SHANE HILDABRAND NEEDS TO SHUT UP

The Red Sox are going to be really interesting to watch this season not just because they'll compete for a playoff spot and possibly more, but because they seem to be pissing off every other team they play.

The other night, Shea Hillenbrand took a 3-1 pitch, thought it was ball 4 and started walking down to first base. The umpire called it a strike, Shea returned to the batter's box, and grounded into a double play. Josh Beckett, who was on the mound, barked at Hillenbrand. Actually, it was more like he berated Hillenbrand.

The incident ended with nothing notable happening later. However, Hillenbrand keeps complaining about it. Now, I don't know what Beckett said, and it may have been out of line. Shea is a solid and hard working player and he usually doesn't pull crap to try to sneak on base. Also, at least when he was with us in Boston, his batting eye isn't world renowned. He very well could have misjudged the strike call. But the whole thing should have just ended.

Shea is calling out Beckett through the media, accusing Beckett of actions he "should be embarrassed" about. Whether or not that is true, I don't know. Pitchers and batters have all sorts of confrontations, verbal and nonverbal, physical and nonphysical. This seems to be one of many but Shea is taking it to a whole new level.

The two are bound to face each other again as we have 16 more encounters with the Jays. Beckett will probably be starting in the opener of the 3 game series that begins in a week up in Toronto. It should be interesting, to say the least.

ANOTHER WELLS CAUSES SOX TO LOSE

Once again, the Red Sox equation of no pitching and no hitting (for 7 innings at least) resulted in a loss. The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the 1st, but Clement gave it right back with a 6 run 2nd inning. The big hit was Vernon Wells's Grand Slam. Clement allowed another run in the 5th then Tavarez allowed one in the 6th.

The Sox rallied against Toronto's bullpen. Ortiz hit a 2 run homer in the 8th to make it 8-3. The bottom of the lineup worked some walks and got a few hits to bring the score to 8-6. Then Ortiz came up with 1 on and 2 out against Toronto closer BJ Ryan. The first pitch to Ortiz was a crushable one, but Papi got under it and flew out just shy of the warning track to end the game.

Two really pathetic displays by the Red Sox in two consecutive nights against a team we're going to have to play 16 more times. Not only did Clement suck last night, but almost the entire lineup performaed poorly. The Red Sox struck out 13 times last night. Each battered went down the way of the K at least once. The 6 thru 9 hitters went a combined 1 for 13. The 4 thru 9 hitters combined for 3 for 21.

Youkilis, Loretta, and Ortiz did great, combining for 6 hits in 14 ABs. They had all 3 of our extra basehits and 11 of our 14 total bases. They knocked in every run we scored. Starting with Ramirez, however, there was a considerable drop off in production.

On the bright side, Keith Foulke looked solid going 2 scoreless innings to end the game. He struck out 2 and the only baserunner he allowed was off a walk.

The Man of the Game is Ted Lilly who settled down after the 1st and pitched 7 strong innings allowing just the one run, scattering 6 hits and striking out 10. I don't know why we can't figure him out. He went 3-0 against us last season.

The B*tch-Goat looks like this:
Clement: 0.6 - 4+ IP, 7 ER
Lowell: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2K, 2 LOB
Mohr: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, 2 LOB
Pena: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, 2 LOB
Tavarez: 0.1 - 2 IP, ER

The Red Sox look to rebound tonight against the Seattle Mariners. Curt Schilling faces Jamie Moyer. Curt is looking for win #3 and Jamie is looking for win #1.

WELLS ENDS SOX WINNING STREAK

The Red Sox had won 5 straight because they pitched well. That streaked ended last night because they didn't pitch well. Wells returned to the Red Sox rotation by allowing 10 hits, 3 of which were homeruns. He even walked a guy.

DiNardo and Seanez came in to mop up and didn't do too poorly, but the damage had been done.

The Red Sox were able to hit 3 homeruns, one by Ortiz, one by Dustin Mohr and one by Willy Mo, but they only got 4 runs off those homers. The Sox just didn't have enough baserunners. Youkilis and Loretta combined for an 0 for 10. In total, 5 Red Sox hitters did not get a hit.

The Man of the Game is Alex Rios who went 3 for 4 with a double, homerun, 4 RBI and 2 runs scored.

The B*tch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Wells: 0.7 - 4 IP, 7 ER, 4 HR allowed
Youkilis: 0.1 - 0 for 5, 3 Ks, 3 LOB
Loretta: 0.1 - 0 for 5
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 LOB

The Red Sox face the Jays tomorrow night. Clement goes against Ted Lilly.

SOX AND CRISP AGREE TO EXTENSION
The Red Sox made a statement that Coco Crisp is the center-fielder of the future Wednesday when they agreed to a 3 year, $15.5 million extension with Coco Crisp. The contract includes an option for 2010. I'm glad the Sox are tying up loose ends early by extending deals with Ortiz and Crisp.

RISKE GOES ON 15 DAY DL
Conveniently enough, Riske went on the DL retroactive to the 5th of April with a back strain. Riske is probably on the bottom of the list in the bullpen. Hopefully he can come back and return, but I won't hold my breath in anticipation. I guess it'd be nice to have another option over Seanez, though.

PEDRO BEING PEDRO
Pedro Martinez went 7 strong innings last night in the Mets 3-1 victory over the Nats. Pedro allowed only 1 run and hit no batters. God, I miss him.

NIXON OUT FOR ABOUT A WEEK

According to Trot, he will be sidelined for 5-7 days with a groin strain. He injured it trying to catch a double. He batted twice before smartly pulling himself out of the game. I'm glad Trot decided to be careful about his leg. We need him healthy on this team for the long run.

Willy Mo Pena, Adam Stern, and Dustin Mohr will probably fill in for Crisp and Nixon while they are out. The effects of this will probably be minimal as long as the injuries don't become complicated. These guys aren't named Nomar Garciaparra so they are probably going to come back when expected.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS, SOX 5, JAYS 3

The Red Sox opened Fenway's 95th season with a 5-3 victory over the Blue Jays. Josh Beckett started and was a little out of control, but he settled down nicely. The Red Sox bats were solid, putting up a 4 spot early. Ortiz added to the lead with his first Fenway homer of the season.

The game started off poorly for the Sox. Beckett gave up a few base hits and walked in a run with the bases juiced. He then induced an inning ending double play. The Red Sox weren't able to do much until the 2nd inning.

Nixon led off with a walk, then Varitek singled, Lowell doubled to knock in Nixon. Stern doubled to knock in Tek and Lowell. Stern then stole 3rd base. Gonzales grounded out then Youkilis hit a double to knock in Stern. 4-1 Sox.

Both Beckett and Towers settled down. Neither team scored off them again. Ortiz hit a solo homer off Vinnie Chulk to make it 5-1. Foulke came in and didn't look too sharp but didn't look all that bad. He gave up 2 runs on a "homerun" which was partially caused by Willy Mo Pena screwing up in right field. The ball bounced off Willy Mo and into the bullpen for a homerun.



So the game was 5-3 in the 9th. Papelbon came in, got the first Blue Jay on a strike out. Two fly outs later and the game was over.

Beckett looked real good after he settle down. 7 innings, 3 hits, 4 walks, 1 earned run, 2 strikeouts, and 12 ground ball outs. After the first he only allowed 2 hits and 1 walk.

Youkilis looked good as a leadoff hitter and as a first baseman. He went 2 for 4 with a double and made a nice play on a foul pop.

Trot Nixon left the game early with a groin strain. It seems like every season, Trot Nixon injures himself earlier and earlier. No word yet on the extent or seriousness of that injury, but with Crisp on the 15 Day DL starting today, we really can't afford to lose another outfielder.

Dustin Mohr was called up to replace Crisp on the roster. They might keep him up in Boston considering Nixon's injury.

Stern did real well in the place of Crisp yet again. He went 1 for 4 with a 2 run double and a stolen base.

The Man of the Game is Mike Lowell. Lowell tied a career high with 4 hits in a game. He went 4 for 4 with 3, yes 3 doubles. He looks like he's gonna hit well in Fenway. I don't think people will be talking about slow bats and Mike Lowell for awhile.

Tomorrow night, David Wells takes the mound against Gustavo Chacin. Nixon probably wouln't have played in this game anyway against the lefty Chacin. Wells will attempt to match his starting pitcher counterparts in performances. Red Sox starters have gone 7 innings 6 out of 7 times this season.

ORTIZ GETS EXTENSION, CRISP OUT 10+ DAYS

The Red Sox and David Ortiz have agreed on a 4 year extension probably worth in the neighborhood of $50 million. The deal would keep Ortiz in red socks until 2010 with an option for 2011. That's the good news.

Now the bad news. Crisp will have his finger in a splint for at least 10 days. His finger will be reevaluated at that time. No surgery should be required. Crisp claims he could have played on Sunday but I think the team would rather not risk any further injury. We need Crisp for the long haul.

Stern will probably see more playing time, and I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Willy Mo Pena wound up in the field a good deal, too.

This is where our depth gets tested.

CRISP COULD BE OUT 6-8 WEEKS

According to CBS 4, Crisp may be out 6-8 weeks with a fractured index finger on his left hand injured in Saturday's victory over Baltimore.

If true, the Red Sox will be without Crisp until early June. That means Stern and possibly Pena will see a lot more playing time. That isn't the end of the world, but it hurts.

The report isn't confirmed by the Red Sox and Crisp will be examined today. Hopefully the report is just a rumor gone awry.

SMALL BALL COMES UP BIG FOR SOX

So Coco Crisp didn't start tonight because he jammed a finger last night sliding into a base. Adam Stern, a.k.a. Mr. Canada, started in his spot. It worked out rather nicely.

Wakefield rebounded from an atrocious start and had a really solid outing. He went 6 innings allowing only 1 run that was somewhat of a strange run. In the bottom of the 1st, Newhan reached on an error by Mark Loretta. Newhan advanced to 2nd via the stolen base. He moved to third when he tagged up then scored on a Tejada single. That would be it for the Baltimore run scoring.

Wake struggled at the outset of the 6th inning but he settled down big time, striking out the side with runners on the corners and no outs. A key for Wakefield was that he threw strikes. Of the 93 pitches he threw, 63 were strikes.

Josh Bard also had a good game behind the plate and at the plate. No passed balls and a 1 for 4, scoring a pair of runs.

Stern was the big offensive hero, going 2 for 5 with a pair of RBI singles, one in the 5th and one in the 6th. He also had a good day in the field.

The Red Sox scraped their runs together in the 5th very nicely. Last season, we were all about the big inning and the long ball. It was nice to see that we can eke out runs as well.

J.T. Snow led off the inning with a long single off the wall in right. Snow had a good day going 2 for 3 and walking. He also recorded the final out with a snow cone catch of a foul pop. Josh Bard hit a single behind Snow. With runners on 1st and 2nd, and the Sox down by 1, Alex Gonzalez sacrifice bunted moving both runners into scoring position. Stern then knocked in Snow. Loretta scorched a liner right at the second baseman Chris Gomez. Stern was caught off the bag but Gomez threw the ball away allowing Bard to score and the inning to continue.

The Red Sox never hit anything other than a single, but it was enough.

Timlin didn't look all that sharp in the 8th, allowing a single, throwing a wild pitch, and then walking Millar, but he was able to get out of it by inducing Ramon Hernandez to ground out.

Foulke came into the game to pitch the 8th. This was the first time he has been used in a really meaningful situation. He did very well, retiring the side in order with 12 pitches, 9 for strikes. He got the first two betters with strikeouts, then Newhan lined out to Snow to end the inning. He looked real sharp.

Papelbon did not look as sharp as he has looked. Perhaps it was adjusting to a different catcher, and perhaps it was pitching two days in a row. He was only a closer very sparingly in the minors with Pawtucket. He fell behind hitters, allowed a leadoff double, a long fly out to center, then hit Tejada with a pitch. He was able to get out of the inning with a pair of pop outs and the game was over with the Red Sox on top 4-1.

The Sox improve to 5-1 going into the home opener on Tuesday. Josh Towers will go against Josh Beckett.

The Man of the Game is Keith Foulke. He looked better than anyone else out there on the mound or at the plate. I know it was only a Hold, and it was against the 8, 9, and 1 hitters, but he looked spectacular, getting guys out with the fastball and the changeup.