SOX OPEN INTERLEAGUE PLAY WITH BLASTS

David Ortiz, Alex Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek have all homered for the Red Sox against the Phillies. The Sox also took the first two of their three game series against bitter rival: the Philadelphia Phillies (sarcasm).

Beckett showed no signs of blister troubles, he went 7 innings against the Phillies and knocked out a homer. The Sox policy of signing pitchers with NL experience seems to be paying off with Clement's double and Beckett's homer. We got Schilling from Arizona, Wells from San Diego, Beckett from Florida, Clement after he was on the Cubs, and Wakefield from Pittsburgh. Having pitchers with NL experience, and having a former NL manager seems to help a great deal. Francona is 25-15 in interleague play with the Sox. 29-15 if you count the '04 World Series.

The Man of the Game for Saturday's 8-4 victory is Josh Beckett, he pitched 7 innings, and although he allowed 4 earned runs, he also went 2 for 4 at the plate with an RBI single in the 6th that touched off a 4 run 6th inning rally. He also had a solo homer in the 7th. Two runs, and 2 RBI are pretty dam good for a pitcher.

Friday night, the Sox won a typical National League game 5-3 thanks to the longball. Lowell had his 5th shot of the year, Tek his 4th, and Ortiz his 14th. Clement pitched solidly with a 6.2 inning outing allowing 3 earned runs. Foulke pitched a poor third of an inning allowing 2 inherited runners to score. Timlin pitched a perfect 8th for his 11th Hold, Papelbon pitched a perfect 9th for his 15th Save. Timlin only needed 10 pitches, and Papelbon only 11. We're not in first place without those two guys, that's for sure. Timlin's ERA is now 0.96, and Papelbon's is 0.40.

The Man of the Game is Mike Lowell who went 3 for 3 with a homer and 2 RBI. He also walked.

The Man of the Game for Thursday's 4-3 loss to Baltimore is Eric Bedard who went 7 innings allowing just 1 earned run.

The Sox bats didn't support Wakefield yet again. Wake went 7, allowing 4 runs. This should be good enough to win on most nights. The Sox only had 8 base runners. They left three of them, and one was eliminated on a double play.

Here is the B*tch-Goat:
Ramirez: 0.1 - 1 for 4, 3 Ks
Lowell: 0.1 - 0 for 4
Nixon: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Mirabelli: 0.1 - 0 for 3
Gonzalez: 0.1 - 0 for 2
Wakefield: 0.5 - 7 IP, 4 ER

Lenny DiNardo against former Athletic Cory Lidle tomorrow as the Sox look for the sweep.

Also, Abe Alvarez was promoted from AAA Pawtucket as Mike Holtz was placed on the 15 Day DL. Alvarez was 5-0 in 7 starts with a sub 3.00 ERA. He hasn't allowed more than 3 runs in any of his starts. The Sox will probably use him as a longman and might even utilize him as a starter the next time DiNardo's spot in the rotation comes up.

SOX BATS BAIL OUT SCHILLING

Schilling allowed 5 runs, 3 homers, and 9 hits in 5 and 2/3 innings. Yet for some reason he was irritated when Francona removed him from the game. The Sox offense bailed him out, allowing him to get win #6 of the season.

The Sox hitters combined for 6 runs, each RBI coming from a different player. Ramirez had his 7th homer, Nixon had his 3rd, both were in the 2nd inning off former Sox pitcher Bruce Chen. Mike Lowell added his 20th double, Youkilis got on base 3 times in 6 appearances, Loretta upped his average to .288 with a 3 for 5 night, and Ortiz showed some signs of breaking out of his slump with a 2 for 5 effort. Varitek and Gonzalez were the only starters held hitless.

The bullpen was magnificent once again. Mike Holtz got out of Schilling's 6th inning jam. Timlin pitched 2 perfect innings to get his 10th Hold of the season. Timlin is 2nd in the league in Holds. Papelbon pitched a perfect 9th for his 14th Save of the season. Papelbon leads all of baseball in Saves.

The Man of the Game is Mike Timlin. He pitched 2 huge perfect innings in a 1 run game. Middle relievers don't get a whole lot of respect, but Timlin has been one of the best in baseball this season. He deserves a MOTG.

Wakefield against Bedard tomorrow as the Sox look for the sweep.

SOX PUT UP 11 AGAINST ORIOLES

The Sox put up 13 hits, two doubles, a triple, and three homers in an offensive onslaught against the Orioles. On the other hand, Beckett and the Sox held Baltimore to 1 run, a solo homer by Miguel Tejada in the 1st.

Pena hit his 4th homerun as part of a 2 for 5, 4 RBI night. His average is .321, which is pretty good for a guy that batted 8th last night.

Mike Lowell had a 2 for 4 night with a 2 run triple in the 5th that chased Rodrigo Lopez out of the game, and his 4th homer of the year hit in the 9th. Lowell is 2nd in MLB and 1st in the AL with 24 extra basehits.

Varitek went 2 for 2 with an RBI single, a 2 run homer, 3 walks, 3 RBI, and 4 runs. Hopefully Varitek is breaking out of his slump. He's batting .226 in May, but his 2 for 2 yesterday and his 1 for 2 on Friday might signify an end to his slumping. We need his bat to be working in the lineup.

The story of the game was Josh Beckett, in more ways than one. After allowing the 1st inning homer, he allowed only one other hit, and no walks. Through 7 innings, he had only thrown 80 pitches and was cruising. Then he was pulled.

The question is, why?

According to the Red Sox, his back was uncomfortable and the Sox felt comfortable putting the bullpen in for two innings with a 7 run lead. However, NESN cameras recorded Beckett and the Red Sox coaches looking at his finger. The same finger that has had blister troubles in the past that has landed Beckett on the DL.

Francona's explanation is that there was mud and dirt caked on the finger from Beckett removing it from his spikes. That story doesn't fly. I think it is clear the Sox were worried about Beckett's finger. Why else would they pull him after only 80 pitches?

We'll have to wait until Beckett's next start to see what the real story is.

Beckett was the Man of the Game with 7 innings, 2 hits allowed, no walks, 6 strikeouts, and a sole earned run.

STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT MONEY, RED SOX NATION

So, I look at Boston Dirt Dogs this morning and see a link to an article about Coco Crisp signing autographs for $54 a pop. BDD also complains about Red Sox Nation cards costing $59.95. I thought they were only about $15. I bought one last season for $15 because it came with MLB Radio all season (which costs about $15). Having it allowed me to buy tickets for the Green Monster It was worth it.

Fans complain about the cost of tickets, and athletes charging for autographs at appearances. I've even heard fans complain that Red Sox games are broadcast on a cable channel instead of broadcast for free on a network. Sox fans complain about the $5 hot dogs and $6 beers the Sox sell during rain delays.

What makes all this complaining quite ridiculous is the things Sox fans expect from the team. For instance, fans are clamoring for Roger Clemens. The term on WEEI that amuses me is that Clemens will cost the Red Sox "nothing." People are referring to Clemens not costing us any prospects in a trade. However, the $10+ million Clemens will get from somebody is far from nothing. That money has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is the money from Red Sox Nation cards, and tickets, and hot dogs, and beer, and advertising.

So stop complaining about spending money on the team or the players. A Coco Crisp autograph is not a necessity in anyone's life. It is a luxury. Luxuries cost money. You also have a choice whether or not to buy a luxury. I won't spend $54 for anyone's autograph unless I could sell it for more than $54 later. That's one of the reasons players charge these appearance fees. They know when they sign stuff, it becomes valuable. The player is the one that makes it valuable by signing it. In other words, his work makes the item valuable. It makes perfect sense that since his actions increase the value of the item, he would want to collect some money. Why should some collectibles broker profit from the autograph, but not the player?

RAINY MESS, ROTATION CHANGE, RETRACTABLE ROOF?

The Red Sox got 6 innings of baseball in as part of their ultra-short homestand. They weren't very good innings. Texas got 1 in the 2nd inning with a leadoff homer, then got 3 more in a 3rd inning rally. The Rangers got 2 more in the 6th off Mike Holtz. Then the game was stopped.

Youkilis was the only Sox hitter with multiple hits. Five Sox hitters went hitless. The Sox had 7 total baserunners in 21 plate appearances.

The most impressive part of the game was that over 36,000 people showed up despite the cold and rainy weather.

The Man of the Game is Kameron Loe who pitched a complete game shutout, albeit of the 5 inning variety. He allowed 5 hits and walked only one batter.

Here is the B*tch-Goat:
Clement: 0.5 - 5 IP, 4 ER
Loretta: 0.2 - 0 for 3, K, 3 LOB
Ramirez: 0.1 - 0 for 2, K
Lowell: 0.1 - 0 for 2
Pena: 0.1 - 0 for 2

The Red Sox will head down to Baltimore for a 3 game series. The forecast there, according to weather.com is for thunder showers. It appears that it will be raining at the outset of the game.

Makeup games for the two missed games against Texas will probably be made up when the Rangers return to Fenway in June, or mutual off-days in July.

ROTATION READJUSTMENT
With the rainouts, and an off-day on Thursday, the Sox have realigned their rotation. If baseball is played tomorrow, here is how it will look:

Monday, @ BAL: Beckett
Tuesday, @ BAL: Schilling
Wednesday, @ BAL: Wakefield
Thursday, off
Friday, @ PHI: Clement
Saturday, @ PHI: Beckett/DiNardo
Sunday, @ PHI: Beckett/DiNardo

DiNardo will go to the bullpen for the time being and will start on either Saturday or Sunday, probably dependant on when and if Francona uses him in the pen.

WHY A RETRACTABLE ROOF WOULD BE A DUMB IDEA
A few seasons ago, the Red Sox suffered 4 rainouts in a row. A WEEI talk show host, Ted Sarandas, suggested that the Red Sox, if they were to build a new stadium, should construct a retractable roof to prevent rainouts. It has become clear that a new ballpark shall not be built (which disappoints me) but supposing it were to be built, a retractable roof should not be a part of it.

There is not a single retractable roof in the majors that looks good. Arizona, Seattle, and Houston have the best retractable roofs, but they're still eye sores. Even if they weren't ugly and space consuming, they aren't cheap. A proposed retractable roof for the Twins new ballpark is said to cost an estimated $125 million. That's far too much money to be spending on a roof in order to avoid a few rainouts in April and May?

The Red Sox have not and will not lose a significant amount of money from rainouts. 36,000 fans will still show up. Fans will still buy hot dogs and beer, if not more, when there are rain delays. The Red Sox are not seriously affected financially by rainouts.

WEATHER, SCHILLING, CRISP, WELLS, RISKE, CLASSY FANS

Tonight at Fenway, Matt Clement is slated to go against 1-3 Kameron Loe of the Texas Rangers in the opening game of a 3 game homestand. According to weather.com, it will be raining. There is a 100% chance of precipitation at 7, and from 8 to 11 there is a 90% chance of precipitation. How hard this precipitation will be is yet to be seen.

SCHILLING GOES TO "MEDICAL FACILITY" FOR "ISSUE"
I understand all the secrecy surrounding Curt Schilling's "non-baseball medical issue" yesterday afternoon. But I don't like it. In case you haven't heard, before yesterday's game, Schilling went to a nearby medical facility in New York in his uniform and in a Yankees owned van. He returned very quickly and was on the field to shag fly balls in BP. He did not comment on what the issue was.

I don't think it is something serious, otherwise it would have taken longer than a few minutes to check out. I don't think it was something very sudden, otherwise he would have taken an ambulance. It might not even be an injury to him. It might have been an injury to someone else. It might not even be an injury. The flu has been going around the Sox clubhouse, and perhaps he has a bad case of it.

What is strange, however, is the silence. Schilling is such an open and outspoken guy that it is odd that he'd stay silent on an issue. Then again, it might be something embarrassing, or personal, or something that is affecting someone else. We'll see...maybe.

CRISP SETBACK
Coco Crisp's return was hoped to be early this upcoming weak. However, he has been very sick and unable to do anything but finger exercises. The Sox believe this will extend Coco's stint on the DL until May 22 or so, which just so happens to be when the Yankees come back to town.

WHAT TO DO WHEN COCO COMES BACK
This might all prove to be moot speculation if other players get injured, but there are several issues the Sox will have to deal with when Coco comes back.

First of all, what to do with Youkilis. Francona has stated that Coco will return at leadoff when he comes off the DL. I agree with this decision. However, Youkilis has an OBP of .418 season and has scored 19 runs. I think Youkilis should move into the #2 spot in the lineup. Loretta has been hitting lately with a .455 OBP in May, but overall his season's numbers have been weaker than Youkilis's. Youk's OBP is higher, his average is higher, and his power numbers are better. Youk also works the count better. However, Loretta might be a better man to have in front of Ortiz considering Youkilis's patience probably won't mean much when hitters have to face Ortiz after him. I still think having Youkilis in front of Manny and Ortiz is better than having Loretta there. Loretta can move down to 7th or 8th in the lineup and use his ability to help manufacture runs with guys like Varitek and Lowell on in front of him, and Gonzalez and Crisp behind him.

The other question the Sox have to deal with is what to do with Willy Mo Pena. The obvious answer seems to be to platoon him with Nixon in right, giving him playing time against left-handed pitchers. However, Trot hasn't struggled all that mightily against lefties, and Willy Mo has actually done his best hitting against righties. Trot's hitting .294 against lefties, Pena is batting .212 against them. Pena is .395 against righties with a .628 slugging percentage. If Pena is hitting the way he is right now when Coco comes back, I don't see how you can take him out of the lineup.

WELLS TO THROW SIMULATED GAME
After two bullpen sessions and reporting no discomfort in his knees, David Wells will make a simulated start on Saturday. If all goes well, he will make a rehab start for AAA Pawtucket against the Buffalo Bisons in Buffalo on May 18. He then wants to pitch against the Yankees on May 23. If I were the Sox, and even if Wells was great in his rehab outing, I'd make him do at least another one. Considering his age, and the fact that he's already re-injured his knees once this season, I'd give him another start in AAA before bringing him up to face Major Leaguers.

RISKE TO MAKE SECOND REHAB ON SATURDAY
David Riske threw two thirds of an inning to start a game for Pawtucket against Syracuse on Wednesday. He struck out the first two men he faced, then walked the next two before being relieved. He threw 26 pitches, 13 of which were strikes. He is scheduled to make another rehab appearance on Saturday in Pawtucket against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

WHERE ARE ALL THE ARTICLES CRITICISING YANKEE FANS?
After Johnny Damon was booed by Fenway fans, there was an outpouring of criticism, mostly from Boston writers, accusing the fans of treating Johnny like "a common criminal" and being "vicious." However, there was little to no reaction to Yankee fans booing Randy Johnson on Tuesday night. Furthermore, there has been no criticism from other writers about the New York Post's proposal to "Drop Papi" by hitting him with pitches. Fans at Yankee Stadium have even begun the habit of cheering every time a ball comes inside to Manny Ramirez. They want to see him hit and injured. Yet, somehow, it is Red Sox fans that have no class because we booed the star center-fielder of our arch-rival. Weird, eh?

SOX FINALLY BREAK THROUGH AGAINST YANKS

This game was much closer than the 5-3 score suggests. It also didn't have to be so close. The Red Sox going 3 for 15 with runners in scoring position, had two homeruns robbed by Yankee outfielders, and what would have been an RBI single down the third base line had the umpire gotten the call right all contributed to the Sox only putting up 5. Thanks to Wakefield, Timlin, Foulke, and Papelbon, those 5 runs stood up.

If you think watching the Sox leave 15 men on base is painful, try listening to them do it on WCBS. My God John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman SUCK! Everything that every Yankee did was qualified by the word "great." When we took a 4-3 lead, it wasn't a solid piece of hitting and good hustle by Loretta, it was a great play by Jeter and Cairo. I kid you not, they spent the next 2 innings praising Jeter and Cairo for the Loretta single. They also used the term "consummate professional" to describe Hideki Matsui about 15 times. I'm not even joking, 15 might be a low estimate for that.

Anyways, the Sox won 5-3, but things were pretty bleak for most of the game. The Sox started the game with 2 on and 2 out. Matsui had to leave the game with a broken wrist he injured on an attempted play on a Loretta fly ball. The Sox squandered that opportunity.

The Yankees retaliated to our lack of offense with a 2 run single by Jorge Posada. The Sox got one back thanks mostly to Loretta who doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a groundout. Lowell was robbed with 2 outs by Bubba Crosby, who moved over to left when Matsui left the game. Lowell would have had a go ahead homerun, instead it was out #3 of the inning.

In the 4th, the Sox were robbed again. Pena doubled, then Damon robbed Mirabelli of at least a double and possibly a homer with a leaping grab. Pena moved to third on the play. The Sox hit a groundball down the third base line that was called foul. A-Rod had knocked it down but couldn't come up with it cleanly. It was a fair ball, but the umpire's ruling stood. The play would have scored Mirabelli easily.

Jeter had an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to make it 3-1. In the 5th, the Sox threatened but failed. However, they knocked Chacon out of the game and got into that juicy Yankees bullpen with 2 outs in the 5th.

The Sox got their first hit with runners in scoring position in the 6th when Loretta knocked in Gonzalez with a single to make the game 3-2. The Sox failed to get any more in the inning.

Throughout the game, I felt that eventually we'd string enough hits together to knock in some runs. So long as our pitching kept New York at 3 runs, we'd win the game somehow. I was right. I enjoy being right.

Pena struck out to begin the 7th, then Mirabelli singled. Gonzalez hit a freak ground rule double. Youkilis hit a soft liner. With 2 down, Loretta hit a ground ball to Jeter's right. Jeter did a good job to stop it and throw it, but the throw was a little off. Cairo still caught it off the bag and while trying to apply the tag the ball was knocked out. Rodriguez should note that Loretta did not use a purse slap to knock the ball out. Two runs scored and the Sox were up 4-3.

Timlin pitched around a Jeter single in the 7th. Foulke got 2 in the 8th, then Papelbon struck out Cairo in a lengthy at-bat to end the inning. The Sox added an insurance run off Rivera in the 9th. Papelbon pitched around a Jeter walk to record his 13th save in as many opportunities.

Ball game over. Red Sox win. THAAAAAAAAAAA RED SOX WIN!!!

The Man of the Game is Bubba Crosby. He went 2 for 4 at the plate with a triple that was a few inches from being a homerun. He also stole a base which allowed him to score a run. He also robbed Mike Lowell of a go ahead homerun.

The Sox come back to Fenway to possibly play the Rangers if it isn't raining too much.

MIDDLE-RELIEF SITUATION

Julian Tavarez has an ERA of 4.61. Rudy Seanez has an ERA of 8.03. Manny Delcarmen had an ERA of 9.82. David Riske has an ERA of 18.00. Mike Holtz has an ERA of 27.00. The Red Sox bullpen is comprised of Papelbon, Timlin, Foulke, then three walking question marks.

Tavarez's ERA is misleading. There have been several outings in which he's entered the game, given up some baserunners, then left to be saved by Timlin or Foulke. In 13.2 innings (1.54 WHIP), he's allowed 16 hits, and 5 walks. Three of those 16 hits were homeruns. Opponents are slugging .588 against him.

The mid-relief isn't good. It is actually somewhat bad. However, the situation is not one that requires panic or a roster move.

Right now, Seanez, Tavarez, and Holtz are the middle relievers. But, we have two pitchers on the DL. Riske is rehabbing his way back to health and will probably replace Holtz on the roster. When/if Wells returns, DiNardo will return to the bullpen and push out Seanez. If (and that is a massive IF) we get Clemens, that will push Wells out of the rotation (possibly into the bullpen) and would totally alter the construction of our pitching staff.

Then there are the minor leaguers that will be coming up near the end of the season. Jon Lester will probably find his way into the Red Sox bullpen. Craig Hansen made it last year and is lighting it up in Portland with 11 innings, 12 strikeouts, 1 earned run in 5 appearances. Delcarmen pitched poorly with us in his short stint, but he might turn it around by the end of the season. Abe Alvarez is on the verge in AAA Pawtucket. And Edgar Martinez has 3 saves, and 2 holds in 11 appearances with an ERA of 1.69 in 16 innings with 18 strikeouts.

In short, the middle relief situation is not a major problem and it will probably solve itself as players come off the DL and minor leaguers come up to the majors. Middle-relief is also one of the easiest spots on the roster to fill via trades. We could give up some low level prospects for an old reliever and do small moves like that to plug the gaps.