Deja Vu for Red Sox

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched his best game of 2008 last night as the Red Sox treated fans to a near identical game as the one the night before. Does this sound familiar? Low scoring pitching duel, game is tied, last of the ninth inning, Papelbon has just preserved the tie in the top of the inning, Big Papi is on second base, Manny Ramirez is on first base, the batter hits a single to center field...

The night before, the batter was Kevin Youkilis, and Vernon Wells bobbled the ball to let Papi score from second to end the game in walk-off fashion. Last night was a bit different, but not a lot. Last night, Terry Francona pinch ran Jed Lowrie for David Ortiz (thank you Terry), and Brandon Moss hit the single to center. But, this time Wells did not bobble the ball and he threw a strike to home nailing Lowrie for the second out of the inning. That brought Jason Varitek to the plate with Manny now on second, and Moss at first, with two outs. The Captain proceeded to rip a single to center, Vernon Wells fielded it cleanly and fired home. This time his throw was a little up the first base line, pulling the catcher away from the plate and Manny took advantage and slid in for the walk off run.

David Ortiz belted his 5th home run of the season in the 7th inning to give the Sox a 1-0 lead, but Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined to allow the Jays to tie it at one in the eighth inning, setting up the drama in the ninth.

I still say the cold weather has slowed down the bats, allowing the pitchers to get a slight edge. Nothing wrong with that, and it was fun to see Dice-K submit a masterful performance, pitching 7 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits to go with 4 strike outs and 2 walks. This is the fourth such pitching start for the Red Sox in a row. The last four starters went as follows:

Buchholz : 8 innings, 3H, 2R, 9K, 1BB
Beckett: 7 innings, 4H, 2R, 13K, 1BB
Lester: 8 innings, 1H, 0R, 6K, 4BB
Matsuzaka: 7 innings, 2H, 0R, 4K, 2BB

Before you get too excited about that, remember that you need at least a little bit of offense to win a game. Over the last 45 innings that the Red Sox have played, they have ONLY SCORED 5 RUNS! If you are a math expert, you already know this is an average of one run per 9 inning game. If I recall, Albert Einstein had identified that as the classic formula for a losing streak. Luckily for the Red Sox, they have won 2 games in those 45 innings.

Tonight, all the pressure is on for Tim Wakefield to match the feats of his fellow starters. My recollection is that cold weather does not create the best conditions for the knuckle ball. The Jays send potential ace, AJ Burnett to the mount to face Wakefield, and in my book, the pitching match up leans in favor of Toronto. The one thing to hope for is that the law of averages is enforced, and the runs once again start flowing.

Are you worried about injuries? You should be. Last night the Red Sox had NO extra outfielder available for the game. Julio Lugo would have been recruited had there been an emergency need. Let's hope Jacoby Ellsbury is available tonight off the bench at least. JD Drew will probably need a couple more days.

I leave you with a joke my daughter made up tonight...

"Why did Jason Varitek suffer with a such bad case of the flu?"

"Because he catches everything!!!"

Grande Papi!

What a fun night that was! The Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 11-3 on a beautifully warm spring evening in Boston while the Red Sox had their youth on display. Jed Lowrie made his major league debut at shortstop for the Red Sox with Julio Lugo getting the night off. Lowrie made the most of the opportunity hitting his first major league double while going 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored. On defense, where the Red Sox coaching staff feels he still needs some work, he was very solid on a busy errorless night, completing 7 assists and 2 put-outs.

Jacoby Ellsbury, already rookie of the year to many Red Sox fans, showed off his dazzling speed in the 4th drilling a triple to center field. We watched Texas center fielder Josh Hamilton chase the ball down, and quickly wondered if Ellsbury would try to leg out a triple - we looked backed to the field and he was already at third base. The man can fly! He used his speed again in the 8th inning when David Ortiz hit a single to center with Sean Casey on 2nd and Ellsbury on first. Casey scored easily and Ellsbury went to third, but the relay throw was dropped by first baseman Jason Botts, and in the blink of an eye Ellsbury was crossing the plate.

Last year's rookie of the year, Dustin Pedroia, got into the action in the 4th inning launching his first home run of of 2008 into the green monster seats, bringing home Ellsbury who was at third base following his triple. The kids were shining!


But, the highlight of the game was David Ortiz' grand slam in the 3rd inning. With two outs and no one on base, it looked like just another quick 1-2-3 inning. That's when the kids got things going. Jed Lowrie stroked his double to left field, then Ellsbury walked on four straight pitches, Pedroia following up with a walk of his own to load the bases. Now, we all know that Big Papi has not been hitting so well (he's been referred to as "Big Slumpi" in the NY Post), but when he strode to the plate, fans all across the ballpark rose to their feet in unison. A cheer started growing out of the night air, and we could just feel the energy build as the fans were trying to channel their energy into Big Papi and simply "will" him to get a hit and break this lousy slump. You could tell something great was about to happen as every set of eyes in the ballpark focused in on the play. Texas starter, Luis Mendoza, hurled a 93 mph sinking fastball to the outside of the plate, and Papi went with the pitch, going the opposite way and driving it high into the night sky. For a brief moment, the sound level dropped as 39,000 fans caught their breath and whispered a silent plea for the ball to travel far enough. When the ball finally came down, it landed in the 3rd row of the green monster seats and the crowd erupted! Big Papi is back, his grand slam providing all the runs the Red Sox would need.


Those first runs of the game led to one of my favorite Fenway traditions, our first "Kazoo Guy" sighting of 2008. I don't know his real name, we only know him as "Kazoo Guy". He sits in the bleachers about 20 rows back from the visitor's bullpen wearing a beat-up old Red Sox hat with two droopy red socks pinned to either side of it - making him look like he has dog ears. Whenever the Red Sox score a run, he stands up on his seat, and using his kazoo, leads the fans in the area in a cheer. He's been there leading that cheer for as long as I can remember. I just love that!


Dice-K Matsuzaka started the game and pitched well enough to earn the win, but is still struggling to get deep into games. He went 5 1/3 innings allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, 4 strike outs, and 2 walks. He would have gone deeper, but he had already thrown 101 pitches at that point. Luckily, the bullpen was up for it last night. Javier Lopez did a nice job allowing only one base runner finishing the 6th and 7th innings. David Aardsma loaded the bases with two outs in the 8th, but managed to strike out Gerald Laird to get out of the jam.

Mike Timlin, like Big Papi, has been in a little slump of his own. But with last night being "Break Out of Your Slump Night", Timlin had to comply and reeled of an easy 1-2-3 ninth inning to preserve the win.

And yes, Frank Catalanado was a bit of a pest, but luckily was unable to do too much damage, but he did his best. He doubled in the 4th, walked in the 6th, and walked to load the bases in the 8th. Maybe walking him was the best way to minimize the damage.
(Photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Sox Rising, Yankees Slipping

Doesn't everything look a little brighter today? The Sox held a terrific Opening Day, exorcising one last demon - bringing out Bill Buckner to throw out the first pitch to the ever-loved Dwight Evans (Deeewwwyy). After all the pomp and circumstance, they got down to an excellent ball game.

Dice-K Matsuzaka was masterful. His command was perfect, and he kept Detroit batters off balance all day. Dice-K has now pitched in 3 straight opening day games. That's got to be a record. The Sox have won all three of those games. We all hoped that Dice-K's second season with the Sox would work out a lot like Josh Beckett's second season with them. So far so good. Could we have two Cy Young candidates in the rotation this year? The bullpen did just as well with Manny Delcarmen shaking off the memory of the grand slam he gave up to Frank Thomas and pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings to hand it over to Hideki Okajima who wrapped up the win for his fellow countryman. Okajima seems to be picking up where he left off last year, and promises to be an anchor in the bullpen for the Sox.

The offense looked better, with JD Drew staying hot, while Youlikis, Varitek, Pedroia, and (yes) Julio Lugo all had multi-hit games. Manny attracted the most attention with his (ill-advised) decision to stretch a double into a triple. It worked out fine, but let's hope he doesn't try that too often. It was a 1-0 game at the time and he was leading off. The throw actually beat him to third base, but luckily it was off-line and sailed past the third baseman. Glad to see Manny Ramirez being aggressive, but the smarter move would have been to hold up and have a runner at 2nd base with no outs and your 5, 6, and 7 batters coming up.

Big Papi is still struggling a bit, but did come close to launching a grand slam. Hopefully he gets into a groove soon. Word is his knee is still bothering him after off-season surgery. Having him out of the lineup drastically changes things for the offense, so let's hope the knee holds up.

Good news in Pawtucket. We have been less than pleased with the Sox middle relief so far this season. On Monday, Mike Timlin threw 18 pitches in an inning of relief for the PawSox and felt great topping out at 93 mph. He is expected to join the Sox on Friday when the Yankees come to town.

Speaking of the Yankees, things are not looking to upbeat for them right now. The season is still young, so no reason for New Yorkers to start crying into their pinstriped handkerchiefs just yet. But, while the Sox were taming the Tigers at Fenway yesterday, the Yankees were getting schooled in Kansas City. The mighty A-Rod struck out four times in the game! Meanwhile, Derek Jeter will miss a few games with a groin injury and Jorge Posada is on the verge of a possible DL stint for a "dead arm". Meanwhile, rookie sensation Phil Hughes did not fare so well lasting only 3 innings in the game.



So, what does all that mean? Everything is rosy in Red Sox Nation today.

Tonight the Tigers' Jeremy Bonderman will make his first ever start in Fenway Park, matching up against Jon Lester. Lester was brilliant in his last start, and should get an emotional boost from the home crowd. Bonderman is a good pitcher, but the Sox should fare well against him. The only thing I worry about is that the Tiger is due to wake up soon. This team is predicted by many to be the best team in the AL this year. Right now they are winless at 0-7. Can Lester hold them back for one more game? Can Big Papi break out for the home town crowd? Will JD Drew stay hot and carry the team through April? Will Julio Lugo begin a march to challenge Youkilis' error-free streak? He's already one game into it.