RED SOX PULL ONE OUT

The White Sox did alot of little things right in this game, then they did alot of little things wrong. They ran the bases well and worked the count well, but defensively they dropped the ball. Literally. It seemed as though they choked. Clement pitched decently. Not as good as I'd like, but good enough to give us a chance to win. Schilling made a few mistakes in the 8th but in the 9th he was lights out with 2 Ks.

The Man of the Game is Edgar Renteria who went 3 for 4 with walk. He had a double, 2 runs scored and an RBI. At the outset of the game, he was the only hitter that looked good consistently against Clement.

The Angels came back to beat the Yankees so we're up 1.5 games. Randy Johnson tweaked his bat, and Tom Gordon's arm fatigue is close to putting him on the DL.

Game 2 Preview:
Tim Wakefield vs. Jon Garland
Garland is somewhat like Buehrle in that he is putting up great numbers depsite being a contact pitcher. He is 14-4 with a 3.21 ERA and a WHIP of 1.10. He's only striking out 4 batters every 9 innings but he doesn't allow many walks. He's also stayed away from the HR ball which helps alot in US Cellular Field.

Like Buehrle, some of the Sox have hit him well while others have struggled mightily. Damon is 6 for 12, Ortiz is 4 for 12 with 2 HRs, Manny is 7 for 11 with 2 doubles and 2 homers. Olerud is 1 for 11, Nixon is 0 for 6, and Tek is 2 for 8. Tek probably won't play with Wakefield pitching. Mirabelli is 0 for 2 off Garland.

Garland, like Buehrle, has benefited from playing against AL Central teams. His last start was decent. He went 6 scoreless innings. His last start was 5 innings allowing 3 runs. The Red Sox should be able to get to him.

Wakefield has been off and on and has struggled with the Homerun ball. This will probably come back to bite him in this game against the White Sox who have some good homerun hitters. The key will be how many runners are on base when the White Sox hit those HRs.

Only Carl Everett and Aaron Rowand have good numbers against Wakefield. Everett is 6 for 10, Rowand is 6 for 8 with a pair of homeruns. Overrall, the White Sox are batting .248 against Wakefield, but this number is skewed by players on Chicago that are on the DL such as Dye.

Wakefield has gone deep into his games recently, but has given up too many runs and homeruns for those games to be considered great performances. He's pitched 24 innings his last 3 starts, but has allowed 13 runs and 6 homers.

This game should be a good one. Wakefield will probably have a start like Clement had last night and I think Garland will be just as hittable as Buehrle. This one might come down to the bullpens.

IN OTHER NEWS...
Hockey is coming back. With rule changes and a salary cap. The game should flow better with the possibility of the red line being eliminated. They still need to widen the net and/or reduce the padding a goalie can wear. With a salary cap essentially already in place for the Boston Bruins, they should be able to do very well in the new NHL. The Bruins have focused on player devleopment and getting value out of low salary players. They should be poised to contend for the Stanley Cup now.

Tedy Bruschi is not going to play this year. I think this is the right decision on his part. He's got 3 rings, a Pro Bowl, and millions of fans. He's got a family too. Why risk what could be a crippling or even fatal injury just to try to get Super Bowl ring #4? I'm sure he'll stick aorund the team in some capacity though which is a good thing.

Terrell Owens' antics makes me appreciate guys like Troy Brown, Deion Branch, and Marvin Harrison.

WHITE SOX SERIES PREVIEW

The Chicago White Sox have the best record in baseball. They're 62-31, 11 Games ahead of the Twins. They're on pace to win 108 games. But, alot of that success is due to their beating up on the mediocre and bad teams in their own division. They're 10-3 against Cleveland, 8-3 against Detroit, 9-0 against Kansas City, and 4-1 against Minnesota. That's 31-7 (.816). Against the rest of baseball, they're 31-24 (.564) which is still pretty good, but nowhere near as good as they're overrall record. however, they were 12-6 in interleague play. They're interleague opponents were the mediocre Chicago Cubs 6 times, the Rockies, the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Dodgers. among those teams, only the Padres are any good. Against just the American League East and West, they are 19-18 (.514). They've only played one of the Big Three in the AL East (Baltimore, Boston, New York) and went 2-2 against the Orioles. Against the other top team in the AL, the Angels, they are 4-3. They are not as good as their record suggests.

GAME 1: Matt Clement vs. Mark Buerhle
#1 vs. #1. Could this game be a possible preview of Game 1 of an ALDS? Perhaps.

Buehrle is having a career year. He's always been a solid pitcher but this year he is an Ace. his 2.58 ERA and 1.08 WHIP are very indicative of a quality pitcher. He keeps his pitch count down during games and gets most of his outs off of contact. He is striking out around 6 batters per every 9 innings.

He has a low 90's fastball mixed in with a good changeup and an occasional cutter. He challenges hitters in hitters counts and US Cellular Field is somewhat hitter friendly. He's been able to keep the ball in the ballpark this year though. He is difficult to run on with a good pick-off move. He works very fast which helps keep hitters off balance. The Red Sox will probably take alot of time in between pitches to keep him from building a rhythym. He is a workhorse that can go deep into games.

The Red Sox have some decent numbers against him in the past, but he's never been this good in the past. Ortiz is 9 for 29 off him with 4 doubles. Manny is 7 for 13 with a double and 3 Homers. Varitek is 6 for 13. Some have struggled though. Damon is 6 for 31, Millar is 0 for 11, Olerud is 1 for 11, Nixon is 0 for 4.

Buehrle has struggled somewhat in his last 3 starts compared to the 16 before them. He has pitched 20.1 innings in those 3 starts going 1-2, allowing 23 hits, 14 runs, and 8 earned runs. Although he is 11-3, he is 4-3 against .500 teams.

Clement has a similar record with a higher ERA. He has benefited from the 4th best run support in the AL but he has pitched well enough to win his games.

As a whole, the White Sox have pretty good numbers off of him but most of that is due to a number of them having 3 for 5s against him. Of the few White Sox to have seen him with regulairty, only Scott Podsednik has good numbers. He's 6 for 17. Timo Perez is 3 for 11, and Frank Thomas is 1 for 7.

Clement has been off and on all season. His last start was pathetic. He went 3.2 allowing 6 runs. Before that though, he went 8.2 innings against the Rangers. Before that though, he allowed 8 against Toronto. Clement has failed to go 5 or more three times this season. The 2 times before his last start, he followed with a Quality Start. Let's hope the trend continues.

I think Clement will rebound in this game and I think Buerhle's past history for giving up the long ball will come back to haunt him. Manny and Ortiz should get some nice hits off him. If Damon and Renteria can get on base for them, we should win this game.

Rest of the preview tomorrow.

MODEL VICTORY

Wow. She's 51? Anyway, the Red Sox cruised to a 9-4 victory that was nowhere near as close as that score suggests. This game was over before the Sox recorded an out in the 1st. The Sox were able to give some guys a bit of a rest going into the Chicago series as well as some playing time. Every position player except for Varitek played. The Sox had RBIs from 6 different players. Six different players also scored runs.

The Man of the Game is David Wells who went 7 allowing 2 earned runs and scattering 6 hits. It was his second quality start in the past week and his 6th win of his last 7 decisions.

Big series with the White Sox this weekend.

NOW THATS HOW IT'S DONE

There's something about winning 5-2 that is great. 5-2 wins mean good pitching, timely hitting, solid defense, and a good bullpen. The Red Sox had all of those working last night. The Sox were also able to reclaim first place as the Yankees lost 2-1 to the Rangers.

Arroyo had a solid start. In the 7th he looked vulnerable but didn't blow it. Timlin pitched around a couple of infield singles that were quai-Errors and was able to hand the ball over to Schilling. Curt got his first Save in 375 appearances and 13 years.

The Sox were able to emerge from their offensive slump and put a decent number on the board. The Sox 5 RBI were divided between 5 different players.

The Man of the Game is Mike Timlin whose pitching line shouldv'e looked like: IP, H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks. He pitched around some poor fielding plays, made up for that 1 hit he allowed by picking the guy off, and had 2 big strikeouts in what was a 1 run game.

SOX MAKE SOME CHANGES
The Red Sox designated Allan Embree for assignment. He will probably be traded for something very little in return or he will be outrightly released.

The Red Sox also made a pair of trades yesterday. They reaqcuired Adam Hyzdu who was traded to San Diego for Blaine Neal. They got Hyzdu for P Scott Cassidey. They also got Kansas City Royals seocnd baseman Tony Graffanino for P Juan Cedeno and OF Chip ambres.

Hyzdu could be a decent backup outfielder at least until Kapler can come off the DL. He is making just above the MLB minimum. We didn't have to give up that much to get him.

The acquisition of Graffanino is the death knell of Mark Bellhorn being the full-time second baseman. I'm sure he'll still have some playing time, but with Cora and Graffanino, I doubt he'll have more than 100 ABs for the rest of the season. This could be good for him as he won't get overexposed and will probably play against pitchers he has faired well against.

Graffanino is your typical journeyman 2nd baseman. He's played for Atlanta, Tampa, the White Sox, and the Royals. He's a carrer .263 hitter with some speed. He doesn't walk much but he doesn't strike out much. He has little to no power.

The Red Sox are in the running for AJ Burnett. But so is everyone else. Florida also wants teams to take on Mike Lowell's hefty salary. I think if we got Lowell though, his hitting might improve.

There are also rumors that the Red Sox might trade Bill Mueller to Twins lefty releiver JC Romero. This would not be a bad deal considering how good Romero is (2.21 ERA) and our ability to fill 3rd base with Youkilis or maybe Lowell.

YANKEES BACK IN FIRST CUZ WE SUCK

The way the Red Sox played these last two games against the Yankees, they seriously need to reconsider their professions. Arroyo should continue in his music career along with Wakefield. Damon could be a backup dancer. Kevin Millar could be a toll booth operator on the Mass Pike (no offense to toll booth workers), Youkilis could work at McDonalds but never get a chance to do anything, Francona could be a little league coach making sure every kid felt special no matter how bad they are, and Clement could bitch and moan about not being named employee of the month and then only go to work for 2 hours.

The Red Sox got to Randy Johnson about as much as you're going to get to him. They couldn't get to him enough though. And they couldn't get to the bullpen at all. Gordon (wouldn't he look good in a Sox uniform right about now) and Rivera combined for 1.2 no hit innings. Meanwhile, Clement was just terrible. The bullpen did well to keep the Sox in the game but the comeback fell short.

Saturday's Man of the Game is Alex Rodriguez who went 1 for 4 with 2 RBI and 2 Runs scored with a big 2 run Homer.

The Bitch-Goat:
Clement: 0.7 - 2.2 IP, 6 ER
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 5
Renteria: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 4 K, 3 LOB
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 3, K, 2 LOB

Sunday was simply inexcusable. One run off Al Leiter? Alex Cora batting with the bases loaded? Three homers allowed by Wakefield? Where was Olerud in the 9th? On the bench. Where was Youkilis? Pawtucket. Where was Kapler? On the DL. And by the way, to everyone celebrating the loss of Mark Bellhorn to the DL, Alex Cora is not a replacement. He is not an every day player on this team. Bellhorn isn't exactly the best hitter on the team, but he does his job. He'll hit around .240-260, with an OBP of .350+ which is better than Renteria or Millar. He has more HRs than Millar. He is a solid defensive first baseman and is very good at turning the double play. Youkilis should be playing 2nd or 3rd with Mueller at 2nd until Bellhorn returns or Pedroia/Hanley Ramirez are ready to come up. When Youkilis plays consistently, he hits well. He works the count even better than Bellhorn. Last season Youk batted .260 with 7 HRs in just over 200 ABs. His OBP was .367. He had 35 RBI. We're probably going to need him to play every day next year so why not give him some consistent playing time? Because Francona is against playing kids over veterans even if they only have 4 HRs, are leading the league in strikeouts, or are batting below .200 this season.

The Man of the Game Sunday is Jorge Posada ho went 1 for 3 with a 2 run shot and a walk.

The Bitch-Goat:
Wakefield: 0.5 - 9 IP, 5 ER
Cora: 0.1 - 0 for 2, GIDP, took a perfect 2-0 pitch right down the middle
Nixon: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Damon: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 2 LOB, 1 pitch out in the 9th
Bellhorn: 0.1 - 0 for 2, K
Mueller: 0.1 - 1 for 4, 2 LOB

Monday's loss is just as inexcusable. In the 1st inning, the Red Sox had a pair of bases loaded situations and got 1 run out of it. Then Kazmir was allowed to cruise the rest of the game. Then the Tampa Bay bullpen went 3 innings allowing only a walk.

Miller pitched about as well as you'd expect form a #5 pitcher. He pitched well enough to keep the Sox in the game. The bullpen did very well. Embree, Bradford, Myers, Timlin, and Schilling combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief allowing only 2 hits and striking out 3. The Red Sox had 3 singles. They were able to get on base because of the walk, but getting on base is only half of scoring runs. Getting big hits is the other half.

The Man of the Game is Carl Crawford who went 2 for 4 with a double. He stole 2 bases.

The Bitch-Goat:
Miller: 0.1 - 5.2 IP, 3 ER
Damon: 0.2 - 0 for 5, K, 2 LOB
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K
Ramirez: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, GIDP
Varitek: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 LOB
Nixon: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 4 LOB
Mueller: 0.1 - 0 for 4, K

The Red Sox fell back down to 2nd place when the Yankees beat the Rangers 11-10. Since coming back from Philadelphia and a 6-0 road trip, the Sox are 6-12 winning only one series over that stretch. We deserve to be in 2nd place and 3rd soon unless we turn it around.

SOX REBOUND FROM DISSAPOINTING LOSS

Nothing like a 17-1 victory over New York to make you cheer up after a dissapointing 8-6 loss in the ninth the night before. Second time we've beaten New York 17-1. This was a game we should have won though. With Wang, New York's best pitcher lately, having shoulder trouble, New York was forced to give the ball to a guy with a 9.10 ERA coming into that game. The Sox did make that ERA go up though. It is at 54.00 now. The only Sox that didn't get a hit were Olerud, Mirabelli, and Bellhorn. Olerud and Mirabelli were replacements and Bellhorn walked twice.

The Man of the Game is Johnny Damon who went 3 for 4 with a walk. He was 3 for 3 with that walk in his first four plate appearances. He extended his career high hit streak to 27 which ties him with DiMaggio. Domenic DiMaggio for the 5th longest hit streak in Red Sox history. To put in perspective how impressive Domenic's brother's streak was, Damon needs to get a hit tomorrow to be halfway there.

Little known fact: During Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hit streak in 1941, he had a batting average of .409. In the same stretch, Ted Williams batted .412. Despite batting .406 that year, Williams lost the MVP to DiMaggio partially due to several vindictive Boston sports writers (Dan Shaughnessey's of the 1940s) leaving him off their ballots.

Thursday's loss was dissapointing. Arroyo was dissapointing, Timlin once again dissapointed with runners on base, and Embree was left in too long perhaps. The pitching was once again the cause of the Red Sox defeat. Granted, the Sox bats could have added onto their lead more, but they shouldn't have to score 17 runs every night in order to be sure of victory. Come October, this pitching staff will cause my cigarette consumption to increase dramatically so buy stock in Phillip Morriss.

I think bringing Curt into a 6-6 game against the New York Yankees with Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield coming up was a questionable decision. To go from the Syracuse Sky Chiefs in games that are meaningless to the New York Yankees and a very meaningful game is quite a step up. It was a nice moment when he walked in but beyond that, the 9th inning truly sucked. However, I don't see what other option Francona had apart from allowing Timlin to continue. And it looks like Rivera is back to being Rivera. That's not good for anyone but New York.

We made Mussina work early and got to him for a few, but then he settled down and kept his pitch count manageable.

The Man of the Game Thursday is Gary Steroid who went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and a homerun. He also walked. He scored twice and knocked in two. He didn't swing and miss at any fans during the game.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Embree: 0.1 - 0.2 IP, ER
Timlin: 0.1 - Inherited runner scored
Arroyo: 0.4 - 5.2 IP, 4 ER, forced Francona to go to pen early
Schilling: 0.3 - IP, 2 ER
Bellhorn: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, 4 LOB (I miss Youkilis!!!)

Big matchup on Saturday as Matt Clement takes on Randy Johnson. Hopefully the Sox will continue Johnson's struggles.

DAVID WELLS SUSPENSION
Did anyone else not see this "contact" between Wells and the ump? Cuz I didn't. Did anyone else think the second base umpire had no right to toss Wells for arguing balls and strikes? I didn't. Did anyone else think Wells was unjustified with his anger at the second base umpire? I didn't. Did anyone else think six games was a good suspension and deserved to be handed down to Wells for a phantom bump on an umpire that was being confrontational? I didn't.

Weird twist of fate: Could Schilling pitch the game that Wells misses? That'd be weird considering Foulke going to the DL opened up a slot in the bullpen for Curt.

AL EAST BEATS NATIONAL LEAGUE

Of the American League's 32 ABs, 17 were taken by AL East players. Of the AL's 11 hits, 7 were by AL East players. Of the 3 walks AL hitters had, 2 were by AL East players. Of the 7 runs the AL scored, 5 were scored by AL East players. Of the 7 RBI the AL had, 3 were by AL East players. Two of the biggest plays in the game were the double plays turned by Tejada and Roberts with Teixeira at first. AL East pitchers only went 2 innings in total, but one was Mariano Rivera who got the Save.

The American League is the better League this year and has been for nearly a decade. The AL won their 8th of 9 All-Star Games. The other one was the infamous tie. The AL went 136-116 (.540) in interleague play and deserve home field advantage in the World Series.

Speaking of home field advantage. Could Joe Buck and Tim McCarver please shut the F--- up about how home field advantage helped the Red Sox last year? I just don't see how it did. The Sox went 2-0 at Fenway and then 2-0 at Busch. If anything, they were more dominant at Busch than Fenway. The first game, there was actually doubt that the Sox would win. The next three games, there was no doubt at all. The Red Sox won the World Series because they dominated the Cardinals. They would have dominated them in Boston, St. Louis, New York, Tokyo, Mars, anywhere. It is just impossible for the Yankee loving Tim McCarver and the Cardinal loving Joe Buck to admit that the Red Sox were the best team last year and absolutely DOMINATED the Cardinals.

Should the All-Star game determine home field advantage? I'm going to say yes. Why? Because home field advantage doesn't matter. If you can't win on the road, you don't deserve to win. It's as simple as that. Plus, the All-Star game is now managed and played like a real game. The managers are typically managing contending teams so they want to win the game. The ratings are higher for thse games that count. That means more money and prestige for Major League Baseball. The other solutions don't make much sense. The random back and forth between AL and NL is fine but why not have something non-arbitrary to determine it? The team with the best record getting it doesn't make sense because teams play 144 of 162 games within their own league. That's about 90%. The Cardinals might get 110 wins this year in the NL because there aren't too many good teams. The White Sox, on the other hand, might get about 100 or 105 because there are alot of good teams in the AL. There is no good way to compare NL teams and AL teams.

R-LO SHUTS DOWN SOX...AGAIN

What is it about this guy that we can't figure out? He's gone 8 innings in all but 1 of his 4 starts this year against us. He's an average pitcher for Pedro's Sake! 43-36 for his career with an ERA of 4.48.

I agree with resting Millar and Bellhorn for this game given their lackluster performances against Lopez in the past, but I think Youkilis should have been in the lineup to replace one of them.

The Man of the Game is Rodrigo Lopez who went 8, allowing 1 run off 3 hits. He struck out 6.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Wakefield: 0.2 - 7 IP, 4 ER
Damon: 0.1 - 1 for 4
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 K
Ortiz: 0.1 - 1 for 4
Ramirez: 0.1 - 1 for 4
Mueller: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Olerud: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Mirabelli: 0.1 - 0 for 2
Cora: 0.1 - 0 for 3

Basically everyone in the starting lineup except Nixon, who hit a homerun.

This series was a huge dissapointment. The Orioles were struggling coming into this. They had lost a rain-shortened 2 game series. Before that, they had lost 3 of 4 to the Indians. They were on a 2-11 slide coming into this series. They were fading from the divisional picture. Then we hand them a game by "resting" everyone for that tough flight to the All-Star Game in Detroit and lose on Thursday. Friday we win but on Saturday we're embarrassed and on Sunday, we're shut down by an average pitcher. Simply unacceptable.

The Red Sox are 2 games ahead of the Orioles now. Only 2.5 ahead of New York Had we taken 3 of 4, we would be six games ahead of Baltimore. We'd be 4.5 ahead of the Yankees. Had we swept Baltimore, which we could have given how poorly they had been playing, we would be ahead of the Yankees by 5.5 and ahead of the O's by 8 games.

The Red Sox need to come out of the gate strong in the 2nd half. They start out with an absolutely HUGE 4 game series with New York at Fenway Park. They can't lose that series. Then there's a 3 game set with the D-Rays that we should sweep. Then the Sox fly to Chicago to play 4 against the team with the best record in baseball: the Chicago White Sox. A 3 game series in Tampa is followed by a series with the Wild Card leading Twins.

The rest of July is not going to be easy. We need to beat the Yankees in order to maintain our position in the division. We need to beat up on the D-Rays. We can't just split 3-3 with them or win 4 of 6. We need to win at least 5 and it'd be nice to win all 6. We need to prove ourselves against the White Sox. We need to beat the Twins, a potential Wild Card competitor if we can't hold onto the division.

I really wish Clement wasn't going to the All-Star game. I wish he had to cry and pout. Nothing against him, but of all the things in the world to be upset over, going to some exhibition game in Detroit just doesn't seem like a huge deal. Hopefully he won't pitch much because I think we should start him out of the gate to begin the 2nd half.

I think we should go:
1. Clement
2. Wakefield
3. Arroyo
4. Wells
5. Miller

If the Sox take advantage of off-days, they can put a starting pitcher in the bullpen for about a week.