Rodriguez yells "Mine"

The video that shows A-Rod yelling "Mine!" as a Blue Jays infielder attempts to catch a pop up. This isn't the first time Rodriguez has done less than traditional basepath disruption. Just more evidence that he is scum.

ALL-STAR BALLOTING UPDATE

This year, it counts.

The first update on All-Star voting is in. The Red Sox have two players who would be starters if the voting ended now. Here are the leading vote getters for each position:

C Ivan Rodriguez
1B David Ortiz
2B Robinson Cano
3B Alex Rodriguez
SS Derek Jeter
OF Manny Ramirez
OF Ichiro Suzuki
OF Vladimir Guerrero

That's right, another AL East infield. I used to really want as many Red Sox players to make the All-Star game as possible, especially as starters. I used to vote 25 times online, sometimes more using my different e-mail addresses. I thought Nomar starting over Jeter in the 1999 All-Star game was a major triumph for Red Sox Nation. Now, I just don't care.

It's fun to see Manny and Ortiz in the All-Star game, but if Julio Lugo were to start at short, I'd be pissed. I want the AL to win so we get homefield advantage if we win the World Series. And I also want to see some great baseball players I normally don't get to see. I'll see Lugo about 140 times this year, one more won't make much of a difference.

But RSN wants to see their players in the midsummer classic. Dustin Pedroia is 5th in voting for 2nd base. Mike Lowell is 2nd at 3rd base. This actually makes sense because Lowell is having a good year, and he's a very distant 2nd. Julio Lugo is 4th at short-stop. Varitek is 3rd at catcher. JD Drew is 8th in the outfield. Eighth! He's hitting .230, and he's only a few thousand votes behind Magglio Ordonez! Coco Crisp is 12th in outfield votes.

Why do you people care out there? So what if your favorite players get an at-bat or two in an exhibition game? Wouldn't you rather see All-Stars instead of All-Sox?

SOX LET ONE DRIFT AWAY

It's hard to say if this game was one of those games that were closer than the final score was, or not as close as the final score. The Red Sox had some major opportunities, but so consistently let them slip away that it's difficult for me to say "they were only a little bit short." The game definately turned on a few key plays, but we never came all that close to striking a killer blow.

The Indians gave us plenty of chances to win the game. Just look at the play of Josh Barfield. He makes an error which allows JD Drew to reach, then he makes a mental mistake which allows Lowell to reach 2nd base safely instead of being thrown out, then Barfield gets thrown out by Manny after a wide turn around 2nd. He gave us two baserunners, two extra outs on offense, and cost his own team a baserunner and an out.

But when Barfield made those mistakes, we were only able to get 1 run out of it. We had runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, and got 1 run. That isn't taking full advantage of an opportunity. And right after Barfield got thrown out at 2nd, Matsuzaka gave up a 2 run homer.

And we all know about the 7th inning. Bases loaded, nobody out, and we get 0 runs. Blake made a good catch on Coco's foul pop, and Mastny pitched brilliantly to Youkilis. Ortiz was given a hanging slider but pulled it too hard and foul. It would have been nice to get just one run in that inning, to start eating away at the lead.

The game was pretty much over when Shoppach hit a homerun. Props to Shoppach for running hard around the bases, though. Very classy.

I'm not very upset, though. In the series, we held Cleveland's offense to 14 runs, which is below their average. Cleveland is one of the best teams in baseball and we took 2 of 3 from them. For the most part, our pitching shut down their offense.

The Man of the Game was Travis Hafner who went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI.

Honorable Mentions:
Tom Mastny: 0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, K, 3 inherited runners left
Kelly Shoppach: 4/5, HR
Mike Lowell: 2/4, 2B, HR

The Bitch-Goat:
Matsuzaka: 0.5 - 5.2 IP, 6 ER, 12 H, HR (lots of hits on 2 strike pitches, WTF?)
Romero: 0.2 - IP, 2 ER
Crisp: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 3 LOB
Ortiz: 0.1 - 1 for 4, 5 LOB
Drew: 0.1 - 0 for 4

Off day, then a 3 game set with the scum.

RETURN OF THE KING

The injury to Josh Beckett was the first major injury to a key player on the Sox. The Sox got along without him, and he came back in style on Tuesday night.

Beckett went 7 innings against the Indians. Now, you wouldn't be able to tell it from the past two games, but Cleveland has one of the best offenses in baseball. But both Schilling and Beckett have pretty much shut them down.

Beckett allowed 2 runs off 3 hits, and one walk. He struck out 7. His finger appeared to be a non-factor.

Beckett improves to 8-0. The last time a Sox pitcher started their season 8-0 was Rich Garces (yeah, weird) in 2000. Of course, all of those wins were in relief, and some of them were blown saves that turned into wins, or tied games in which he entered then the Sox scored.

Kevin Youkilis continues to be a monster. Another game with a hit, another game with multiple hits, and both hits were big. An RBI double in the 1st to put the Sox up 1-0, and a homer in the 5th to put us up 2-0.

Who would have predicted that before May was out, Hideki Okajima would have 4 saves and a lower ERA than Papelbon? I really like the decision to bring him in to pitch the 9th. There were several left handed hitters due up, and Papelbon wasn't too sharp last night. Good call to give Paps the night off and let Okajima go and get some lefties.

By the way, Ortiz has missed the last three games, and we've won all three. This speaks to the strength of this team, top to bottom.

The Red Sox are 5-0 against the other two division leading teams. They've also gone 11-4 against 2nd place teams (Detroit, Seattle, Atlanta, and Baltimore).

The Man of the Game is Kevin Youkilis. He went 2 for 4 with an RBI double, and a solo homerun. Youk is tied for 2nd in hitting in the AL with Magglio Ordonoez, only .002 behind Posada.

Honorable Mentions:
Josh Beckett: 7 IP, 2 ER, 7 K
Jason Varitek: 1/3, HR, BB

Funny side note. Mister April a.k.a. Alex Rodriguez, is hitting .242 in May with 5 homers and 10 RBI. He, and the Yankees SUCK! They lost their 5th straight, falling 3-2 to Toronto.

When does it get to the point when we start rooting for Baltimore and Toronto when they're playing the Yankees? I think we're at that point right now.

RIP MARQUISE HILL

The body of Patriots defensive lineman Marquise Hill was found yesterday in Lake Pontchartrain, north of Louisiana. The 24 year old LSU alumnus was jet skiing with a female acquaintance in choppy waters a few days ago. After an accident, his acquaintance was able to grab hold of a pylon and wait for rescuers to come, but Marquise was unable to do so. As he drifted away, he tried to keep her calm. He was missing for a day until his body was found.

Marquise played in 13 games for the Patriots over 3 seasons, backing up Vince Wilfork in the interior of the D-Line. He received a Super Bowl ring in 2004, his rookie season.

"We have suffered a stunning and tragic loss. Marquise will be remembered as a thoughtful and caring young man who established himself as one of the year-round daily fixtures of our team. I send my deepest condolences to the Hill family."
-Bill Belichick

SCHILLING LEADS SOX TO CLOSE VICTORY

This game had the feel of a playoff game. It was close between two very good teams, and there was A LOT of drama.

After struggling in his recent starts, Schilling has done some tinkering with pitching coach John Farrell and it looks like the tinkering worked. He racked up a season high in strikeouts with 10, walked no one, and allowed only one run.

The bullpen was less than sharp. Romero couldn't get an out and was charged with an earned run. Donnelly threw a perfect 8th, but Papelbon was way off. It seems like Jonathan's been struggling just a bit in his recent outings. He gave up a few hits to Atlanta, allowed a run to New York, and very nearly blew the save last night. I know that with Papelbon, if he doesn't strike out the side in 12 pitches, he looks off. Nevertheless, I'm a bit concerned.

Kevin Youkilis is a man on fire. Twenty straight games with a hit, eight straight games with multiple hits. He went 2 for 5 with a double and an inside the park homerun. The last Sox player to hit an inside the parker was Trot Nixon in 2005.

Speaking of Christopher T. Nixon, good to see him greeted very warmly by the Fenway Faithful. I'm glad that with him, unlike some players (Shane Hildabrand), there wasn't much drama when he left town.



His helmet looks far too clean, though.

Crisp and Lugo each stole a base. They've combined for 25 steals. The rest of the team has 6. Lugo has yet to be caught stealing this season.

Dustin "By the way" Pedroia raised his average to .298 with a 3 for 3 performance, including a pair of doubles.

Five different hitters had RBI: Manny, Youkilis, Drew, Lugo, and Lowell.

David Ortiz missed the game due to tightness in his hamstring. Ortiz blames his recent bout with the flu for the tightness. Francona asserts that he's just being careful with Ortiz for "the long haul." It's unclear whether or not Ortiz will play in tonight's game.

The Man of the Game is Curt Schilling who went 7 innings, allowing 6 hits (only one for extra bases), no walks, one earned run, and struck out 10 men.

Honorable Mentions:
Dustin Pedroia: 3/3, 2 2Bs, BB, Run
Kevin Youkilis: 2/5, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 Runs
Brendan Donnelly: IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB

The win gave the Sox a 35-15 record through 50 games, which is tied for the second best start in team history. In 1986, the Sox started 35-16. In 1946, they went 41-9 (.820!)in their first 50 games.

Baltimore beat the Royals, Toronto beat the Yankees.

Beckett comes off the DL to face the Indians tonight. Beckett actually has had some struggles against Cleveland with an 0-2 lifetime record. He'll be up against Jeremy Sowers, who struggled to start the season but has recently pitched well.

SOX HOLD EM IN TEXAS

The reason I think this team is good, is because of game's like this one. Up 3-0, then down 4-3 with your bullpen in the game, up against Otsuka and Gagne, with Papelbon unavailable, and you still manage to win. These are the really tough ones to get, and come the end of September, these are the wins that make a difference in the standings.

Kevin Youkilis had his 7th straight multiple hit game. He has 23 such games this season to lead the world.

Tavarez was nearly perfect after 5 innings but disintegrated in the 6th. This has been Julian's MO the entire season. He is great the first time through the opposing lineup, then decent the second time through, then horrible the third time through. I think he will be very good for us in the bullpen. Lester had a strong outing in AAA Pawtucket the other day, and although there is no hurry, I'm very much looking forward to Tavarez only going through opponents lineups one time.

I know Okajima's save wasn't perfect, but isn't it nice having a guy like him on the team? He can pitch a large number of games, he can come in to get a tough lefty, he can go 2 innings, he can go the 8th inning, and he can get tough saves. It's nice that we don't have to force Papelbon into working three days in a row.

Dustin Pedroia has very quietly gotten his average up to .279. He's hitting .375 in May with a .426 OBP. He's become a threat at the bottom of the lineup, extending innings, putting runners on for Lugo and Youkilis, and making the lineup even more difficult for opposing pitchers to navigate. The at-bat he had against Gagne was great. Twelve pitches, then he finally got one he could crushed and he slammed it out of the yard for what turned out to be a vital insurance run. He's got a .980 OPS this month.

And did you see that catch Coco made?

And how about Pineiro with 1.2 perfect innings of relief, leaving 2 inherited runners on. It just seems like we get contributions from anyone and everyone some days.

The Man of the Game is Mark Teixiera. He went 2 for 4 with a 3 run homer and an RBI single.

Honorable Mentions:
Dustin Pedroia: 2/4, HR
Coco Crisp: 2/5, game saving catch
Joel Pineiro: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Big series with a very good Cleveland team coming up.

MANNY FINALLY BEING MANNY

"Wait til Manny starts hitting." This has been the refrain of Sox fans for nearly two months. The best team in baseball could only get better once their highest paid and most productive player got going. And it seems like maybe he has. Manny followed up Friday's 2 hit performance with a 4 hit exhibition, falling a homerun shy of hitting for the cycle.

The Sox actually gave Wakefield some run support. After falling behind 4-2, they were able to muster up some offense. The Sox actually left a good deal of runners in scoring position, and failed to get the really big hit, but the 5 run 6th was enough to deliver a victory.

Inning summary of the 6th:
Kevin Youkilis singles
David Ortiz flies out, 1 out
Manny Ramirez triples, Youkilis scores
Wild Pitch, Ramirez scores
JD Drew walks
Mike Lowell singles, Drew to 2nd
Coco Crisp singles, Drew scores, Lowell to 3rd, Crisp to 3rd on throw
Doug Mirabelli walks
Alex Cora Sac-Fly, Lowell scores, Crisp to 3rd, 2 outs
Julio Lugo walks, Mirabelli to 2nd
Kevin Youkilis walks (after falling behind 0-2), Crisp scores, Mirabelli to 3rd, Lugo to 2nd
David Ortiz grounds out, 3 outs

FIVE RUNS, FOUR HITS, NO ERRORS, THREE LEFT ON BASE

So only one hit with runners in scoring position in that inning, but 5 runs. One on a triple, one on a wild pitch, one on a single, one on a sac-fly, one on a walk.

The Man of the Game is Manny Ramirez, who went 4 for 4 with a double, triple, run, RBI, and a walk. Is he going to heat up? Let's hope so.

Honorable Mentions:
Kevin Youkilis: 2/4, 2B, 2 runs, RBI, BB (18 game hit-streak)
Tim Wakefield: 7 IP, 4 ER

Tavarez vs. Kameron Loe tomorrow for the sweep.

New York lost, Toronto and Baltimore won, so the Sox have an 11 game lead on the Jays. New York is tied for 3rd with Baltimore.

With the win, the Sox are assured to win the series. They have played 17 series this season (plus one lone makeup game with Seattle), and have won 12 of them. They've only lost 3 series so far.