Red Sox Kid Nation Vote

You may not be aware of this, but the Red Sox have a club for children called "Red Sox Kid Nation". It is very fun, and my children have been members since its inception. Members get a membership kit that includes fun items such as a Kid Nation Red Sox hat, membership card, newsletters, and shoelaces. Members also get the chance to buy Red Sox tickets to selected Kid Nation games at discount prices! To top it all, in 2004 my daughter won a Kid Nation raffle and got the chance to play baseball and spend the afternoon with Trot Nixon in Fenway Park with about 30 other winners! What an amazing day that was.

This year, Kid Nation is trying something new. They are electing 12 members to become Kid Nation Captains! I was approached by one 10 year old girl who has already been selected to be one of the top 25 candidates. I have read all about her, and I feel she is a remarkable little girl, who is from Lynn, Massachusetts, and has already been very active in her love for baseball. I'd tell you more, but I think she tells it best.

Please take a moment to read Victoria G's blog, find out what she has done for baseball already, and read her essay to become a Kid Nation Captain. If you are as impressed as I was, please make sure you give her your vote!

Good luck Victoria!

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)

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!

Sox Eke Out Close Win in Pitching Duel

The scene from my Sox seats last night... Bottom of the ninth inning, score tied at zero, two outs. Terry Francona had already sent Jonathan Papelbon into the game, so it was clear he was going for the quick win. Big Papi draws a walk. So, we looked at each other and said, "okay, let's get Jacoby Ellsbury in there to pinch run. Papi already has a sore knee, and Ellsbury may be able to swipe second base with Manny at bat". But, no substitution comes. Manny Ramirez hits a flair to center that drops in sending Papi to second. " Okay, time to get Ellsbury in there. If Kevin Youkilis hits a single to center, Papi may have to stop at third, but Ellsbury could score easily". Still no substitution. Moments later, Youk hits a single to center - uh oh! Papi goes rumbling around third and it looked like this could be close and we cringed, picturing Papi getting hurt crashing in to home. But, thank heaven, Vernon Wells bobbles the ball in center and cannot get the throw off. Game over, 'Dirty Water' rains down on the Fenway Faithful.

After getting home we discovered 2 things that were not made clear at the game. First, Ellsbury has a sore groin and that is why he was not sent in. Second, JD drew, who we saw replaced by Brandon Moss apparently strained a quad trying to beat out a play to first in the second inning. The Sox get Lowell back, and lose two? When will the injury woes end? Mike Lowell received a huge ovation as he stepped in for his first at bat. He made a couple of nice plays, including a diving play, and looked pretty sharp. Welcome back Mike! But just looking at what could have gone wrong in the ninth shows you how these injuries can mess up the team, in more ways than just who starts where.

Dustin Pedroia made the defensive play of the game in the top of the ninth to set up the big finish for Youkilis. With Scott Rolen on second base with two outs, Vernon Wells ripped a Papelbon fastball back up the middle. Papelbon had to duck of of the way, and it looked like a sure single to center that would easily score Rolen for the Jays' first run. But, somehow Pedroia managed to scramble and dive to his right to just barely snare the ball, leap to his feet and quickly fire a strike to first for the third out of the inning. That was incredible.

The pitching duel was the heart of the story last night. Jon Lester went toe to toe with Blue Jays' ace, Roy Halladay, and carried a no hitter into the fifth, which was broken up when Lyle Overbay opened the inning with a single. But, that was the first and ONLY hit that Lester would allow on the night before turning it over to Papelbon in the ninth. Easily Lester's best outing this year. If Lester and Buchholz pitch even somewhat close to the way they the past two games, this will be a terrific season.

Roy Halladay was the unfortunate tough luck loser. This was Halladay's fourth straight complete game he has pitched this season, but the last three, including last night, have all been losses. Strange!

So, good news and bad news. The Sox finally have another win, and the team looked solid getting the win. But, two more players are hobbled. Hopefully Ellsbury and Drew both have minor injuries they can bounce back quickly from. I ask you this, do you still think the Sox should have traded Coco Crisp? Right now, he is exactly what they need.

Tomorrow, Dice-K Matsuzaka will face off against Dustin McGowan. You heard it here first. Dice-K will pitch well enough to keep them in it, and Manny will launch home run number 497 to help propel Boston to another much needed win.

(Photos courtesy of ESPN)

Red Sox Don't Lose Last Night

Finally, for the first time in nearly a week, Red Sox fans do not have to hang their heads over a Red Sox loss the night before. This breaks a streak of 5 nights in a row that the Red Sox have been defeated. Terry Francona was his usual stoic self after the milestone was reached. "I'm just proud of these guys. They know what they need to do and support each other day in and day out. Last night, there was no way they were going to let their fans suffer through another loss".

The most encouraging sign last night was the fact that the bullpen gave up no runs, and did not contribute to a disheartening loss, as they did in 3 of the past 5 games. Mike Timlin had this to say. "It does feel good. It seems like every night something goes wrong, but last night we made it look easy. Maybe that will help us get back on track".

"Nothing boosts a bullpen like a night where you give up no runs", added pitching coach John Farrell. "I'm really proud of these guys. It just shows what they are made of". Theo Epstein added, "You can see we are not going to bend to public pressure to make crazy moves to bolster our pitching depth. Sometimes if you just give it a little time, the schedule can take care of things for you".


Not everyone felt the loss-less night was a sign of good things to come. Team Captain, Jason Varitek, was more reserved in his analysis. "Well, to be honest, I have to give most of the credit to the schedulers. They are the ones who really helped break this streak of losing every night. I know people have been down on the schedulers for the hell they put us through up until now, but last night we saw how the schedule can contribute to our success as well".

Left fielder, Manny Ramirez, had this to say. "I don't know nothing about that, man. I just love to play".

So, with the streak of consecutive nights with a loss finally behind them, the Red Sox will try for a win tonight, at home, in friendly Fenway Park. Jon Lester gets the call against Blue Jays' ace, Roy Halladay. Halladay is coming off of his third consecutive complete game. So, it is going to be tough to get him off the hill. He has been throwing well, but has yet to look like the ace he has in the past. The Sox should get a boost with the expected return of Mike Lowell from the DL, and the re-insertion of Big Papi into the lineup after a couple of days off for a bruised knee. The Jays look tough on paper, but have yet to step it up, currently supporting an 11-15 record.

It is one thing not to lose. Tonight, it needs to be time to WIN.

(The above quotes are works of fiction, the facts are accurate)

Losing Streak Continues for Red Sox

The Red Sox have been worn out, beaten up, and suffering through a bad case of the flu. All of that combines to make you light headed, and perhaps a bit forgetful. So, last Thursday, after losing their second game in a row to the Angels, the players were told to pack for the trip to Florida. Well, it appears that they completely forget to pack their offense in their overnight bags, but at least the pitching and defense were packed with care. Last night Josh Beckett pitched a fine game, but like Clay Buchholz the night before, ho got no run support. I thought something magical was in the works as I watched Beckett strike out eight batters in the first three innings. Visions of Roger Clemens' single game strikeout record were dancing in my head. Alas, Beckett was masterful, but topped out at 13 strikeouts for the game, which just happens to be his career high.

The Rays scored their first run in bizarre fashion. In the third inning with one out, Jason Bartlett reached first on a single. With a 2-0 count on the next batter, Beckett threw three straight pick-off attempts to first base, but the third one was off line behind the runner and Kevin Youkilis could not get to it. The ball had legs and sailed down the line, caromed off the wall and continued deep into right field, finally getting picked up by JD Drew in the bullpen area. JD muffed the throw back to the infield, and by the time the Sox got a handle on the ball, Bartlett had crossed the plate for the first run of the game. I'm not sure I've ever seen a runner score from first on a missed pick-off attempt.

Beckett lasted 7 innings, and his only other mistake was a curve ball that did not bite enough to Evan Longoria, who planted it in the left field stands to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. That would have been the final score, except that Terry Francona sent Manny Delcarmen in to pitch the 8th, and Manny graciously provided the Rays with an unneeded insurance run.

The only offensive excitement for the Red Sox came in the top of the fifth inning when Manny Ramirez walked, and then surprisingly took off for second on a straight out steal. He slid in head first, just beating the tag. Manny joked after the game, "Contract year - I'm stealing bases". Unfortunately, Manny's aggressiveness went for naught, as Youkilis grounded out, and Crisp and Varitek both struck out to end the threat.

So where did the offense go? The Red Sox have scored exactly 2 runs in the last 27 innings of baseball they have played! What happened to Manny, who has more career home runs against the Rays than any other player? What happened to the electric Ellsbury forcing runs to be scored? What happened to clutch hits by the Captain, Pedroia, or Youk? Is Tampa Bay pitching that good this year?

I think it is a combination of a few things. Yes, Tampa Bay pitching does look good, and will only get better when Scott Kasmir returns from the DL. Combine that with the Sox' roster being depleted and continually juggled due to injuries (Mike Lowell, Big Papi, Alex Cora, Sean Casey, Coco Crisp) and illness (Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jason Varitek among others). On top of that, throw in a relentless 20 game streak without a day off, and you have the perfect recipe for a 5 game losing streak.

I want to know who in the scheduling office is on the Yankee's payroll. Someone who creates the schedule has to have it in for the Sox. They start the season in Japan, then take a few days off for exhibition games, then play Oakland on the road, travel to Toronto for 3, get one day off before a 20 game stretch without a break, that starts off with facing Detroit, New York, Cleveland, and New York again. Hopefully the worst is behind us now.

Tomorrow night they will get Mike Lowell back, and I would guess Big Papi too. I expect they'll send Brandon Moss back to Pawtucket to make room for Lowell, and they'll keep Jed Lowrie around until Sean Casey or Alex Cora returns. Jon Lester will take the mound in Dice-K's spot giving Dice-K one more day of flu recovery before starting on Wednesday. Let's see if Lowell's return to Fenway can bring some stability back to the offense this week.

(Photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Beckett to the Rescue?

While I hope the title of this post is true, I don't want to imply that pitching was the problem last night. Clay Buchhulz pitched the second best game of his young career last night throwing an 8 inning complete game only allowing 2 runs on 3 hits to go with 9 strike outs and 2 walks. The big problem was that the Sox could only muster 1 run, forcing Clay to take the loss for a brilliantly pitched game.

I'm sure there are fans out there who are questioning Terry Francona's decision to leave Clay in to face Rays' hero, Akinori Iwamura with a runner on and two outs in the 8th inning and the Sox clinging to a 1-0 lead. The alternative was to bring in a well rested Jonathan Papelbon to get the final four outs to preserve the win. The result was that Iwamuri guessed right in his chess match against the tandem of Buchholz and Varitek and was sitting on a curve ball that came in a little too high in the strike zone and left the ball field very high into the right field stands for a home run.

In hindsight, you'd love to have seen Papelbon come in, but at that moment Buchholz was still pitching very strong, and had the game well under control. If Terry had pulled Clay at that point, I would have thought, in that moment, that he should have let Clay get the last out in the 8th. Iwamura was 0-3 with two strikeouts against Buchholz up to that point. After allowing the home run, Buchholz struck out Carl Crawford on three straight pitches to end the inning, so you can see he still had it. It was just a chess match where Iwamura got in the last move. It is a shame Clay could not get a win for such a great night.

Big Papi was out of the lineup tending to a sore post-operative knee suffered from his desperate, noble, but ill-advised head first dive into first base the night before. That, combined with Sean Casey being placed on the 15 day DL, was enough to silence what had been up to now, a rather loud Red Sox Offense. But, Tampa Bay youngster Edwin Jackson had a terrific night as well only allowing a single run on 5 hits in 7 innings to keep pace with Buchholz.

The one run the Sox scored, they were lucky to score, thanks to a wild pitch. Speedy Coco Crisp was on first with one out. Jackson may have been distracted by Coco's threat to steal second, but he unleashed a wild pitch that rolled far enough away from the catcher that Crisp was able to sprint all the way to third. Jackson still almost escaped the inning but after striking out Julio Lugo for out number two, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a sharp grounder deep to third. Evan Longoria made a fabulous play off the ball to his right and fired a rifle shot to first that beat Ellsbury to the bag. But with Ellsbury running, he had to rush the throw and it pulled Carlos Pena off the bag. Ellsbury was safe, and Crisp scored the only run of the night.

Prior to the game, the Sox called up outfielder, Brandon Moss, to replace the injured Sean Casey. An interesting move, because the Sox are down to only 4 infielders on the active roster, so how does calling up an outfielder help? Moss has been doing some work at first base in Pawtucket to give him some more versatility for Boston, but he's still very new to the position. I suppose in an emergency, Moss would play first, and we almost got to see that strategy in action. In the fifth inning, Julio Lugo had issues with the home plate umpire's view of the strike zone, and got in a heated argument, not thinking that getting kicked out of the game would be the worst thing he could do for the team. Terry Francona was out of the dugout faster than chicken running from Colonel Sanders to get Lugo back in the dugout. Smarten up Lugo!

A loss today would allow the Rays to pull into a tie in the standings with the Sox. But, they have to get past a well rested Josh Beckett first. Just watch out for Beckett to keep from over-throwing. When a power pitcher is feeling too strong, he can overthrow and ride too high in the zone and get into trouble.

(Photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

Blogger Late Scratch - Flu Symptoms

The Rational Sox Fan has been pulled from today's post at the last minute, the latest Red Sox icon to be hit by a flu-like bug making its way through the Red Sox clubhouse. Replacing the Rational Sox Fan is a minor conversation between two fans getting ready for the upcoming series against Tampa Bay:

MARTY: Bobby, I'm so depressed about the last two Sox games. But, at least we go against the Devil Rays next - should be a couple of wins in there for us.

BOBBY: Hey, Marty, you know they aren't called the "Devil Rays" anymore?

MARTY: Are you joking? That name was perfect for them! Devil Ray is a nickname for a Manta Ray, which is just a big slow fish that can look scary, but is really very docile and harmless. Why would they want to change that?

BOBBY: You got me Marty. Maybe there was a religious protest about having the word "Devil" in there?

MARTY: You know that's not fair. Satanism is a religion too - anyone care about hurting their feelings? And I know players like to give God a lot of credit when things go well, but no one really believes God has the time to intervene to help out a baseball team. But Satan? Man, he'd love to help out if he can get something out of it! The guy is a natural win-at-all-costs, morals-be-damned, crush-your-opponent kind of guy. Hell, it worked for the Yankees - you know the Steinbrenners must be related to the Dark Prince somewhere in their family tree.

BOBBY: Good points Marty. Having Devil in their name never seemed to hurt the NJ Devils much, now did it?

MARTY: OK, so give me the news, what's the new name? The Avengers? The Destroyers? The Hurricanes? It's gotta be good, right?

BOBBY: They are now the Tampa Bay Rays!

MARTY: That's it? How's that any different? Just afraid of the devil? It's still a fish, right?

BOBBY: No, Marty, this "Ray" is like sunshine, like a light beam. The owner, Stuart Sternberg, was quoted as saying it will be like "A beacon that radiates throughout Tampa Bay and across the entire state of Florida."

MARTY:

BOBBY: Seriously.

MARTY: I don't know what to say, it's just so beautiful and relaxing.

BOBBY: You okay Marty?

MARTY (yelling): THAT's THE STUPIDEST FRICKEN THING I'VE EVAH HEARD BOBBY!

BOBBY: I guess we'll never confuse Sterberg with Steinbrenner.

MARTY: Jesus Christ, Bobby.

Pitching Can Also Lose Games

Well, for anyone who thinks a low scoring game is boring, you must have had fun last night. On a night when the Sox offense was on a roll, the pitching imploded. The Yankees had a very similar problem. The two teams went toe to toe for the most part. After 5 innings both teams had gone through 2 pitchers with the Red Sox giving up 11 runs, while the Yankees gave up 9 runs. Both teams needed a reliever to stop the bleeding. The Yankees found theirs in LaTroy Hawkins who pitched two scoreless innings, and the Red Sox found theirs in David Aardsma who also pitched two scoreless innings. But, to end the game, the Sox brought in Mike Timlin who was (again) unable to hold back the dam and gave up 4 more insurance runs to the Yankees. Game over. Yankees win 15-9.

The good news, for Sox fans, is that the Red Sox were able to clobber Yankee ace Chien-Ming Wang, who had pitched a 2-hitter against them only last week. The bad news is that Clay Buchholz got just as clobbered. So far, Clay looks like a pitcher who has potential, but still needs more work in Pawtucket. Here's what I expect. Clay will get 2 more starts, probably fare moderately well, but not brilliantly. Right around that time, Bartolo Colon will be declared fit and ready to go, and we'll see Colon come up and Clay go down. That's more good news - we have a starter working his way up to help out. We also have the possibility of Curt Schilling making it back up sometime this summer.

The Yankees caught a break in the 5th when Melky Cabrera went a mile out of the base path to break up a double play. The rule is that he has to be able to reach second base when he slides, but in this case he was sliding out to center field, no where near the bag. The ump should have made the call, which would have resulted in the runner at first being out, ending the inning. As is turned out, it only cost the Sox one run - and gave Julio Lugo a cheap error in his stats.

Here's a worrisome quote from Terry Francona...

"Tonight, we go to Tavarez, and if he struggles, that's what happens. We really didn't have anywhere else to go," said Francona.

We didn't have anywhere else to go because Kyle Snyder had been cut loose! Theo Epstein needs to be out there looking for dependable middle relief!

When you score 9 runs and lose, in my mind you really let one get away. The other piece of good new for the Sox is that our #5 pitcher is the one who got hammered. For the Yankees, it was their #1 ace pitcher. Not a good thing. The Red Sox send their ace, Josh Beckett, to the mound tonight to face Mike Mussina. You would think this one should go to the Red Sox, but we'll see. If Beckett and Mussina pitch the way you'd expect, and the Sox bats (Ramirez, JD Drew) stay hot, the game is in the bag. I'd look for a classic pitching night for the Sox - Beckett goes 7 innings, Okajima pitches and 8th, and Papelbon closes her out. The only worry is that Beckett has been tiring around the 6th inning, so (gasp) we might need middle relief!

Lastly, start worrying about injuries. The list is growing with Kevin Youkilis fouling a pitch off of his toe, and Alex Cora going the DL for an elbow strain. To replace Alex Cora, the Sox are bringing up Joe Thurston from Pawtucket. With Youk likely sitting out tonight, the Sox are expected to play Jed Lowrie at third base, and Sean Casey at first. Not a good sign to be missing your two starting corner infielders.

Sox Re-Take the Lead

Another thriller in Cleveland last night! Indians fans must be getting pretty sick of the Red Sox beating them in last minute drama. The feature of the night was the debut of hot shortstop prospect Jed Lowrie (who played third base interestingly enough). Lowrie looked sharp on defense with a gun for an arm. He did not have a great night batting, but made the most it. He struck out twice, and in the fifth he grounded into what looked like an inning ending double play, but as a switch hitter he was batting lefty and the extra step allowed him to just barely beat out the relay to first. That allowed Jacoby Ellsbury to score from third for the Red Sox first run. So, what was almost a disaster turned into a memorable at-bat. His at-bat in the 7th was better. With bases loaded, no outs, he was able to bat right handed (his natural side) against lefty reliever Rafael Perez. He made the most of it hitting a ground ball single through the infield into left, scoring two runs. Not a bad night. The three RBI were the most by a Red Sox player in his debut appearance since Merl Combs did the same in 1947.

Alex Cora has been nursing an ailing elbow, and may be headed to the 15 day DL. This could extend Lowrie's stay with the big club. However, he is not the type of player you want wasting on the bench. He is best served doing some spot duty this season to get experience, but should do most all of his playing in Pawtucket until the Sox have a starting spot for him (watch out Julio Lugo).

The drama built up in the 9th inning. With the score tied, Terry Francona, trying to give Jason Varitek the night off, caved in and sent him up to pinch hit for Kevin Cash with one out and the bases empty. The Captain earned his title, clubbing a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence, giving Boston a 4-3 lead. Kevin Youkilis provided an insurance run with two out and bases loaded. The Indians had wisely walked Manny Ramirez with runners on second and third, but Youk still made them pay with a single to left, which easily scored Coco Crisp from third. Dustin Pedroia, ever full of energy, tried to be aggressive and score behind Crisp, but was gunned down at home to end the inning.

It is nice to write about offense for a change, but, the pitching held their own too. Tim Wakefield started and only allowed 3 runs through 6 innings, but came out of the game down 2-1, so was not able to get the win. Javier Lopez started the 7th inning with two easy outs, but got in a jam putting two runners on with a hit-by-pitch and a single. Terry Francona called down to the bullpen and told Manny Delcarmen to grab a bucket of water and come put out the fire. Unfortunately, Manny grabbed the bucket of kerosene by mistake, and only added to the fire while earning his first blown save of the season. Delcarmen was sloppy, walking the first batter he faced to load the bases, and then hitting his second batter to force in the tying run for Cleveland.

Francona, clearly preferring to save Jonathan Papelbon for the Yankees, went to Hideki Okajima to sew up the game. Unlike Delcarmen, Okajima brought his best thread and needle, striking out the first two batters he faced.

Now, did I say drama? You know the saying "fight fire with fire"? To wrap up the game, the Red Sox fought the Indians with an Indian (sorry, couldn't resist). With two outs in the ninth, Jhonny Peralta, who still can't spell his first name right, sent a long fly ball slicing foul to right field. Jacoby Ellsbury, who is part Navajo Indian, tore after the ball and managed to crash, leap, and stretch in the stands to snag the ball away from a fan who thought he had caught the ball. Jacoby showed the ball to the ump - game over.

Next up - round two with the Yankees, this time on their home turf. If everything works out the way you might expect, you'd have to give the edge to the Yankees tonight with Chien-Ming Wang going up against Clay Buchholz, who is still trying to find his best stuff. Wang was stellar against the Sox last week, but maybe seeing him a second time will help. Tomorrow, the pendulum swings back Boston's way as Red Sox ace Josh Beckett squares off against softball pitcher Mike Mussina, who probably won't be trying to sneak any more 84 mph fastballs past Manny Ramirez.

#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)

Return of the Jedi

When the Red Sox play the Yankees, it is fun to win, and it is even more fun to make a statement while you do it. Yesterday, our spokesperson for that statement was Jonathan Papelbon. What an inspiring performance! Two runners on base, two outs, one run lead, eight inning, Alex Rodriguez coming to the plate, Francona bringing in ace closer Papelbon to face him. Power versus power. Yankees' best hitter against the Sox' best fireball closer. It was so dramatic, God himself hit pause on the game by throwing lightning bolts over Boston, so he could reload on snacks. When God hit play again (over two hours later!) , Papelbon came out charged with that very lightning, striking out A-Rod on three straight pitches! For regular readers, you know I have been intrigued by Papelbon working on a new and improved slider this spring. He threw it on the second pitch and got A-Rod to whiff at it. And look at those three pitches, 97 mph fastball (fouled off), 90 mph slider (swing and miss), wrapped up with a 98 mph fastball (swing and miss).

Paps came back out to wrap up the game in the ninth getting Giambi and Posada to both strike out swinging, and then survived a drawn-out battle against Robinson Cano (the guy I called most fearless in the Yankee lineup) who forced Papelbon to throw 10 pitches in a terrific showdown until he finally put one in play, grounding out to second.

Pitching wins ballgames, and Josh Beckett looked great until he began tiring in the 6th and 7th. Francona obviously wanted to avoid bringing out the middle relief and stretched Beckett as far as he could. Beckett will need a few more starts to build back his strength with the delay he had in spring training from the strained back. Manny Delcarmen and Okajima did their jobs holding the Yankees at bay for Papelbon's drama to commence.

As I indicated yesterday, I expected Manny Ramirez to surely hit against Mike Mussina, and he did, with a home run and a double driving in 3 of the Sox' four runs. I love to point out and examine strategy here and there. The situation...runners on second and third for the Sox with one out and David Ortiz coming up with Manny on deck. First base is open, and we have seen managers in the past walk Big Papi intentionally only to get burned by Manny. But, with Big Papi struggling right now, new Yankees' manager, Joe Girardi, makes a prudent decision to pitch to Ortiz. Ortiz struck out, making that move look good. Now, he's got 2 outs, and first base is still open. Do you pitch to Manny, who already clobbered a home run against Mussina earlier in the game, or do you put Manny on first and go after Youkilis? This time he opted to pitch to Manny, who stroked the first pitch for a game turning double. Oops.

The 18 game series against the Yankees is all tied up at one game a piece. Next up, Dice-K Matsuzaka will try to continue his hot start against the Yankees' promising rookie, Phil Hughes. Hughes had an iffy outing, only lasting three innings against the Royals in his last start because he had trouble spotting his fastball. That is a correctable problem. So, no guarantee he will pitch poorly tonight. I can't imagine Papi going hitless again - so look out fans in right field! Dice-K has really looked good - I think he is more confident in the strike zone that MLB umps are giving him, and working well with Varitek to exploit that zone using his tremendous arsenal of pitches. If his location is good, with a favorable ump, we could see another pitching gem tonight!

Wang Spins a Gem

Well, I gave the edge to the Yankees in the first game, and Chien-Ming Wang, unfortunately made my thoughts come true. Both starting pitchers had great games. Wang and Clay Buchholz went toe to toe with brilliant pitching. Why was Wang so effective? Two reasons. First, he had excellent command of his pitches putting the ball exactly where he wanted. Second, he kept the ball around the strike zone all night. The result is that the Sox were not able to be patient at the plate and force Wang to throw a lot of pitches. Wang forced them to swing earlier, but kept the ball out of the sweet zone. So, most players made outs early in the count allowing Wang to get away with very few pitches. That sped the game up and let Wang pitch all nine innings.

I loved the job Buchholz did. I wish he could have gone deeper, but after 6 he was up to 98 pitches. Last season he tired out early, you can't kill him this early on.

Once again, I was questioning Terry Francona's logic. We knew Clay was done after 6, and we had Okajima and Papelbon lined up for the 8th and 9th. So, all we needed was to nail down the eight. So, with Jason Giambi leading off, as a potentially dangerous lefty who loves fastballs, I'm not sure why Terry brought in Mike Timlin to face him. Timlin is fresh off the DL and is a righty fastball pitcher. Why not bring in the lefty reliever Javier Lopez to go after Giambi, then bring in Timlin? That's what I was thinking at the start of the inning. I thought Timlin worked Giambi well, but Giambi won in the end.


After that, the real question was whether we could score off of Wang. Other than JD Drew, who is still in a groove and hit a homer off Wang for the Sox only run, the answer was a resounding NO. So, don't worry about the rest. Wang owned the show. We were never going to score a second run in this game. It could have ended 2-1, 4-1, 8-1, or 12-1. Any way, the Sox were only getting 1. So, the first battle was won hands-down by Wang.

Next up - the Red Sox get their turn to send their ace out as Josh Beckett faces Mike Mussina (weather permitting). Clearly, the Sox have the edge on pitching in this one, and the bullpen is rested enough, so the Sox have the edge. The one strength Mussina will bring to the table is some effective off-speed stuff, especially a nasty knuckle-curve. That pitch can keep hitters off balance. Sox hitters have to try to lay off that pitch and sit on Mussina's near-underhand fastball. Manny will do that - not sure about the others.

Oh, in case you were wondering, Big Papi is still in a rut going 0 for 3. Hmm.

And lastly, why was Jacoby Ellsbury NOT playing on Native American night at Fenway?

Anemic Offense - where's the bullpen?

I'm going to presume you watched the game. If so - you saw the Sox are not playing like a Champion caliber team right now. Josh Beckett looked very good, better than Roy Halladay, until he began to tire a bit in the fifth inning. When I say he tired, I do not mean basic arm strength. What I mean is that there are a lot of intricate mechanics involved in throwing a pitch not only 98 miles per hour, but also within an inch or two of where you want it to go. In the 5th, he was still throwing strong (his changeup was effective at 91 mph), but he was starting to lose his location - that was mostly due to his conditioning needing to stretch out a little more to get him over 100 pitches while maintaining all the necessary mechanics. With two outs, he gave up a single, followed by two walks. Now, this puts Terry Francona in a tough spot. It is early in the season, your ace is coming off of a back injury and has not gone too deep yet. He just walked two straight batters, and Frank Thomas is coming to the plate. On the one hand, Beckett is such a competitor, he may bear down and get that last out (that might have been my guess). On the other hand, his control may be done, and Thomas will kill him. Terry decided to go with a fresh arm, and on one pitch, Manny Delcarmen left a pitch out over the plate, and Thomas ended the game with his 11th career grand slam.

Yes, that ended the game. Again, the Sox (other than JD Drew!) are having a tough time hitting right now. What does the box score tell you? There are two things that should jump out at you. First, the Sox had 10 hits, but only 4 runs. The Blue Jays had 5 hits and 7 runs. Without even seeing the game, you can see the Sox are not stringing together enough hits to generate a rally. They are getting a hit here, and a hit there. The only reason they even had four runs was that 3 of their hits were solo homers. Yes, all three were solo. Jacoby Ellsbury, Jason Varitek, and JD Drew all went deep, but with no one on base. Now, against a pitcher like Halladay, you should be happy with that. But, the grand slam took that luxury away.

David Ortiz finally got another hit, his thrid of the season, and it was an RIB double. Love to see that.

Oh, I forgot. I said there were two things that should jump out at you in the box score. If you have been screaming, "what about the four errors!", then yes, you got it. Now, let's not run out and lynch the guy, but Julio Lugo had the worst day I've seen for him on a Sox uniform. Well, that happens. These guys are human, and some days they go home and wonder why they play this game. Tonight is like that for him. That's not the reason why we lost the game, and that's why I'm not making a big deal out of it. Chances are, a guy with his talent will not make another error for a week or two. He did not cost us the game, but he does need to tighten up.

Lastly, I am simply NOT on the same page as Terry Francona yet this year. I love the guy, don't get me wrong, but a manager has to not only read the numbers, but also get in a groove and fell out what will work. Taking out Beckett when he did, did not work. Now, of course, a rational fan knows why he did it. Beckett is in his first outing coming off an injury, and starting to lose control. But, on the other hand, his middle relief has been terrible. When I looked into Josh's eyes (in HD) I saw determination. His pitch count was not so high that one more batter would have mattered. Just let him get out of the jam himself. Instead, Francona turned it over to the bullpen, and in one pitch it was over. I know - 20/20 hindsight. But, that is how I felt as it went down. The other thing I disagreed with was no pinch hitting for Lugo in the 9th. Lugo was clearly not having a sharp day - that happens. So, bottom of the ninth, two men on, and the tying run at the plate - isn't that the kind of situation we have Sean Casey for? That was supposed to be the point of a guy like Casey - to hit in those kinds of situations. Now, surely Casey may have struck out. But, Lugo was having an off night, Lugo is not likely to hit a home run. So...

Now the Sox come home to friendly Fenway, where they will hopefully get a huge boost from us fans. Let's get these guys going! We are the tenth man - let's do our part.

Tune in tomorrow for some Yankee talk in the off day.

Let's Go Beckett - Where's Big Papi?

When Abner Doubleday came down from the mountains and showed everyone the commandments etched in stone by the baseball gods, the first commandment said, "Thou shalt not walk thy leadoff batter". Kyle Snyder definitely owes us twenty readings of "Casey at the Bat" as penance for walking both the leadoff batter and the second batter of the 6th inning. Of course, both batters scored, and Brian Corey conspired with Snyder to open the floodgates for Toronto as they built up an insurmountable 10-2 lead. Corey was intent on getting that Toronto lead up there. When Snyder came out, he left with men on second and third and one out, thanks to a sacrifice bunt. Then Corey came in and gave up a single to David Eckstein that scored the two baserunners, followed by a pop-out by Matt Stairs. So, two outs, runner on first, time to stop the bleeding and get back to the dugout? No, not yet. Corey then proceeded to give up a double, a single, and a home run to the big guy, Frank Thomas. The good news from there is that Julian Tavares came in and finished off the last 2 1/3 innings and looked very good!

Any rational Sox fan knows that someone was going to get taken off the active roster to make room for Josh Beckett's return, as it has been prophesied (sorry, got stuck in biblical mode again for a second there). Sox fans now had two finalists to be cut on their scorecards. In a bit of a surprise, the cut goes to Karl Snyder. Why a surprise? Because Karl does not have an option to go to Pawtucket and be called up later.

One last note on pitching. Starter Clay Bucholz looked better than he has looked this spring. He gave up 3 earned runs in 5 innings on 6 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He showed some toughness, which is very promising. The second inning started with a walk and two singles scoring a run, but rather than let things get out of control, he struck out the next two batters followed by a pop-up to end the inning. He got into trouble again in the 4th, and may have gotten out of it with less damage, but for an error by first baseman Sean Casey filling in for the error-free Kevin Youkilis. The good sign here was when Bucholz came back out in the 5th and had an easy 1-2-3 inning.

Last note. Again, the Sox offense looked pretty inept. When is someone other than JD Drew going to start hitting (just had to write that sentence for my man JD). Seriously. It is very easy in a 10-2 loss to point all the fingers at the pitching. But, if the Sox only score 2 runs, the ONLY way they can win is to hold the opponent to zero or 1 run. That's pretty easy math, but while Snyder and Corey provided Toronto with a huge lead, and an emotional let down for the Sox, the game was over once the Blue Jays scored their 3rd run in the 4th inning.

Where do fingers point for that? I hate to say it but Big Papi is a key culprit. Toronto has been employing the "shift" against David Ortiz, and it seems to have him off balance, more so than I've seen in the past. I think he is in a little bit of a slump. Combine that with looking out at the field and seeing all of your hot areas covered, and you can find yourself really pressing. The Sox have played 6 games this season, and so far, in 22 at-bats, Papi has a mere 2 hits creating a .091 batting average. Manny Ramirez is faring better, batting .250 with 6 hits in 24 at bats, but he, along with Ortiz, has been batting poorly in the clutch. Just look at last night, for example. Second inning, runners on first and second with one out and Ortiz grounds out to first sending runners to 2nd and third. That opens up first base, so they intentionally walk Manny, and Lowell, who also has had a slow start, softly lines out to end the inning. Then, in the 7th inning with one out and runners at second and third, Ortiz strikes out and Manny grounds out to end the threat.

So, you're a little worried about pitching? You should be worried about offense.

Yankee review tomorrow - how is the enemy looking this year?

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.

Steinbrenner Buys Naming Rights to Fenway

In a shocking new development that is sure to send ripples across Major League Baseball, George Steinbrenner, with what may prove to be his final official command from high atop the Yankees lofty tower, has announced today that he has bought the naming rights to Fenway Park. Fans are in shock as they now wait in fearful anticipation of what name George will choose.

John Henry did not return calls, but made a brief statement via email last night. "As you know, we are committed to providing the best possible baseball experience for our fans, and to do that we have to look at creative ways of generating revenue. On the surface, this may appear to be a win for the Yankees. But, think about it. What have they gained? Not much more than the potential for some verbal one-up-man-ship. But from our point of view, we have raised a tremendous amount of new revenue that we can now invest in scouting, player development, and free agency. But, that's not all, this deal is so lucrative for us, that we are in effect draining the Yankee's own funding. Plus with the Boston Globe being owned by the New York Times, we felt there was some inevitability to all of this anyway."

Terms of the deal have not been made public, but sources confirm the Red Sox will be receiving in excess of One Hundred Million Dollars per year. That will, in effect force the Yankees to begin thinking about payroll cutting. In fact, the Steinbrenners have been spotted secretly meeting with the Florida Marlins over the past week, presumably comparing payroll strategies.

All of Red Sox Nation awaits word on what the final name will be. Guesses have been thrown around, including:

Yankee Outhouse
Steinbrenner's Bathroom
Loserville Stadium

Reaction from Red Sox fans has been mixed. "Are you f**'n kidding me?", said Joe from Everett. "That's the last straw - I'll never step foot in that place again". While Mary from Cambridge had a more hopeful view. "I don't care what they call the place - as long as we kick their butts! I love the strategy of taking away the Yankee's biggest weapon - MONEY".

Steinbrenner has asked for fans to weigh in on the new name. All comments to this posting will be forwarded to George's son Hank, who will be making the final decision.

Wrapping up pre-season

Finally, the real season is upon us - again. Never put too much credence in exhibition/practice games, but once again the Sox looked far less than stellar. The only hit they managed in last night's game was from Bobby Kielty in the 8th inning. Jet lag? Hmm. As for pitching, we are seeing how difficult it can be to crack the majors. Clay Bucholz struggled last night getting pulled after walking the first two batters of the 4th. His line was not good. A couple of observations. First, he probably had less pressure last year in his couple of starts. He knew he was just up for a spot start, and just let loose. It is different when your mentality is to earn a permanent job and be impressive day in and day out. Second, there is now a scouting report on Clay - one that did not exist last year. As he says himself, batters are not swinging at his setup pitches like they did last year. He has good stuff, but needs to take that step up to the next level.

Speaking of Bobby Kielty, he should be making a decision today on whether he'll accept a trip to Pawtucket, or ask for his release. He does not have a problem staying, but I think his agent is trying to get him a good offer elsewhere. Can't blame him for taking a regular major league job rather than play in the minors. I think he is a nice addition though. With JD Drew/Jacoby Ellsbury both left handed batters, Bobby gives them a right handed option that they'll miss.

Speaking of JD Drew, I hear people getting on his case again on the radio today. Come on people, back off. He's injured, let him work through it. It amazes me how people love to assume players dog it. Not easy with the level of scrutiny they get from trainers every day. Beckett is out with back troubles, so is Drew. They are both on our side, give them the same respect. JD Drew is a terrific outfielder, and has a lot of talent at the plate. Last year was an off year for him, but he had a lot going on at home juggling a pregnant wife, and a son going through some serious medical problems. He stepped up in the playoffs when we needed him the most, and he looked great this spring until he got hurt. His second season should be better (ala Josh Beckett last year).

Speaking of Japan (well I started the other paragraphs that way), the Sox signed a 26 year old talent from Japan. Terumasa Matsuo (why does that name remind me of my favorite Italian dessert) was the MVP of his league last season going 15-3 with 159 strikeouts and a 1.72 era. Of course, that does not translate into MLB numbers, but he clearly has some talent. He's reporting to extended spring training this week, but keep an eye on him. He could be interesting.

Memorial Coliseum Wrapup

I managed to stay awake long enough to watch about half the game. Here are my thoughts...

To open the game, they had the most boring flyover I ever saw. Three helicopters slowly passed overhead. Not Blackhawks or anything, just three basic helicopters like news copters.

It was a testament to how ridiculous the field dimensions were when the Dodgers took the field with NO left fielder. The left fielder played behind second base, and the shortstop took a step or two back to cover left field. Very entertaining. In the first inning, a Dodger player laced a shot down the left field line and off the wall in the corner, and Lugo fielded the ball off the wall. Very strange, but fun to watch. Big Papi, in his first at bat, toyed with the short left field wall going that way foul twice, and then changing strategy and ripping a single to right field. After Japan, it was good to see Papi have a good at bat. Another odd moment took place when Jacoby Ellsbury stole second base and the left fielder (Andruw Jones) fielded the throw from the catcher. I wonder if they worked on that one in practice.

Cash and Youk both took advantage of the short field dimensions and earned the Sox 5 runs with their two homers. Somewhat surprisingly, Wakefield kept the Dodgers in the park and did a nice job going 5 innings allowing only one run on 5 hits, two strikeouts, and a walk.

The worst news for Sox fans (other than Ellsbury actually being thrown out stealing) was that Papelbon again looked very human. He allowed 3 hits and 2 runs (thanks to a Dewitt home run with two outs) in the ninth inning. Not good. But, this is still spring training. Well sort of. Hopefully, Paps can bring out the good stuff Tuesday night.