Red Sox Show Off Depth in Second Route of White Sox

When David Ortiz was shown the lineup for yesterday's game, he shook his head in mock disgust, and claimed that it was time for him to retire. No, Big Papi was not demoted in the lineup, he was penciled in to bat 3rd, as usual. His surprise was seeing that, batting right behind him in Manny Ramirez' number 4 spot, was Boston's own Mighty Mouse, Dustin Pedroia. Before you start flooding the Red Sox front office with calls for Terry Francona's head on a platter, you need to know two things. First, Kevin Youkilis was forced to miss yesterday's game with a flu-like ailment. With JD Drew and Mike Lowell still on the DL, Tito needed to mix things up a bit. Yes, there are other interesting players to consider for the cleanup spot though. Jason Bay perhaps, or Mark Kotsay maybe? What about Jeff Bailey, one of the best hitters in Pawtucket, called up to help fill in for all the injuries?

Well, that leads us to the second thing you need to know. That is that Dustin Pedroia, in a recent announcement by his agent, completed his contract agreement with the devil himself. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. A photo of the historic deal is provided here.

Okay, maybe he did not actually sign a contract with the devil (especially a record contract, like the one in the photo), but you can't prove he didn't, can you? How else can you explain Pedroia, all 5' 9" of him, suddenly raking the ball with impunity? The day before, Dustin went 4 for 4 with a double and a walk, and he simply went out yesterday and repeated the exact same feat! He has reached base safely in his last ten plate appearances! Not only is he beyond hot, but he somehow swayed the manager to bat his diminutive frame in the cleanup spot, a lifelong dream, no doubt, and something only the devil would be able to accomplish. You can picture the devil (imagine the part being played by Scott Boras and it is pretty easy) waltzing into Francona's office like a mafia boss. "Tito, my friend, you remember how we helped you beat the Yankees in 2004 when the outcome appeared hopeless? We said one day we would ask you for a favor. Well, my friend, today is that day." See, that explains it all!

But, let's not let all this devil talk overshadow the fantastic major league debut of yet ANOTHER minor league prospect who took advantage of his opportunity to shine. Michael Bowden took the mound yesterday, filling in for Josh Beckett, and completed a day to remember. He must have had a good dose of butterflies in his stomach, but it did not show. He walked Orlando Cabrera to start the game, and probably thought, "uh oh". But, when the next batter grounded into a double play, he surely breathed a sigh of relief and knew this would turn out to be a good day.

Remember, this is a 21 year old kid, facing some historic MLB hitters; Ken Griffey, Jr., Jim Thome, Jermaine Dye, Carlos Quentin. He kept his composure, pitched like a big league pitcher, and gave the Red Sox what they needed, 5 solid innings. After 5 innings, Bowden had given up 2 runs on 7 hits and a walk, struck out 3, and left with a 5-2 lead. In the bottom of the 5th, the Red Sox scored two more runs to help out his mind at ease that the lead would last. Bowden had only thrown 89 pitches, but I think Tito did not want to push it too far. I think Terry felt, if Bowden leaves now, he is uplifted and excited with his first major league game and should surely get a win. But, if he goes back out there, we run the risk of having him get knocked around and put a chink in his confidence. So, that was it for Bowden, who is currently on the Buccholz track - get a few spot starts in September to get your feet wet, them come back to Spring Training and complete for a regular starting job.

The Rays won, yet again, so the AL East battle remains at status quo, the Rays holding their 4 1/2 game lead. The Yankees, however, let one slip through their fingers in a 7-6 loss to Toronto. The loss puts the pinstripers 7 games back in the Wild Card race. Not looking good for them. The Twins also lost yesterday, increasing the Red Sox' lead in the Wild Card to 3 1/2 games over the Twins. But, another win over Chicago today could create another flip flop in the Central Division. The White Sox are only 1/2 game ahead of the Twins. The playoff picture out west is not very interesting. The Angels are going to be the Division Champions, and that's it.

This afternoon, we'll see how Tim Wakefield does in his second start after coming off the DL. His last one was a successful outing against the Yankees, and today he faces a good pitcher in Gavin Floyd, who is 14-6 with a 3.70 ERA. Floyd has never pitched at Fenway Park. He is 1-0 against the Red Sox, but he did give up 5 runs in the process, squeezing out a 6-5 victory. Beautiful day for a ballgame, so let's get out there and warm up those brooms!

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)

Matsuzaka Owns Chicago

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his best game of the season against the Chicago White Sox earlier this month on August 9th, in Chicago. In that game, Dice-K went 8 innings, allowed 4 hits, 3 walks and one earned run, while striking out 4 batters. Boston won that game 6-2. Yesterday, Dice-K topped that game with an even more impressive game against the White Sox, this time in Fenway Park.

Dice-K, again, went 8 full innings yesterday, this time allowing no runs while giving up only 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. In 8 innings, the minimum number of batters a pitcher can face in 8 innings is 24. Thanks to a double play, the Dice-Man only faced 27 batters yesterday. Just a brilliant day for the Red Sox' leading Cy Young candidate for 2008.

While Dice-K was mowing them down, Dustin Pedroia was lighting it up. Yes, our own Mighty Mouse had a field day, going 4 for 4 with a double, a walk, and 2 stolen bases. When Pedroia got on base, Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, and Jason Bay each took turns driving him in. Youk and Bay were the big run producers, driving in 3 runs a piece. Our newest acquisition, Mark Kotsay, has played in two games, and hit two doubles. He's on pace to hit 30 doubles in his short time with the Sox (don't you hate those silly "projected to..." things that writers come up with, as if today's pace will continue uninterrupted).

The Red Sox' win only allowed them to remain in a holding pattern, as the Rays, Twins, and Yankees all turned in wins as well. The Rational Sox Fan playoff calculation indicates that the Sox must go 16-12 to finish the season and guarantee a playoff berth. With 19 games remaining at home, that sounds very doable!

Quite a bit of roster juggling took place yesterday as well. The Sox recently acquired David Ross, a catcher with 8 years of big league experience, primarily as a backup catcher. In order for Ross to be available for the playoff, he needed to be added to the 40 man roster prior to August 31. So, yesterday, the Sox did just that. Sean Casey was moved to the 15 day DL, joining JD Drew and Josh Beckett. That, plus a move that send Julio Lugo from the 15 day DL to the 60 day DL, created room for Ross, and allowed the Sox to keep recently called up David Pauley in the bullpen, and open up an opportunity to call up Michael Bowden from Pawtucket.

Bowden will be making his major league debut tonight as the starting pitcher against Mark Buehrle. Bowden is a very promising young right handed pitcher, and with Beckett out, and Colon not yet ready, this gives the Sox a chance to give Bowden a taste of the big leagues, just like they did with Clay Buchholz last year. Buchholz made the best of his 2007 call-up, let's hope Bowden follows suit!

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)

Red Sox J's Combine To Defeat Chicago

The Red Sox J's? That's right! The Red Sox J's did it with pitching (Josh Beckett and Jonathan Papelbon) and by driving in runs (JD Drew, Jed Lowrie, Jacoby Ellsbury). The only J who did no damage was Jason Varitek as Jason Bay did manage a single and scored a run. So, where'd Theo get this obsession with players whose name starts with a 'J'?

With Manny gone, you can see how different the lineup is turning out to be. Jason Bay is a nice player, but not a 1 for 1 replacement for Manny's bat. Thus, we are seeing Tito experiment a bit with how to generate the most power in the middle of the lineup. Who would have thought Kevin Youkilis would end up as a leading candidate to bat fourth in the Red Sox lineup? But, last night, with Big Papi giving his wrist a rest (imagine Michael Palin as Pontius Pilate reading that line), we got to see a new lineup. Not sure exactly why Coco Crisp took the leadoff spot, but this lineup will not put fear in the hearts of opposing pitchers. However, it is a pretty solid lineup, top to bottom, that can get in a groove and chip away, like last night.

White Sox starter, John Danks, looked brilliant last night carrying a no hitter into the 7th inning. However, Kevin Youkilis managed to break up the no-no with a broken bat flare to center. Later that inning, the first J struck when JD drew laced a beautiful double to deep left-center, scoring Youk from second and Lowell from first. That put the Sox up 2-1, and would be all the runs they would need to win. But, just to be safe, the Sox scored some insurance runs in the 9th inning when Jed Lowrie doubled in two more runs, and Jacoby Ellsbury singled home Lowrie.

The J's did a good job pitching too. In particular, Josh Beckett did exactly what the Sox needed. He pitched sharp, conserved his pitches, and went deep into the game. Josh did not walk a single batter, and the 7 hits he allowed were spread out across the game. Danks came out sprinting, but did not have enough in the tank to finish. Beckett took a more steady pace and outlasted his opponent. Unfortunately for Papelbon, there was no save opportunity by the time his turn came around, but I'm sure he did not mind simply securing the win with a 1-2-3 ninth inning of work. Nothing like a match up of two terrific players to end the game when Ken Griffey stepped up to face Papelbon. Perhaps if this was a 25 year old Griffey, the results may have been different. But, this is Papelbon's time, and Papelbon got Griffey to easily fly out to Ellsbury in right field to earn a 2-2 split with the White Sox in the 4 game series.

Many questions remain on how this season will turn out. Can the Yankees turn things around in time to avoid missing the playoffs altogether? The Rays are proving everyone wrong by lasting on top deep into August. But, can they survive the loss of both Evan Longoria AND Carl Crawford to injuries? While it seemed the Red Sox had more starting pitching than anyone would know what to do with, suddenly they are looking a little short. With Tim Wakefield on the DL and Clay Buchholz pitching like a New York Yankee prospect these days, can Bartolo Colon return in time to save the rotation? Will Justin Masterson get flipped back to a starting role?

And what about tonight's starter, Charlie Zink? Will his knuckleball be as effective as Tim Wakefield's, or will he have to rely on a Zinkerball? (you heard it here first). Zink should be interesting. He does feature a knuckleball, but his fastball is a reasonable 88 miles an hour (as opposed to Wakefield's 80 mph offering). He has the potential to keep hitters off balance and turn in a solid outing. However, being his first major league start, can he calm those stomach butterflies enough to let his talent shine? I'll be in the crowd tonight (hopefully not hiding under a poncho in a downpour), so I'll let you know how he looked tomorrow.

It's good to be back - now the push for the finish!