Lester Becomes Legend

John Lester has written himself into the history books, thanks to an inspiring performance last night, as he dominated the Kansas City Royals' lineup on his way to a thrilling no hitter! There was something different about Lester last night. I was not able to tune in to the game until the 5th inning, having just coached my daughter's softball team on a cold and windy day. The first thing I saw was the 5-0 lead - all right! Then, with the first glimpse I got of Lester, I immediately saw a deep fire in his eyes and confidence just emanating from him. I thought, "excellent - Lester has a 5-0 lead and looks like he is 'on' tonight!". NESN was showing replays of a terrific diving catch in center field by Jacoby Ellsbury. This looks like a fun game!

I had no idea what the game situation was, other than the 5-0 lead, and was forced to bounce between activities until the 7th inning. But, I was impressed with his confidence, swagger, and command. He KNEW what he was doing with every pitch, he was getting ahead of hitters, and his location was the best I've seen this year. With the no-hitter in progress, Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy, in my glimpses bouncing in and out of the room, never mentioned "that which cannot be spoken" during a no hitter. So by the time I settled in to watch the game for good, it was the 7th inning, and I still had no idea there was a no hitter in progress. They mentioned his low pitch count and I wondered if he had a shot at a complete game, but assumed Terry Francona would rest him in the ninth if the score held up.

Then they showed the scoreboard. My eyes lit up. Was that a zero in the hit column in the 7th inning? No wonder Don was being so coy in his commentary. Now, this was exciting, but there are still nine outs to go, so let's not get too excited. Then I watched as Lester, with brutal efficiency, breeze through the 7th 1-2-3, ending with a swinging strikeout to Jose Guillen. The butterflies in my stomach began stirring. Six outs to go. Terry Francona tried to give Lester as much help as possible, removing future gold glove left fielder, Manny Ramirez, replacing him with the defensive expertise of Coco Crisp. Coco took over center field, and Jacoby Ellsbury moved to left. With JD Drew in right field, the Sox now had in place one of the fastest group of outfielders in the game. I wanted to assemble the family to witness this, but maybe it was too soon.

First batter in the eighth inning - called out on strikes. Second batter - strike out swinging. Butterflies in full flight now. Third batter puts the bat on a curveball and sends it to center field. Coco Crisp is ready and waiting - three outs.

Okay, we are heading in to the ninth inning - time to assemble the troops. The kids are a little confused, as I cannot say the words, "no hitter", out loud, but they quickly catch on. With everyone in position, we watched the ninth inning. Francona tightens down the defense one more time - this time sending in Alex Cora for shortstop Julio Lugo. First batter, walks! Uh oh! Well, its not a hit, and could set up a double play. Next batter hits a high chopper towards third, this could be trouble. The incredibly high bounce could give the runner time to beat the throw to first. Mike Lowell charges, plays it perfectly, and fires to first beating the runner by a full step. We all jump in the air and cheer. Runner on second base, one out. Left-hander, David Jesus, hits a ground ball towards first base. We hold our breaths as Kevin Youkilis easily scoops the ball and tags first base himself. Youk does not even glance at Lester after the play - superstition is alive and well in Boston.

We are all on edge, and we remember just last year when Curt Schilling carried a no hitter right down to the last batter, who ruined it with a single to right. This was not over.

The final batter, Alberto Callespo, was not going to go down easily, and he was looking for a hit. Callespo swung and fouled off the first pitch, swung at and missed the second pitch. He watched the third pitch go by for a ball, before swinging at and fouling off the 4th pitch. With every swing we cringed, praying it would not result in a hit. Lester was about to throw pitch number 130. He had plenty of adrenaline flowing, and looked even stronger than in the earlier innings. His eyes grew fierce, his lips tightened. Lester had had enough - everything he had left would go into this pitch. He wound up, and let loose a 96 MPH fastball. Callespo, down 1-2, could not let it go by. He swung, but all his bat got was air. The ball popped into Jason Varitek's mitt - strike three! We leaped into the air with cheers, mimicking the celebration on TV.

What a day for Lester! Two years ago he was on extended leave, fighting a battle against cancer. Last night, he culminated his fight back reaching one of the highest pinnacles a pitcher can reach. Congratulations John - Boston loves you!

(Photos courtesy of Boston.com)

Red Sox Douse the Rays' Beacon

Last week the Red Sox got swept for the first time in the history of the universe by the team from Florida formerly known as the Devil Rays. When the final out of that sweep was recorded, the newly named Rays blared Fenway's beloved song, "Sweet Caroline", throughout Tropicana Field. Touche! But, the newly named "Rays" are apparently a beacon that only radiates across Florida and does not shine brightly enough to reach all the way to Boston. This allowed the Red Sox to pay back the Rays in full with a sweep of their own in friendly Fenway Park. I was hoping the Sox could return the "Sweet Caroline" ribbing, but the Rays simply don't have any distinction or character to make fun of. So, we'll just have to settle for taking 3 wins from the Rays this weekend, and showing them that the Champs are not going to step aside quietly and let some upstart "light beams" settle into first place.

As a regular visitor to this site, do you find it just a little bit creepy that the day after I publish a Batman-oriented post, a fan is shown on TV at the game during the 2nd inning wandering through the Fenway crowd in a head-to-toe, full-blown, Batman costume? Must be a big Rational Sox Fan!

Jon Lester had a very solid game. Remember, this guy is young, missed significant time to win a battle with cancer, and is still trying to invent himself as a top notch big league pitcher. He continued his growth yesterday going 6 innings allowing only one run on a solo homer to Carlos Pena in the 6th inning. He threw 112 pitches, which is a few too many for 6 innings, but he only allowed 4 hits and 3 walks to go with 5 strike outs, which all combines for a good outing.

While it is exciting that the Red Sox swept, they had to do it with yet another lineup adjustment. Brandon Moss is out, having had sudden emergency appendectomy surgery Saturday night (he's fine now and out of the hospital), and the Sox decided to wait to make a move to fill his vacancy. Then prior to this game, David Ortiz' recently operated on knee was experiencing too much stiffness, and they decided to give Papi the night off. This moved Manny Ramirez into the DH role, while Jacoby Ellsbury played left, Coco Crisp played center, and JD Drew took his usual spot in right. The bench was very bare with only Jed Lowrie and Kevin Cash available. We really do need to get Alex Cora back!

The lineup adjustment resulted in the Red Sox fielding arguably the fastest outfield in Boston history. That speed made itself known right away as Jacoby Ellsbury chased down a fly ball to left center that Manny never would have had a shot at. Ellsbury continued flashing his speed as he beat out an infield single to lead off the Sox half of the first inning. And when was the last time you recall the Red Sox performing a double steal? Well, yesterday they completed, not one, but TWO double steals in the game!

Kevin Youkilis was the offensive hero of the day. Batting third in front of Manny Ramirez may have allowed him to see some good pitches, and when he saw them, he hit them! Youk went 3 for 4 with two doubles, a solo home run, and 4 runs batted in. Manny also contributed on offense with an RBI double off the green monster, but remains stuck at 496 career home runs. It never seems easy for players as they approach those historic milestones, but fear not, those home runs are coming.

Now, you recall I mentioned Lester only gave up one run. The Sox won 7-3, so where did those other two runs come from? In disturbing fashion, Manny Delcarmen came into the game and once again looked all-too-hittable. Francona has had a short leash on Delcarmen, which has proven to be wise, and yesterday was no exception. Manny got the first batter out on a groundout, but followed that up with a single to Jason Bartlett and a triple, that Coco Crisp dove for and missed by mere inches as he banged his knee up in the process, to Akinori Iwamura scoring one run. Hideki Okajima was called in has been pitching reasonably well, and rarely gets tagged with an earned run, but he has been much less stingy with inherited runners scoring. Okajima allowed a single to the first batter he faced allowing the Rays' third run to score, but then he settled in to pair up with Jonathan Papelbon to secure the win.

Sox land in Detroit today and will send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound to face Jeremy Bonderman. The Red Sox should fare well against Detroit, but I do worry about the bench depth. With Moss out, the Sox have opted to call up Craig Hanson, a pitcher. This does help the bull pen out, and gives Hanson an opportunity for add to his big league experience, but Terry still has to squeeze blood from a stone when it comes to lineup substitutions. This could cause trouble, especially with guys like Crisp diving all over the field. Let's stay healthy!

A Moment of Silence

This Sunday morning, I'd like to begin the day with a moment of silence in honor of the passing away of former Red Sox catcher, John Marzano. John died at home in Philadelphia yesterday when he fell down the stairs after what appears to have been a sudden heart attack. John was 45 years old, and is survived by his wife, two daughters, and two grandchildren.

{Now a moment of silence for John Marzano, 1963-2008, RIP}

Boston has truly been an exciting place for sports fans recently. Red Sox made it to the World Series and won for the second time in 4 years, the Patriots made it to the Superbowl with an undefeated record, but lost a tough game to the Giants, the Bruins beat Montreal last night to force an amazing game 7 in the first round of the NHL playoffs, and the Celtics ended their regular season with the best record in the NBA and begin their playoff hunt tonight against Atlanta. The Bruins are surprising everyone, as they are trying to borrow a page from the come-back Red Sox playbook. Consider that they had not won a single game all season against the Canadiens (the Bruins' version of the Yankees), and were down 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series. They have now won 2 in a row to even the series at 3 and forced the deciding game 7 on enemy ice. The Bruins have lost ALL 20 series in which they had trailed 3-1, including 2 in Montreal. Will they brush aside history and take an historic win like the 2004 Red Sox did against the Yankees in the ALCS? Tune in tomorrow night and see - should be exciting!

Oh yeah, the Red Sox. They just went and won their 3rd game in a row last night, beating Texas 5-3 behind the torrid bat of Manny Ramirez. The game was a close on all night, and the Sox were down 3-2 heading into the 8th inning and running out of time. But, as the Rangers are well aware, against this team the game is not over until that 27th out is recorded. Last night David Ortiz got into the fun as well. With one out in the 8th, Dustin Pedroia doubled and Ortiz ripped a hard grounder that was just out of the reach of second baseman Ian Kinsler. Pedroia came around to score, tying the game at three. Then Manny came to the plate and absolutely clobbered the second pitch he saw from Texas reliever, Joaquin Benoit, high over the green monster to put the Sox ahead 5-3. The ball was hit so hard, had it not struck the light pole, it looked like it would have landed on the Mass Pike. Manny now has 496 home runs. The way he is hitting, number 500 is only days away.

John Lester did not get the win last night, having left the game with one out in the 7th inning and throwing 106 pitches. He did not have a great night, but he pitched well enough to keep them in the game. What I have liked in these past two outings from Lester is that he just won't give up. He gets into trouble and looks very hittable, but whereas some pitchers just seem to fall apart, John never does. The more trouble he gets into, the harder he bears down and gets determined. He gave up 3 runs, but the runs came one at a time in each of the first three innings. In the third inning, it was looking bleak for Lester. With one out he gave up a single and a double, putting runners at the corners for the second time in two innings. But, rather than implode, he proceeded to strike out the next two batters to snuff out a potential momentum building rally. While it looked like Lester's night was nearly over, he battled all the way into the seventh inning, to put the Sox in position to win the game.

An interesting item of note for me last night was that Jacoby Ellsbury hit his FIRST double of the season. With his speed, I was shocked that it was only his first double.

So, how is our enemy from NY doing you ask? Not so good right now as the Yankees lost their 3rd straight game last night in a 6-0 loss to Baltimore, thanks in part to our old buddy Kevin Millar who contributed with a home run off of rookie pitcher Ian Kennedy. The Yankees' starting pitching has got to be worrying them. They clearly have been counting on their two rookies, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes, to help anchor the rotation, but neither one looks up to the task. Kennedy is 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA. In 2 of his 3 starts he was unable to get past the 3rd inning. Phil Hughes has not fared much better. In 4 starts, he is 0-3 with an 8.82 ERA and in 2 of the starts was gone by the start of the 4th inning. Mike Mussina is looking more and more like he is at the end of his career. He still has some nasty breaking pitches, but needs to truly re-invent himself to be effective. That leaves Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte, who have both done well so far. But, how far can you get with two effective starters?

On another cheerful Yankee note, MLB apparently read my post about Kyle Farnsworth trying to take off Manny's head Thursday night and has suspended Farnsworth for 3 games. Kyle is appealing the decision claiming that the ball slipped, which we all know is garbage. For MLB to decide to suspend Farnsworth, they must also feel pretty confident that there was intent. Farnsworth did not hit Manny, warnings were issued, and no further incident occurred. In that circumstance, it is unusual for MLB to hand down punishment. The fact that they did tells you what really happened.

New enemy, Joe Girardi, was also confused by the penalty and as far as I can tell, he just doesn't get it. He compared that incident to Friday night when the Orioles' Daniel Cabrera hit Hideki Matsui twice, once grazing his hand and the other hitting him in the thigh. Joe even indicated that Cabrera is often a bit wild and his ball rides away on him. Okay Joe, look...Cabrera was wild all night that night. The pitches that hit Matsui were low and riding the inside area of the plate. None of them were shoulder high. In contrast to that, Farnsworth was NOT wild at all Thursday night. He was precisely accurate for the whole outing, other than that one pitch, and that one pitch did not ride in on Manny and hit his hands or thigh - it made a direct line for his ear. Joe wake up.

I never dreamed I'd long for the days of Joe Torre.

(John Marzano photo courtesy of The Baseball Almanac)
(Red Sox photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

#24 is Now 24th

With a tremendous swing of the bat, Manny Ramirez (number 24) moved into a tie for 24th on the all time home run list. It was home run number 493 for Manny tying him with Fred McGriff, and the legend Lou Gehrig (whose number 4 I wore on my back for most of my baseball playing days). I am sure that swing rubbed a lot of already irate Indians fans the wrong way. If you had not heard, there has been a movement in Cleveland to bean Manny for his "transgression" of watching his home run in game 4 of LAST YEAR's playoff series against Cleveland. Have you ever heard of fans holding a grudge like that? Sheesh.

There were a number of heroes yesterday, and for me, a notable one was David Ortiz. I have mentioned a number of times that the Sox offense has been weak, in part due to Big Papi's slump. That does not mean he has to hit home runs all the time, but when he goes 'o-fer' it leaves a big hole in a critical part of the lineup and shuts down the offense. Just look at the ninth inning last night. Two outs, bases empty, tie ball game. Ortiz gets on base with a bloop single, then Manny wins the game. Had Papi struck out, we lose that opportunity. Nice job Papi!

Jon Lester, I thought, was very heroic. Yes, he had a mediocre night all together, but battled well in the 4th. It looked like the Indians were about to completely blow the game open, but even though Lester was against the ropes, he did not go down. He kept the damage to 2 runs, kept the bullpen off the field a little longer, and kept the team in the game. His stuff was good again, but he needs to stay closer to the strike zone - his big issue.

The middle relief out of the bullpen was great (sigh of relief). Julian Tavarez was tremendous, coming into the game in the 5th inning with bases loaded and only one out. He proceeded to strike the next two batters out to save the day, and then went two more innings of overwhelming shutout ball to stymie the Indians. Mike Timlin, who has looked incredibly hittable recently, followed Tavarez with a snappy 1-2-3 8th inning, setting up the late heroics for Manny in the ninth.

All in all a fun game to watch. It was encouraging to see the Sox put up a great fight like that. The Sox are now 5-5 on this very challenging 13 game stretch in the schedule. We all realized that if they go roughly .500 in this stretch, they'll be doing fine. So far so good.

A few days ago I pondered how the Sox would use Jed Lowrie, who is primarily a shortstop, as an aid to the ailing Mike Lowell, who plays third base. Tonight we will find out as Terry Francona has indicated Lowrie will be in the starting lineup. Terry has not committed to where Lowrie will play, but he seems to be leaning towards putting Lowrie in at third, moving Kevin Youkilis back to first, and giving Sean Casey the night off. Always fun to get a look at the young talent. Let's hope he has a good, and memorable night.

(AP Photos/Mark Duncan - from ESPN.com)

Power Outage Continues

Red Sox lost last night 7-2 to the long overdue Tigers. We knew that was coming - just didn't know when. A team like the Tigers was certainly not going to winless for much longer.

I spoke about Jon Lester in the past stating that he has to have sharp command to be effective. Last night he looked very strong, regularly hitting 93 mph with his fastball, but he had trouble consistently spotting it. His off speed pitches were good, but like I said before, when his fastball command is off, batters take advantage. The result was 5 hits, 4 walks, and NO strikeouts. The good news is that he looked strong - perhaps too strong. Sometimes when a pitcher is feeling too strong he has trouble with control - ball tends to sail a bit coming out of your hand.

Mike Lowell made a terrific play in the second inning, but twisted his thumb fielding the ball and is now day-to-day with a sprain. Luckily it is only a sprain. Francona moved Youkilis over to third and inserted Sean Casey in at first base, batting in Mike Lowell's spot. This created a bit of an achilles heel for Tito in terms of baseball strategy. The new lineup now featured Casey (lefty), JD Drew (lefty), Varitek (switch but prefers lefty), and Ellsbury (lefty). Tigers' manager Jim Leyland took advantage of that in the 6th inning by bringing in the left handed pitcher, Bobby Seay with no outs, and Manny Ramirez on first. The strategy worked for Leyland as Casey flied out, Drew struck out, and Varitek flied out. Seay came back out for the 7th and got the last lefty, Jacoby Ellsbury to also fly out. So, while Casey batted well in Lowell's spot (going 4 for 4 and scoring a run) it did make the lineup vulnerable to a good lefty reliever.

Julio Lugo's name appeared quite a bit. In the 4th, he barely escaped a throwing error as the ump missed a close call in the Sox' favor, but in the 5th he made a great play on a tough shot getting Gary Sheffield out at first. Lugo also contributed with the bat, going 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, and a stolen base. Oh, wait, the ump missed that one too, this time not in ourfavor as Lugo was called out stealing. My read of the replay was that he was safe by a beat.

The real trouble, again, was an offense that still cannot get going. The Sox had 9 hits, but only scored 2 runs, with the top of the order (Pedroia, Youk, and Ortiz) going a combined 0 for 12. Papi still can't hit his way out of a paper bag, and it is hurting our run production.

Through 9 games this season the Sox are 4-5 and have been outscored 41-30! Consider last season at this point they had outscored opponents 43-28. They were 5-4 at this point last year, so it is not like they have suddenly dropped off. But, the bats need to get going, particularly the bat of Big Papi.

Next stop - Canada

Good win yesterday, but not a prefect performance. Very good pitching on both sides for the first 6 innings, and then Big Papi breaks out the big bat for a 2 run home off of old friend Alan Embree. It does feel odd watching the A's trot so many ex-Red Sox pitchers out of their bullpen, doesn't it? They've got Embree, Keith Foulke, and Lenny Dinardo out there.

For me, the story of the day was John Lester. Like I said before, the key for Lester is his command. If he is locating and moving his fastball around where he wants it, it sets up his other pitches better, and keeps the batter off balance. When his command is off, batters either get better pitches to hit, or sit on more pitches, driving up the pitch count - which is when you know Lester is not sharp. Yesterday he was sharp and it showed.

The other big story was Kevin Youkilis setting a new MLB record of 194 consecutive error-less games at first. His reward - the first base bag signed by his teammates, and the ball is off to Cooperstown. Nice job Youk!

The offense was, at times, offensive. First inning, bases loaded, no outs and what happens? Ortiz strikes out swinging, Manny strikes out swinging, and Drew grounds out. You have to tip your hat to Harden - he worked out of that jam. But, the Sox really let him off the hook there. Especially Manny and Papi - just a fly ball brings in one run. While Manny remained cold (0 for 4, 2 strikeouts, and left 8 men on base), Papi warmed up with a 2 run homer in the 7th. In the 8th, the Sox again loaded them up with no outs, but this time the little guys got it done with Pedroia and Youk both hitting RBI singles. Then, in the 9th, Jason Varitek hit his second, oops, first home run of the season to wrap things up.

Like I predicted, Francona let Okajima and Papelbon both rest. In this game, that was an easy decision with the lead they generated late in the game. I expected Manny Delcarmen to get the nod for the ninth inning and he did, and did well with a 1-2-3 inning.

So if you are a learned fan, what do you see down the road, and what are you interested in...

The upcoming schedule is a huge test. You wanted to know if this team is a top contender again? You are about to find out. The Sox play 3 in Toronto, the team many pundits are picking to win the AL East, followed by two home series against Detroit and New York, after which they are back on the road to face Cleveland and New York again. This is scary. If they are cold, they can find themselves with a big hill to climb to get back in. It will take quite and effort to dominate this stretch, and if they do, that could very well lead to a letdown. Scary trip!

Also, I am interested in how Francona handles the outfield. We have two speedy and talented center fielders. Francona hates to sit young talent for too long so he'll get Ellsbury in as much as possible. But, Crisp is a gold glove candidate, and a high paid veteran. JD Drew got in an early rut last season. If he does again, Ellsbury could spell him (like Cora did for Pedroia last year). My guess is that Francona will take it a game at a time for the short term. Each game, he'll examine matchups to see if Crisp or Ellsbury would give him an edge. In a tie, he'll lean towards Crisp by default, but plug Ellsbury in enough to give him work. From there, I think Francona expects it will work itself out. In other words, a trade, an injury, or performance will make it obvious what to do.

At least we they are in the Eastern Time Zone!

Stay tuned - we'll start breaking down the enemy before they get to town. Are the Yankees as big of a threat as they claim to be, or is the opinion that their aging roster is done for more accurate? All that and more coming soon. Don't change that dial.