SOX END APRIL WITH BANGS

Solo homerun by Ortiz, 2 run shot by Cora, and a 2 run bomb from Manny. Couple that with a nice start by Tavarez, a few extra RBI sprinkled in by Cora and Lugo, a 2 inning Okajima hold, and a Papelbon save, and you've got yourself a win. You've also got yourself a 16-8 April, with a 4 game lead in the division.

One thing I really like about the Sox this season is the internationality of this team. Just look at today's big contributors. Julio Lugo, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, and Julian Tavarez, all Dominicans, all contribute. Alex Cora, from Puerto Rico has a big 3 RBI game. Hideki Okajima, from Japan, has a 4 strikeout performance, and Papelbon, an American, finishes it off.

Anyway, this start was very nice to see from Tavarez. His only major mistake was to Mientkiewicz, who hit the 3 rub homer. Julian only allowed 3 hits. I still think he's headed for the bullpen when Lester returns, but I also still think he's a good pitcher that can contribute a great deal to this team.

Huge news story: Papelbon gave up his second hit of the season.

I think it might be time to make second base a full platoon situation, at least for now. Cora is hitting right handed pitchers really well, and Pedroia is doing terribly against them.

Speaking of Cora, he was the Man of the Game with a 2 for 4 outing. He hit a 2 run homer and a triple. He knocked in 3 and scored twice. All three of his RBI came with 2 outs.

Honorable Mentions:
Hideki Okajima: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
David Ortiz: 2/4, HR
Manny Ramirez: 2/4, HR

Red Sox end April with an off day tomorrow, then return to Fenway to play Oakland twice, and Seattle once in a makeup game.

PATRIOTS STEAL RANDY MOSS

In a stunning move, the Patriots used a 4th round pick to trade for WR Randy Moss of the Oakland Raiders. A 4th round pick for one of the most talented receivers of our generation. A 4th round pick for a guy who can come in and be a #1 receiver. A 4th round pick for a guy who can come in and improve a receiver corps that already includes Donte Stallworth.

This deal is amazing. The best part of it is that we don't NEED Randy Moss in order to be a winning team. Unlike Minnesota, who depended a great deal on Moss, and Oakland, which was a horribly run team to begin with, if Randy Moss doesn't perform to our expectations, he's gone, no sweat. And if he does perform up to expectations, holy friggin crap.

We're looking at a potential WR position with Randy Moss, Donte Stallworth, Wes Welker, Reche Caldwell, Jabbar Gaffney, and Kelley Washington. This is all a tremendous improvement on a team that went 14-5, and was one score away from making the Super Bowl.

Moss has expressed a willingness to restructure/reduce his contract in order to reduce the salary cap hit the Patriots would take. The 4th round pick he's been traded for was the 110th overall.

The Patriots also traded their 91st pick (their 3rd round pick) to Oakland in a deal yesterday for Oakland's 2008 3rd round pick and a 7th round pick in this year's draft. Obviously, the Patriots haven't seen much desirable quality in this year's draft, but they're still making moves to improve the team. We've only selected one player midway through the 4th round, and I think the Patriots are having one of the best draft days in the NFL, simply with the future picks they've acquired, and the acquisition of Randy Moss.

YANKEES + BRUCE FROEMMING 3, RED SOX 1

"The Yankees have a lot of fans"
-Pedro Martinez

I love that quote from Pedro. I forget what year he said it, but I know it was a few seasons ago when he pitched great, got squeezed by the home plate umpire, and wound up losing a close game. Apparently, home plate umpire Bruce Froemming is one of those Yankee fans Pedro was referring to.

I don't think you can ever really blame umpires or officials for losing a game, and I'm not doing that right now. The Red Sox lost this game and have nobody to blame but themselves. However, it was easier for them to lose this game because of some horrible home plate umpiring from Bruce Froemming.

Wakefield got squeezed big time. I know with the knuckleball, it's more difficult to judge where the ball is when it crosses the plate. Sometimes, Mirabelli might catch the ball off a hop, even after it crossed the plate at the belt. But there were numerous instances when Wakefield would throw a ball that hit a corner of the strike zone, but the pitches were called balls.

In the bottom of the 4th, the count was 3-2 on Matsui with nobody on and 1 out. Wakefield's first pitch looked like it nipped the outside corner, but it was called a ball. Then the final pitch of the at-bat was at the knees, right on the outside edge of the plate, but Froemming called it a ball. Next batter, Posada, hits a two run homer into the upper deck. Blame Wakefield for the homerun, blame Froemming for that fact that it was a 2 run shot.

Leading off the bottom of the 6th, Jorge Posada up. Similar situation, 3-2 count. Wakefield throws a pitch about knee high on the inside edge of the plate, called ball 4. Posada would advance to 2nd on a groundout, and score on a weakly hit ground rule double. The ground rule double was bad luck/allowing a hitter to make contact, Posada got to second because Wakefield double clutched, but he got on base because of Bruce fucking Froemming.

Apparently, Bruce doesn't believe that on 2 strikes, hitters should be defending the plate. Apparently, he's going to give hitters the benefit of the doubt on 2 strike pitches. Wakefield wasn't getting the knees called, nor the belt called, nor the corners called. And it led to runs for the Yankees.

All of this wouldn't be a big deal if Kei Igawa and the Yankees pitchers were receiving similar treatment. BUT THEY WEREN'T! Kei was getting everything called for him, even when he missed Posada's targets by half a foot!

Then there was Coco Crisp's at-bat in the 8th. Jesus Fucking Christ! The first pitch was a ball. None of the ball crossed the plate. But it crossed right next to the plate, so it was close. The second pitch was a very nice strike by Farnsworth. Then there were three obvious balls in a row, the third of which was called strike three. Absolutely horrific call. Crisp, disgusted, slammed his bat and helmet down, and I can't blame him. Hell, I think he showed remarkable restraint considering he didn't bitch slap Bruce Froemming in the face. I mean, what could have Crisp done with that pitch if he swung and made contact? Hit a chopper to the ball attendant? That pitch was nowhere near a strike, and it ended the inning and the rally.

Crisp very well may have struck out or flew out or grounded out on the next pitch. Nevertheless, he deserved to SEE a next pitch because he didn't swing at a ball. Instead, he got punished for having a good batting eye on that pitch. Fuckig bullshit.

Anyway, another good start for Wakefield, another weak supporting cast, and another loss. Ortiz, Ramirez, and Drew went a combined 0 for 9 with 4 strikeouts, and 10 men left on base. Ortiz grounded into two huge double plays, almost in identical places on the field.

When Karstens got hit by a line drive on the first pitch, I felt as though that was a good thing for New York. Kei Igawa had been slated to pitch today. The Sox had already seen Karstens and lit him up. We had yet to face Igawa, and we hadn't prepared to face him, either.

This was a bad loss, but it isn't the end of the world. The Yankees got some fortunate calls, some fortunate hits, and we didn't get any. Derek Jeter had the softest 3 for 5 I've ever seen in my life.

The Man of the Game was Igawa who went 6 innings in relief, allowing only 2 hits and 0 runs.

Honorable Mentions:
Brian Bruney: IP, 0 H, 0 BB, K
Tim Wakefield: 5.1 IP, 3 ER
Kevin Youkilis: 2/4, BB, run

The Bitch-Goat:
Tim Wakefield: 0.2 - 3 ER
Bruce Froemming: 0.2 - horrible umpiring
David Ortiz: 0.3 - 0/3, 2 GIDP, 3 LOB
JD Drew: 0.2 - 0 for 4, 2 K, 5 LOB
Manny Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 2, 2 K, 2 LOB

PATS GET A SAFETY, AND MAKE A MOVE

The Patriots used their first 1st round pick to select Safety Brandon Meriweather out of the University of Miami (FL). Meriweather had a great junior year, but his senior year fell short of expectations. Many people felt as though he was a second round pick, at best. Another thing that hurt Brandon was the incident between the Hurricanes and Florida International, during which Meriweather, and others, stomped on an FIU player lying on the ground. A second potential red flag went up when Meriweather was involved in a shooting in which he fired at a man.

But here's the thing. The ENTIRE Miami football team was involved in the incident against Florida International. And the shooting incident? The police ruled that Meriweather used his gun legally. The gun was properly registered, and Brandon fired at a man who had fired on his roommate. No bad judgement there, just a man in a situation in which his friend is in danger, and he stuck up for him.

Meriweather is a good athlete and a good football player. He's also very versatile. Rodney Harrison and Eugene Wilson have both missed games due to injury in the past few seasons. Harrison is also getting up there in years. The status of Asante Samuel is in doubt, and Ellis Hobbs was exposed several times in the playoffs. Meriweather can be a nickelback, as well as a safety. No, not a shitty music making Nickelback, but a 5th DB kind of nickelback. He can back up Harrison, and possibly allow Wilson to move back to cornerback.

I would have preferred that the Patriots drafted a cornerback, but none deserving of the 24th overall pick were available. The Jets traded their 1st, 2nd, and 5th round picks to move up and get CB Darrelle Revis with the 14th pick. I wouldn't be surprised if the Patriots had been in discussions for that pick, but the price New York paid was WAY too high, in my opinion, and I'm glad we didn't pay it.

The Patriots traded their second pick in the 1st round to San Francisco. In return, they got a 4th round pick in this year's draft, and a 1st round pick from the 49ers in next year's draft. I LOVE this trade! There really wasn't anybody worth taking for the Patriots with this pick, so why spend a 1st round signing bonus for a guy you don't really need on your team when you can get a 1st round in next year's draft. This trade shows some of the differences between the Patriots and other teams. The Browns used their 1st round pick to get Brady Quinn, and the Jets gave up a lot to get Revis. Neither pick was all that bad, but they gave up some opportunities to improve their entire teams for the sake of sole individual players that they coveted.

The funniest part of the first round was the Miami Dolphins. The Jets fans acting like morons and chanting the war cry of their mediocre team over and over and over was a very close second. But Miami, in desperate need of so much, including a QB, passes on Brady Quinn and decides to take Ted Ginn Jr. with the 9th overall pick. Wow!

THE YANKEES REALLY DO SUCK

The feeling of desperation in the Evil Empire is palpable. The fact that Yankee fans cheered their 4 run 4th inning rally as if it were Game 7 of the World Series was laughable and pathetic. It feels good to be a Red Sox fan in the state of New York right now.

The Yankees have lost their last 7 games. The last time they lost 7 in a row was in 2000 (which also was the last time they won a World Series, so let's not get too excited about New York's horrendous play). The last time they lost 7 straight in April was in 1989, when they finished 74-87, and 5th in the 7 team AL East. The Yankees are the only team in baseball who do not have a save. They've had 7 save opportunities as a team, and blown them all. Reliever Sean Henn has the 3rd most innings pitched on the team. The Yankees already have 3 pitchers with 14 appearances, 5 with more than 10, and 7 with 8 or more. They're 5 games below .500, dead last in the AL East, a game behind Tampa Bay, 2 games behind Baltimore, 2.5 games behind Toronto, and 6.5 games behind Boston. They're one of 4 teams in MLB with a winning percentage below .400. Only Kansas City and Washington have worse records.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox are off to a great start. No team in baseball has more wins or a higher winning percentage. The Sox are 4 games up in the AL East. The next largest deficit between a 1st and 2nd place team is the difference between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh in the NL Central: 2.5 games.

But the New York Yankees aren't THAT bad. In their 7 game losing streak, they haven't been blown out very often. The Yankees have scored the most runs in baseball, 124 in 21 games, which is 5.90 per game. But the Red Sox are 4th on that list at 117 (in 22 games, 5.32 runs per game). The Red Sox also have the 3rd best team ERA at 3.25. New York has the 27th best at 5.12. The Red Sox have allowed 77 runs (3.50 a game), the Yankees have allowed 117 (5.57 a game).

As of this moment, the New York Yankees SUCK. It's only the end of April and there's about 140 games left to play, so things may very well change. Nevertheless, enjoy it Red Sox Nation. Your team is good, and the Empire is crumbling.

Last night, the Red Sox outplayed New York. The Yankees took a 4-2 lead in a tough inning for Matsuzaka, but Dice-K was able to settle down and pitch 2 more good innings to hold the Yankees to 4 runs.

The Sox had a very good response inning in the top of the 5th against Pettitte. Lugo walked with 1 out, then stole second. Youkilis hit a single to move Lugo to 3rd. Ortiz hit a single to score Lugo. Manny walked to load the bases. Drew struck out, but Lowell drew a walk that tied the game at 4-4. Pettitte threw a wild pitch to Varitek that allowed Ortiz to score, and the Sox retook the lead for good.

The entire inning, Pettitte laboured. He shook off Posada countless times, and asked Posada to go through signs over and over again. Could you imagine a pitcher having to do that with Varitek behind the dish?

The parade of Yankee relievers began, as did the Red Sox hit parade. Daisuke didn't allow a run for the rest of his outing. Lugo hit a solo shot in the 6th to make it 6-4 Sox. Timlin pitched a scoreless 7th for his 2nd hold of the season. Lugo knocked in Pedroia with an RBI double in the 8th to make it 7-4. Okajima pitched a scoreless 8th for his 4th hold of the year. In the 9th, the Sox sealed the game and saved Papelbon from pitching the 9th with a 4 run inning. Rivera came in and the Sox had 3 consecutive singles off him. Then Myers came in and allowed some more offense. Pineiro mopped up the game in the 9th.

The Red Sox had 40 at-bats in this game and reached base 20 times.

The Man of the Game is Julio Lugo who went 3 for 5 with an RBI double, an RBI single, and a solo homerun. He was a triple shy of the cycle, and an RBI triple shy of some sort of Super Cycle. He also walked twice, scored three times, and stole 2 bases. He did make a fielding error, but when you get on base 5 times, knock in 3 runs, and score 3 runs, you can make an error and still have an amazing game.

Honorable Mentions:
Kevin Youkilis: 2/5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs, BB
David Ortiz: 2/4, 2 RBI, run, 2 BB
Daisuke Matsuzaka: 6 IP, 4 ER, 5 scoreless innings, and 1 bad inning

Wakefield vs. Karstens this afternoon. Wakefield is the only Sox starter who is 4 for 4 in Quality Starts (6 IP or more, 3 ER or fewer), despite his 2-2 record. Karstens was lit up for 7 runs in his 4.1 inning start against us last weekend.

SWEEPS WEEK

The Red Sox had a sweeping week in which they were swept by Toronto, then went to Baltimore and beat the Orioles in 2 in the first meeting between the two teams.

On Monday, the Sox fell to the Jays 7-3. Wakefield pitched well enough to win, but once again found his supporting cast was lacking. The Sox only managed to put up 3 runs, made 2 errors behind Tim (which resulted in an unearned run), and the bullpen allowed 3 more Blue Jays scores.

The Sox managed 8 hits and 4 walks, but only one of those hits was for extra bases. The Sox left 10 men on base, 6 of whom were in scoring position. Lugo, Youkilis, Ortiz, and Ramirez went a combined 1 for 19.

The Man of the Game for Monday's 7-3 loss was Aaron Hill. He went 4 for 5 with a pair of doubles, a game sealing 2 run homer, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored.

Honorable Mentions go to:
Vernon Wells: 2/4, 2B, 3B, BB, 3 runs, SB
Frank Thomas: 2/4, HR, 2 RBI, run, BB
Jason Frasor: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, K

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Wakefield: 0.2 - 6 IP, 3 ER, 4 R
Pineiro: 0.1 - 1.1 IP, 3 H, ER
Romero: 0.1 - inherited runner scored
Timlin: 0.1 - IP, 2 ER
Lugo: 0.2 - 0 for 5, 6 LOB, K
Youkilis: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 4 LOB (3 in scoring position with 2 outs)
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 5, 2 K

The Sox looked even worse on Tuesday night in a 10-3 pounding. This was probably the worst game the Sox have played this year. We only managed 5 baserunners, and although 3 of them scored, we still had fewer baserunners than the Blue Jays had runs. Also, Toronto managed to get 17 men on base.

Tavarez once again was the weakest link in our rotation. He allowed 7 hits and 6 runs in 4.2 IP. Two of those hits were doubles, one was a homer. Julian also walked a batter and hit a batter.

Five Red Sox starters went hitless at the plate. We only managed 5 hits, and Lowell's solo homer was the only extra base hit. We also saw the first errors of the season from Manny, Pena, Varitek, and Hinske.

Just an absolutely abysmal loss. Bad pitching, bad offense, bad defense. A good team loss with blame spread all around.

The Man of the Game was Vernon Wells who went 4 for 5 with a homer, 3 RBI, 4 runs scored, and a stolen base. He's become a Sox nemesis these past few years.

Honorable Mentions:
Roy Halladay: 8 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 10 K
Frank Thomas: 2/4, 2B, 3 RBI
Julio Lugo: 2/3, 2 runs, 2 SB

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's the Bitch-Goat:
Tavarez: 0.4 - 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 H
Pena: 0.2 - 0 for 3, 2 K, Error
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Drew: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Varitek: 0.2 - 0 for 3, 3 LOB, Error

The Sox flew down to Baltimore to play the 2nd place Orioles. Weird saying that so deep into the season.

Schilling was coming off a less than stellar outing against New York, but he was able to give us one of the best performances of the season. Thanks to poor pitching, the Sox were able to get 19 men on base. Although 12 of them were left stranded, 6 of them came home, which was enough to win the game.

Some controversy emerged from this game as Gary Thorne, a broadcaster for Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and a broadcaster for many NHL games in the past, claimed that Doug Mirabelli told him that Schilling's stockings in the 2004 ALCS and World Series were painted red, not turned red by blood seeping out of Curt's ankle.

This story was particularly interesting to me because I'd have to change the name of my blog to Boston Paint Sox.

Doug Mirabelli politely denied this allegation by saying:

"What? Are you kidding me? He's fucking lying."

Theo Epstein had an equally priceless quote regarding the bloody sock fiasco:

"I couldn't give two shits about what was on his sock, I care that we won the game. The rest, and Gary Thorne, is just noise."

Schilling, being Schilling, threw a nutty on his blog and ripped apart Thorne. Thorne, to his credit, said he talked to Mirabelli the next day and admitted that he misheard/misinterpreted something that was said in jest. But, of course, Curt can't let ANYTHING go and is probably still grumbling about this right now in New York.

Anyway, back to the game. The Sox had a good team effort and won. One interesting point to mention is that Manny Ramirez had a 1 for 4 night, which RAISED his average to .200. When will it be time to worry about Manny not hitting? When/If we start losing, people will start noticing this and talking about it more.

The Man of the Game was Curt "DuPont Red 47" Schilling who allowed 1 earned run in 7 innings.

Honorable Mentions:
Kevin Youkilis: 3/4, 2B, 3 runs scored, BB
Alex Cora: 2/4 HR
David Ortiz: 2/3, 2 BB, 2 runs, RBI

The Sox offense was less impressive in Thursday's 5-2 win over Baltimore. Despite Beckett's brilliant pitching, the team was down 2-1 until the 8th inning. They had squandered many opportunities and it appeared as though we were headed toward a very disappointing loss.

but, the Sox had gotten Adam Loewen's pitch count up and gotten him out of the game after 6 innings of work. The Orioles have an expensive bullpen that looks very good on paper. They have Chris Ray, who recorded 33 saves last season. Danys Baez, who has 111 career saves, 38 career holds, and a 3.78 career ERA. Jamie "Dynomite" Walker who had a great year with Detroit last season. Former Athletic Chad Bradford who has a 3.35 career ERA. They have an impressive bullpen. But the Sox got to it.

Manny led off the top of the 8th with a walk. Drew flew out, then closer Chris Ray came in for an attempt at a long save. Lowell hit a ground rule double to put the tying run on 3rd and the go ahead run at 2nd. Varitek was intentionally walked to load the bases. Then Wilfredo Modesto Pena, who had hit the ball very well in the game, stepped to the plate.

Wily Mo is Pedro Cerano from Major League. He can slam a fastball, can't hit breaking pitches. So it's imperative that Pena gets ahead of the count to get fastballs. He took a slider to begin the at-bat, then checked his swing on a called strike. He then took another slider for a ball. Ray had given Pena three pitches, all low and away. But the count was 2-1. With the bases loaded, Ray didn't want to fall behind to 3-1 so he threw a fastball over the heart of the plate. Pena didn't miss it at all. The ball was crushed to left-center and landed in the Red Sox bullpen (which is behind the Orioles pen) for a grand slam.

Beckett pitched the bottom of the inning, then Papelbon pitched a hitless 9th. Beckett probably could have gone the full 9 innings. His pitch count was at 100 when he left. If Curt Schilling was at 100 pitches after 8, Francona would probably let him take the mound for the 9th. Rather, Curt Schilling would DEMAND to take the mound for the 9th. but Papelbon did need some work, so it worked out.

Man of the Game was Josh Beckett who went 8 innings, allowing 2 runs, scattering 8 hits, and walking none. He hasn't been walking too many batters this season, nor has he allowed too many homeruns. He is MLB's first 5 game winner of the year.

Honorable Mentions:
Wily Mo Pena: 2/4, 2B, Grand Slam, 4 RBI, also had a hard hit out
Adam Loewen: 6 IP, ER

The Sox left Baltimore with a 3 game lead in the division.

HISTORY MADE

Famous result in Fenway. The Red Sox swept a 3 game series against the Yankees in Boston for the first time since 1990. The Red Sox hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back homeruns for the first time in their history. This also tied a MLB record for consecutive homeruns (only the 5th time ever), and was only the 2nd time in history a team has hit four homers in a row off the same pitcher. When the Dodgers hit 4 in a row in 2006, JD Drew was the second of the 4 homerun hitters, just like tonight. When the Indians did it in 1963, Terry Francona's dad was one of the hitters.

This series was important to sweep. New York is very weak right now, and it was important to take full advantage of that weakness. We fought hard, as did New York, but we just fought a little harder. Our starting pitchers weren't as good as they've been in previous starts, but our bullpen and offense performed very well and we were able to earn some victories against a divisional opponent.

The strange thing about this game is that we only scored 7 runs. We had 11 hits, 9 walks, 3 doubles, and 5 homeruns, but were only able to plate 7. We squandered some opportunities early on, and left 12 men on base, 8 of which were in scoring position.

Chase Wright escaped demolition a few ties early in the game, hanging curveballs and walking guys, but he finally paid for his pitching sins in the 3rd when Manny, Drew, Lowell, and Tek took him deep. The Sox bats were silenced by bean and Pettitte, but Scott Proctor woke them up.

Okajima was asked to pitch 3 days in a row, which demonstrates the lack of reliable depth in the Sox pen. Then Donneley was brought into a bases loaded situation and only allowed 1 of the runners to score. Papelbon was simply Papelbon and retired the side in the 9th for the win.

Something about this series kind of bugged me. Yesterday, Francona went with Beckett to start the 7th inning, and tonight, he went with Matsuzaka to start the 8th. We really do lack bullpen depth, and it forces Francona to do things like try to extend starters into games. Maybe, if Lester returns, and Tavarez goes to the pen, we'll get some more depth in there. And we're winning right now, but in terms of a 162 game season, things like this can turn into major problems.

Man of the Game is Mike Lowell, who went 2 for 4 with a pair of homeruns, 4 RBI, 2 runs scored, and a walk.

Honorable Mentions:
Brendan Donnelly: 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 of 3 inherited runners scored
JD Drew: 2/4, HR, double, RBI, 2 runs, walk
Jason Giambi*: 2/4, double, 3 RBI

The Sox continue their short homestand as the Blue Jays come to town. Toronto has been playing pretty poorly and just got swept by Baltimore. The Orioles are actually in 2nd right now, a mere game behind us. Wakefield against Ohka, then Tavarez against Halladay.

SOX WIN WITH SMALL BALL AND LONG BALL

This was a total team victory. I love total team victories. Beckett got knocked around early on in the game, but settled down nicely and gave us a really good start. Okajima came in for 2 batters and got them both, leaving two inherited runners on base and picking up his first Hold. Timlin came in after that and pitched 0.2 perfect, giving the ball to Papelbon who pitched a hitless 9th for his 15th Save in 15 attempts in his career in April. Lugo went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI, Youk went 2 for 4, Ortiz went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI, Manny, Lowell, and Drew didn't contribute a whole lot, Tek went 2 for 4, Crisp went 2 for 4, Cora went 1 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt.

All in all, a very well played game by the Sox. We manufactured a run in the 2nd. Crisp bunted for a single with 1 out, then Cora bunted for a single. A wild pitch moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd. Lugo grounded out, knocking in Crisp. Youkilis singled to left to knock in Cora and tie the game.

The 4th inning was an interesting dichotomy of seemingly opposing baseball philosophies. In other words, we played small ball and long ball in the same inning. Crisp had a soft line drive single, stole second base, Cora sacrifice bunted him to 3rd, then Lugo grounded out, driving in Coco. That was how we took the lead. Then Youkilis walked and Ortiz hit a homerun around Pesky's Pole. That was how we kept the lead.

There's been a lot of debate among baseball nerds like myself about offensive strategies. Some people argue for the small ball tactics like stolen bases, hit and runs, sacrifices, moving runners over, basically trying to score runs 1 or 2 at a time. Then there's people who argue for what has been dubbed "Money Ball" tactics (even though Money Ball was more about finding undervalued players that provide cheaper production). This philosophy is more numbers crazy and involves things like OBP, OPS, and other alphabet soup stats. Essentially, you get a few guys on with walks and hits, then hit homeruns and extra basehits. You don't risk things like stealing bases, you don't give up outs with sacrifices. The goal is to score runs in bunches.

I think both strategies are good, but also need to be used in tandem with the other. What I mean is, a team should be able to do BOTH effectively. It has to be able to manufacture a run, and it has to be able to frequently score multiple runs in an inning. We've got a bottom of the order than can manufacture some runs for us. These individual add-on runs are huge over the course of 162 games. And in the playoffs, they're monumental, because it's a lot tougher to score any runs in the playoffs.

When the hell is Manny Ramirez going to get some luck? The poor guy has peppered the warning tracks of the AL with fly outs these past few weeks and has a .193 average to show for it. When he gets hot, the dynamics of our lineup dramatically change.

Coco Crisp finally got his average up over the Mendoza Line. YAY!

Is it time to consider using Cora frequently? He's contributed each of the last 3 games, he's hitting well, and he plays good defense. I still think we give Pedroia a chance, but maybe sprinkle in some Cora every 4th or 5th game.

But anyway, the Man of the Game is David Ortiz. Papi went 2 for 5 with a double, a homerun, and a warning track fly out. He had 4 RBI and a run scored.

Honorable Mentions:
Hideki Okajima: 0.2 IP, K, 2 inherited runners left
Julio Lugo: 2/4, 2 RBI, run, BB
Kevin Youkilis: 2/4, RBI, 2 runs, BB

Daisuke vs. Chase Wright tonight for the sweep.

VICTORY EARNED

WOW! What a win! I watched this game amongst a bunch of moronic upstate New York Yankee fans. These are people who claim A-Rod is clutch. These are people who claim Ortiz is NOT an MVP. These are people who claim that the pitching problems of the Yankees are "not a big deal." These are people who made fun of the green Red Sox jerseys worn by the Sox to honor Red Aurbach. These people are scum, in a sports sense. And watching this win surrounded by dejected Yankee fans made it even sweeter for me.

Going into last night's game, I felt like it was the one the Yankees had the best chance to win.. Pettitte vs. Schilling as opposed to no-name minor leaguer vs. Beckett or Matsuzaka. Pettitte's always been good against us, and that continued last night. He allowed a lot of baserunners, and a 2 run homer by Varitek, but we were never able to put up a crooked number on the board against him. I guess a 2 is crooked, but you know what I mean.

Schilling, on the other hand, was not very good. He usually isn't if his previous start was more than a 7 inning outing. I'm not blaming that, though. The Yankees have some good hitters and they were hitting Schilling. He "only" allowed 5 runs, but New York was hitting a lot of fly balls to the warning track, and you knew it was only a matter of time before they left the yard.



The game appeared to be over in the top of the 8th. Romero had a rough outing, allowing a run and leaving a jam for Kyle Snyder. Surprisingly, Snyder pitched very well to get out of it. Still, we were down 6-2 with 6 outs left, and we had yet to show much offensive proficiency.

Then the bottom of the 8th inning came. It was a team rally, and it was a memorable one. Mike Myers came in to face Ortiz, and possibly Drew if Papi didn't reach. But Papi did reach with a double.

Luis Vizcaino came in to face Manny. Manny walked. JD Drew grounded out, but managed to move the runners over to 2nd and 3rd. Lowell hit a single to left which scored Ortiz. 6-3 Yankees.

Then Torre brought in Rivera. At this point, I figured the rally would probably be stopped. Manny would probably score from 3rd with 1 out, but we'd still be down by 2 runs. But I know Rivera hasn't pitched since Sunday, and he blew a Save against Oakland. Plus, we've had a few memorable comebacks against Mariano in the past.

Varitek had a very nice at-bat against Rivera. He fell behind 1-2, but fouled some tough pitches off, staying alive. He then lined a pitch into right for a single which made it 6-4.

I moaned when Crisp stepped to the plate, but he redeemed himself for having a pitcher's batting average by hitting the first pitch he saw straight down the left field line, past the diving Mientkiewicz, and into the corner. Lowell and Varitek scored, tying the game, and Crisp rolled into 3rd with a triple.



The Yankees pulled the infield in with a man on 3rd, 1 out, and a 6-6 score. Cora took advantage of this and lifted a soft line drive over Jeter's head and into the outfield for a broken bat single. 7-6 Red Sox.

Cora was caught stealing and Lugo struck out, but the damage was done. Nevertheless, I still had a great deal of doubt about this game. During the rally, there were shots of Okajima warming up in the bullpen, not Papelbon. After getting 5 days off in between Saves to start the year, Papelbon had worked the past two days in a row, so he was unavailable.

But Okajima wasn't a bad choice. He was fresh, and even though he is a lefty and came in to face guys like Jeter and A-Rod, none of the Yankees had seen any of his stuff.

Hideki got Jeter to ground out to second. Abreau fell behind 1-2, got a very generous ball called on 2-2, and took the 3-2 pitch for a walk. Then came A-Rod, who already had two homers and a double in the game. Mister April got ahead in the count 3-1. Okajima made a great pitcher's pitch that skimmed the bottom of the strike zone to make the count 3-2. He then made another great pitch that jammed Rodriguez and was hit softly on a line to Cora. Kevin Thompson had pinch run for Giambi, and he came up with the game on the line. Okajima got ahead in the count and put him away with a strikeout to end the game.



A few thoughts on Okajima's Save. This was a guy we got and most people felt like he was just there for Matsuzaka to have a friend. But when you look at the state of our bullpen, this guy seems to belong here. I'll take him over Romero. Hideki is making $1,225,000 this season. He retired Jeter, and A-Rod. Jeter is making $21,600,000. Rodriguez is making $27,708,525. That's $49.3 million worth of offense sent down by Okajima. Hideki also should have gotten a called strikeout against Abreu, who makes a mere $15.6 million. The Red Sox are spend-crazy, but the Yankees spend money like it was going out of style.

Best picture of the game:


Man of the Game was, unfortunately, Alex Rodriguez. It's still April, so he had a good game. But he's still A-Rod, so he didn't do it against us in the 9th. Nevertheless, he had a great performance: 3/5, 2 homers, a double, 4 RBI, 3 runs scored.

Honorable Mentions:
Jason Varitek: 3/4, HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs
Hideki Okajima: IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, K
Kyle Snyder: 0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, K, 2 inherited runners left on base

Beckett vs. Jeff Karstens this afternoon. Karstens last pitched for Tampa Bay. Not the Devil Rays, the Yankees single A team down there. It was a rehab start.

The Sox also came from behind against the Blue Jays on Thursday night to win the series in Toronto. Tavarez pitched decently, allowing 3 in 5.1 innings. The Sox were behind 3-1, but scored 2 in the 8th to tie it, and 2 more in the 9th to win it. Manny had his first homer of the year, Timlin got the win, and Papelbon struck out 2 in the 9th for his 4th Save in as many opportunities.

Man of the Game for Thursday's 5-3 win was Roy Halladay who went 7.1 innings, allowing 2 runs.

Honorable Mentions:
Alex Cora: 2/4, triple, RBI, run
Vernon Wells: 2/4, 2 doubles, RBI, run, walk
Manny Ramirez: 1/3, 2 run homer, 2 RBI, 2 runs, walk

OFFENSE WAKES UP, WAKE MOWS DOWN

Three solo homers, a Mirabelli RBI single, another GREAT start from Wakefield, and solid bullpen work. That's what I like to see, baby!

That's not entirely true, I like seeing 2 and 3 run homers a bit more, but I'll take the three solo shots. And I'll take some offensive production out of Mirabelli. And I'll take a 1.35 ERA from our 4th starter through three starts.

Lowell, Mirabelli, and Ortiz were the offense for us last night. Drew was the only other Sox player to get a hit.

The real story was Wakefield who went 7 very strong innings, allowing only 1 run off 4 hits and 3 walks. He had a walk-crazy 4th just like Daisuke in the first game of the series, but he pitched around it nicely.

I know the sample is small, but maybe Mirabelli could be looked at as an option to catch on days hat Wakefield isn't pitching. Day game after night game, against pitchers Tek struggles with, that sort of thing. He seems to be hitting well in the few at-bats he's had, and Varitek seems to be struggling just a bit at the plate.

In my incessant Coco Crisp watch, his average dropped to .136 with an 0 for 4 performance. Jason Schmidt hit .136 for the Giants last year. When will he get a day off? Who knows.

Jonathan Papelbon allowed his first hit of the season. I know he hasn't pitched that often, but I love that Papelbon giving up a hit is news.

The Man of the Game is Tim Wakefield who went 7 innings, 1 ER, and so on.

Honorable Mentions:
Doug Mirabelli: 2/3, HR, 2 RBI, R
Mike Lowell: 2/4, HR, RBI
David Ortiz: 2/4, HR, RBI

Tavarez against Halladay tomorrow afternoon in the rubber game. The game will also determine which team will be in first place in the division.

HOT BATS OF SOX COOLED DOWN UP NORTH

Gustavo Chacin has our number, as do the Toronto Blue Jays.

Just a few questions about the lineup. Crisp batting second? When I first saw this, I was confused. He did go 2 for 4, so I guess it worked out, but I still question the logic demonstrated by Francona. I know Youkilis was hitting 5th with Drew out of the lineup against Chacin, but couldn't Lowell or Pena have hit 5th?

Coco raised his average to an impressive .150. That's over the Wakefield Line of .125. However, it's still under the Orlando Hernandez Line of .160.

The shame of this game is that it was a waste of some good pitching performances against a good lineup. Matsuzaka had a shaky 4th when he walked 3 and allowed 2 runs. But this was aided by Lugo's defensive miscue which was scored a hit, should have been an error, and could have been a double play. Okajima struck out the side in his inning of work, Dice-K sent down 10 with the Sanshin, and Pineiro pitched a scoreless 8. But it was all for not.

Ortiz, Manny, and Youkilis went a combined 1 for 12 in the 3-4-5 spots of the lineup. We're not going to score runs with that kind of production from the heart of the order.

The good news was that Matsuzaka did a good job of settling down after a shaky 4th inning. This will be pivotal to him being a successful Major League pitcher, and I think he showed good character.

I think the Angels series might have gotten Sox fans hopes up a bit too much. We were up against a warm weather team playing in wet, 45 degree conditions. The Angels spent the spring in Arizona, then their first week of play in Orange County, CA. But Toronto is a good team, in any weather. Particularly dome weather.

Believe it or not, this is an important series. I think this is our first real test to see how good the team truly is. Toronto is a potential playoff team. Wakefield against our old friend Tomo Ohka tonight, then in the mismatch of the year: Tavarez against Halladay tomorrow. If we don't win tonight, we'll probably get swept.

Man of the Game was Gustavo Chacin. He went 6.2 innings, allowing only 1 run of 6 hits and no walks. He struck out 3.

Honorable Mentions:
Daisuke Matsuzaka: 6 IP, 2 ER, 10 K
Hideki Okajima: IP, 3 K
Jason Frasor: 1.1 IP, perfect Save

Bitch-Goat:
Matsuzaka: 0.3 - 3 BB, 2 ER
Lugo: 0.5 - 0 for 4, should have gotten an error
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Youkilis: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 K

CLEAN SWEEP

The Red Sox outscored the Angels 25-3 in three games. Angels starters went a total of 13 innings. Maybe it as the cold weather. They went 5-2 in Anaheim, then lost 2 of 3 to Cleveland in Milwaukee, and 3 of 3 to us in Boston. Nevertheless, we'll take the wins.

The Sox got started early in this game, and Beckett had his 3rd quality tart of the season, a 6 inning, 1 earned run performance. If the game had been closer he probably could have gone 7, but we were up 7-1. No sense pushing things too far. Then again, if Beckett were Curt Schilling, he might have gotten the extra inning.

Speaking of Curt, interesting remark from him:

"I absolutely thought I was going to finish that game right up through the (28-pitch) seventh inning. Going back out for the ninth would have been me trying to get a shutout as opposed to me trying to make 33 or 34 starts and be as healthy as I can for every one."

It almost seems like Curt's saying that it was HIS decision to not go 9 innings, and only go 8. I'm sure it was also his call to go the 8 instead of just 7. Gee, Curt, thanks for making the right decisions.

The Man of the Game is David Ortiz. He went 2 for 3 with a homer, a double, an RBI, 2 runs, and a walk. He appears to have broken out of his slump, and he's lifted his average to .293.

Honorable Mentions:
Josh Beckett: 6 IP, ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Julio Lugo: 2/4, 2B, Run

The Sox go up to Toronto to face the Blue Jays. Maybe this year we can beat them.

JACKIE ROBINSON DAY RAINOUT

Second rainout of the year for the Sox, both at Fenway. Where is the retractable roof talk? Kidding, only kidding, but somewhere, Ted Sarandas is outraged.

I'm pretty bummed about this game getting rained out, for two reasons. Firs of all, our bullpen was fresh off Schilling's 8 inning performance, and the Angels bullpen was worn after Carrasco's debacle yesterday afternoon. It also would have been cool to see players wearing 42. Great idea by Griffey, by the way.

Jackie Robinson and the Red Sox have an interesting little history. One of the most celebrated men in Red Sox history is Tom Yawkey. Yawkey, from South Carolina, bought the team in 1933, and did a lot for the franchise in his 44 year tenure as owner. He put money back into the team. He did things like rebuild the left field grandstand, which had been burnt down in a 1926 fire and hadn't been rebuilt. He took a team that finished 8th in the AL in 1932 with a record of 43-111, and turned it into a .500 team by 1934. He acquired great players like Lefty Grove, and Jimmie Foxx. By 1938, the team was finishing in the 1st division (that means the top 4 of the AL). By 1946, the team won the pennant for the first time in 28 years, won 100 games for the first time in 31 years, and went to the World Series, losing to St. Louis.

Yawkey's been honored by baseball as a member of the Hall of Fame, honored by the Red Sox and the city of Boston with a street named after him, and a Commuter Rail station named after him. The little dots and dashes on the Green Monster scoreboard spell out the initials of Yawkey in his wife in Morse Code.

But the man, and the team under him, were racists. The Sox had an opportunity to sign Jackie Robinson before the Dodgers did. Passed up on it. OK, maybe they didn't want to risk being the first team with black players. Then the Indians got Larry Doby, who also tried out for the Sox and was denied. Then Cleveland got Satchel Paige. In 1948, the Indians and Red Sox tied for 1st in the AL and played a single game playoff to determine the pennant winner. Cleveland won. Now, imagine if we had gotten Paige. In 1948, he went 6-1 in 7 starts for Cleveland. Doby hit .301 for the Indians that year. We could have had those players, ANYONE could have, and we had an owner willing to shell out money for good players, BUT ONLY IF THEY WERE GOOD WHITE PLAYERS. And he has a street named after him.

The Sox were one of the best teams in the 1940s, finishing 1st in the AL in '46, 3rd in '47, 2nd by a game in '48, 2nd by a game in '49. Then in the 50s, we started to drop a bit. 3rd, 3rd. 6th, 4th, 4th, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 3rd, 5th. The rest of baseball had black players. We didn't. We were back where we started when Yawkey bought the team, finishing 7th in 1960, with Bumpsie Green being our token black player.

Did you know that Willie Mays was on a Negro League affiliate of a Sox minor league team? Did you know the Sox could have bought his contract for a song? Did you know that Willie Mays hit 660 homeruns? Did you know he was one of, if not the, best player of the 1950s, the decade that saw us struggle to finish in the top 4 of the AL?

People talk about the Curse of the Bambino, or maybe just bad luck being responsible for the Red Sox's many failures from 1919 to 2003. They're wrong, at least for part of the time. In the late 1940s, and the 1950s, it was the Curse of Tom Yawkey that was to blame for the Sox failures.

FLAWLESS VICTORY

Nice win by the Sox today, but the pessimist in me is thinking, we had Curt Schilling on the mound against Hector Carrasco, we're supposed to win. But there's a lot of pessimist in me. I'd say I'm 90% full of pessimism. But the pessimist in me would say I'm 10% empty.

I think I just set a record for the most times anyone has used "pessimist" or a form of the word in a single paragraph.

Great pitching from Schilling today. And great hitting from most of the lineup. We had a few breaks with the Matthews error, and the Wild Pitch resulting in our first 3 runs, but Carrasco wasn't throwing strikes, and Schilling was plowing through the Angels' lineup, so we were going to win anyway. We squandered a few early opportunities, but kept plugging away and put up 8 runs.

It seems like Ortiz might be breaking out of his slump, which is good because it was close to becoming a funk, not just a slump. He went 2 for 4 with an RBI single and a 3 run homer. He also walked.

Eric Hinske had a fine day, too. He was 2 for 3 with 2 walks, a triple, and 3 runs scored. You know, Hinske can play the outfield, and he can hit. Coco Crisp can play the outfield, but can't hit. Maybe it's time to try Hinske in right-field a bit, move Drew to center, and give Coco a rest. Trotting back to the dugout after all those pop outs and strikeouts must be wearing down Coco's legs.

Speaking of Crisp, he went 0 for 3, dropping his average to .111. Pedro Martinez hit .111 for the Expos in 1995, let's hope Coco can top that.

I know I seem to be getting on Crisp a lot, even after we've scored 18 runs in 2 games, but I'm not getting on him. I'm getting on Francona for keeping him in the lineup. The guy's just not hitting right now.

Back to positivity. Varitek had a good day, even though the numbers don't show it. He only went 1 for 4, but had two very hard hit line drives that weren't hits. One was the Matthews error, and one was an outright robbery by Izturis on a sharp liner down the left field line.

Why did Curt go 8 innings? I know he was cruising, and his pitch count was low, and we were only up by 5, and our bullpen sucks, but it seemed like this was a great opportunity to give him the rest of the afternoon off. He's 40 years old, and there aren't very many innings left in that right arm. Why not save him, just a little bit?

How sad is it that one of our set-up pitchers is also our mop up guy to come in and pitch the 9th with an 8 run lead?

I love when Sox games are on TV in New York, but it's always bittersweet, because I either have to listen to the Yankee propagandists on YES!, Joe Morgan's ineptitude on ESPN, or Tim McCarver's idiocy on Fox.

Fox is by far the worst of them all. Not only do you get McCarver saying things like "This is a quiet croud, and even if they're playing the Angels, they want to see the Sox ahead in the game." Wow, remarkable. Or how about "A lot of pitchers worry about first pitch hits, but I'd be more worried about hits on 1-0, 2-0, and 3-1 counts, because that's when the pitches are predictable." I think what he meant to say was "I'd be more concerned with throwing first pitch strikes and getting ahead in the count." Another classic moment was when he said David Ortiz hit two homers off "Juan Padilla" last Sunday. Juan Padilla is a reliever for the Mets who is on the DL and is about to undergo elbow surgery. Ortiz is 0 for 1 against Juan Padilla, lifetime. I'm pretty sure Timmy meant to say Vicente Padilla. Another great moment in broadcasting was when he called Julio Lugo "Cabrera." Must be Julio's new nickname.

But anyway, the worst part of watching games on Fox is the quick cuts to different shots around the ballpark. I'm a film student, and I've taken a few film theory classes, so I've been trained to notice this stuff. In between pitches, Fox goes crazy with the camera angles. We'll have a close-up on the pitcher, close-up on the batter, shot of the guy on base, shot of the entire field from behind home plate, shot of the manager, shot of the on deck hitter, close-up of the hitter, close-up of the pitcher, split screen shot of the pitcher and baserunner, shot of some fan in the stands, close-up of the pitcher in his wind up, then shot from center field of the pitch. This is no exaggeration. Just watch a game on Fox and you'll see sequences like this repeated over and over and over.

Fox is trying to create tension and conflict. But the tension and conflict is already there. If you have an interest in the game, you'll feel the tension as you wait for the pitch. In fact, keeping the camera angle in one place, like the camera in center-field, can create even more tension. Just watch a spaghetti western like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, or Once Upon a Time in the West. In the big showdown scenes, there are few cuts and the camera rarely moves. It creates a lot of tension.

Tim Timmons had one of the worst umpiring performances behind the plate I've seen in quite a while. How is it that Hector Carrasco, who threw 41 balls and 38 strikes, was getting borderline calls at the knees, at the belt, and on the corners; but Curt Schilling, who was throwing strikes, couldn't get a call on the corner all afternoon?

OK, did anybody else see this? JD Drew catches a fly ball to end the 8th inning, then gives the ball to a fan. Fox shows a shot of Schilling trotting to the dugout, then goes back to the fan who got the ball from Drew. The fan is in the middle of flipping off some kid sitting two seats to his right. Classic moment right there. I can just imagine the conversation going on out there. "[expletive] off, kid, this is my [expletive] ball."

Man of the Game is Curt Schilling. He went 8 very strong innings, scattering 4 hits and a walk. He allowed 0 runs, threw 106 pitches, 68 of which were strikes. He's looking good, folks. Only one of those hits was for extra bases.

Curt allowed 5 total base-runners. Kendrick in the 3rd reached on a single and was left at 1st. Cabrera singled in the 4th and moved to 2nd on a ground out, but was stranded there. Kendrick singled in the 5th and was stranded on 1st. Cabrera doubled in the 6th and was stranded there. Kendrick walked in the 7th and was left on 1st.

No Angel ever reached 3rd base in this game. I guess that's why they're Angels.

Honorable Mentions:
David Ortiz: 2/4, HR, 4 RBI, R, BB
Eric Hinske: 2/3, 3B, 3 R, 2 BB
Howie Kendrick: 2/2, BB, SB

Ervin Santana against Josh Beckett tomorrow afternoon IF the weather allows.

SOX POUND THE ANGELS, EVENTUALLY

Crazy game. At one point, the Sox were down 1-0. Then up 2-1. Then up 4-1, but with two runners on and 1 out, then up 10-1.

Good pitching from Wakefield, and a good (and rare) Hold from Papelbon. Of course, had the Sox not scored 6 runs in the 8th, one can assume Papelbon would have stayed in the game to pitch the 9th and gotten another 5 out Save. Once again, this was due to some trouble with the set-up pitching.

I really am not sure why Wakefield started the 8th inning. I know his pitch count was still very low, but pitch counts aren't everything. In the 7th, he allowed a single, and a double. I guess it wasn't too bad since the 9th hitter was due to lead off. But I think when you have a 7 inning start by Wakefield, you take it. Then again, with our crappy middle relief and set-up situation, I guess Francona was forced into trying to extend Wakefield as much as he could.

Having good middle-relief makes a manager's job so much easier. And it makes a closer's job easier, as well. But we don't have that.

Thankfully the offense exploded in the 8th so Papelbon could sit in the 9th, and Timlin could get another stress free inning of work.

The 8th was just a good old-fashioned crooked number rally, compliments of Darren Oliver.

Mirabelli leads off with a fly out. 1 out
Pedroia works a walk. Man on 1st, 1 out
Lugo lines a single to center, 1st and 2nd, 1 out
Youkilis singles to left, bases loaded, 1 out (classic Red Sox station-to-station baseball)
Ortiz with a nice 8 pitch at-bat and a ground rule double, 2 runs score, men on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out
Manny walks on 4 pitches, bases loaded, 1 out (Pena pinch runs for him)
Drew singles to left, 2 runs score, 1st and 2nd, 1 out (Hinske pinch runs for Drew, I wonder how many times in his life Hinske has been used as a pinch runner)
Lowell doubles to left, 2 runs score, man on 2nd, 1 out
Crisp and Mirabelli strike out, inning over

5 HITS, 6 RUNS, NO ERRORS, 1 LEFT ON BASE

Nice inning.

And Mirabelli actually contributed offensively. He was 2 for 5 with a solo homer, and an RBI single. I think he'll have 7 or 8 hits this year, and 5 of them will be homeruns.

Coco Crisp did not contribute offensively. Hitter usually find their jobs in jeopardy if they're having trouble staying above the Mendoza Line (.200 batting average), but Crisp is below the Wakefield Line (Wake has a career average of .125, Crisp is batting .121)

Here are Crisp's at-bats:
Bottom 2nd, runner on 1st, 1 out, Crisp strikes out on 4 pitches
Bottom 4th, runner on 1st, 2 outs, Crisp pops out to short on 1 pitch
Bottom 6th, runner on 2nd, 1 out, Crisp grounds out 4-3, advances runner to 3rd, 2 pitch at-bat, this was his most productive at-bat.
Bottom 7th, runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs, Crisp grounds out 6-3, 6 pitches
Bottom 8th, runner on 2nd, 1 out, Crisp strikes out on 4 pitches

Total: 0 for 5, 2 strikeouts, 6 left-on-base, and for some reason, he was hitting 7th instead of Pedroia, who is actually hitting with some decency.

When the hell is Francona going to wake up and put Pena in for a few games? I know Pena is a horrible defensive center-fielder, and he strikes out a lot, but he can actually hit the ball, and hit it hard. And he can hit for a good average if given sufficient playing time.

Man of the Game is Tim Wakefield who went 7+ innings, allowed 5 hits, 2 walks, and only 1 earned run.

Honorable Mentions:
Jonathan Papelbon: perfect 0.2 IP, including striking out Guerrero with 2 on and 1 out, Vladimir is not very easy to strike out.
David Ortiz: 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and a big ground rule double in the 8th which sealed the game
Julio Lugo: 3 for 5, with a double and two runs scored

Schilling vs. Carrasco this afternoon, the game will be on Fox nationally.

This is odd, every game in this 4 game series has a different start time. 7:05 PM last night, 3:55 PM today, 1:05 PM tomorrow, 10:05 AM on Monday.

Just imagine being an Angels fan in LA, and the Monday game starts at 7:05 AM Pacific. Weird.

ONE HIT?? THAT'S ALL WE GOT WAS ONE LOUSY HIT?

Can you see why they call Felix Hernandez "King"?

This loss was just the Sox running into the wrong pitcher on the wrong night. Just tip the cap to Hernandez, thank JD Drew for breaking up an embarrassing no-hitter, and move on to tomorrow's game, which will probably be snowed out.

Daisuke looked solid against a good hitting team. He wasn't great, but unless he also pitched a one-hitter, he would have been outpitched by Hernandez anyway.

The Sox pen didn't allow a run. HOORAY!

Has anybody else seen a middle infielder as bad at relaying the ball as Julio Lugo? He takes forever to get rid of it, and the throws are always off. Someone in the ESPN booth made a great point, bad throws from an infielder aren't an arm problem, they're a foot problem. Lugo has horrible foot placement on quick throws. But we should get used to it, I guess.

Varitek looks simply outmatched at the plate. I know everyone did against Hernandez, but Tek should really be hitting 9th, not 7th. Crisp is also a candidate for the 9 hole. I think a case can be made for Pedroia to move up in the lineup. I can tell you this much, though, regarding Crisp and Varitek: The Red Sox brass will be watching Kotteras and Ellsbury very carefully this season.

The only Sox starter over .300 right now is Drew. Next highest is Julio Lugo at .276. That's got to change. Youk is 3rd at .258. Everyone of the other starting 9 are below .250.

I know I'll be bitching a lot about the bottom of the order this season, but Manny and Ortiz need to start hitting SOON. I don't doubt they will, but we are not going to have any offense unless they're hitting. Manny's been hitting line drives and hasn't had much hitter's luck, but Ortiz seems to be trying to hit the ball to the 2nd baseman in the overshift, like it was an infield hitting drill or something.

Man of the Game is, um, maybe Felix Hernandez. 9 inning complete game shutout, 1 hit, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, 17 groundouts, totally PWN3D us.

Bitch-Goat:
Matsuzaka: 0.2 - 3 ER
Lugo: 0.3 - 0 for 3, 1 LOB, Error, two horrible relays
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 3, K
Lowell: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 3, K, 1 LOB
Crisp: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K

Honorable Mentions:
Kenjo Johjima: 2/3, 2 2B, BB

Snow in the forecast tomorrow. If a game gets in, Wakefield vs. Washburn. Which W will get the W? Good Lord, I'm corny.

MORE ON DONNELLY VS. GUILLEN

More on. Haha.

So this whole business started in 2004 when Jose Guillen criticized Mike Scioscia after he was pinch ran for. Guillen threw the Angels' pitchers into the criticisms as well, accusing them of not hitting opposing batters to protect the Angels' hitters. Of course, Guillen and Donnelly were teammates at the time.

Guillen was suspended by Scioscia for the rest of the season. At the end of the year, he was traded to Washington. Since then, he's had a vendetta against the Angels.

When Washington played the Angels, Guillen tipped off his manager that Donnelly had pine tar on his glove. The umpires inspected Brendan's glove, found a foreign substance, and ejected him. Donnelly was suspended by the league for 8 games.

So yesterday afternoon, Donnelly struck out Guillen in the 8th inning of a blowout game. Guillen said something, Donnelly said something. The benches cleared.

Just a sidenote, I wish baseball fights were more like hockey fights, one player against one player, settle it between yourselves. But no, baseball fights involve the entire teams. Once one person steps out of the dugout during a potential fight, everyone on the other bench will come out, and everyone from the first bench, and everyone from the bullpens. You'd think if it were a real fight, the bullpens would just stay in the outfield and fight there, instead of running into battle.

Anyway, after things settled down, Donnelly hit Johjihima with a pitch, and was promptly ejected. Guillen had been ejected during the fracas.

Guillen's comments after the game were funny.

"It started when I was with the Angels and I got traded, you know. Caught him cheating once, and unfortunately he keeps running his mouth like he's gonna hit me. He's got to be man enough to hit me and not hit our catcher. So if you're gonna hit somebody, go ahead and do it.

When I was walking to the dugout, I saw him staring at me and I just don't like that. I know he was saying something. He was staring at me. I don't like whatever he's saying."

Guillen is mad that Donnelly hit Johjihima, and not himself. But Guillen flipped out BEFORE Donnelly hit Johjihima. And then this crap about "staring at me" reminds me of Gerald "Ice" Williams attacking Pedro Martinez for spitting on the ground in his general direction. Then again, Williams was actually hit by a pitch, he didn't strike out before he threw his nutty.

Here's the thing, Jose Guillen is a loud mouth talker. He talks too much. He got pissed because some guy he hates struck him out. His team was down 14-1, he was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts, and he took his anger out on Donnelly. He concocted a story about staring and used it as an excuse to get pissed at Donnelly, which incited an entire team vs. team bench clearing grab ass session.

Guillen is just an immature little baby, and a bad teammate. Just ask anyone who was on the Angels in 2004.

DIDN'T YOU MISS JEFF WEAVER?

The Sox may have missed Jeff Weaver, but they didn't miss many of his pitches this afternoon.

I have a feeling that the expression "offensive onslaught" will rarely be used to describe Sox wins, so let's just enjoy it now.

Offensive

Onslaught

Sounds good, right?

Four runs in the 1st, 3 more in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 3 in the 4th, 2 in the 5th, and 1 more in the 7th. As a team, the Sox went 14 for 36 (.389), with 7 walks. Seven of the hits were doubles, and one was a 2 run homer by JD Drew. The only Sox starter not to get a hit was Pedroia.

Beckett, once again, pitched brilliantly. He went 7, but probably could have gone the full 9 if needed. He definitely could have gone 8. He only threw 84 pitches, 61 of which were strikes. If it weren't for the 14-1 lead, he probably would have started the 8th inning. He allowed 2 hits, both in the 3rd inning, which eventually produced a run for Seattle. He struck out 8 batters. Most impressively, he allowed 0 walks.

Timlin made his 2007 debut. He replaced Javier Lopez on the roster when he was activated off the DL. He didn't look good, but this was mop up work, a good chance to give him an inning to pitch.

The reasoning behind sending down Lopez is probably that he is the only reliever with minor league options, all other pitchers would have to clear waivers.

Flawless Victory for the Sox.

Man of the Game: Josh Beckett - 7 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 0 HR

Honorable Mentions:
Jason Varitek - 3/4, 2B, 3 RBI, R, BB
Kevin Youkilis - 3/5, 2 2B, RBI, 2 R
JD Drew - 1/2 HR, Sac-Fly, 3 RBI, 2 R

Daisuke tomorrow night. First batter for Seattle: Ichiro. Japan will be watching this game.

Maybe this video from a few years ago is a preview of tomorrow.

A BIT MORE ON JD DURBIN

JD Durbin has a MySpace page. His user name is somewhat odd, but whatever. The dude likes George Strait, nothing wrong with that.

El Guapo's Ghost makes a pretty good case for how to use Papelbon. You should read his full post on it (it's not nearly as long winded as my posts). But basically, he says that Papelbon should be used in tough save situations only, not those 3 run, just pitch the 9th inning saves. This would allow him more rest to come in and make 4 out, 5 out, and 6 out saves. We could use Timlin or Donnely to get those easy 3 out saves. I think it's a good idea.

Still no word yet on whether Timlin will be activated, or if JD Durbin will be on the 25 man roster today.

Here are the probable pitchers for the series with Seattle. The Mariners had their rotation "adjusted" by snow in Cleveland. I wonder if there was any retractable roof talk on northern Ohio sports radio this weekend.

Today, Josh Beckett goes against former Yankee Jeff Weaver. This is Weaver's first start of the season.

Felix Hernandez goes against Daisuke Matsuzaka on Wednesday. Hernandez is coming off an 8 inning, 3 hit, shutout gem against Oakland.

Jarrod Washburn goes against Tim Wakefield on Friday.

SOX GET JD DURBIN

Buy your World Series tickets now. The Red Sox picked up JD Durbin from the Diamondbacks (off waivers, I'm assuming, information is scarce on this transaction). Durbin is 24 years old, and a former member of the Twins organization. He was drafted out of high school so he's been in the minors for a long while. Last year at AAA Rochester, he had a decent year as a starting pitcher, with a 2.33 ERA in 16 starts. But his record was 4-3 and he only averaged about 5 and a half innings per start.

In 2004, he made 3 relief appearances and 1 start for the Twins. He pitched 7.1 innings and allowed 6 earned runs. This year, he made the D-Bax Opening Day roster, but only made one appearance, a 0.2 inning effort in which he allowed 7 hits, a walk, and 7 earned runs.

Seems like yet another roll of the dice by Theo and the Sox in an attempt to build a sturdy bullpen.

STAR POWER

David Ortiz: 2/4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 runs


Curt Schilling: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K


Jonathan Pepelbon: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 15 pitches, 12 strikes, 5 outs

7 innings of brilliance from Schilling + a pair of homeruns from Ortiz + AN AMAZING SAVE FROM PAPELBON = 3-2 win in Texas

This was a great game for the Sox to win. It was a very close contest, too close, as a matter of fact. Ortiz provided the offense with the homers. Manny had about 1,200 feet worth of outs and in warmer weather, he probably would have had 2 homers, as well. But apart from David, we didn't have much of an offensive assault. We went 6 for 30 as a team, and Ortiz's homers were our only extra basehits.

Alex Cora had a particularly poor night. He went 0 for 2 with a pair of strikeouts, a botched bunt, and he wasn't able to cover first base fast enough on Lofton's bunt single.

Joel Pineiro will be fortunate to be on the 25 man roster by the end of April. He goes in the 8th inning against the bottom of the order and throws ball after ball after ball. He threw 14 pitches, 8 were balls.

Schilling was very good. He allowed the solo homer, but that was about it. His curveball looked a bit better than last time, although he rarely used it. Curt had the splitter working and was getting calls on the outside of the plate, and utilized that to full advantage. Very nice rebound start for Curt.

Jonathan Papelbon was absolutely amazing last night. Not much more you can say about his 5 out Save. It may have been the hardest save of his career. 1 run lead, 1 out in the 8th, runners on 1st and 3rd, Mike Young at the plate. All he has to do is hit it to the outfield and the game is tied. And Papelbon strikes him out. Then he gets Teixiera to pop out. Then in the 9th he looked dominant. Gets Sammy Sosa to pop out on 2 pitches, gets Blalock swinging, and Wilkerson looking.

It was a great save for Papelbon, but the bullpen still worries me. In the 8th, we really had no option but Pineiro, or Donnelley. Romero looked dreadful in his last start, you don't want to use Lopez or Okajima against righties, and so on. Even when Timlin gets activated, he probably won't be the Mike Timlin of 2004, and he definitely won't be able to give us an inning every other day. The set-up situation in the bullpen is looking very bleak. We got away with it last night, but down the road we might not be able to.

The Man of the Game is Papelbon. He was perfect when anything less than perfect would have resulted in a blown save. That's a closer right there.

Honorable Mentions go to Ortiz, and Schilling.

Fenway Opening Day on Tuesday.

ANOTHER FOUR INNING START, ANOTHER LOSS

When a 4 run game is considered an "outburst" of offense, things aren't going great for your hitting. And when 4 innings is all you can get from 3 of your starting pitchers the first time through the rotation, your pitching isn't doing well, either. And when JC Romero has 4 appearances, and Jonathan Papelbon has 1, nothings really going well.

The Sox did put up a decent offensive effort in this game, which was thwarted by Tavarez's dullness, and the bullpen's unraveling. Had Tavarez gone longer and/or the bullpen kept it close, we could have won this game in the late innings.

The Man of the Game is Hank Blalock, he went 3 for 4 with a triple and a walk.

Here's the Bitch-Goat:
Tavarez: 0.5
Snyder: 0.1
Romero: 0.3
Crisp: 0.1

Honorable Mentions:
Jerry Hairston, Sammy Sosa, Ron Mahay

SCHEDULING ISSUES

Something I haven't really thought about until just now. The Sox have been on the road in Kansas City and Arlington. Two warm cities. Usually this happens for us. We almost never start a season at home, and typically for the first week or two, we play in warmer places. This might be due to the division that we're in. We play Baltimore, Tampa, and Toronto (dome) a lot so it's easy for us to begin the year in a warm place.

For some reason, the schedule makers at MLB have decided that cold weather cities be the location for games. The result can be seen in the Seattle/Cleveland series, which was completely wrecked by weather problems.

The weird things about these games is that there are warm weather teams playing against cold weather teams IN cold weather cities.

Just a few examples:
Tampa Bay playing in New York against the Yankees.
Toronto playing in Detroit, instead of in the domed Rogers Centre
Atlanta playing in Philadelphia
Florida playing in Washington
The Dodgers playing in Milwaukee
Arizona playing in Colorado
Seattle in Cleveland
Baltimore in New York
Minnesota in Chicago instead of in the MetroDome

Someone needs to tell MLB that cities like Boston, New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and Philadelphia are usually still cold in April. Furthermore, it can still be snowing in these cities in April. Maybe MLB is trying to get a step ahead of global warming, but for now, it's simply moronic that games are being played in the North when they could easily be played in the South.

RANGERS GET BY SOX

The Red Sox swung on the first pitch 11 times this game. This is part of the reason Robinson Tejada went 7 innings, throwing a mere 77 pitches. That's right, 77 pitches. The Sox had 34 total plate appearances, the Rangers threw 101 total pitches. Three pitches per plate appearance just doesn't cut it, unless the pitcher's throwing meatballs and you're crushing them. The Sox were not doing this.

Wakefield actually pitched well, but we wasted it. You don't get too many Quality Starts from your 4th guy in the rotation, especially in Arlington, TX.

We've all seen this before, the Sox go up against a pitcher for the first or second time, and struggle. Then you throw in Mirabelli being in the lineup, Ortiz not hitting yet, Coco having poor at-bats, and you've got a three hit shutout on your hands.

Here's a question. You're down 2-0 in the 9th, 2 outs. You've got a man on first. Why not pinch hit Wily Mo Pena for Coco Crisp in that spot? You've got Mirabelli behind this at-bat, so even if Coco gets a hit and moves Manny over, the game is most likely going to end anyway. Just why not put in Pena, who can hit for power, to replace Coco, who really hasn't looked good at the plate at all this season or in spring.

Man of the Game:
Robinson Tejada, 7 IP, 2 H, 0 runs, 3 BB, K, 0 HR

Bitch-Goat:
Wakefield: 0.1 - 2 runs, ER
Pedroia: 0.2 - Error, 0 for 3, K
Lugo: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Youkilis: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Ortiz: 0.2 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Lowell: 0.2 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Mirabelli: 0.1 - 0 for 3

SHOULD NEW YORK BE WORRIED?

I know it's early in the season, but my Schadenfreude that comes from watching New York struggle knows no calendar.

Carl Pavano went 4 innings on Opening Day. Last night Andy Pettitte matched that feet. The Yankees best pitcher, Wang, is on the DL until late April or early May, and the never injured Johnny Damon is missing time with a calf strain, and might be seeing the DL in very short time.

So should New York be worried? They did manage to go 1-1 against Tampa Bay, but this was thanks to the Devil Rays' bullpen blowing the Opening Day game open. The $195 Million Men* fell to the $24 million Devil Rays 7-6. Now imagine if they hadn't rained out Wednesday's game. What would have happened?

New York sends Mussina to the mound tonight. Mussina, as we all know, is one of the most overrated pitchers in baseball. He's capable of brilliance, but also highly capable of mediocrity. Then there's Kei Igawa. As much question marks as the Sox rotation had this season, Kei Igawa? That's a friggin' question. Then Darrell Rasner fills out the rotation. Another question.

Is New York worried? I don't know. Up where I live, the Yankee fans don't seem to be concerned. They still have that unjustified and downright silly cockiness. They still beat their chest and give their war cry "26 rings" and laugh with each other as if they had seen more than a fifth of those titles. They have more question marks than we do, folks. They should be worried, or at least, concerned.

* = I know the Sox have the 2nd highest payroll, but it is still $52 million LOWER than New York's. Five TEAMS have lower payrolls than the difference between us and New York.

DICE-KKKKKKKKKK

Wow! Wow!

WOW!!!

Daisuke Matsuzaka's line from his MLB debut: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 1 HR

Not too shabby. Now, we shouldn't get carried away. This was against the Royals, a group of inexperienced hitters. And this was the first time ANY of these guys have seen Daisuke, which means getting used to new arm angles, new movement on the ball, and so on.

Nevertheless, WOW!

Daisuke is obviously the Man of the Game. 10 Ks, 7 innings, one sole earned run. After allowing a single in the first, Matsuzaka held the Royals hitless until the 5th.

Honorable Mentions go to:
Jonathan Papelbon: perfect 9th inning, 2 strikeouts, first Save of 2007.
Manny Ramirez: 2/5, 2B, 2 out RBI.
Zach Greinke: 7 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 K

On to Arlington.

REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD

It was very cold...in Kansas City



Wrath of Kahn? Anyone?

OK, so the Sox got on track last night in Kansas City with some good pitching and some good hitting. Simple right? The defense was not so good, and even though Joe Morgan thinks infield defense is the "most important part of the game" the Sox still managed to win 7-1, despite 2 to 3 errors from Mike Lowell. How did we win? Josh Beckett and the bullpen only allowed 1 run, and the offense kept piling on, building the score to 7 runs.

By in large, Beckett looked pretty good. He only went 5 innings, due to his pitch count being at 94 (plus the Sox were up 4-1 when he left). Had the game been a bit later in the season, Francona probably would have sent him out to at least start the 6th. He did have some trouble throwing strikes. He threw 46 strikes and 48 balls, hardly a good ratio. He walked 4 batters. But he didn't let the balls or the walks get him into major trouble. He only allowed 2 hits and 1 run. He struck out 5.

The offense as a whole went 8 for 32 at the plate, which was exactly the same as they did in our 7-1 loss on Monday. Couple of differences: we were walked 8 times last night, we had two doubles and a homer, we got hits IN A ROW.

JD Drew was the only Sox hitter to have multiple hits.

The bullpen allowed 1 hit in 4 innings of work. No walks, 3 strikeouts.

Josh Beckett was the Man of the Game, mostly because no hitter really stood out. Beckett threw A LOT of balls, but he was able to work around his walks, and keep the Royals offense down. He allowed no home runs, which was nice.

JD Drew gets an Honorable Mention for his 2 for 5 performance. Ross Gload of the Royals also gets an Honorable Mention for his 2 for 3 night, with a double, and a walk.

Matsuzaka against Greinke in this afternoon's rubber match.

And do you ever notice that the Yankees cancel games really, really early whenever they're having pitching difficulties? It just seems like if there's a rainstorm anywhere near the Tri-State area, and the Yankees rotation is full of problems, the Yankees call games like 2 hours in advance. Weird how that happens.

SOX FLUSHED BY ROYALS

The line is forming on the Zakim Bridge in Boston. Let's not blow this loss out of proportion, people. Let's blow it proportionally.

Schilling sucked, Meche was lights out. Nuf Said. The game was over by the 2nd inning. Schilling extended his first inning struggles, Meche calmed down his struggles.

I was forced to watch this game on ESPN. I wasn't too pissed off, it's nice when I can see the Sox on TV in Ithaca. Then Jon Miller and Joe Morgan came on the screen and my heart sank. Miller's got a great voice, and he's a great radio announcer, but on TV I think the way he comments on games is not interesting or confounding. Example: when Ortiz was up with 2 on, 1 out in the 8th, Miller said "I think a homerun here kills the rally." Homeruns ARE rallies in one fell swoop. Yeah, a series of 7 or 8 singles in a row makes the rally longer and therefore seem more productive, but I'll take a 3 run homer instead.

And Joe Morgan is just an idiot. He's worse than Madden. I was watching the Mets-Cardinals game on Sunday night and he declared that "Infield defense is the most important part of any team." Forget pitching, forget hitting, it's guys who do what Joe Morgan did, those are the things that matter. Morgan has no clue when it comes to anything but middle infield defense and line drive hitting. He knows what he knows, and that's it. When he says what pitch a pitcher should throw, he's almost always wrong in his prediction, and his reasoning makes no sense.

The only thing worse than listening to Miller and Morgan for 9 innings was watching Curt Schilling for 4 innings. Wow, he looked bad. He was dull, very dull. Not boring. Dull. His curveballs were horrendously awful. They almost never hit the right spots, nor did they break in any good way. He had difficulty throwing early strikes, and he depended on his 91 MPH fastball entirely too much. Hopefully this was just a one time thing. Otherwise, he may have to become a full time blogger very soon.

Meche was very very good. We didn't exactly hit well, but Meche did a great job at making the Sox hitters look like minor leaguers. The Sox got 8 hits, 6 of which were singles. One was a meaningless double by Lowell late in the game. One single was Pedroia's, who got thrown out trying to extend it to a double. Understandable considering the left-fielder was a transplanted first-baseman.

Nobody in our lineup really looked that good. Varitek, Lugo, and Crisp stuck out, but the fact of the matter was that the entire lineup had a bad day. Meche pitched well, give him credit for it.

We did get an opportunity to see a lot of our bullpen today. Lopez was great, Donnely looked good against one batter, Okajima gave up a massive homer but was otherwise good, Pineiro looked washed up on the mound, Romero's 0.2 innings were in garbage time.

As some of you may know, after each game I award The Man of the Game and sometimes the Bitch-Goat. The Man of the Game goes to the most outstanding player of the game, on either team, regardless of which team won. The Bitch-Goat is an allocation of blame for the Red Sox losing. In a loss, I divide the number 1 into tenths and distribute them to different players based on how I much I feel they were responsible for us losing. This season, I'm adding a category called Honorable Mentions. These are for performances that stood out, but weren't the most outstanding. I'll award up to 3 of these a game.

The Man of the Game for the 7-1 loss was Gil Meche. He went 7.1 innings, scattered 6 hits, allowed 1 earned run, only walked 1, and struck out 6. He had a rough 1st inning but settled down by the 2nd.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Curt Schilling: 0.9 - 4 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 ER, looked awful.
Manny Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 4, K, 2 LOB, GIDP

So this means that in my eyes Curt gets 90% of the blame for the loss, Manny gets 10%. In reality, Manny doesn't deserve a full 10% for this one, but someone on the offense has to take it, in my opinion.

Honorable Mention goes to Mark Grudzielanek. He went 3 for 5 with a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored.

Honorable Mention goes to Tony Pena Jr. who went 2 for 3 with a pair of triples, knocked in a run, scored a run, walked, and had some nice defensive plays.

Honorable Mention goes to Joel Peralta who pitched the last 1.2 innings, striking out 4 Red Sox in a row.

The one thing that sucks about losing on Opening Day is that off day before the next game. You spend October, November, December, January, February, and March waiting for real baseball and some redemption from last season, then your team loses and you have to wait until Wednesday before they play again.

Beckett vs. Odalis Perez on Wednesday night.

2007 PREVIEW, PART 10: THE TEAM

Overrall the Sox look good for 2007. Certain things need to fall in place for us. We need the top of the order to get on base. We need Drew to give us some offensive production. We need Manny and Ortiz to continue being Manny Ortez. We need to score around 900 runs this season. We need our starting pitchers to step-up. And we need somebody from the bullpen to emerge and clarify the final few innings of games for us.

I think this team will have a shaky start, but will eventually be cohesive and successful. We'll win 95 games, which may or may not be good enough for a playoff spot. I think it will win us a Wild Card. I think we'll make it to the ALCS and lose, simply because Schilling will be worn down, as will Papelbon and Timlin. Hopefully I'm right that we'll make it to the ALCS, and hopefully I'm wrong that we'll lose.

Schilling vs. Meche, Boston vs. Kansas City at 4:10 this afternoon.

I, for one, am very excited. GO SOX!

2007 PREVIEW, PART 9: BULLPEN

You'd think with a player payroll of $150+ million, there wouldn't be so many baffling questions flying around The Fens. You'd think that we'd have a few things that were dependable. Maybe not sure things, but close enough.

The fact that the most dependable player in the bullpen is a guy who the Sox originally didn't want in the bullpen because they were concerned about his health is very telling.

We all know Papelbon is the closer. And we all know he has the same birthday as me. And we all know he had an ERA of 0.92. 0.92!!! I never stop getting amazed at that number. He had a WHIP of 0.776. That number is also quite amazing. e struck out 75 and walked 13 (5.77:1 ratio). He struck out 75 in 68.1 IP (9.88 K/9IP). He was amazing.

There's nothing to suggest he won't be anything but amazing in 2007. The only worry is his health. I think you'll see him almost never used to get more than 3 outs. I think you'll never see him in a game more than two nights in a row, or more than 3 or 4 nights a week.

Last August, Papelbon's ERA "skyrocketed" from 0.51 at the end of July to 0.93 by August 31st. It got as "high" as 1.00 at one point. The fact that his ERA peaked at 1.00 is extremely impressive.

I think/hope/pray he'll be healthy. I'm seeing 40 saves, 7 blown saves, 1.25 ERA, 80 Ks.

And then there's the rest of the bullpen...

The primary set-up man will eventually be Mike Timlin. He starts the season on the 15 Day DL, but is expected to return shortly. But he won't be the every day go to guy he's been in the past for us. After 961 appearances and over 1,000 innings, he just isn't capable of being the 80 appearance work horse the Sox have ridden in the 8th inning. I think he'll have a good year, but his appearances will be capped at 50, probably ending up in the 40 to 45 range. I think he'll have a solid 3.60 ERA, and he'll give us some of our tougher holds, but he won't be giving us the 20+ holds we're used to getting from him.

Next is Brendan Donnelly. His ERA has risen each of the past 4 seasons. He's not as good as he was a few years ago with the LA/Anaheim/California/Orange County/San Diego/Oakland Angels, but I think he'll do well in Boston. When we signed him, I thought it was a good acquisition. He's hardly a lights out set-up man, but he'll do.

Donnelly will fill in a bit of Timlin's role, particularly early in the season. He'll get about 60+ appearances and will essentially be our 1B set-up RHP. If Timlin's available, and the game is real tight, we'll see Mike. If Timlin is not available, or it's the 7th inning, or the game isn't so tight, we'll see Donnelly. He'll give us a good 15 holds, and finish with an ERA of about 3.75.

And it just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it.

JC Romero is a guy that Sox fans have been clamoring for at the trade deadline every year except last year. He's only 30 years old so it's very possible that his 2006 performance was an abherration. His spring wasn't disastrous, but it wasn't impressive.

In the past, he's been amazing. In 2002, he had a 1.89 ERA and 33 holds in 81 innings of relief work. He also won 9 games that year. But since then, he's declined, resurged, and declines. He'll be used as a left-handed set-up man, being used in innings in which lefties are expected to bat. He did hold left handed hitters to a .202 average last season. But righties hit .382 off him. If he doesn't work out as a set-up pitcher, he can probably still be useful as a situational lefty.

If Romero struggles against righties, Javier Lopez might just step up to the set-up role. As it is, he is a middle-reliever. but he had a nice short season with the Sox last year and it should continue. He's been liberated from high elevation ballparks in Colorado and Arizona, and has done nicely at sea level.

Hideki Okajima will probably be the situational lefty to start out the season. What do I expect from him? I have no frigging idea. He's experienced, he's pitched for 10 years in NPB, and I've got no clue what he'll bring to the table. He could be a good middle-reliever/situational pitcher, he could be a total flop. But he'll be a cheap flop.

Speaking of flops: Joel Pineiro and Kyle Snyder will both see the words "Designated for assignmet" next to their names on transaction sheets within a few months. Snyder actually had a good spring, so he might last, but Pineiro has a very short amount of time to prove that he belongs on this team. They'll be long relievers/middle relievers.

Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Kason Gabbard, Clay Bucholz, Bryce Cox, Edgar Martinez, and Kyle Jackson. These are names of players who will probably be commuting all over I-95 from Portland to Pawtucket to Boston during the season.

Our bullpen has something I like to call "mediocre depth." This means we have a lot of guys who can fill roles in the pen, but few really stand out as truly filling those roles well, at least right now. The bullpen has many experiments, and by the middle of the season I think things will be very clear. We've got a lot of "risky" pitchers in the pen right now, and some untested younger players who could come up and contribute. Until then, we'll just have to hope our starters go 8 innings every time.