THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

Weird, wild game on Tuesday night with alot of good and alot of bad. Let's start with the bad first and then cheer ourselves up with the good.

Clement went down in the scariest injury in baseball, the come-backer to the mound. When Bryce Florie was hit a few years ago, Joe Kerrigan calculated that the ball hit him at about 110+ MPH. That amount of force can be dangerous and even deadly. Fortunately, Clement was able to avert his head enough so that the ball hit him behind the ear and not in the face or temple. He was released from the hospital on Wednesday and showed up to the ballpark to watch the Sox beat Tampa 4-1. He will probably miss at least a start but might not go on the DL. Thanks to an off day Thursday and Monday, the Sox might be able to give him some time off without plugging in a spot starter.

Trot Nixon left the game in the previous half inning with a strained oblique muscle. He's had back problems before. The Sox put him on the 15 Day DL today. Francona said something about fluid be visible in three of the MRIs took of his back which means some damage has been done. Hopefully he'll be able to come back in 2 weeks or so because his bat is really important in the 5th/6th spot of the lineup to drive in Manny and Ortiz and get on base for Varitek, Millar, and Mueller.

Manny Ramirez couldn't come out to play today against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. When asked, his mommy said that he hadn't finished his homework, cleaned his room, or taken out the trash.

Here's what happened, Manny asked Tito for an off day during the White Sox series. Francona, knowing we'd need Manny's bat against the White Sox pitchers, told him that he couldn't, but could oblige him on the last day of the Devil Rays series. Makes some sense. Francona likes to give the double day off sometimes. Now, I have no problem with giving Manny a day off against the D-Rays, and I have no problem with the double day off. However, the situation was changed dramatically from Tuesday in the 2nd inning to Tuesday in the 4th. The Red Sox lost an outfielder to the DL, and had to work the bullpen much harder than anticipated. Manny didn't want to play though. And what choice did Francona have? The way Manny stumbled down the 1st base line nearly getting thrown out on a botched double play was indicative of what Manny's attitude probably would have been on Wednesday had Francona not succumbed to his player.

This problem with Manny isn't a new one, but I think it is more serious now. He's always been flaky, but this lack of wanting to play and win is a dangerous attitude. What do Kevin Youkilis and Adam Stern and Manny Delcarmen think when they're in the Red Sox clubhouse looking towards Manny not preparing to play? Do they think that if they get good enough, they can get paid $123,456 to sit on their ass? They'll still get cheered and loved so long as they perform on the days they actually try? Manny's contract runs until 2008 which means he is going to be with this team, barring a trade or retirement, when Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, Craig Hansen, Brandon Moss and any other prospect comes up to play. What will they think when they see Manny's BS being tolerated?

Okay, now for the good. Despite the injuries, and the BS, the Red Sox were able to take the final two against Tampa. If the Red Sox can just figure out how to win the 1st game in each new city, they will be very good on the road.

Manny Delcarmen had his Major League debut. He came into the 8th with the Sox down by 2 and he retired the side off 14 pitches striking out his first big league opponent and inducing a pair of groundouts.

Tuesday's game was all about picking up teammates. Svuem's F-up was covered up by Damon. Damon also picked up the entire team with his catch and homerun.

The Man of the Game for Tuesday is Johnny Damon who went 3 for 5 with a single, double, and homerun. He scored twice and knocked himself in. He also had a game saving catch in the 9th to force extra innings. He stole a base as well.

Wednesday's game was about effort. Edgar Renteria, for example, was able to get a run by walking, then stealing 2nd, advancing to 3rd on a passed ball and then scoring on a SAC Fly. Doug Mirabelli ran out an infield single and then stole 2nd. Yes, he stole a base. Wakefield went as deep as he could throwing 118 pitches over 7.1 innings. Bradford reobunded from yesterday's performance to record his first Hold of the season. He probably could have held on for the Save but Schilling did well to finish the game.

The Red Sox have an off day to fly back to Boston and possibly sort some things out. They welcome the Wild Card leading Twins to Fenway. Then the Royals come to town. The Sox don't take on another AL East team until August 29th when the D-Rays come to Boston.

The Yankees lost to Minnesota 7-3 so we are 2 games up on New York but only 1 in the loss column. The Orioles are involved in a tight game with the Rangers right now. If they win, they're 3.5 back, if not, they're 4.5 back.

MANNY AND BURNETT

Boston.com Story
So Manny Ramirez wants a trade. This despite the fact that he begged not to be traded in the whole A-Rod non-deal. This despite being thrilled not to be picked up by anyone else. I'm not going to look too much into this story. Manny seems like he is prone to whimsical thougts and ideas none of which has any long term implication or bearing. The stories Jerry Remy tells about Manny proclaiming where he'll be traded too are both funny and indicative of Manny's say what you feel attitude.

Here are some reasons why the Red Sox should get AJ Burnett:
1. Lack of depth at starting pitching. Matt Clement has come down to earth, Wells has been decent but he's no #2, Miller is a #5 guy, Wakefield is a decent #4 but no better than that, and Arroyo just isn't consistent enough. This team needs more starting pitching from somewhere. Either from Schilling or from someone outside the team.

2. Schilling doesn't look impressive. He can be lights on or lights off. He doesn't seem capable of pushing off his leg in a comfortable way. Usually when starting pitchers move to the bullpen, their velocity increases. In Game 7 of the ALCS last season, Pedro came in and threw 97 even though in starting situations he rarely got to the 94 range. Schilling has been hovering around 88-92. That isn't the way it should be. When/If he returns to the rotation, how good will he be?

3. Despite the demand for Burnett, no-one seems to be willing to take Lowell. Lowell is making quite a bit of money. Lowell is having a very unproductive season, but his numbers in previous seasons are good. He batted .293 with 27 HRs in 2003. From 2000 to 2004, he averaged 24.6 HRs, and 94.6 RBI. He's a pull hitter and a righty which means The Monster would be very inviting. I think if we got this guy, he would produce for us. If we got this guy, we could trade Mueller to the Twins for JC Romero. If Lowell continued to struggle, we could plug Youkilis in there.

4. The money situation isn't that bad here. Lowell and Burnett would cost about $3.3M total for the last two months of the season. I'm sure Florida would send a few bucks for Lowell's salary. The Red Sox are at $121M right now which is high, but if you're going to invest $121M, wouldn't you be willing to risk $3M more in the hopes of putting you over the top. Besides, the Red Sox pull in around $200M in revenues and its not like they're trying to save money for a new ballpark. The Red Sox have about $20M worth of players that will be free agents next season. Bellhorn will be gone, Mueller probably won't be here, Damon is still unclear and might be swept up by New York, Timlin could be replaced by a younger player. The Red Sox have some younger, cheaper players in the minors so we could afford to re-sign AJ Burnett. I think Burnett would really help the rotation for the next few years.

5. Arroyo could move to the bullpen and improve that area of the team.

6. A potential playoff rotation of Clement, Burnett, Schilling, and Wells wouldn't be too shabby.

7. AJ Burnett has 3 fewer homeruns than Millar in 248 fewer At-Bats. Burnett's pace would result in 6 homeruns in the amount of at-bats Millar has had.

Makes you realise how much Millar sucks

The Red Sox called up Hyde Park's own Manny Delcarmen from AAA Pawtucket. Delcarmen is the first seriously good pitching prospect the Red Sox have brought up since Brian Rose. Hopefully Manny Delcarmen will do much better in the long run.

SOX BATS CONTINUE TO SLEEP

The good thing is, our pitching has come around just a little bit. The sad thing is, the bats haven't been producing what we need to win. Three or four runs just isn't enough to win consistently. And keeping inferior teams in the game just gives them confidence to beat us. Since scoring 17 runs against New York a week ago from last Friday, the Sox have averaged 4.2 runs a game. That just isn't good enough to win.

Let's start with Friday's game against Chicago. The offense performed poorly putting up only 4 runs but Wakefield was just terrible for a few pitches. The Sox go out and get a 1-0 lead off Garland, Chicago's 2nd best pitcher, and Wakefield gives it right back with a solo shot by Rowand. Then with 2 outs in the 6th, he just melts down and gives up a pair of three run homers. The game was over at that point.

The Man of the Game is Aaron Rowand who went 2 for 3 with a solo HR and an RBI single. He had 2 RBI and scored twice.

The Bitch-Goat:
Wakefield: 0.6 - 5.2 IP, 7 ER
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Ortiz: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Mirabelli: 0.2 - 1 for 4, 3 K, 5 LOB

Saturday's game was Wade Miller's best start this season. The White Sox don't have a very good offense so if you can keep their bats quiet and prevent them from producing any runs, you will get to their pitching for a few and can take down a victory. That's what happened in this game. Miller gave up alot of baserunners but the White Sox weren't able to get the big hit to change the game. Myers and Timlin both did well. Schilling was shaky in the 9th though. More on that whole situation later.

The Man of the Game is Wade Miller who went 7 scoreless. He gave up 5 hits and walked 4, but he was able to pitch around all that and keep the White Sox scoreless.

Sunday's game was just sad. It started sad and it ended sad. First of all, why would you put Graffanino AND Cora in there on the same day against the team with the best record in the AL? Second of all, why would you put Mueller in the 2 spot of the lineup where he has never succeeded. Why not put Varitek there? Why would you ever bat Millar ahead of Varitek? Why does Millar even play? How come Youkilis is wallowing in AAA while Millar is about to be passed by AJ Burnett on the homerun list this season? How come you don't pinch hit for Cora or Graffanino in the 8th? How come Renteria didn't pinch hit/run for anybody? How come Olerud is only used as a defensive replacement? What the hell was Millar thinking trying to stretch a single into a double in the 6th down by 3? Did Johnny Damon lose the bat he was using for the hit streak? When will Trot Nixon ever get a big hit?

Bronson Arroyo started off the season as the Ace of the staff. Lately though, he's been mediocre or worse. Worst of all, he's been inconsistent. He'll have a great start, then a mediocre one, then a great one, then a mediocre one. I think he could best serve this team in the bullpen. more on THAT later.

The Man of the Game is Tadahito Iguchi. He went 3 for 4 with a homerun, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. His homer in the 2nd was big and his RBI single in the 7th gave the White Sox a comfortable cushion.

The Bitch-Goat:
Arroyo: 0.6 - 6.2 IP, 6 ER
Damon: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Ramirez: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 3 K, 2 LOB
Graffanino: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 5 LOB

This series proved that the White Sox aren't that great. Their pitching shut down our hitting. Kind of. Our hitters left a total of 35 runners on base. That isn't very good considering we only scored 17 runs. We grounded into some large double plays and made some mistakes on the basepaths. Typical Red Sox baseball. Wait around for the 3 run homer. Then get thrown out at 2nd and now its only a 2 run homer. If we can get our bats going a bit, we can do some serious damage against anyone in the American League.

Losing to the Devil Rays is not an excusable thing to do. We should be sweeping the Devil Rays. We've played Tampa 10 times and are only 6-4. We should be 8-2 or better. They're such a terrible team and we get to play them 20 times a year. Thankfully, the Yankees are 3-7 against their Tampa rivals. The Red Sox have got to pick it up within the division. They're 20-26 against the AL East. We've had opportunities to beat up on Tampa and Toronto and knock Baltimore and New York a few games behind, but we haven't. Ever since we catapualted into first place with that great run in July, we've been the Copmplacent Sox once again.

The Man of the Game for Monday's loss is Julio Lugo who went 3 for 5 with a double.

The Bitch-Goat:
Wells: 0.1 - 6.1 IP, 3 ER
Schilling: 0.2 - 1.2 IP, ER
Nixon: 0.1 - Didn't evade a batted ball, overan a fly ball allowing for a run scoring double instead of just playing conservatively off the wall. and why wasn't he playing at the wall anyway with a runner on 1st and 2 outs? If Manny had made these errors, people would be all over him. Instead, Trot F's up and people still love him.
Ramirez: 0.2 - 0 for 4, K, 5 LOB
Millar (why the hell is he playing?!?): 0.2 - 0 for 4, 3 K, 4 LOB
Francona: 0.1 - for playing Millar every freakin' day
Renteria: 0.1 - 1 for 5, 2 K, 2 LOB

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.