Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sweepity Sweep Sweep!!!

Sox: 4 Broomed Bronx Boys: 1

It's amazing what being down 2-6 to start the season will do to a team. Wake started something special in Oakland back on April 15. While his no-hitter bid didn't quite make it, his performance seemed to wake (yes, pun intended!) the Red Sox bats from a week-long slumber. They won that game, then clawed their way back to .500, and then just kept on going, Energizer Bunny-style. They mowed down the O's, Twins, and Yanks in order. The Yanks were the most challenging of the three opponents, but the Red Sox were not to be denied. An offense, led by Youk, Bay, and Lowell, scored a grand total of 80 runs since Wake's Tax Day gem. Until then, they had not scored more than 5 runs in one game. There have been some worrisome pitching performances (*ahem* Beckett *ahem* Penny) but the bats have made like the federal government and bailed out the messes made on the mound. To make a further political analogy, Wake's jewel was the stimulus package the offense needed to get going. While our aces Beckett, and Lester have been struggling (though Lester's last two outings have been much better than his first two), Wake and Masterson have been consistent so far. Dice-K, well the WBC broke him and Penny's still trying to get his command back after recovering from shoulder pain.

The young'uns were the story of today's game. Ellsbury stole two bases, including one daring theft of home that earned him standing O's through his next at-bat. It was the first straight-out steal of home for a Red Sox player in 15 years. When this kid gets on base, he makes things happen. His average has greatly improved this homestand, along with the averages of just about everyone on the team. He may run into the occasional out, but most of the time, his aggressiveness on the basepaths pays off and tonight, he put on quite a show! Masterson was masterful, allowing only a single run on a sac fly over 5 1/3 innings. Hunter Jones and Michael Bowden were impressive in relief, saving a spent bullpen. Bowden threw two scoreless frames, whiffing the likes of Derek Jeter and a raking Robinson Cano. Saito came on and grabbed the save, giving Paps the night off.

Tomorrow, the Sox hit the road for a nine-game, three-city tour, starting in Cleveland, stopping by The Trop for a tangle with the Rays (who are in the cellar right now, but they always seem to save their best stuff for the Sox), then to the Yankee Launchpad for the second chapter of the '09 Sox-Yanks saga. Let's hope their momentum comes along for the ride.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!! CONGRATS ON KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE!!!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Saturday Slugfest

Sox: 16 Yanks: 11

Was this Fenway or Yankee Stadium II? The score would suggest the latter, but it was, in fact, the former. The pitching matchup: Josh Beckett vs. AJ Burnett. While Beckett struggled from the very start, allowing 8 earned runs and having only one clean inning, Burnett cruised through the first three innings. It looked like a long day for the local nine. In the fourth inning, the wheels started coming off for the guy who, until today, owned the Sox at Fenway. He loaded the bases on a Pedey walk, Papi foul out, a Youk single, and a JD walk. Bay singled to drive in one run. Lowell whiffed, then up came Tek with two outs. The Sox were hungry for some salami and salami the captain delivered! Right into the Yankees bullpen! Sox now within a run. Beckett has his one clean inning and Jake knots the score in the bottom of the fifth with a long ball of his own, his first of the year. Pedey singles, and up comes Papi, who had lately been looking as if maybe the 100-year-old batboy Big Pappy should be pinch-hitting for him. That is, until he hit a wall-ball double and advanced Pedey to third. Youk got plunked and the bases were loaded again. This time, JD was up. He put one on the ground right at Teixeira, who pulled a Pedey and threw home. Posada threw back to first to complete the double play, the third one JD's grounded into in this series. Luckily for JD and the rest of the team, the inning wasn't over; there were only two outs. Here comes J-Bay. He knocks one high off the wall for a 2-run double. Sox are now ahead for the first time in the game.

Had the rest of the game not proceeded like it had, Tito would have come under a lot of fire for what happened in the sixth inning. After a quick fifth, Beckett came back for the 6th, even with a pitch count topping 100. He walks Jeter, which I thought would mean the hook for him, but he was left in to face another batter. Johnny Damon, the former Sox outfielder who went to the dark side three seasons ago for more dough, took Beckett's 3-2 offering deep, tying the game again. I know it's April, but raise your hand if thoughts of Grady and Pedro didn't enter your mind at that moment. Manny Delcarmen came to the rescue and retired all three batters he faced and the Sox were on to the bottom half of the inning, trying to break another tie.

The rest of the game was a back-and-forth off the two bullpens. Mikey launched a three-run blast in the 7th and a bases-clearing double in the eighth. Pedey knocked Jacoby in before Mikey's 8th inning three-ribbie double. Paps made things interesting in the ninth, as he's been known to do lately, but he kept the score at 16-11 and the Sox come out of the four-hour slugfest with a series win and a nine-game winning streak. Tomorrow night, will Masterson be masterful in front of a national television audience, and will the Sox bats make Pettitte's stay on the mound a short one? Having taken the first two games of the season in comeback fashion, anything can happen for these Red Sox. Even when they get buzzsawed early in games, they've been coming back and claiming these games for themselves.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!! CONGRATS ON OUTSLUGGING THE BRONX BOMBERS!!!!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Youk Da Man!!!

Sox: 5 Thwarted Yanks: 4

It was your usual long, drawn-out Red Sox-Yankees game, drawn out a little longer than expected thanks to a game-tying dinger by J-Bay in the bottom of the ninth. Lester, while not shelled like in his first two starts, was not dominant like he was against the O's on Sunday. His command came and went and his frustration with the home plate ump made for some laborious innings. He only allowed two runs over six innings, however, and he kept his team in the game.

After a quick run in the first inning, scored on a single by Jake, a Joba balk, a steal of third, and a wild pitch, the Sox were held down for five innings, grounding into double play after double play (4 in all). JD didn't bring his A game to the plate tonight, grounding into two of those DPs and flying out with the bases loaded and two outs in between. He went 0-for-4 with a walk. J-Bay, however, did bring it, going 3-for-5 with that 2-run tater off of vaunted closer Mariano Rivera that broke his 0.00 ERA for the season and blew his save. Youk, who Joba was careful to avoid hitting, finished the job for the Sox in the 11th, crushing one into the last row of Monster seats and greeted at the plate by his ecstatic teammates for the hero's dogpile.

A performance worth noting from the pen: Manny Delcarmen, having inherited a bases-loaded no out mess of Oki's making in the 7th, retired the batters he faced in order, allowing Damon to score from third while Bay made a helluva diving catch for the second out. The first out was a shallow fly-out to left, which was not deep enough for Damon to score. He got Melky to ground out to escape the jam with only one run, averting what could have been a big inning for the Yanks. Javy pulled a Houdini act of his own after he hit a batter and walked the next two. Pedey bailed him out big-time with a heads-up throw home, which Tek turned into a double play by throwing to Youk at first. Cabrera popped out to end the inning, saving Javy's butt in the process.

Tomorrow, Beckett, having served his suspension, gets the start against AJ Burnett. This uplifting come-from-behind victory tonight hopefully set the tone for the rest of the series. It ain't over 'til Youk knocks it out of the park!

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Twin Killing

Sox: 10 Twins: 1
Sox: 7 Twins 3

The Red Sox gave birthday boy Tito another reason to celebrate, with a sweep of the double-header against the Minnesota Twins. Since this double billing was the entirety of the series at Fenway against Minny, the Sox now have back-to-back sweeps and a seven-game winning streak. The man who started it all last week in Oakland, Tim Wakefield, was on the mound again today for the matinee and threw another complete game. A rain-shortened complete game, as he went 7 innings, giving up one run. For the stat geeks, Wake is now 2-0 in games pitched on a Wednesday afternoon in 2009.

The Red Sox' victim in the first game was Twins starter Scott Baker, who surrendered six Sox runs, in pairs, over the first three innings. Why pairs? Three two-run dingers, one per inning in the first third of the game. Youk went deep around the Pesky Pole in the first, Nick Green (who has a habit of using his bat to atone for the sins of his glove) hits his first homer as a Red Sox in the second, and Lowell puts one atop the Monster in the third. The rest of the runs were charged to the pen, who were in the midst of taking a beating reminiscent of Monday's throttling of the O's pen. Five hitters had multi-hit games: Jake, Papi, and Green with two apiece and Drew and Lowell with three apiece.

The nightcap had Jeff Bailey at first with Youk moving across the diamond to give Mikey the night off. Bails went deep in his first at-bat, knocking in three runs. Then, Papi added to the damage against Liriano with a 2-RBI double. The last two runs were scored by an RBI groundout by Jake and a sac fly by Pedey. Penny, who had a much improved outing over last Friday's 8-run debacle against the O's, was touched for three runs, including a Morneau homer. The bats have been there for Penny, bailing him out on Friday and giving him the victory tonight.

Friday night, the Yanks are coming to town. Jon Lester, who is flip-flopping his rotation spot with Beckett to allow for his teammate's suspension, will start for the Sox and the Yanks, electing to skip the banged-around Wang (darn it!) instead throw Joba out there. Will Youk have to duck and cover with his "nemesis" on the mound? And, if Joba should throw in the general direction of Youk's noggin, will MLB be evenhanded and hand him the same suspension they levied on Beckett? Without A-Rod around, will the boos for Sox-spurner Teixeira be loud enough for the both of them?

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Broomin' The Baltimore Birdies

Sweep Sox: 12 O's: 1

The first sweep of the season and it was a four-game stifling of the Baltimore Orioles, the last two games of which had the Birds limited to a single run per game. Masterson gave the Sox 5 1/3 very strong innings, surrendering one run and limiting the hits to singles. A scary moment for the O's happened in the third, when Masterson's pickoff throw to second struck third baseman Ryan Freel in the head, causing him to have to be helped off the field by the manager and trainer and leave the game. He was taken to the hospital for precautionary tests. Robert Andino took Freel's place at third.

O's starter Mark Hendrickson kept his team in the game for his five innings of work, allowing 3 Sox to cross the plate, including a right-handed dinger over the Monster by Tek. Their 'pen, however, imploded and allowed a total of 9 more runs. Radhames Liz, whom the Sox undoubtedly OWN only managed to record one out, while plating six and skyrocketing his ERA to an obscene 67.50. The Red Sox LOOOOVE to see Liz on the mound! The Sox 'pen, however, held the hapless O's scoreless while the offense piled it on. Masterson got the W and the Sox pulled off the sweep that got them one game over .500 after such a frustrating start.

The DL just got another member in Baldelli, whose hammy started barking when he legged out a three-base error. In other DL news, Lowrie will most likely need wrist surgery, but I'm hearing it may not cost him an entire season. He could be back by the all-star break if all goes well. Meanwhile, Lugo's headed to Pawtucket to get in some rehab starts as he makes his way back from his knee surgery.

The Twins come to town for two games tomorrow and Wednesday and this weekend, it's the first Sox-Yanks showdown of the 2009 season.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! CONGRATS ON THE SWEEP!!!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

He's Back and He Still Owns the O's.

Sox: 2 Birds: 1

The Real Jon Lester emerged in today's win against the O's. The guy who pitched Lester's two previous starts (and the exhibition game against the Mets) and had an ERA of 9, we don't really know who he is, but the genuine article came to Fenway today and blanked the birdies over seven innings, walking two and allowing four hits. He fanned nine and reminded Red Sox Nation and the rest of the baseball world who the ace of the staff was last year. The game was a tight one, as O's hurler from the Far East, Koji Uehara, did a fine job of quieting the Sox bats and limiting Youk to one hit.

Papi, after getting two hits last night, was back to over-swinging and looking lost at the plate this afternoon. It might be beneficial to the team to switch Papi and JD in the lineup, as JD is a high OBP guy and batting him third would give the current offensive force that is Youk a chance to do more damage when he comes to the plate. If Youk has a year like he did last year, he's an excellent clean-up hitter and right now, he needs something to clean up, if you get my drift. Jake and Pedey are coming around, but Papi really isn't helping much out of the 3-hole right now. I understand Tito's loyalty to Papi and, based on all he has done for the team since he arrived six years ago, it's not undeserved. However, right now we're not sure what we'll get out of Papi and the offense might benefit more from putting an on-base guy like Drew (who thrived in the 3-hole last June in Papi's absence) there and move Papi to fifth. That would preserve the lefty-righty sequence in the lineup also.

Tomorrow, Masterson gets the nod in place of the DL-ed Dice-K in the Early Bird Special Patriot's Day game. Can the Sox continue their winning streak and pull off a sweep of the O's? They're playing a lot better ball lately and they've reached .500 with today's win. Let's hope they can keep it going.

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!!!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Long and Short of It

Sox: 6 Birdies: 4

The long: Beckett's fifth inning, where he gave up 4 runs to the Baltimore boys on a RWI (is there a stat for runs walked in, or did I just make it up?) and a bases-clearing double by a first baseman referred to by the O's radio announcers as--I kid you not--"Huff Daddy." The short: Youk coming a triple short of the cycle on a night that netted him 4 ribbies, or two thirds of the Sox run tally for the night. The other two RBI belong to Tek and Lowell, the latter of whom is tied with Bay for the lead in the Red Sox Ribbie Race with 10 apiece.

Beckett had a somewhat lopsided outing, being effective in every inning but the laborious fifth, where he was channeling Brad Penny from last night's second inning, but with less damage. He bounced back nicely in the sixth with a 1-2-3. The Sox chased O's starter Adam Eaton after four innings and six runs.

In other news around the division, the Yanks got knocked into next week by the Tribe at the brand spankin' new Yankee Stadium II: The Steinbrenner Edition. 22-4, my friends, 22-4! And if we thought last night's 7-run attack by the O's in the second inning was bad, try doubling that number and you get the Tribe's second inning against the Yanks. Holy one-sided slugfest, Batman!

LET'S GO RED SOX!!!