Red Sox Crawl Out of Minnesota

The Red Sox lost by a score of 7-3 last night to the Minnesota Twins. After just having won three out of four from the Tigers, the Sox have now lost three out of four to the Twins to break even on the current 10 game road trip. Last night it was Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz who got things going in the first inning. Coco Crisp lead off the game with a double (and he was not even using his powerful pink bat), Dustin Pedroia bunted him over to third (what better player for some small ball than little Dustin Pedroia?), and David Ortiz singled to score Crisp. Manny followed Ortiz with a long shot over the 'Hefty Bag' right field wall for his 498th career home run. When Manny is hitting with power to the opposite field, it is a sign he is getting in a groove. Watch for him to have a hot week or so.

With the Sox opening the game with a 3-0 lead, things looked promising for the Boston nine. But, unfortunately those were all the runs the Sox would score, as Minnesota was able to keep the Sox off the scoreboard behind the crafty pitching of Livan Hernandez. Livan did not use blazing speed, he simply dazzled with good location, lots of off-speed breaking stuff, and kept the Sox guessing all night. Clay Buchholz looked more dazzling, and also more predictable to the Twins hitters. For the second straight night, the Red Sox got a sub-par performance from their starter as Clay only lasted 4 1/3 innings giving up 7 earned runs on 8 hits, 5 walks, and 4 strike outs. No surprise that Clay remains a work in progress. He clearly has talent, and occasionally throws a gem of a game, but can easily follow that up with a few mediocre games. He is in a good place to grow, learn, and evolve as a big time pitcher. We'll just have to accept that we'll be on a bit of a roller coaster this season with him.

The Sox bullpen looked great last night with Javier Lopez, Craig Hansen, and Mike Timlin combining to hold the Twins scoreless over the last 3 2/3 innings allowing only 3 hits and no walks. Shame to waste such a solid effort on a night where the offense could not keep up. The bullpen morphed again last night as Julian Tavarez was designated for assignment to make room for the return of Sean Casey from the DL. I like the move as it shows Hansen the Sox have confidence in him and want to see him stick in Boston and make this his true debut season. They may miss Tavarez, as he provides reasonably dependable long relief, but with the quality of starters, and the tendencies they've noticed this season, the Red Sox just did not feel like they'd be taking a big risk by letting Tavarez go. Hansen seemed to get a lift from the news and channeled the excitement into an impressive 7th inning, feeding the Twins a steady dose of fastballs and sliders to induce two ground outs and a strike out. If Hansen is truly ready, he can be an important part of this bullpen, providing the critical bridge to Okajima and Papelbon - a role that Manny Delcarmen was expected to fill, but has so far fallen short.

The Sox head east to play two games in Baltimore. Josh Beckett faces off against Jeremy Guthrie tonight. You can count on Beckett halting the current two game losing streak. Wednesday it will be Jon Lester facing Daniel Cabrera in a more evenly matched game. If Manny stays hot, stealing two from the Orioles will be within reach, and a great way to wrap up the road trip.

Sox Lose Mother's Day Battle to Twins

The Red Sox lost last night 9-8, in a hard fought battle against the Minnesota Twins. Red Sox starter, Tim Wakefield, got the action going early...for the Twins, unfortunately. Somehow, Wakefield followed up his best outing of the season (a 5-0 win over the Tigers), with easily his worst of the season. After a quick 1-2-3 first inning, things looked promising. But, in the second inning the knuckleball went suddenly flat and the first three batters of the inning greeted Wakefield with a single, a double, and a home run to get the scoring started. Then, with one out, Wakefield walked Mike Lamb (you'll be hearing this name quite a bit) to set up the second home run of the inning, a 2 run shot for Adam Everett, his first of the year. The Red Sox escaped further damage in the inning, and saw a long road ahead of them staring at a 5-0 deficit heading into the third inning.

Twins' starter, Nick Blackburn came out a little wild to start off the third inning and hit the first two Red Sox batters, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, putting runners on first and second base. The free passes would leave bruises, but allow the Sox to get on the scoreboard in an inning where the Sox' bats and the Twins' defense waged quite a battle. David Ortiz followed Pedroia with a single to load the bases with no outs. The battle picked up when Kevin Youkilis stepped in and ripped a line drive to the gap between short and third. It looked certain to score at least one run, until third baseman, Mike Lamb made a highlight film dive to his left to snare the ball for the first out. Mike Lowell then put some wood on the ball send a shot to right fielder Michael Cuddyer. Now, get this straight, Cuddyer does not have a limp noodle throwing arm like the Yankees' Johnny Damon. Cuddyer has one of those throwing arms you treat with respect and don't test very often. Unless, that is, you are blessed with little wings sprouting out of each of your ankles. Jacoby Ellsbury, who was tagging up at third base, has such wings. It felt like there was a moment where time stood still for just a fraction of a second. The ball had settled into Cuddyer's glove and his eyes had just popped up and focused on Ellsbury at third. Ellsbury had one foot on the bag, body braced to explode out of the tall grass like a cheetah after his prey. Their eyes met for just that split second and they both knew the race was on. Suddenly time sped up again. Ellsbury launched his body towards home, Cuddyer's arm launched the ball on a perfect arc to meet him at the plate. They both arrived at home at nearly the same time, but the fraction of a second the catcher needed to secure the ball and apply the tag was all the advantage Ellsbury needed as he slid across the plate just ahead of the tag for Boston's first run. The Twins defense ended the inning as Adam Everett reeled in a JD Drew flare.

In the bottom of the third, the Twins continued to take advantage of Wakefield. A single, a walk, a passed ball, and a wild pitch all added up to a situation where the Twins had runners on second and third with two outs. Wakefield could not get out of the jam as Mike Lamb laced a single to center scoring both runners. That was all Terry Francona could handle. With the Sox now trailing 7-1, Wakefield got an early shower as Julian Tavarez came in to try to settle things down long enough for the Sox to catch up. Tavarez would do his job, ending the third inning, and only allowing one unearned run on the fourth on an error by the usually steady Mike Lowell that would have otherwise ended the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Coco Crisp would remind us that Ellsbury is not the only Red Sox player on the team with speed as he hit a ball to deep left field and raced all the way to third base for a lead-off triple. You won't often see a triple hit to left field! The Sox pounded on Blackburn in that inning scoring two more runs. David Aardsma then came in for Tavarez and did a terrific job of holding the Twins scoreless through the 5th and 6th innings. Blackburn also held the Sox scoreless and Boston was now behind 8-4 going into the 7th.

Yesterday, Coco Crisp was swinging a pink bat as part of MLB's efforts to raise breast cancer awareness on Mother's Day. Players may opt to play with pink equipment which is signed and auctioned off afterwards to raise money towards the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. Maybe Crisp should swing a pink bat every day! In the 7th inning, with 2 outs, and JD Drew having singled before him, Coco used that pink bat to launch his second home run of the season to edge the score closer to 8-6. But, in the bottom of the 7th, Mike Timlin surrendered a lead off home run to Craig Monroe, his second homer of the game, to provide the Twins with the insurance run they would end up needing to win.

In the ninth inning, with the Twins still leading 9-6, closer Joe Nathan came in to ice the game. The Sox did not make it easy for him. After Ortiz grounded out, Youkilis and Lowell hit back to back singles, which JD Drew followed with a clutch double to center field scoring both runners and closing the score to 9-8. This set up another dramatic moment, as Crisp stepped in with his powerful pink bat ready to do more damage. Crisp scorched a pitch back up the middle that glanced off of the pitcher and rolled towards third base. JD Drew already had a sizable lead off second base, and when he saw the ball get away, his instincts kicked in and he took off for third. A runner at third with only one out would greatly help the Sox tie the game. But, Joe Nathan somehow made a fantastic play, as he managed to quickly recover the ball and toss it to third base just ahead of Drew for the second out. Kevin Cash was due up next, and although he was 2-4 so far that night, manager Terry Francona thought that sending Manny Ramirez in to pinch hit would be the safer bet. Manny had the night off with a sore quad, but made it clear he could pinch hit if needed. But, the odds did not play out for the Sox this time as Manny hit an easy ground out to end the game.

Lots of drama on Mother's Day. It is a shame when you can score as many as 8 runs, but not get the pitching to line up for an easy win. Wakefield had a tough night, but he'll bounce back, he always does. Alex Cora started at short for Julio Lugo, who was given one more night off. As expected, Jed Lowrie was sent back to Pawtucket to make room for Cora, and get more playing time in. Cora did not disappoint, playing flawless defense and going 3 for 4 at the plate.

Tonight, Sean Casey will be added back to the lineup and all expectations are for a reliever to be cut to make room. The question is, who? A good bet would be Craig Hansen, since he still has options to be sent back to Pawtucket. However, Manny Delcarmen, Julian Tavarez, and Mike Timlin have all had struggles this year. If the Sox are confident in using Hansen steadily now, we might see one of those players cut, which would require putting them up for waivers. My guess is they'll feel it is too early to make that strong of a move and simply send Hansen down for now. If not, I'd put my money on Timlin getting the cut. He's been fabulous for the Sox up until now, but his time in Boston is clearly winding down, and this might be the moment the Sox chose to part ways.

Stay tuned.

(Photos Courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Twins Knee to the Head Leads to Red Sox Win

After a disappointing loss the day before to the Minnesota Twins, the Red Sox were able to bounce back yesterday with a 5-2 victory behind the solid pitching of Daisuke Matsuzaka, who improved his record on the season to 6-0. In Dice-K's last outing, he defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-3, but had to survive an amazing 8 walks in the process. Last night started out eerily familiar. Dice-K walked one batter in the first inning, and in the second inning he walked the lead off batter, and later with the bases loaded, he walked in the Twins' first run of the night. Three walks in two innings was sounding ominous. But, Dice-K was able to straighten things out and complete 7 innings without walking a single other batter. He countered those 3 walks with 7 strikeouts, while limiting the Twins to only 2 runs on 6 hits.

Good thing too, since the Twins' starter, Glen Perkins, was also having a great night and found himself clinging to a 2-1 lead heading into the 7th inning. Last night was Perkins' first appearance in the majors this season, and his first start ever for the Twins. In a situation like that, you are typically hoping to get 5 innings, maybe 6 from your young starter. Last night the Twins liked what they saw and thought they could stretch their good fortune to 7 innings. They were wrong.

Coco Crisp, leading off the 7th, got a hold of a Perkins fastball that came in too high, and sent it deep into the left field stands for his first home run of the year. With the game tied, the ninth batter for the Sox came to the plate. No, not Julio Lugo. Were you wondering about the title to today's post? The night before, Julio Lugo took a knee to the head on a close play at second base. After the game he was feeling "woozy" and was given the night off as a precaution. Jed Lowrie was given the start at second base, and again, showed Boston fans why he should be considered the shortstop of the future (possibly the near-future?). Lowrie followed Crisp with a home run of his own - his first one in the Major Leagues to give the Sox a 3-2 lead. All told, Lowrie went 3-4 last night, scored two runs, and completed a nifty double play to end the 5th inning. A big knock on Lugo has been his errors. Lowrie did go error-less last night, but he only had the one opportunity on the double play. Funny story about the home run. The Red Sox managed to retrieve the home run ball for Lowrie, but had to do a little negotiating to get it. They managed to swing a trade for an autographed Josh Beckett baseball in return for the home run ball. Lowrie commented with a smile, "Apparently, [Beckett's] signed ball is worth more than my first home run."

In the 8th inning, Mike Lowell hit a solo home run to add to the Sox total. For the second time in the past 3 games, both Lowell and Kevin Youkilis hit home runs on the same night. Youk continued his hot hitting with a solo shot of his own in the 2nd inning. The four solo home runs last night were the most by the Sox this season, and had there been a few more base runners, the game surely would have been a blowout.

Hideki Okajima confidently nailed down the 8th inning, as we are so used to seeing him do. He really does seem to perform much better when he is brought in to start off an inning, rather than get sent in with runners already on base. And finally, the ninth inning was wrapped up by Jonathan Papelbon, who showed no ill effects coming off of two straight blown saves. He was sharp, and even mixed his pitches up more than usual, but with solid results. Consider this, with two outs in the ninth, Papelbon welcomed pinch hitter Craig Munroe with two straight curveballs! I am not sure he has done that in his entire Red Sox career (I've got my stats people researching that one). Papelbon's line shows he gave up one hit, but the hit was actually a high pop up that hit a cable near the ceiling of the Metrodome and deflected away from the awaiting Jason Varitek. Also a positive sign that Papelbon has bounced back quickly, of his 20 pitches last night, seven of them went for strikes untouched - either called strikes or swinging strikes. Those numbers are more in line with his usual performance, unlike last night when only one pitch went for a strike untouched.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz will try to take turns with the new home run combo of Lowell and Youkilis. Last night Ramirez and Ortiz went a combined 0-9 and served only as casual observers to the victory. Perhaps tonight will be their turn to provide the power.

Keep an eye open today for player moves. Both Alex Cora and Sean Casey have completed their rehab assignments and are due to be added to the roster today. You can count on a pitcher being moved, as the Sox are currently carrying 13 pitchers. The easy move would be to simply send Craig Hansen back to Pawtucket, but if the Sox want to keep him and continue his progress, there will have to be a bigger, more permanent move of a player like Mike Timlin or Julian Tavares. We'll have to see how confident the Sox are in Hansen at this point in the season.

Unfortunately, the other move would have to be last night's hero Jed Lowrie. Lowrie should not be wasting too much time sitting on the bench as a backup. Smarter move would be to get him playing every day in Pawtucket. Only chance to keep Lowrie for a few more days would be to move Lugo to the DL, but I would not hold my breath for that. If Lugo needs one more night off, I expect we'd see Alex Cora start at short tonight. Terry Francona likes to get people involved right away.

Tim Wakefield faces off against Nick Blackburn tonight. Wakefield is coming off his best outing of the year. No reason to think he'll have anything other than a solid night, as his knuckleball generally enjoys the indoor environment.

Hide the Gatorade Cooler

The Red Sox lost to the Minnesota Twins last night 7-6. It was the second time in three days that they lost via a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning. Papelbon, usually a sure thing, suddenly looks vulnerable. In Detroit, Papelbon took his frustrations out on the Gatorade cooler, last night he only publicly beat up his hat. In Detroit the game was lost through a series of strange events, including an accidental hit on a check swing and a damaging error.

But, last night was a straight out loss. He just was not intimidating to the Twins, and that forced him to fatally mix in an ineffective splitter. Consider this. Papelbon threw 18 pitches in the 9th inning. Out of those 18 pitches, he had zero called strikes, and only one swinging strike. Every other pitch was either a ball, a foul, or a hit. Since the fastball was not quite doing the trick, he went to the split finger, but was not able to execute it well. He looked "okay" after the first three batters giving up a lead-off single, followed by a sacrifice bunt and a foul pop out. But, with two outs, the Sox allowed Delmon Young to steal third base, setting up a dangerous situation with the Sox clinging to a one run lead. After four straight fastballs to Gomez leading to a 2-2 count, Papelbon went to the split finger, but Delmon was not biting as he watched two of them go by for ball 3 and ball 4. Young proceeded to steal second base, putting the winning run in scoring position for Mike Lamb. But, Papelbon could not get the fastball by Lamb. The count was 1 ball and 2 strikes after four straight fastballs in the upper 90's when Papelbon again went to the split finger, and Lamb stayed with it, sending a lofting single into left field to send both runners home and win the game. So, what went wrong? The splitter was not effective and lost the game.

On another sour note, Julio Lugo continues to ring up the errors. Last night's damage came in the 2nd inning and cost the Red Sox 2 unearned runs. With two outs and a runner on second, Lugo blew an inning ending ground ball to keep the Twins at the plate. A quick steal and a single then sent two runs across the plate. Sloppy play forced the game to be closer than it should have been.

The offense did well, making Bonser go "BOOF" in the 5th inning. Bonser was unable to get out in the 5th. A single by Dustin Pedroia, a walk to David Ortiz, and a single by Manny Ramirez loaded the based for Mike Lowell. Lowell hit a double, two runs scored, and Bonser went - "BOOF" - time to hit the showers big guy. Every batter in the Sox lineup had at least one hit, and the six runs scored would normally be enough for the win. But not last night. Put that one in the column of wins that got away.

Tonight, Daisuke Matsuzaka heads to the mound to right the ship. Dice-K has had a good start to the season, as evidenced by his 5-0 record. It will be important to keep the ball around the plate against this Twins team that seems to have a very good eye for the strike zone and rarely chases bad pitches - a favorite tactic of Dice-K's. The Twins counter with 25 year old left-hander, Glen Perkins, who will be making his first appearance with the Twins this season, and his first start for them ever. Perkins has made a few appearances over the past two years, all in relief. He struggles in the minors earlier this year, but has gotten back on track recently, giving the Twins the confidence to call him up in place of the injured Scott Baker.

This one won't be easy.

(Photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports) (Gatorade kick - AP Photo by Duane Burleson)

Kevin Youkilis, Cookie Monster

After the Red Sox' 5-1 win to take 3 out of 4 from the Detroit Tigers last night, Detroit manager, Jim Leyland had this to say about Kevin Youkilis; "You have to execute pitches to get people out, and we just gave him cookie after cookie for three days. He just beat our brains out." The Tigers fed Youkilis cookies, and Youkilis feasted. In the four game series, Kevin hit four home runs, to go with seven RBI's, two doubles, and five runs scored while batting at a .350 clip. Last night's home run came in the 5th inning with two out, Jacoby Ellsbury on first base, and gave the Sox a 5-1 lead. With an effective Josh Beckett on the mound was all the Sox would need.

Josh Beckett was in control the entire game as he went 7 innings holding the Tigers to just one run on 6 hits to go with 8 strikeouts and zero walks. The 7th strikeout of the night, courtesy of Brandon Inge, was the 1000th of Beckett's career (only 4713 more to go to catch Nolan Ryan)! Tigers' rookie, Matthew Joyce, got his first up-close look at Beckett last night. His observation was one that fans in Boston are well aware of. "The ball just exploded out of his hand. That's why he's one of the best pitchers in the game". Indeed he is, as Beckett was determined to lead his team to a series win over the Tigers, while improving his record to 4-2.

Justin Verlander was not up to the challenge of facing the World Champs. The Red Sox got to him in the second inning. Singles by Mike Lowell and JD drew, followed by a wild pitch, put runners on second and third for Jason Varitek. The Captain singled to left field, scoring two runs, with the throw from left glancing off of JD Drew's left forearm, which appeared to hurt, but luckily caused no damage. Varitek ended up sneaking down to second on the throw, and one batter later, Coco Crisp bunted him over to third. He scored off of a Jacoby Ellsbury sacrifice fly giving Beckett a 3-0 lead, which was more than enough for the future Cy Young award winner.

Josh came out of the game after 7 innings, having thrown 102 pitches. Terry Francona turned the ball over to Craig Hansen, giving the rookie another chance to show off his stuff. In his previous outing, Hansen looked great in his first inning, but got in trouble as he tried to complete a second inning. Tito may have taken note of that and gave him only one inning last night, in which Hansen retired the Tigers 1-2-3, only using 12 pitches to induce two ground outs and a pop out.

Francona must have been feeling lucky last night. Rather than cash his chips in with either Papelbon or Okajima in the ninth, he opted to let it ride, putting all of his money on number 17 on the roulette wheel and giving it a spin, calling in Manny Delcarmen to wrap the game up. Last night was Francona's lucky night. The wheel spun, the ball bounced around, looked for a home, and came to rest gently on number 17. Manny got 2 quick outs, striking out Miguel Cabrera, and getting Matthew Joyce to ground out to Pedroia on the first pitch. He almost got into trouble as Marcus Thames singled to left, but four pitches later Brandon Inge flied out to end the game.

Taking 3 of four on the road against Detroit is a terrific way to start this road trip. Now on to Minnesota for four games against the AL Central leading Twins. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this year, and tonight it kicks off with Jon Lester matched up against arguably the funniest name in baseball today, Boof Bonser, who just edges out Coco Crisp for the distinction. Did you know he legally changed his name from John to Boof in 2001? Apparently, Boof had been a childhood nickname that he loved enough to make it legal. (Hmm, Rooster as my legal name?) Lester has looked sharper in his last two outings, while Bonser (2-4) is still trying to get into a rhythm. The pitching match up should lean in the Sox' favor, but don't expect the Twins to roll over, having won 7 of their last 10 games.

(Baseball Photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Red Sox Wake Sleeping Tigers

One day after Tim Wakefield hypnotized the Tigers to sleep with his dancing knuckle ball, Clay Buchholz woke them up with the smell of blood. In the second inning, Gary Sheffield laced a ball off of Buchholz for a single. Buchholz was okay, and got out of the inning unscathed, but the wound left the smell of blood drifting across Comerica Park. The sleepy Tigers took the field in the top of the third, and slowly the aroma wafted past their noses. Slowly their whiskers twitched at the detection of the scent, and their excitement rose. The once sleeping Tiger lifted its head, stretched and let out a fearsome roar.

Claws fully extended, the Tigers came up to bat in the bottom of the scoreless 3rd inning. By the end of the inning, all nine batters had been to the plate, seven of them reached first base, and 4 of them had crossed home. Buchholz returned to the dugout, alive, but tattered and torn. The Sox fought back in the fourth with a 2 run home run by Kevin Youkilis, but the Tigers were not done with Buchholz yet, scoring one more run off of him in the fourth inning on 3 consecutive singles. Buchholz was finished, nothing left but bones strewn across the lair.

The Sox still had fight left in them and were able to score 2 more runs in the 5th inning as Tigers' starter Armando Galarraga wore down as well. Galarraga surrendered a lead off walk to Jason Varitek and hit Julio Lugo to put the first two batters on. A Jed Lowrie sacrifice fly, and a David Ortiz single pulled the Sox back within one run with the score now Tigers 5, Red Sox 4.

There has been discussion about how Julian Tavarez has not pitched in a long time, and without regular work, he'll become rusty and ineffective. That no longer needs to be debated. Sent in to help the vanquished Buchholz, Tavares was as rusty as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (pre-oil can). Terry Francona gave him the entire 5th inning to manage, and he managed to turn that into three singles, a double, and three more Detroit runs. When a Tiger eats, he gets tired and goes off to rest and digest, which is what Detroit wandered off into the jungle to do. Meanwhile, the Red Sox, faced with a daunting 8-4 deficit, did not give in but rather continued to chip away.

In the 6th inning, Youkilis hit his second home run of the day, this time a solo shot, and in the 7th inning, it was Mike Lowell's turn for heroics. With two on and two out, Lowell ripped his third home run of the season into the left field stands to tie the game at eight. Then in the 8th inning with two outs and runners on first and second, Tito had a hunch and pinch hit Dustin Pedroia for Jed Lowrie who was 0-3 with a sacrifice fly up to that point. Pedroia did not let Tito down and hit a single to bring in JD Drew from second base to put the red Sox on top for the first time in the game, 9-8.

Hideki Okajima held the Tigers scoreless in the 8th inning, with some help from a questionable base running move. With runners on first and second, the result of back to back singles, one out and Gary Sheffield at the plate, Tigers' manager, Jim Leyland, sent the runners on a 3-2 pitch. Sheffield swung with enough force to tear down a small building, but missed for out number two, and Varitek fired down to third base to nail Magglio Ordonez to end the inning.

So, Red Sox fans everywhere sat back, put their feet up, and said, "Papelbon is coming in, this one is over". Well, not so fast. Matthew Joyce, playing in only the second big league game of his career, tried to check his swing on a Papelbon changeup and made contact with the ball. The ball lazily rolled out onto the field like a well executed bunt, and Joyce easily reached first base. Next up was old pal Edgar Renteria who hit a weak grounder to short. Lugo panicked and tried to rush in order to possibly get the lead runner at second, and bobbled the ball for an error. Ivan Rodriguez bunted the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and Curtis Granderson grounded out. So, with 2 outs, Placido Polanco, who had a hot bat all night, stepped up. Papelbon threw him three straight balls, before finally getting two strikes to even the count. His final pitch of the night was a fastball that jammed Polanco. Polanco swung and shattered his bat on the pitch. As parts of the bat flew everywhere, the ball lofted over Lugo's head and landed safely in shallow left field.

The Tigers had won. They loped off into the grass to lick their paws and digest their meal.

But, the Red Sox went back into the dugout, and loaded both barrels of their big game shotgun (also known as Josh Beckett). Tonight, the Tiger hunt commences.

(Baseball photos courtesy of ESPN) (Shere Kahn image courtesy of Animated-Views)

Floats Like a Butterfly, Stings Like a Bee

"Hitting that thing is like trying to catch a butterfly with a pair of tweezers." - Tim McCarver
That must have been the general feeling last night in the Tigers' clubhouse as Tim Wakefield's knuckleball floated, dipped, and dived all around the strike zone, guiding the Red Sox to a 5-0 win in the second of their four game series in Detroit. Not only does the knuckleball dance all over the place, but Wakefield was able to greatly vary the speed of his pitches between 57 and 73 mph (as per MLB Gameday) mixing in the curve and fastball more than usual. That is a deadly combination and kept batters off balance all night. Wakefield pitched 8 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts, walked no batters, and allowed only 3 baserunners all night; Carlos Guillen reached first base twice on a single in the 1st and an error by Dustin Pedroia in the 7th, and Ivan Rodriguez reached 2nd on a double in the 8th.

With a 5-0 lead, Terry Francona handed the ball to Mike Timlin in the 9th, providing Jonathan Papelbon with a well timed night off. Timlin allowed a lead off single to Curtis Granderson, but Granderson was erased when the next batter, Placido Polanco, hit into a double play to Julio Lugo at short. Timlin then closed out the game by inducing Carlos Guillen to fly out to Jacoby Ellsbury in center. Good to see Timlin have a nice clean inning. Timlin's fastball topped out at 90 mph, but after being hypnotized by the cobra-like stare of Wakefield's knuckler all night, it must have looked blinding to the helpless Tigers' batters.

The Sox did not need a lot of offense to win this one, but got plenty with Manny Ramirez and Kevin Cash leading the way with 3 hits each. The Red Sox scored 3 in the second inning, sending 7 batters to the plate and driving Tigers' starter, Nate Robertson's, pitch count up. A pair of Kevins (Cash and Youkilis) accounted for a pair of doubles, combined with a lead off walk by Mike Lowell and an RBI single by JD Drew to start the scoring, was all Boston really needed.

But, what better way to celebrate Wakefield's tremendous outing than with some fireworks? Fast forward to the 7th inning. Robertson, whose fastball was less than menacing all night, was tiring out, and David Ortiz took advantage, forcing Robertson to throw eight pitches in the at-bat. Most of the pitches were tantalizingly close, but well placed, until Robertson finally wore down and tossed his final pitch of the night like a boxer wildly flailing at his opponent before dropping to his knees for the TKO. The pitch was right in Papi's wheelhouse, and he sent it high into the Motown night sky for his 7th home run of the year, providing sox fans with the fireworks. But any good fireworks show has a grand finale, right? Enter Manny Ramirez...

After what seems like months, Manny finally broke out his home run swing and took one step closer to history with home run number 497 for his career off of the first pitch thrown in the game by Tigers' reliever Freddy Dolsi. Nothing says Grand Finale better than Big Papi and Manny going back to back!

So, the Tigers are down, losers of 5 in a row, and struggling to get their talented lineup all rowing together. Perfect time for the Sox to stop by for a visit. But before you start to break out the brooms, beware of Tigers in the rushes ready to pounce. In particular, be very wary of tonight's starter for Detroit, Armando Galarraga. He has been sharpening his claws and has been very aggressive this year, touting a skimpy 1.88 ERA with a 2-1 record in 4 starts. He spent a short time in his first big league debut last year with the Rangers, and has never faced the Red Sox in his young career. The Red Sox counter with Clay Buchholz, who has been brilliant in his last 3 starts, and has likewise never faced the Tigers in his young career.

Should be quite a match up! But, beware of sleeping Tigers - and do not, under any circumstances, pull their tail!

(Photos courtest of ESPN)