not performance based, as he has given them more than they could have expected heading into Spring Training. Owings has lived up to his Minor League reputation of finding a way to win. Last year he was a combined 16-2 at Double-A and Triple-A.

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

There is no history vs this rookie starting pitcher. This can be good or bad, depending on how the bats respond to last nights game. Hopefully there is no hang over and they will continue to swing the bats well.

Historical Pitching line

Julian has faced the Diamondbacks 14 times, mainly as a reliever. In two starts he went 6 innings with 3 runs and 3 innings with 5 runs. Those two starts he gave up a total of 8 hits (1 home run) and 4 walks for a WHIP of 1.33. That is not bad as a starter.

However, with this young Arizona team it will probably have no bearing on today's game.

Sox record on Saturday's 6 and 4, while Sunday's record is 7 and 1.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 60 Recap

Final
Press Pass l Box l Recap
		Game 60		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9				R		H		E
		BOS (39-21)		1		0		3		1		0		4		0		1		0				10		12		1
		ARI (36-26)		0		0		1		0		0		0		1		1		0				3		5		1
W: J. Beckett (9-0, 2.88); L: D. Davis (4-7, 3.48) HR: BOS: J. Drew 2 (4), J. Lugo (4). ARI: M. Montero (4).

► Hero - Drew, J.D. as in career high 7 rbi's
► Goat - All of the d-back pitchers.

Idle thoughts

Finally, the J-J boys showed up with the bats on this road trip. Lugo leading off with a home run started the game off right. Beckett went one two three and it was all downhill after that. Two three run home runs by J.D. will do that for you.

Scary moment - the fifth when Manny got hammered on the wrist. Fortunately he was ok.

Today its Sexy Lips turn to start, here is hoping that he continues the run.

Red Sox 07 Game 60

Friday, June 8    Chase Field  9:40 PM ET
Josh Beckett, RHP (8-0, 2.95)
Red Sox (38-21)

             @

Doug Davis, LHP (4-6, 3.05)
Diamondbacks (36-25) 

AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	38	21		4-6	37	22
Toronto	28	31	10.0	6-4	29	30
Baltimore	28	32	10.5	5-5	31	29
New York	27	31	10.5	6-4	32	26
Tampa Bay	26	32	11.5	6-4	23	35

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.
The recap after the game will be here.
MLB.com Press Pass
From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Red Sox:
Beckett battled in his previous start, against the Yankees on Sunday night, giving up eight hits and four runs over 6 1/3 innings of a no-decision. The right-hander remains unbeatan and is still alive in his quest to become the sixth pitcher in Red Sox history to open a season 9-0. Lifetime against the D-backs, Beckett is 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA.

D-Backs:
Davis pitched well in his last start against the Mets in New York. The left-hander allowed just one run over 7 2/3 innings. He threw more curves than usual because the D-backs scouting report said the Mets have struggled with the breaking ball. Davis is on a roll. In his last three starts he has allowed just four earned runs over 22 2/3 innings. So far this year Davis has given the D-backs exactly what they hoped for when they acquired him from the Brewers during the offseason.

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	H	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	10	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200
K. Youkilis	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Ortiz	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.333
M. Ramirez	8	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.125
J.D. Drew	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250
M. Lowell	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
J. Varitek	6	2	0	0	0	1	1	1	.250
C. Crisp	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
D. Pedroia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	34	7	1	0	0	1	3	4	.206

Not much history here for the batters. I would not be surprised to see this be a one or two run game with lots of bunting, moving runners over etc. The question will be how the pitchers are managed since they have to bat in this game.

Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Beckett	4	0	3	0	20 2/3	32	16	4	8	22	6.97	1.94
Davis	4	3	1	0	29 1/3	35	9	1	6	13	2.76	1.40

How did Texas let this guy go. In 4 starts the lowest he has ever went was six innings and he has three quality starts out of the 4 starts. He averaged 7.0 Innings per start.

Beckett has a terrible history against the D-backs. One quality start out of the four starts. Average innings per start 5.17 innings.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 59

Final
Press Pass l Box
Game 59						1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9				R		H		E
				BOS (38-21)		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0				1		4		1
				OAK(31-28)		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0				0		1		1
			W: C. Schilling (6-2, 3.49); L: J. Blanton (5-4, 3.60) HR: BOS: D. Ortiz (11).

► Hero - Schilling 8 2/3 of no hit - enough said
► Goat - none

Idle thoughts

I didn't get a chance to post a preview today as I got a late start this morning. Those 10:00 p.m. starts were just killers, so, instead of being up prior to 5:00 a.m., it was more like 6:00 a.m. which allowed me to post the recap and that was all.

With a 3:30 start today I was only able to listen to the game on WEEI until I arrived home. Needless to say I was quite happy when Papi went deep in the first inning. From listening to Geffner and Castiglione it was obvious that both Schilling and Blanton were wheeling and dealing their way through the line ups.

In fact it was so obvious that I sat in the driveway listening until the fifth inning was done so that I would not miss a pitch when I got home. Both pitchers continued to dominate the batters until the seventh when Drew (finally) led off the inning with a single, followed one out later by Varitek's single to center that allowed Drew to reach third. Of course, this being the Red Sox, losers of four straight and 6 of their last seven, they stranded Drew at third.

Curt was still in a groove though as he continued to set down the A's with the error in the fifth with two outs by Lugo being the only blemish of his perfect game. The top of the eighth it looked like the Sox might get another chance for a run when Youkilis walked after a ground out by the struggling Lugo. Ortiz, with the shift on, laid down a bunt to the third base side but the throw to second was wide.

Youkilis for some reason thought he was Coco, and jumped up and took off for the uncovered third base. Youkilis is no Coco though and was chased down by Scutaro for the second out. On to the bottom of the eighth.

Schilling dispatched the A's in quick fashion only to watch his team go down quickly in the top of the ninth. From the Sox sites I was visiting it was obvious that a lot of people were paying attention to this game. Myself, I was getting psyched.

First batter up hits a ground ball up the middle that Lugo grabs and fires to Youk and my excitement is starting to swell. Second batter hits a ball almost in the same spot and again Lugo grabs it, double pumps and throws a high one to Youkilis, who makes a high stretch and I am thinking wooo wooo. Then it was Fragging Unbelievable as Shannon Stewart lines the first pitch past Cora and the no no is no more. Fortunately, Curt was able to gather himself and two pitches later the 29th batter popped up to Cora in foul territory.

A much needed win. I did a little research and I see that Schilling, in his Red Sox career has had 10 chances to stop losing streaks of three or more. In those ten games Curt is 5 and 3 with the team being 6 and 4 in those games. Schilling puts the stop in stopper.

Chow!

Red Sox 07 Game 58 Recap

Final
Press Pass l Box l Wrap
Game 58						1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9				R		H		E
				BOS (37-21)		0		0		0		0		0		0		2		0		0				2		8		0
				OAK (31-27)		0		0		0		3		0		0		0		0		X				3		8		0
			W: J. Kennedy (2-4, 3.23); L: T. Wakefield (5-7, 4.22); SV: S. Casilla (1) HR: None.

► Hero - Kennedy (Sox are now 9-7 vs Lefties
► Goat - How about an offense who hits into 3 double plays 8 in 18 innings.

Idle thoughts

Four straight games, count them, four straight games lost. This is not the offense that we were counting on. Lugo and Drew have got to start hitting or this is a season that will be full of gnashing of teeth. You can not count on your pitching staff to be lights out every game in a 162 game schedule.

Maybe Tito needs to have Drew hitting lead off. At least he takes walks and has some speed. Why not try - Drew, Youkilis, Ortiz, Manny, Varitek, Lowell, Lugo, Crisp and Pedroia. As an alternative you could put Pedroia second, Youkilis fifth, and move the rest down the order.

Schilling on the mound today. He has a pretty good showing vs the A's. Lets hope he can stop this mess.

Chow!