SOX BEAT YANKS 6-4

The Sox put up 12 hits in their 6-4 victory over the Yankees this afternoon. Josh Beckett was shaky in the 1st, but settled down and pitched 6 solid innings, earning his 8th win of the season. Pedroia and Ellsbury combined to go 5 for 9. Mike Lowell was 2 for 4 with a double, a homer, and 4 RBI. Jason Varitek went 2 for 4, his first multiple hit game since May 31st. The Sox could have easily scored more, but they left 4 men in scoring position, and were caught stealing 3 times.

Youkilis also could have had a homerun if there were a slight breeze going out to left. He hit a ball deep to the warning track. Johnny Damon leaped, and tipped the ball with the edge of his glove. The ball literally sat on top of the wall before falling back into play, and Youk was held to a triple.



The one disconcerting aspect of the game was Hideki Okajima's performance in the 7th. He allowed a single and two walks to load the bases. He and Manny Delcarmen worked out of the jam, but Okajima has proven himself to be less than reliable this season. That's probably why he's been used as more of a middle reliever than an 8th inning set-up man.

His ERA is a seemingly solid 3.00, but his other stats tell a completely different story. His 1.47 WHIP is considerably higher than his 0.97 WHIP of 2007. He's blown 6 save opportunities. And inherited runners have been a major problem (12 of 15 have scored).

I think it's safe to say the Red Sox will be in the market for a set-up man at the trade deadline. Hopefully not a French Canadian ex-closer.

Justin Masterson makes his first career start against the Yankees Saturday afternoon. He faces 10-6 Mike Mussina, who will be making his 55th career start against the Red Sox.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

THANK GOD WE'RE PLAYING THE YANKEES

Isn't it weird to be relieved that the Sox are out of Tropicana Field and playing in Yankee Stadium. How the mighty have fallen, and how the weak have risen.

Jon Lester smothered the Yankee lineup last night, earning a complete game shutout win, and snapping the team's 5 game losing streak. It's the 2nd shutout of the season for Lester. The last Red Sox pitcher to record multiple shutouts in a season was...

If you guessed Pedro Martinez, you're wrong. In 2001, Hideo Nomo pitched 2 shutouts. Pedro had 4 in 2000.

Lester's been somewhat of a savior for this team. Beckett has had ups and downs, Wakefield goes through his bipolar stretches, Matsuzaka can't get into the 6th inning, Colon is out of shape, and Schilling isn't coming. Lester leads Red Sox starters in ERA (3.21), innings (117.2), and starts (19).

He's been able to keep two things down: his pitch count, and the baseball.

Here are Jon Lester's pitch count stats from the last three seasons:

Year:	Pitches Per Inning:
2006	18.6
2007	17.2
2008	15.8

What's really helped Lester keep his pitch count down has been fewer walks, more groundball outs, and yes... fewer strikeouts. He's striking out batters less often compared to 2006 and 2007, but his strikeout to walk ratio has actually gone up because his walks have been so dramatically reduced.

Getting groundball outs has been huge for Lester. He's already induced 15 double plays, the 6th most in the Majors. Here's a look at the groundball to flyball ratio in his career:

Year:	Ratio:
2006	1.03
2007	0.77
2008	1.41

Lester hasn't even allowed a sacrifice fly.

Back to last night's 7-0 victory over New York. It was nice to finally see the entire lineup producing at once. Every starter had a hit except Lugo. But he had a sac-fly. Even Varitek got a single in the 8th, ending that painful hitless streak.

The return of Coco Crisp shouldn't be overlooked. He hit .310 in June and returned to the lineup with a 2 for 3 night.

Josh Beckett pitches against Darrell Rasner this afternoon at 1:00 (Eastern). Beckett's only allowed 4 runs in his last 26 innings, but only has one Win to show for it.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Kathy Willens

MELTDOWN

The last time the Red Sox were 3.5 games out of first in the AL East was the end of the 2006 season. But after last night's 7-6 disappointment in St. Petersburg, that's exactly where the Sox are.

Daisuke pitched around trouble for 5 innings. Although he only allowed 1 run, his pitch count was obscenely high. In the first two innings, he had already thrown 49. This forced the bullpen to be used early. Okajima pitched a scoreless 6th, then all hell broke loose.

Manny Delcarmen looked awful. Not only was he giving up hits (3 hits to 3 batters faced), his stutter step off the mound allowed Akinori Iwamura to reach on an infield single instead of being thrown out at first.

Then Hansen came in and couldn't throw a strike. He threw 13 pitches, 4 of which were strikes. And one of those strikes was struck by Evan Longoria for a double. Finally, Javier Lopez worked out of the jam, but the damage had been done. A 4-1 Sox lead had been turned into a 7-4 Rays lead.

The Sox didn't go down quietly. Pedroia had an RBI double in the 8th (stopping at first with a single would have given him a cycle). Thanks to an error, the Sox put two men on with no outs in the 9th. A sac-fly from Youkilis made it a 7-6 game. Then Terry Francona made me mad for the first time in his managerial stint with the Red Sox.

Why in the name of all that is holy was there a hit and run with Varitek at the plate? He was 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts, and hadn't gotten a hit in 16 at-bats. In those 16 at-bats, he's struck out 8 times. HITTING is the most important part of the hit-and-run. But Varitek isn't hitting. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th in a 1 run game, it makes more sense to bunt than hit-and-run. Why risk making the 2nd or 3rd out on the basepaths? Why ask a slumping hitter to make contact, something he's struggled to do. And why the hell is Varitek batting 7th and not 9th?

Not surprisingly, Varitek swung and missed at a bad pitch, and Mike Lowell was toast at second base. When Varitek struck out looking, the game was over.

This Varitek slump is unreal. He's 3 for his last 48 (.063). There is no reason for him to be batting anywhere but 9th, if at all. Brandon Moss and Julio Lugo aren't tearing the cover off the ball, but at least they can get a hit every once and awhile.

The Sox ride their 5 game losing streak to Yankee Stadium for a 4 game seris. Lester faces Andy "I Didn't Inject" Pettitte.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

BRUINS SIGN MICHAEL RYDER, AND ARE OFFICIALLY OUT OF THE RUNNING FOR MARIAN HOSSA

The Bruins signed former Montreal Canadien Michael Ryder to a multi-year deal. The signing reduces the Bruins' salary cap space, making it impossible to sign Hossa. I don't mind that the Bruins got a guy who can score goals (30+ in his first two seasons with Montreal, although he only scored 14 last year), but I'm disappointed that they didn't pull a rabbit out of the hat with Hossa. The Edmonton Oilers offered him a deal worth $9M a year, and the price for the Slovak winger will only go up from there, but the Bruins seemingly did next to nothing to try to create that cap room. They couldv'e shipped Glen Murray to Providence, eaten his salary, but completely removed him from the salary cap equation. But they didn't.

That's just the unending pain of being a Bruins fan.



Source:
Boston Herald

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File

A-ROD OPTS OUT OF HR DERBY

Alex Rodriguez keeps coming up with new and original reasons for people to hate him. This time, he's snubbing Yankee fans and the rest of baseball by not participating in the Home Run Derby. This will be the first and last time that the competition will be held at historic Yankee Stadium. But Alex Rodriguez feels as though it might affect his swing. Funny, he participated in three Derbies before becoming a Yankee. Maybe he has performance anxiety. Maybe he's afraid of hitting only 1 or 2 homers in the first round in front of the home fans.

Even sour puss Nomar Garciaparra was able to put on a smile in 1999, and participate in the Derby at Fenway. Why can't A-Rod toughen up and do this at the Stadium? It would be a nice treat for the Yankee fans who help pay his grotesque salary, and for baseball fans around the world.

A-Rod is worried his swing might get messed up. Apparently his swing is as sensitive and soft as he is.

frustRAYtion

Matt Garza and the Rays shut down the Sox offense last night for a 3-1 lead, extending the deficit in the AL East to 2.5 games.

Wakefield had another good start wasted. 7 innings, 2 runs (1 earned). It was actually his 7th straight Quality Start, but he's 2-3 in that stretch, and the Sox are 3-4.

The offense was simply pitiful. Drew, Ramirez, Lowell, and Youkilis, hitting 3-4-5-6, combined to go 0 for 14 with 4 Ks. The Sox didn't get a hit until the 4th. They also left the bases loaded in the 8th.

Think how unimaginable this thought was before the season: If the Rays win tonight, they'll have swept the Red Sox TWICE this season. That's amazing for the Rays, and it's flat out sad for the Sox.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

WHERE'S WILLIE ANDREWS? IN JAIL

Patriots defensive back Willie Andrews was arrested early Monday morning after threatening his girlfriend with a "large capacity" handgun by pointing it at her head. He is being charged with unlawful possession of said gun, as well as assault. He is being held without bail until a hearing on Thursday.

This is the second arrest for Andrews during the off-season. Two days after the Super Bowl, he was taken in for possession of a half pound of marijuana (intent to distribute). This weapons charge and assault will probably affect the outcome of the marijuana case.

This isn't the first trouble he's had with guns, either. Back in his college days at Baylor he was arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon.

But I think it's safe to say that this will be Willie Andrews' last legal problem as a member of the New England Patriots. It's a shame because he did so well on special teams last year. But this guy is obviously too much trouble.

Sources:
Associated Press
Boston.com

SOX FALL TO RAYS...AGAIN

The Red Sox lineup has struggled all year to really click all at once. At the moment, Dustin Pedroia is scorching hot (20 for his last 36 or .556), Mike Lowell is also hot (17 for his last 32 or .531), and Youkilis is hitting well (.337 average in June). On the other side of the spectrum; JD Drew has cooled off a bit, Manny Ramirez is cold (.205 in the last two weeks), and Jason Varitek has officially frozen over (.127 in June).

This disparity between extremely hot and extremely cold results in an inconsistent offense, with runners left in scoring position, rallies killed right as they start, and quick 1-2-3 innings for opposing pitchers. And that was the case last night as the Sox fell to the Rays 5-4.

Masterson once again had a decent - not good, not bad - start, going 6 innings and allowing 4 runs. But he was up against James Shields, who is pretty much untouchable in Tropicana Field (coming into the game, 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA at home). The Sox got 2 off of Shields, and managed to get him out after 6.1 innings. But these aren't your older brother's (Devil) Rays. This Tampa team has a bullpen that doesn't moonlight as a slapstick comedy troupe.

Speaking of bullpens, Chris Smith started the 7th for the Red Sox, but only got 1 out and walked the bases loaded. Javier Lopez did a good job of minimizing the damage, holding the Rays to 1 run in the inning. But that run would turn out to be the game winner.

The Sox rallied against Troy Percival in the 9th. Lowell and Brandy Moss had big doubles, with a Youkilis single sandwiched in between. Varitek hit a sac-fly to make it 5-4. But Julio Lugo failed to deliver with a man on 3rd and 2 outs.

The Rays now hold a 1.5 game lead over the Red Sox. It feels odd saying that on July 1st. And guess what, it's a 3 game lead in the loss column. The Sox are 6-4 against the rays this season, which isn't bad, but they were 13-5 against Tampa in '07.

Tim Wakefield goes against Matt Garza tonight. Garza is coming off a complete game, 1 hit, 1 run performance against the Marlins. I'm just glad Kevin Cash gets to bat tonight.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara