LINEUP CHANGES SHAKEUP THE M's

Christopher Trotman Nixon is having a pretty good year wherever he bats in the lineup. His projected numbers look like this:

Average: .319
On Base %: .433
Slugging: .564
Homers: 27
RBI: 108
Runs: 95

I think moving him to the #5 spot in the order is the right thing to do. He can give Manny some protection, keep the lineup switching from left to right, and provide some solid power at a power spot in the lineup. However, I still don't think Renteria is the right man for the #2 spot in the order. I'd rather see Bellhorn or even Varitek up there. Varitek is the only other guy that has hit well all season and Bellhorn flourished in the #2 spot last season.

Wade Miller is looking pretty good until he gets over 90 pitches or so. This is good news. Hopefully within a few more starts he will be able to go over 100 and still be effective. The short releif out of the bullpen has been very reliable as of late. I think pitchers might be adjusting to their roles with the team.

Manny climbed one HR closer to 400. His 400th will break him out of a 3 way tie with Andres Galarraga and Al Kaline for 39th all-time. I beleive the last player to hit his 400th HR in a Red Sox uniform was Andre Dawson in 1993. Other players who spent time in Fenway and have 400+ HRs are: Carl Yastrzemski, Jose Conseco, Ted Williams, Jimmie Foxx, and Babe Ruth.

The Man of the Game is Trot Nixon who went 2 for 4 with a single and a 2 out Grand Slam that gave the Sox a lead.

The rubber game is this afternoon as Wakefield faces Meche. Then its down the coast to Oakland to play the Pathetics who have been getting crushed by the Yankees lately.

MARINERS POUR IT ON

The Sox shouldn't have won this mismatch from the start. J-Gon against Piniero is a pitching inequity that would require the Sox getting to the M's pitchers, which they did, and the Sox pitchers to pitch decently, which they didn't.

The Man of the Game is Ichiro who went 3 for 4 with 2 singles, and a triple. He walked, stole a base, knocked in a run and scored three times. He ignited the Mariners offense allowing guys like Beltre and Winn to drive in runs. Ichiro also had an outfield assist. For as much hype Johnny Damon has, deservedly so at the moment, Ichiro is twice the player. Faster, better hitter, better baserunner, more range, much better arm.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Gonzalez: 0.5 - 3.1 IP, 7 ER
Halama: 0.5 - 1.2 IP, 5 ER

Wade Miller makes his first road start of the season against Ryan Franklin and the M's. Look for David Ortiz to have another big night against Franklin. Hopefully the pitching will hold the Mariners to fewer than 5 runs. If so, we should win.

TEK UNFOULKES THE SOX

Nice comeback to save Foulke who has been pitching poorly. All last season he gave up 8 homers. He's given up 8 so far this season. Dotel doesn't really seem like he'd be that effective of a closer. He walks alot of batters and throws pretty much just fastballs.

The Man of the Game is Varitek who went 3 for 4 with a double, homer, and a single. He knocked in three and scored twice. All the runs he knocked in gave the Sox a lead. THAT is clutch hitting.

Clement had a nice start too. If he can stay solid and have a few nice starts here and there, he should end up having a good year. Foulke needs to get back on the ball though.

The Sox head out west for 3 with Seattle and 3 with Oakland. Normally, these trips are rough on us but given the poor play these two teams are practicing, it should be a fun trip. The key word is "should."

Kevin Millar had a terrible game until the bottom of the 9th. A pair of errors and some idiotic decisions at first base coupled with an 0 for 3 until the 9th when he hit a game winning 2 run shot.

This game was a really fun one to watch. Great pitching, some clutch hitting, and a few nice defensive plays like the diving catch by Byrnes to save a 1-1 tie and a nice catch by Damon going back to the wall.

The Man of the Game is Johnny Damon who is hotter than the sun. He went 3 for 3 with a pair of singles and a triple. He also walked and had a nice grab in center field. He had 3 of the Red Sox 5 hits.

The Sox look to complete the sweep tomorrow afternoon.

United States of Baseball
Just found out about this site with writing on all sorts of baseball stories from across the Majors. Great site for fans of the game.

Wells will throw off the mound before tomorrow's game.

The Rolling Stones will be coming to Fenway this summer to play a concert. It will be the Stones second appearance at Fenway. They played Opening Day in 1912 when the Sox hosted the New York Highlanders.

CELTICS SIMPLY SUCKED

I tried finding a picture that didn't have Reggie Miller in it considering he only scored 2 in Indiana's Game 7 victory but ESPN decided to put up more pictures of him on the internet than there are pictures of Britney Spears. Not that I do alot of surfing for that kind of stuff. Um, anyway, Pierce and Walker played immature ball while the younger players were forced to sit back and watch them not pass.

The Celtics have a major decision to make in the offseason. Should they sign Walker or let him go again. I really don't know what they should do. However, if they fail to sign Walker, they must replace him with something that helps the team like a proto-typical center that stays underneath the basket and rebounds. Raef just isn't cutting it in my opinion.

As the Celtics disintegrated, the Red Sox have been tearing things up. They've won 6 of their last 7. These games have been against the dregs of the American League but a win is a win.

The Man of the Game for the 4-3 win over Detroit on the 4th is Kevin Youkilis who went 2 for 3 with a walk and a pair of singles. He had the game winning RBI in the 8th inning and also scored a run. He proved last year that he belongs at the Major League level and is continuing to prove that he can help this team as a bench player and next year might be able to play third base in replacement of either Mueller or Bellhorn.

The Man of the Game for the 2-1 win on Thursday the 5th is without a doubt Bronson Arroyo. He went 8 innings allowing only 3 hits and a run. He also walked a batter. He struck out 8. He went 6.1 innings before relenting a hit which was as cheap of a homerun one can hit at Comerica down the line into a camera position. It was still a 345 foot shot though. This game was a classic pitching duel between Arroyo and Jason Johnson with Arroyo coming out on top.

The Man of the Game for the 7-2 win over Seattle on Friday is Matt Clement who had one of his amazing starts. This means he will get rocked in his next start. Anyway, Clement went 7 allowing a solitary unearned run. He gave up 5 hits, a walk, and struck out 6.

The Man of the Game for the 6-3 win over Seattle in Game 1 of the doubleheader is Kevin Millar who went 2 for 4 with a huge bases loaded, bases clearing double in the 1st that gave the Sox a lead they would not give back. Jeremi Gonzalez also pitched well to get his first MLB win since august of 2003.

The Man of the Game for the night cap is David Ortiz. He went 3 for 4 with a homer, a double, 3 RBI, and a Run. His double was nearly a homerun off the Green Monster in left-center and his out was almost a homerun just shy of the bullpen in right-center. He crushed the ball. Unfortunately, the Sox lost because of a AA pitcher.

I really don't understand the logic behind the decision to bring in a AA prospect that has never pitched in any major situation with 34,000 fans yelling and millions of people on TV watching and the go ahead run in scoring position in a 2-2 game. Why not keep Halama in? Or bring in Embree? The Red Sox have never known how to gradually bring in young pitchers into the majors. This kid's confidence is now at an all-time low after walking the bases loaded and blowing the game on a Grand Slam. It isn't his fault, in my opinion. He shouldn't have bee in a situation to face Richie Sexson with the bases loaded in a 2-2 game.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Millar: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 4 LOB
Payton: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2 LOB
Nixon: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 3 LOB
Meredith: 0.4 - 0.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, HR
Francona: 0.3 - shouldn't have brought in Meredith

The Man of the Game for the blowout win over Oakland is Trot Nixon who went 2 for 4 with a homer and a double. He knocked in 4 runs.

Is it me, or is Manny Ramirez getting thrown at ALOT this season? For all the talk about how many batters the Sox hit, to have the best hitter on the team thrown at alot says alot.

CELTICS GIVE AWAY A WIN

Even with Tom Brady present the Celtics were unable to play like winners. They turned the ball over 21 times. You're not gonna win too many games doing that. The Cs face elimination Thursday night at Indy.

The Sox were able to pull out a win against Detroit. Halama did a good job spot starting going 5 and allowing only 2 runs. Mirabelli had a good night at DH with a Grand Slam. The jumbled lineup and makeshift pitching staff came through pretty nicely.

The Man of the Game is Doug Mirabelli who hit a huge 2 out Grand Slam to give the Sox a lead and essentially win the game.

Mirabelli may strike again as Wakefield goes against Detroit in the rubber game of the series.

CELTICS KEEP SERIES SUSPENSEFUL

110-79. Domination. Pierce with 30 points, 7 boards, 8 assists and 5 blocks. Even without Walker, the Celtics were able to crush the Pacers. Now the series will go back to Boston for a Tuesday game. The series is now a best of 3 series with the Celtics having home court advantage.

The Red Sox have continued sucking the life out of me. Although they wound up taking 2 from Texas, a loss to Detroit is on the same level as losing a game to Boston College.

The Man of the Game for Saturday's win against Texas is Johnny Damon who went 3 for 6 with a double and a homer. He knocked in 4. Arroyo had yet another quality start.

The Man of the Game for Sunday's win against the Rangers is a tough one. Trot Nixon is going to get it with a 2 for 5, 2 RBI performance.

Despite Jeremi Gonzalez's nice start, the Red Sox were unable to overcome the pitching and offensive onslought of the mighty Detroit Tigers. I wish there was an HTML code for sarcasm, I really do.

The Man of the Game is Northeastern's own Carlos Pena who went 2 for 4 with a pair of homers and 3 RBI.

Here's the Bitch-Goat:
Nixon: 0.1 - 4 LOB
Ramirez: 0.1 - 4 LOB
Ortiz: 0.1 - 5 LOB
Varitek: 0.1 - 4 LOB
Renteria: 0.1 - 4 LOB
Mueller: 0.1 - 4 LOB
Gonzalez: 0.1 - pitched solidly, not solid enough
Neal: 0.2 - 0.1 IP, 2 ER
Embree: 0.1 - eliminated any doubt in the game

I'm not going to be updating the things on the side because it is finals week and I'm lazy.

PS: I hit my first ever Royal Flush the other day playing online. I flopped it. The odds of this are 650,000 to 1.

BOSTON SPORTS HIT A LOW POINT

It was just a few months ago when Boston was on top of the sports world. The Sox were champions, the Pats were unbeatable, and BC was in contention to win several championships in several sports.

Since then, BC choked three times, the Sox are a mediocre team with NO pitching whatsoever, and the Celtics are down 2-1 and will have to play Indy without Twan tonight.

Let's deal with the Sox first. They get shut down by Chan Ho Park. Wakefield got lit up by Texas' offense too but at least he was able to pitch more than 6 innings. The Red Sox had 3 hits. 3 hits!

The Man of the Game is Chan Ho Park who went 7 innings allowing 3 hits, 2 runs, 4 walks, and striking out 7.

The Bitch-Goat shall be divided thusly:
Wakefield: 0.4 - 6.2 IP, 5 ER
Nixon: 0.2 - 0 for 3, 2 LOB
Mueller: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 2 LOB
Vazquez: 0.1 - 2 K, LOB
Renteria: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, LOB

The Celtics are in alot of trouble. They need to win one of the two upcoming games in Indiana in order to force the series back to Boston. They have to do this without Walker in tonight's game.

SOX GET HANDED SUSPENSIONS
Francona got 3 games because he...um...well I don't know why. Arroyo got a 6 game suspension for protecting his hitter who got his head thrown at. Nixon got 2 games for "aggressive action." Ortiz got fined for being upset that he got thrown at.

How come Sheffield gets no punishment for agressive action against a fan yet Nixon gets suspended for agressive action against a player?

The suspension of Arroyo hurts the most. He's been our best pitcher and he will pretty much be missing a start.