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That's what David Wells, Blaine Neal, Matt Clement and Keith Foulke combined to do to one of the fiercest looking lineups in baseball the past two days. 1-0 games are always refreshing compared to the 7-5 slugfests seen on a nightly basis.

The Man of the Game is undoubtedly Matt Clement. 8 innings pitched, 0 ER, 8 hits scattered, 1 walk and 7 Ks. He worked out of some jams and considering that he had to face the likes of Brian Roberts, Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada and Melvin Mora a few times only makes his outing more impressive.

The Sox fly down to Fenway Park South a.k.a. Tropicana Field to play the D-Rays.

The Celtics will be playing the Indiana Pacers in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs. They play game 1 in Boston Saturday night. Hopefully, I'll be there.

I just finished a 9 page term paper on why New York surpassed Boston as a city. I felt somewhat dirty doing it but in the opening paragraph I snuck in:

"About the only things Boston has better than New York are colleges and sports teams."

ALLS WELLS THAT ENDS WELLS

Undoubtedly the best outing for a Red Sox pitcher this year for Wells. Some stellar offensive performances, as well. Manny went 2 for 2, walked twice, and had a double. He scored a run and knocked one in. Tek went 2 for 3 with a homer, 3 runs, and 3 RBI. However, this game was about David Wells who went 8 shutout innings allowing only 3 hits and a walk. I think if the game were tighter and later in the season, he would have gone 9 having thrown only 109 pitches.

Wells is definately the Man of the Game.

Nomar might be out for a while with a groin injury.

Sox look for a 2 game sweep tomorrow.

SOX PEN BLOWS THE GAME

Keith Foulke has been unimpressive this season. 1-2 record with a 4.50 ERA, a WHIP of 1.63. I feel bad for Bronson Arroyo who went up against one of the best pitchers in the league and gave the Sox an opportunity to win the game. Manny and Ortiz did their part.

A few questionable decisions for Francona. How come in the 8th and 9th innings, Jay Payton, David McCarty and Ramon Vazquez were batting? I know Manny won't be winning any Gold Gloves in the outfield, but can we wait until the 9th to pull him when we're pretty sure he won't get another AB unless the other team takes a lead.

Why the hell didn't Francona pinch hit for Vazquez? He could have used Mirabelli, one of the best hitters on the team. Instead, with 2 on and 2 out in the bottom of the 9th down 4-3, in Fenway Park with 35,000 fans cheering, a AAA player was given an at-bat. Not surprisingly, he didn't do anything with it.

This goes back to the Neal/Youkilis thing. Why the hell do we need to keep Blaine Neal around? He is only good for blowout games anyway and we've got Halama. We shouldv'e kept Youk up in Boston. He actually has a chance to be a major league player if he's given some Major League at-bats.

The Man of the Game is Bronson Arroyo who went 7 allowing only 1 run on a homer. He scattered 8 hits and walked only 1.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Embree: 0.4 - IP, 2 ER
Foulke: 0.3 - IP, ER
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Vazquez: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Francona: 0.1 - Over micromanaging

Wells takes on Ponson in Baltimore tonight.

The Yankees went back to struggling, losing to Hideo Nomo and the D-Rays 5-2.

The Red Sox signed Tim Wakefield to a unique contract extension. The team and the player agreed to stay together in 2006 and every year after that the team has the option to keep him. It's a very original idea and I think it shows the dedication Wake has to the Sox and that the Sox have to Wake.

In 11 years with Boston, Wakefield has done EVERYTHING the team has asked of him. He has started 253 games for Boston ans has come in as a releiver 139 times. He even pinch hit for another pitcher in an extra inning game at Fenway getting a SAC Bunt (Pete Schourek also pinch hit in the game and got a single).

PATRIOTS DAY VICTORY

Manny had a good day and a bad day. A pair of homers and a pair of errors. Schilling continued to struggle somewhat and barely went 5. Quality mop up work by Halama and Timlin and not so good work by Mantei and Neal. Every Red Sox hitter got a hit.

The Man of the Game is a tough decision. Manny would get it if he didn't make 2 errors. He went 2 for 2 with 2 HRs, walked twice, scored thrice, and knocked in 5. Outfield errors though are supposed to be rare. No pitcher had a really great outing. No other hitter had a huge day except for Shea Hillenbrand. He went 4 for 4 and fortunately for us, he didn't have very many people on base in front of him. Also, he didn't have too many big hits coming after him, he only scored once. There were 2 double plays grounded into by batters after him.

The Yankees were called out by Steinbrenner and seemed to respond. Well, that's gonna be Georgie Porgie's conclusion. I'm sure it had nothing to do with facing Tampa Bay and Rob Bell who had a career low 4.46 ERA last season.

HOUSE CLEANING
I've tried avoiding getting into this story too much because some other sites are obsessing over it. It is a pretty weird punishment. Chris House, the guy who brushed Gary Sheffield, who has season tickets in the RF Box seats will have his tickets revoked for the rest of the 2005 season. However, he is getting reimbursed for the tickets being revoked. He can also reapply in 2006. That isn't much of a punishment. The guy who spilled beer on Sheffield has been banned from buying tickets this season (pretty much like everyone else in Boston).

I have no problem with House being tossed. You shouldn't interfere with the field of play. But I also think the Red Sox should ban him permanantly. I also think the Red Sox should revoke season tickets and ticket purchasing rights from EVERY fan that reaches over the wall into the field of play in the middle of a play. I also think the Red Sox should build a 2 or 3 foot chain link barrier over the wall to seperate fans from players and the ball.

Bronson Arroyo will face Blue Jay's ace Roy Halladay tonight at Fenway in the final game of the two game set. The Sox then go to Balto for two (who the hell made this schedule with back to back 2 game series?).

Nothing on the Boston Marathon because few people care about the Marathon as an actual sporting event.

SOX SWEEP TAMPA BAY

Wakefield is definately the best pitcher on the team right now. It is also very nice to see Renteria hitting the ball well. It is looking like I might have been wrong about him but time will tell. Payton has also made some nice contributions off the bench.

The Man of the Game is Wakefield who went 6 inning allowing 1 ER off 4 hits. I know 6 innings isn't amazing but there really wasn't anyone else in the game that had an all around great game and Wake pitched pretty well.

Schilling goes against Toronto on Patriot's Day tomorrow.

The Celtics clinched the Atlantic Division title and the 3rd playoff seed by beating Toronto tonight.

MANY RBI FOR MANNY

Coming into this game Manny was 2 for 11 with RISP and had not hit a homerun. He only had 4 RBI coming into this game. He aboslutely exploded against the D-Rays and knocked in all 6 of Boston's runs. Backed by Manny's bat and a fine performance by Matt Clement in his Fenway debut, the Red Sox cruised to a nice 6-2 victory.

Manny is obviously the Man of the Game. He was 2 for 3 with a 2 run homer and a Grand Slam, his 18th career Grand Slam. He is the active leader in Grand Slams and is 3rd all-time.

The Sox go for the sweep tommorrow.

Pedro helped the Mets beat the Marlins today. He got a no decision but struck out 9. He has struck out 30 batters and leads the majors in strikeouts.

The Yankees lost to the Orioles 7-6. New York has lost 4 of 5 but their savior Kevin Brown is slated to come off the DL Sunday. (Sarcasm) Baltimore looks pretty good this year and considering the trouble we had with them last year, they will play us very tough.

More Renovations to Fenway
So the Red Sox are going to add 2,500 more seats to Fenway Park within the next 3 years. Will you be able to afford any of them? Probably not. That's right, more $250 tickets for corporate guys to use to butter up potential clients and for John Kerry to cheer for Manny Ortez.

Okay, I'm glad the Red Sox finally made a commitment as to whether or not to stay at Fenway, and I think the renovations they've done to the ballpark are very nice and don't take away from the ambience of the park. However, what are fans like me supposed to do? I know, I'm being selfish, but I'm just a college student and there are plenty of other people out there who face financial difficulties going to games. You want to go to the game with your spouse and 2 kids? At least $80 for tickets unless you mind standing. For 4 hot dogs and 4 sodas, that's another $30. And I hope you live within walking distance of the ballpark, otherwise you'll have to pay $20+ for parking or stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers in a sweaty subway.

What would be my plan? How about playing at a modified Gillette Stadium for a year or so with a few games in the Dominican Republic and Japan? Then you could completely renovate Fenway. Replace every single 1934 seat with a seat from this century. Build an upper deck for people who aren't wealthy to enjoy the game. You can even build the ultimate lucrative stadium asset: luxury boxes. Hell, advance sales on luxury boxes alone would finance much of the project and with the demand for seats so astronomically high, the Sox could easily draw 50,000 fans on average. The Sox could still play in Fenway, make more money, compete with New York, and allow more fans to enjoy the team.

SOX CRUSH TAMPA

I just wanna say something about Hideo Nomo. This guy deserves alot of credit that he doesn't get. He broke the line between Japanese baseball and Major League Baseball. That may not seem like a big deal here but for many Japanese fans it was. Unlike Ichiro or Hideki, Nomo didn't get the amount of support that current crossers of the Pacific get from their home country. Alot of people labelled him as a sell-out and even a traitor to Japanese baseball. The guy has had a solid career and it is a shame to see him struggling. I think when he retires he should get an exhibit in Cooperstown for really opening up another baseball frontier.

Very little analysis for this game. A pitcher who walks alot of batters and gives up alot of homeruns went against a lineup that is both patient and powerful. Then a pitcher who throws mostly strikes had to merely throw strikes for a few innings. The answer to this mathematical equation is a 10-0 victory.

The Man of the Game is Mark Bellhorn who went 2 for 3 with a walk, 2 runs, and 2 RBI. His double in the 2nd initiated a big run scoring rally that resulted in 7 runs.

CELTICS TAKE THE HEAT

I think the Celtics have one of the best benches in the East. Davis and Jefferson were in double digits off the pine and overrall the bench had 45 points. This is a very encouraging win coming down the stretch. The Celtics have already clinched a playoff berth and with 1 more win in 3 games or a loss by the 76ers, the Celtics will have the Atlantic Division and a 3 seed locked up.

An Up Close Perspective of Thursday's Incident at Fenway

Clement goes tomorrow for the Sox against Tampa.

The Yankees got crushed by the Orioles 8-1 and Toronto lost to Texas 4-2.

SOX BEAT SCUM AND SCUMPIRES

What a scumbag. OK, the fan who reached over should have been tossed from Fenway, and the Red Sox really need to consider doing something about the morons in thr RF Box seats reaching over into the field of play. Perhaps a 3 or 4 foot chain link fence like that one that protects the bullpen from the bleachers would be in order.

Sheffield should have also been tossed from the game. He should be suspended. I understand why he was upset, but he nearly swung at a fan. This guy was being stupid, but not malicious and the steroid aided Gary Sheffield against this guy in a fight would have been a complete mismatch.

Fenway Park security, which I malign often as the Red Sox Gestapo, did a VERY good job at keeping the situation a controversial incident and not something very ugly. That one security guard who jumped in between Sheffield and the guy should get a big bonus.

Now to the game. This one shouldn't have been close but the Sox were able to overcome some horrendous calls and win the game. Arroyo got squeezed pretty harshly on some big calls. The Yankees never shouldv'e gotten the 4 runs they did in that inning. Arroyo did pretty well to keep his composure afterwards though.

Something lost in this game is the way the Red Sox hit Johnson. This is his second straight start allowing 5 runs.

The Man of the Game is Edgar Renteria who did nicely pulling the ball going 2 for 4 with a double off the wall and a homer over it. He knocked in 3 runs.

The Red Sox only left 2 men on base.