SOX CONTINUE TO STRUGGLE

Just an absolutely terrible display of baseball. I suppose Clement was due for a rough start. But the bullpen was unable to keep the Blue Jays at bay, and the offense was impotent. There's no other way to put it.

The Man of the Game is Reed Johnson who came into the game as a pinch hitter. He went 2 for 6 with a game breaking Grand Slam off Myers.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Halama: 0.1 - 2 IP, ER
Clement: 0.4 - 5.2 IP, 8 ER
Myers: 0.2 - 0.0 IP, ER, GS
Mantei: 0.2 - 0.1 IP, 5 ER
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 4 LOB

I think we've worn down Myers and Timlin just a bit. Last night was the only pitching matchup that was in our favor. Today is Chacin vs. Wells, tommorrow is Halladay vs. Arroyo. The Red Sox may be fortunate to take 1 from Toronto. It's amazing how much of a manic-depressive I am when it comes to the Sox.

DISSAPOINTING START TO HOMESTAND

Wednesday's win was a necesary one. It was made necesary because of two bad losses the days before. Monday's loss was embarassing and Tuesday's was painful.

The Man of the Game on Monday is Kevin Millwood who went 6 scoreless innings allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 6.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Arroyo: 0.4 - 6.2 IP, 7 R, 5 ER
Bellhorn: 0.1 - Error
Mueller: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Millar: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Nixon: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 4

I had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing Tuesday's loss first hand. This was just a bad game for several players. Miller didn't pitch well, Timlin didn't do well either, and Foulke had one of the worst outings I've seen him have. Renteria had 2 errors to go along with his 1 for 4 day.

The Man of the Game is Travis Hafner who went 3 for 5 with a walk, a pair of doubles, and a Grand Slam Homerun. He knocked in 6 men and scored twice.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Timlin: 0.1 - 1.2 IP, 2 ER (allowed by Foulke to score)
Miller: 0.1 - 5.2 IP, 5 ER
Foulke: 0.8 - 1.2 IP, 5 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, HR

More on Foulke later.

The Sox were able to put it all together on Wednesday, thankfully. A nice start from Wakefield, solid bullpen work, and timely hitting combined for a nice 5-2 victory to avoid the sweep.

The Man of the Game is Tim Wakefield who went 7 and gave up 2 runs. He has been our best pitcher the past 2 weeks I'd say.

BOLSTERING THE BULLPEN
We can beat Philadelphia and the other mediocre teams in the Majors with our bullpen in its current state of disarray. However, I don't think we can win the World Series with the pen composed as it is. I think that we can improve it three ways.

1: Bronson Arroyo as a set-up man.
Arroyo is very good in the bullpen. I think he could be a good set-up pitcher and replace Allan Embree. I know Embree is a lefty, but he has never been that outstanding against lefthanded hitting since coming to Boston. Arroyo is not very good against lefties, but with Myers out there able to get out the tough lefties like Matsui, I don't think we should worry that much if Arroyo is our set-up pitcher.

2: Foulke taken out of the closers role.
On Wednesday, Francona used Timlin in a save situation. He wasn't lights out, but he got the job done. The simple fact of the matter is that Foulke has been less than what he should be as a closer. In save situations, his ERA is over 11. In non-save situations, it is around 2. I think until he can consistently throw the fastball at 88-90, Foulke should be relegated to a set-up role and Timlin should close. Timlin has closed in the past. He's recorded a save every year of his career except for 2002. He has 117 career saves. Foulke has 189. Timlin had 31 saves for the 4th place Blue Jays in 1996, had 10 between Toronto and Seattle in 97, had 19 for the Mariners in 1998, 27 in 1999 for Baltimore, and 12 in 2000 between the Orioles and Cardinals. He isn't a long term solution at closer, but I think he can throw half a season at the position and releive Foulke of some pressure while he tries to get his mechanics back.

3: Outside help.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Red Sox need to add some guys out there. I think Danys Baez would be perfect and could close games. If the Indians fall off, Bob Wickman would be a good candidate for the same job. The Yankees just released two pitchers who have had good careers out of the pen but have struggled this season. Paul Quantrill could be a decent hit-or-miss acquisition and in my mind could be just as good as Matt Mantei as a middle releiver.

SCHILLING JUST FINE IN REHAB START

5 IP, ER, 5 H, BB, 3 K, 78 pitches, 54 strikes

Schilling will face Charlotte again on Monday in Pawtucket (it's sold out already) if there are no problems recovering from this start. Schilling left with a 3-1 lead but the PawSox pen couldn't hold it and Pawtucket lost 5-4.

CNN/SI Story

If his July 4th rehab start goes well, he can either make another one on Saturday against the Sky Chiefs in Syracuse, or come back to the rotation and start against Baltimore the weekend before the All-Star Break.

CELTICS WITH A VERY GREEN DRAFT
The Celtics didn't make any moves the day of the draft. They were patient and watched and waited as a very good player fell to them at 18. Gerald Green out of a Texas academy was projected as the 3rd to 7th overrall pick but he fell to us at 18th overrall. He was ranked by ESPN as the #1 shooting guard in the draft and the best high schooler as well. I think he'll fit in well with the youngsters on the team. But I also think we need a veteran leader on the team to keep the younger players in line. I love Pierce, but he isn't the leader we need.

The Celtics got Ryan Gomes out of Providence College with the 20th pick of the 2nd round (50th overrall). Three picks later they got Guard Orien Greene out of Louisianna-Lafayette. Overall it looks like a good draft. I still don't think we're contenders for an NBA title, but in 3 or 4 years, we very well might be.

RED SOX HOTTER THAN THE WEATHER

It got up to 100 degrees up here in south suburban Boston, but down I-95 in Philly, the Red Sox are about 1,000 degrees right now.

They rolled into Philadelphia 1/2 game behind Baltimore for the lead in the AL East. They come back to Fenway 2 1/2 up on the O's.

Saturday's game was a bit of a joke as I predicted it would be. The Sox got ahead early and Clement was able to combine with Mantei, Myers, and Foulke to keep the Phillies offense down. I have some more in depth stuff on Saturday's game, mainly criticisms of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, but these will come in the next post. Plus some random thoughts

Saturday's Man of the Game is Matt the Missile Clement who went 7 innings allowing 1 earned run off 7 hits and 0 walks. He struck out 4 and had a walk at the plate.

Sunday was a more interesting game. There are two people on this team that do not belong, in my mind. They are Ramon Vazquez and Allan Embree. Vazquez brings nothing to this team. He isn't fast, isn't a good hitter, and defensively he is average at best. I'd rather see Bellhorn playing short and Youkilis at 2nd than Vazquez at short. Theo needs to go out and get a good middle infielder though.

Embree is just a waste. Why is he coming into a 3 run game? Why does he come into any game? It seems like every other time he pitches, the complexity of the game somehow changes. That isn't a good thing. We can beat teams like Cleveland and Philly with a struggling Embree. But we might not be able to win in a short series in October against great teams.

The bats were able to save the bullpen though. The top of the 8th was a perfect demonstration of the danger the Red Sox present to opponent's pitching. Damon bunts a single, Bellhorn hits a double to knock Damon in, Ortiz with an infield single moving Bellhorn to 3rd, Manny with a SAC Fly to center, Nixon beats out a double play, Tek homers. Two infield singles, a sac fly, a double, and a homer.

The Man of the Game is Mark Bellhorn. He stepped it up in the #2 spot and went 3 for 4. He had a solo HR, an RBI single, and an RBI double. He also walked once. He had 3 RBI and scored 4 times.

The Orioles lost Saturday and Sunday. The Yankees split their last two with the Mets.

WAKE LIFTS US UP WHERE WE BELONG

Sox win, O's lose to the Braves, Pedro and the Mets beat the Yankees in the Bronx. A great night for baseball. That is if you're a Red Sox, Braves, or Mets fan.

Is it safe to say Tim Wakefield is on one of those runs when he is practically unhittable? He hasn't given up an earned run in his last 22 innings pitched. The Phillies were fooled by Wake's knuckle ball and Lieber's profinity for giving up the long ball was demonstrated very well.

Doug Mirabelli showed once again that he is perhaps the best backup catcher in baseball. Re-signing him last off season may have been one of the best subtle decisions Theo made. He is great at catching Wakefield. Wake started this run in a start against the Cubs that was Mirabelli's first start since coming off the DL. He can hit too. He can hit very well. And giving Varitek every 5th game off really seems to keep Tek fresh and may be part of the reason why Varitek has been able to hit so well.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are tearing it up 2003 style. A homerun from each tonight. Both played the field pretty well. Ortiz is definately a serviceable first basemen in the few interleague games we play. I wouldn't want him there every day but he isn't the crappy first baseman that Tim McCarver and Joe Buck made him out to be during the World Series.

The Man of the Game is easily Tim Wakefield. He went 8 innings allowing no runs, 2 hits, and 2 walks. He struck out 6 and went 1 for 2 at the plate with a single and a nice sacrifice bunt.

Someone posted a comment about the Sox not being in an extra inning game all season. The previous record for consecutive games to start a season without extra innings was 69 set by the 2002 White Sox. The Sox have gone 72. The record for most consecutive non-extra inning games in a season is 128 and was set by the 1936 St. Louis Browns (now the Orioles.) I didn't do any legitimate research on this topic, I just happened upon it in this Boston Globe article. Francona bad mouthing Philly cheese-steaks is kind of funny. I never saw the big deal with them. Mixing beef with cheese doesn't seem like much of an innovation. Now Buffalo wings, that's a great concept with that sauce. Plus they're versatile. You can have 3 for a snack or 18 for a big meal.

The Orioles pitching struggles continued as they lost 7-5 to the Atlanta Braves. The Red Sox are 1/2 game ahead of them. This is the first time all season that the Red Sox are in first place.

QUEINE ES TU PAPI? PEDRO MARTINEZ ES TU PAPI!

After dumping 3 of 4 to the lowly D-Rays, the Yankees struggles continued. Pedro went 8 innings, and allowed only 2 runs off 6 hits and 2 walks. He only struck out 3 but he kept his pitch count down and handed it over to the bullpen in the 9th. Then the bullpen nearly handed it over to the Yankees.

Just a random thought I had:
Those Philly ball girls were pretty cute. Perhaps the Red Sox should look into giving shorts for the ball girls to wear in the summer. I just want them to be comfortable sitting in the summer heat. It's not like I wanna see some more skin. *Wink suggestively*

PHILLIES PREVIEW

The Red Sox go to play the Philadelphia Phillies at their new stadium. Besides PETCO Park in San Diego, which the Red Sox ownership had helped get built, the Red Sox have played in every ballpark in the Majors. The Phillies are 2nd in the competetive NL East, 3.5 games behind Washington. They're 39-34.

The Red Sox come into this series having won 9 of their last 10 while the Phillies are 4-6 in their last 10. The Phillies have been a very streaky team lately and have been able to consistently beat up on bad teams in the NL which is why they are where they are.

The Red Sox have the best offense in baseball in terms of runs scored with 394 (5.5 runs a game). They just scored 23 in 3 games off what had been statistically the best pitching staff in the AL, the Cleveland Indians. The Phillies have scored 348 runs (4.8 runs a game). That is the big difference between these teams and might be a result of the pitcher batting.

Here are the pitching matchups:

Game 1 - Tim Wakefield vs. Jon Lieber
Lieber is one of many players in baseball who were "tried out" by the NY Yankees but who were never good enough or enough of an expensive star to make it with the Yanks. Wakefield has been a somewhat inconsistent starter this season and is a candidate for the bullpen when Schilling returns due mostly to his versatility.

Lieber has 8 wins, but his other numbers are not very good. His ERA is 4.63, his WHIP is 1.31, he's only thrown 90.8 pitches a game (this tells you that he sometimes can't go deep into games), opponents are batting a healthy .277, he's lost 6 times, and he's allowed 20 homeruns. It's supposed to be warm in Philly this weekend so I think the baseball might be doing a good deal of flying.

Lieber is coming off a start in which he went 5.1 innings, allowing 4 earned runs. But in the start before, he allowed 3 runs in 8 innings. Most of his great starts came in April (not surprising as less homers are hit in the colder months) when he had 3 8 inning outings.

The Red Sox have seen Lieber quite a bit for an NL pitcher. Overrall they're 66 for 198 (.333) with 12 doubles, 2 triples, and 6 homeruns. Edgar Renteria is 16 for 54 against him (.296) with 2 doubles and a homerun. Billy Mueller is a very nice 15 for 31 (.484) with 3 doubles and a homerun. Millar is 9 for 21 (.429) with 4 extra basehits. This might have been a good game to give Millar a start in RF instead of Wednesday. If he doesn't start, he should be a pinch hitter against Lieber is necesarry. Another pinch hitting candidate could be Olerud who is 8 for 16 against Lieber. David Ortiz is 4 for 10 with 2 HRs. Mirabelli is 3 for 8, while Varitek is 0 for 5 so this could be a perfect day to give Tek a day off. The news isn't all good though. Damon is 2 for 15 and Manny is only 1 for 11. I think Francona should consider giving Damon, who has been bruised and beaten by a buffet of injuries, another day off. Then move Trot to CF and put Millar in RF to get his bat in there against Lieber.

Wakefield has not been that great of a pitcher. His ERA is an average 4.41, opponents are batting .271 against him, his WHIP is a bloated 1.49, and he has walked 39 batters. However, he has allowed only 8 HRs this year which is pretty good. Wake should be able to help himself out with his fielding and his ability to bunt and even get a hit once and awhile.

Wakefield has been pitching very good lately. He went 7 scoreless against Pittsburgh before the game was blown by the bullpen. The start before that was a 7 inning, 4 hit, 1 ER, 0 BB outing against the Cubs. That start was win number 1 of the 9 the Sox have won in their last 10. That 8-1 win was a turning point in the month of June and who knows, may be the turning point in the season.

None of the Philly hitters who have seen Wake alot have amazing numbers agianst him. Lofton is 15 for 56 (.268). Thome is 6 for 44 (.136) but he does have 2 HRs. David Bell is 5 for 15. Tomas Perez is 1 for 10. Lieberthal is 3 for 6 with a Homer.

With the way the Red Sox hit Lieber, and the way Wakefield has pitched in his last two starts, I think Wake will have the better day. I see Lieber allowing more runs than innings he pitches. I think the Sox will win this game 7-3.

Game 2 - Matt Clement vs. Vicente Padilla
Pure mismatch.

Padilla is 3-6 with a 6.23 ERA. His WHIP is 1.78 and opponents are batting .295 against him (that's with 2 pitcher ABs a game). In 10 starts and just under 48 innings, he's walked 29 batters. He's allowed 13 homeruns in those 10 starts.

He's been used sparingly by the Phillies and has been skipped by them when possible. his last start was June 15. He went 5.2 allowing 3 runs against the Mariners. He's gotten to the end of the 6th inning one time this season and that was against the Reds.

The Red Sox haven't seen too much of him. Renteria is 3 for 9 with a homer. Payton is 1 for 9. Millar is 3 for 9.

Clement has been the best pitcher on the staff. The western Pennsylvania native is 8-1 with an ERA of 3.48. His WHIP is a decent 1.26 and opponents are batting .245 against him.

Clement has been great in his last 2 starts, which was not the case in his previous 3. He went 7 scoreless against the Pirates and 8 against the Reds allowing 3 runs.

The Phillies have seen Clement before. Abreau is a nice 11 for 31 (.355) but has struck out 10 times against him. Jimmy Rollins is a not so nice 2 for 22 (.087). Lofton is 5 for 22. Burrell is at .300 with a 6 for 20. Liberthal is 7 for 19 (.368 with 3 homeruns). David Bell is 3 for 7, Thome is 1 for 7.

With the way Padilla and Clement have pitched this season, I think the Red Sox will win this. I actually think Boston will win this in a blowout. I say 8-2.

Game 3 - David Wells vs. Brett Myers
Mismatch

Myers is only 5-4 but his ERA is 2.66. His WHIP is a very nice 1.10. Opponents are only batting .228 against him. He doesn't walk too many guys or give up too many Homers.

He did get shelled in his last start though. He could only go 3.1 innings and allowed 6 runs to the Mets. Before then he had 3 consecutive Quality Starts.

The Sox have seen a bit of him. Renteria is 4 for 13 against him (.308). millar is 2 for 12. Trot is 3 for 9. Bill Mueller is 0 for 8. Damon is 3 for 7.

Wells has been hit or miss this season. He is 6-4 with a 4.73 ERA and an opponents batting average of .287. His WHIP is low at 1.24 due to the lack of walks he gives up.

His last start wasn't that great with 4 ERs allowed in 5 innings. The start before that though was outstanding. Wells went 7 shutout innings allowing only 1 hit. Before that he went 8 scoreless innings allowing 4 hits.

Thome is 6 for 35 in his career against Wells. That's a .171 average. Lofton on the other hand is 11 for 32 which is a .344 clip. David Bell is 6 for 23. Wells has been the only guy to shut down Lieberthal who is only 1 for 8 against Wells.

I think Myers will shut us down and we will lose 5-2.

The Philly Bullpen:
They've got a great, lights out closer in Billy Wagner. He is 18 for 20 in save opportunities. He does give up a homer from time to time, but few baserunners.

Wagner is set-up by Ryan Madson (3.46 ERA, 0.98 WHIP) and former Sox lefty Rheal Cormier (4.44 ERA, 1.36 WHIP). Aaron Fultz, a lefty with a 2.88 ERA will also see some time. Once again, this series is a mismatch in terms of bullpens but in the last series, that didn't seem to affect the Sox bats much.

If you're not going out and getting drunk somewhere like me tonight or if you're going to a sports bar, it will be a great baseball night. The Sox and Phillies on NESN/WSBK, the Orioles and Braves on TBS and the Yankees and Mets on ESPN. Shockingly, Pedro Martinez is matched up against Mike Mussina.

SPOUTING OFF ON AN OFF DAY

Well, the Red Sox are rolling right now. This was their first road series win since they took 2 of 3 from the Yankees near the end of May. This is their first road sweep since they took 2 of 2 from the Orioles on April 20 and 21st. This is their first 3 game road sweep of the season.

The Indians were hot, even though they hadn't beaten the greatest of teams in their winning streak. The Giants are 30-40, the D-Bax are a game below .500 and the Rockies are 22-48 (5-31 on the road). But they were still a pretty hot team that was rolling with alot of momentum.

This series came down to a few key plays. There was Damon's homerun in the top of the 9th in the first game that gave the Sox a cushion. Then his catch in the bottom of the inning to end the game and rpevent the tying run from scoring. Tuesday night, Trot Nixon made a sensational catch to rob extra bases from the Indians and keep Cleveland out of the game. Last night, a pair of doubles strung together by Payton and Olerud gave the Sox a 5-4 lead which they would hold.

As it is right now, the Red Sox are in good position. We're only a game behind Baltimore (who just lost Surhoff to the DL) and 4 games ahead of the Yankees. We have a visit to Philadelphia coming up this weekend. Meanwhile, the Yankees host the Mets (the Yankees are on a 13 game homestand, the Red Sox do not have a homestand over 10 games/days this season. weird.) and the Orioles play the Braves in Atlanta.

Speaking of the New York Yankees, here's a thought about them as I've seen them "dominate" on their 2 week homestand:

The myth that Don Mattingly is a great hitting coach. Mattingly was a great hitter. Anyone that retires with a career average over .300 is pretty dam good at hitting. It seems as though every time I turn on ESPN or Fox or YES! when I'm at school, and a Yankee hitter does something good, they show Mattingly or talk about him and what a great job he is doing. Frankly, I just don't see how he could fail at his job. Jeter, Matsui, Sheffield, Rodriguez, Posada, and Tino all excelled at hitting. The 10 regular hitters playing for the Yankees have a combined 2005 salary of $106.6 million. How the heck could somebody fail given those players. Mattingly hasn't worked with mediocre hitters to make them great like Papa Jack has with David Ortiz. Ortiz wasn't a power hitter before he got to Boston. Now he's one of the top homerun hitters in baseball.

SOX TAKE 9TH OF 10, SWEEP INDIANS

I have to admit, I never thought we were going to win this game until the 27th out was recorded. Our pen is too bad and theirs was too good. We had our 5th best starter against their best. We had a JV lineup in to bat against the lefty Lee.

So how'd we win? Offensive contributions from nearly everyone. Payton went 1 for 5 with a big double, Renteria had a great night at the plate with a double and a homer, Ortiz went 2 for 4 with a double, Manny went 1 for 3 and walked twice, Millar went 2 for 4, Olerud came off the bench and went 3 for 4 with a big homerun, and Mueller added an RBI single.

For some reason unkown to me, Embree came into the game in the 6th with the bases loaded, 0 outs, and the score 2-1 in favor of Cleveland. He did well in the inning though striking out Hernandez and inducing an inning ending double play. He was unable to pitch around a Renteria error in the 7th though and I could just hear the phone lines of WEEI filling with angry people against Embree and Renteria. The bats picked up the pitchers though and the Sox completed the 3 game sweep.

The Indians were red hot coming into this series, having won 9 in a row. Then, we came to town and swept them. Pretty dam impressive if you ask me.

The Orioles lost to Toronto and the Yankees lost to Tampa. The Sox are now only a game behind Baltimore for 1st place in the division. We have a day off tomorrow while Baltimore and New York continue their series.

The Man of the Game is John Olerud who went 3 for 4 with a homer, 2 RBI, and a Run. He had a game tying homer in the 7th, and a big single in the 8th that got the Sox within 1 run and continued a rally that tied the game.

PATS ADD KEY PIECE

The Patriots are as close to perfect over the past 2 years as any team can get. But whenever they have a small hole, they don't neglect it, they fill it. And they fill it well. Last season the Pats signed Punter Josh Miller who is a truly good punter capable of hitting the deep ball and also hitting the accurate short punts that pin teams within their 5 yard line. Although the Richard Seymour situation still hasn't been resolved, the Pats have gone out and improved an aspect of the team that desperately needed improving.

The Patriots signed Punt/Kick Returner Chad Morton to a 1 year, $600,000 deal after he was released by the Washington Redskins. Morton had an injury shortened season last year but when this guy is healthy, he has excelled at returning. The Patriots punt returning game last season left alot to be desired and with Troy Brown another year older, it will be good to give him a few plays off and keep him from getting tackled two to three times fewer a game.

In 2003 Morton had a 9.9 yard/return average in punt returning. If he can do this as well as break a few big returns, the Patriots will benefit tremendously. He can also be a good partner with Bethel Johnson on kick returns.

The Patriots offensive gameplan for the past few years has been based on field position. Even if the team doesn't score on a drive, they will probably move the ball a few yards down the field. This puts the other team in poor field position. After the defense shuts them down, the other team gives the Patriots good field position. This process is supposed to be repeated until the Pats are able to put a few plays together and score. Guys like Josh Miller and Chad Morton are going to help us accomplish this much quicker. If Morton can give us a few extra yards here and there, we are going to score more often.