Red Sox Road Woes Continue

Yesterday's 4-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners was somewhat inevitable. If you follow baseball long enough, you come to understand that everything likes to settle into its place over time. Streaks do not last, neither the positive ones nor the negative ones, and patterns will develop over time. That is why so many people get obsessed with baseball statistics and numbers, because they do ultimately have a story to tell. Last night was no exception.

The Seattle Mariners were on a 7 game losing streak, holders of the worst record in baseball, and facing the World Champion Red Sox. What happens? They win, and break the losing streak. The Red Sox had Daisuke Matsuzaka starting the game. Dice-K was undefeated at 8-0 in 10 starts prior to the game. Pattern? No decision - 4 straight wins - no decision - 4 straight wins. So what happens? No decision. Manny Ramirez had been on a streak of 45 at-bats without a home run, and broke the streak with a 3 run bomb to tie the game in the 6th inning. Manny's home run was the 499th of his career. He hit home run #400 in May of 2005 at Safeco Field, and has a chance to hit #500 there tonight. Stats all settling in to their resting places.

But, not all streaks were due to expire last night. Mike Timlin entered the game with a record of 0-5 at Safeco Field, and left the game with a record of 0-6. The Sox and Mariners battled to a stalemate 3-3 tie until the bottom of the ninth inning. Timlin did not really pitch too badly, but the Mariners clawed their way to a run anyway. Wladimir Balentien started the inning with a ground ball that Alex Cora, at shortstop, was able to stop but had no play on. Miguel Cairo bunted him to second for the first out, and Jeremy Reed grounded to Dustin Pedroia for the second out, which moved Balentien to third base. With two outs, Ichiro Suzuki stepped up to the plate. Ichiro was already 2-4 on the night, and has been giving the Red Sox fits so far in this series. The Red Sox wisely opted to intentionally walk Ichiro, only needing one out to send the game into extra innings. But, Jose Lopez was not willing to cooperate. Timlin left a fastball a little too high on the inside part of the plate, and Lopez ripped it down the third base line for the game winning hit.

Other than Manny's home run, the Red Sox offense was silent. Seattle starter, Miguel Batista (who eerily resembles Bernie Williams), was expected to be clobbered by the relentless Red Sox lineup. But, Batista pitched his best game of the season lasting 7 full innings surrendering only 5 hits, the only runs coming on Manny's home run. Sean Casey, filling in for the injured Kevin Youkilis, was the exception as he went 3-4 last night. But, while Casey did his best to get on base, he had absolutely no help from his pals. There was no one for Casey to drive in, as the three batters before him went a combined 0-12, and there was no one to drive him in as the two batters behind him went 0-8.

The concern last night is for Matsuzaka's shoulder. Dice-K reported that he felt "wrong" all night, even prior to the game. Terry Francona removed him after 4 innings, and it is being reported that he has a "tired shoulder". Well, with all the walks he's given up, of course he has a tired shoulder! There is no word yet on what this will mean. Dice-K is to be examined today and determine a course of action. As we've spoken about here, it is a good thing to have extra pitching. If Dice-K needs time off, you can expect Clay Buchholz will be called back up to take his next start. That is a good situation for the Red Sox. One starter goes down, another quality starter can step up.

Speaking of starters, tonight Tim Wakefield will try to turn his own fortunes around. Wake has been shaky in two of his last three starts. Wonder about stats and streaks? Wakefield has never won a game at Safeco Field, going 0-2 in 6 outings there. A streak is like fruit. When it is ripe, it will fall. Is Wakefield's winless streak at Safeco ripe yet? Let's hope so!

Predictions for tonight - all on gut feel...

Wakefield goes 6 2/3 innings, gives up 3 runs, gets the win.
Manny hits HR #500 prior to Wakefield's departure - ensuring him the victory.
Jacoby Ellsbury starts the game - goes head to head with Ichiro to see who can steal the most bases.

(Photos Courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Frustration Mounts for the Red Sox

Hey, I'm back from a bought with the Red Sox flu. Hope my old pal Marty entertained you in the meantime. He'll make occassional appearances for me as the season goes on.

My first thought after last night's game was, "man, I'd hate to be David Ortiz' cat tonight", after Big Papi went 0-6 including hitting into a double play in the 11th inning (for all us animal lovers out there - it is just an expression). All-in-all it was not a bad game, and the Red Sox bullpen held their own, which was nice to see. I cringed when Brian Corey came into the game, but he battled well and held down the fort.

The real frustrating part was having two men on with one out TWICE in extra innings and BOTH TIMES ending those opportunities with double play ground balls, in the 10th by Julio Lugo, and in the 11th by Big Papi himself. You have to tip your hat to Papi for trying, as he dove headfirst into first base in a desperate effort to keep the inning alive. The grounds crew for Tampa Bay will have some work to do to repair the damage that dive left behind, I'm sure.

Another frustrating moment was when Sean Casey had to leave the game with a strained muscle in his hip. He will not be available tonight. Now, unless the Sox make a move, that leaves them with four infielders tonight, Youkilis, Lugo, Pedroia, and Lowrie (who is getting a lot more playing time than we all expected). If one of those guys gets hurt, who plays infield? Ellsbury, Drew, Crisp? That would be interesting. Mike Lowell is doing well in his rehab with Pawtucket, but won't be available until later in the week. The Sox are also carrying 13 pitchers on the roster right now, which has been necessary. I would guess they'd have to send a pitcher back to Pawtucket (Corey?) and bring up an infielder for tonight, just in case. We'll see.

Bonehead play of the night was made by Rays' second baseman, Akinori Iwamura. In the ninth inning, with Kevin Cash on first and one out, Dustin Pedroia hit a grounder to Iwamura which looked like an easy inning-ending double play. But Cash was running towards Iwamura who, rather than fire to second for the force, thought about tagging Cash and throwing to first. When Cash put on the brakes, Iwamura suddenly realized he was in trouble of even getting one out, and fired to first, but it was too late as Pedroia beat the throw. Cash had taken off for second and beat the throw from first too. Safe on both bases. Unfortunately, the inning ended after Papi popped out and Manny struck out.

Tonight Clay Buchholz tries to show his last start was not a fluke. What we need from Clay is 6 or 7 strong innings, leave with a lead, and let Okajima and Papelbon take the last innings tonight. Give the rest of the bullpen a rest. The Rays are starting their own promising youngster, 24 year old Edwin Jackson, who was born in Germany, interestingly enough. Jackson sounds similar to the Sox' young pitchers, in that when he has his good stuff, he looks terrific, but when he's a little off he gets clobbered. Boston fans are hoping for the latter tonight.

Lastly, isn't there anything in the rule book to prevent an idiotic, 8 foot tall, blue monstrosity from standing right behind home plate intentionally trying to distract the pitcher? This is not the NBA you know. How about a little class?

(Photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports)