5 Out of 6

MAN David Ortiz can hit the ball! He killed one in the first inning to give us an early lead. Then that lead increased when Coco Crisp tripled and went home on a Cora RBI.

Then a 3-run Yankee HR, blah.

But then Alex Cora came through with a two-run shot! He sent Coco home in the process, he was on base because he got hit by a pitch :( Cora showed his skills again later in the 7th with a triple, and he did score on a sac fly to make it 5-3.

But that wasn't all the offense Boston had in store. Manny hit his 3rd home run of the year to put the Sox up 7-3 (Ortiz had singled earlier). So at this point I was relieved that despite NY's win yesterday, we would still win the series.

But Mike Timlin would not feel right if he didn't give up some runs. Jeter hit a solo HR off him, and really, who didn't know that was coming? He even let ABREU get a hit, who was 0-for-19 up until he faced Old Reliable. Of course, then the other Old Reliable grounded into a double play (who? A-Rod of course).

Papelbon came in to pitch the 9th and protect a 7-4 lead. Giambi led off with a double, which was most shocking. In more normal fashion, Matsui struck out, Posada grounded out, and Cano ended the game with another ground out. THAT is how Papelbon works. Minor mistake to Steroidface.

Another day, another beat-the-Yankees-fiesta. Tomorrow is an off day, and a series against Oakland begins Tuesday.

They Must End

I so wanted 8 losses in a row, but I guess all things that are fantastic must end eventually. But it would have been nice if NY's losing streak had ended after the Boston series.

Of course, after I mentioned the fact that NY had no saves yesterday, they had to get one today. I should keep my mouth shut about those things!

Even though Boston's offense was quite bad (so many, MANY chances to score all blown), there's always tomorrow. And those bats better be on fire tomorrow, since Julian Tavarez will take the mound against Wang. And we are still in first place, and NY is still in last. Things are as they should be.

And what was with Mike Lowell's errors today? Both when Jeter hit the ball right to him! Time to fix whatever the problem was there.

Today I saw a picture and suddenly realized what all the Yankee fans are truly thinking when they see Manny. I thought, since I am so enlightened now, I shall share with my wonderful readers:

Mistake of the (Yester)Day: Mentioning Coco's bad hair. Because now it's even worse!

That's Right

4 hour game, lots to say:

4th inning - Matsuzaka loaded the bases on 3 walks with no outs. Stupid bloop single cut our lead to one run. Manny made a pretty cool-looking catch on it though. But then D.M. got Cano to strike out, Mientkiewicz to pop one up on the infield, but.... then stupid Johnny Damon got a stupid half-swing 2-run single to grab the lead. Then more Yankees scored.

Then some good stuff happened again, with a David Ortiz RBI to make it 4-3. Then it was a tie game when Pettitte threw a bases loaded walk. And it got better - we got the lead on a wild pitch! Then another walk to make the bases loaded again with 2 outs, and out came Andy. But, nothing.

Julio Lugo HR! 6-4!

Another RBI from Mr. Lugo to get the Sox up by 3. Lugo had a good night, indeed.

Timlin, Okajima, and Pineiro all had great outings, allowing zero runs. Okajima's ERA is 0.84. NICE.

Rivera came in to pitch the 9th and he got one out, then Boston had consecutive singles from Lowell, Varitek, and Crisp (Coco's was an RBI). Then he walked Pedroia to load the bases and out came Mariano for Mike Myers. And he proceeded to walk in a run. Hehe. Then Youkilis grounded out but a run scored on the play to make it 10-4, and then Ortiz hit an RBI single and man! They really wanted Matsuzaka to get a win or something.

A nice factoid from YES - the Yankees are the only team in baseball that does not have a save.

And I did have to buy the monthly subscription to MLB.TV. But only because it's free for 5 days and then I will cancel it. I CANNOT miss Sox/Yanks games!

Imploration of the Day: Coco, please. Stop the hair madness. Just cut it!

Pena Makes Me Happy

I am still recovering from Wily Mo Pena's grand slam last night. That is a sign of what's to come from that man, I am sure.

Matsuzaka in NY tonight, and of course it's not on TV. Uhh...what? It's only one of the most exciting games of the year (in theory). I might have to cave and buy the MLB.TV monthly subscription. This is a can't-miss game, after all.

And just because it's awesome...the Yankees are on a 6-game losing streak. About to be 7.

Just My Luck

This is a perfect example of my luck: The very first Baltimore/Boston game of the season, the first time we have MASN and MASN2 in my area and I'm all excited about watching the game tonight - AND THEN

the power goes off today at 1 pm.

ONLY in my neighborhood, and then ONLY on my SIDE of the road.

It didn't come back on till almost 10.

So I missed the game, except for the 9th inning so I know they won and quite easily. I know Schilling was great, and Youkilis, Ortiz, Ramirez, and Cora all had good nights...and you know what else I know?

The Yankees are in last place in the AL East!

Wha??

How you go from sweeping the Yankees to losing 2 games in a row to Toronto, and losing really bad at that, is beyond me.

Better luck against Baltimore, gentlemen!!

Happy Birthday Tito, From Manny, J.D., Mike, & Jason

First inning - uh-oh. Matsuzaka got his first 2 outs, then struck out Abreu twice but he was walked because the crazy umpire called those strikes balls. So it ended up being 2-0 and things really didn't look good.

But um, WOW we were down 3-0 then Manny hit a home run, followed by J.D. Drew, then Lowell, then Varitek ALL IN A ROW! In 5 minutes we went from 3-0 to 4-3. When Varitek was up my mom said, "Aww, he won't get one," and I replied, "He got one the other night!" then he proceeded to kill one way over left field. Then I started to feel a little bad for the pitcher kid but... oh well. That was pretty damn exciting. First time in team history that 4 home runs in a row were hit. WOW. My mom and I were just laughing. Man, I wish that happened more often. It's too bad I can't get a picture of Manny's reaction - he was smiling and laughing and hugging people :)

But then Matsuzaka killed the mood by giving up a double to Mient-traitor-kiewicz. And I checked to see if I spelled his name right and I cannot believe I still remember how to spell that craziness. But hey, I did win a bunch of spelling bees in elementary school :) By the way, Matsuzaka did get out of that jam. But in the 5th, he gave up a solo shot to Take-a-Seater and it was 4-4. He also struck out A-Rod for the second time. But later on he did give up another run and we were down by one.

Things got interesting in the 7th when Manny led off with a single and Drew doubled off the wall. Then they got more than just interesting when Mike Lowell hit his 2nd HR of the game, off the top of the wall, to make it 7-5!

Daisuke went 7+ innings before Hideki Okajima came in to try and continue his Yankee dominance. Matsuzaka wasn't spectacular, but he wasn't bad either. I imagine he was pretty nervous, actually. H.O. got one out then gave up a single to get men on 1st and 2nd. And then he walked the bases loaded with only one out. I think maybe he had been used too much. In came Donnelly, and it looked like he might get a double play but Cairo screwed up Lugo's throw and we only got one out and a run scored. 7-6. And then Dustin Pedroia displayed his sweet defense and made a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL diving catch. It was so nice. And just to say, Pedroia had a pretty good night tonight, offense and defense. I like what I'm seeing. <--- I had actually typed that even BEFORE he made the freaking awesome catch to get out of the 8th. Yeah, he should have a good year.

Mr. Papelbon pitched the 9th. Got Damon to fly out, Jeter struck out (ha!), and Abreu walked. Eek. So Rodriguez was up, but he was no trouble at all. Another spectacular performance by Papelbon.

First time in 17 years the Sox swept the Yanks at home.

Get out the brooms!

Is Rivera on NY's Payroll....Or Boston's?

Because that man has given us so many wins, I've lost count.

But let's start from the beginning. Varitek got off to a good start, hitting his first home run of the season. Of course, Rodriguez had to hit two HRs tonight, both off Schilling. Schilling actually wasn't too great today, but he didn't do too terribly. Just really not his best.

Now I'll skip everything else and get to the good stuff. Down 6-2 in the 8th. Ortiz gets on with a double. Manny went from an 0-2 count to get walked (patience pays!). Then Drew made an out but moved both players up a base (Drew had a pretty good night, actually, except for some bad attempt at base stealing). Lowell hit one through the hole to make it 6-3, then in came our good friend Mariano Rivera. Tek hit an RBI and then...the best moment of the night. COCO CRISP TRIPLED and in came 2 runs to make it 6-6. You all have no idea how happy I am for him...and you know, I told you he was coming! Just don't prove me wrong and go back to being bad, Coco.

Then Cora even got in on the action and hit an RBI single. 7-6. And Mariano, we thank you deeply.

I thought Papelbon would close it out, but Francona went with Okajima. He got his three outs and I tell you, the smile on his face could not be contained. Everyone was so happy, and why shouldn't they be? They had one hell of a comeback and man, was it enjoyable to watch.

And they wore the great green jerseys with the Virginia Tech logo on the sleeves and also on their hats. It was really nice to see.

It Happened Again

Tim Wakefield got 4 more runs of support than he usually gets - which is, of course, zero. Three solo shots by Lowell, Mirabelli, and (of course) Ortiz contributed 75% of the runs, with a RBI-single by Mirabelli adding the final blow. Wakefield pitched brilliantly, going 7 innings and only giving up one run. Only 4 hits, too. His ERA? 1.35! With my track record, I'll probably be seeing him when I go to the game in September, but if this keeps up I won't mind so much.

Coco's struggles continued - he went 0-for-4 and his average dropped to .136. At least he's not alone with his problems: Manny is batting .191 and Pedroia is only .188. Eh, no biggie. They'll get in their respective grooves soon.

Yes Sir

Damn. Josh Beckett is ON.

Of course, he had a lot of help from his seriously Hot offense, who scored SIX runs in the first inning alone!

Getting back to Beckett, he allowed one earned run over 6 innings, which is fantastic. He has been really, really good thus far.

Ortiz hit a HR, his 4th of the year. Wily Mo Pena got in there today (he was 0-for-3, but had an outfield assist), Cora had a hit, and a lot of folks had RBI.

And on a more personal note.... I was trying to find the game on the radio at work this afternoon and came across the Virginia Tech tragedy. Almost all of the people that live where I live have Tech signs, flags, shirts, bumper stickers....I am incredibly saddened by this news and my thoughts are with everyone who has been affected, in any way. Very sad day.

I Was Duped

Hey! The game was on FOX! I was Gameday-ing it until the bottom of the 2nd inning when my mom informed me of the great news. Of course I still had GD up because it does provide some good stats. Like how Schilling only threw 14 pitches through the first 2 innings.

Mike Lowell made a really nice diving catch in the 3rd, then in the bottom half of the same inning Hinske started things off with a triple off the wall. It was pretty, especially because Ortiz and Manny were right behind him in the lineup. But...they did nothing. Drew walked, and then Lowell was walked but the umpire was drunk and called the 4th ball a strike, but he did walk eventually. So they had bases loaded in the 2nd and nothing happened, now the bases were loaded again (remember last season how many, MANY times they loaded the bases and did nothing?)..Varitek hit a hard ball to Matthews in center field, and it looked like Matthews might have it but the ball went right off his glove and 2 runs scored!

Another run scored in the 4th on a wild pitch. LA's 3rd pitcher of the day and he'd only thrown like 2 pitches.

The 6th inning was a pretty good one for the Sox - the first 2 men in the order made outs, so it didn't look like it would be very special. Then came the magic: 2 walks readied things for Big Papi, who RBI-singled to Vlad. Not to be outdone, Ramirez also RBI-singled in a run to make it 5-0. J.D. Drew couldn't keep it going, but at the end of the inning, things were looking pretty good for another Boston victory.

And it was David Ortiz who made the day with an 8th inning 3-run home run to make it a little worse for the Angels.

Schilling pitched a fabulous 8 innings and allowed no runs at all. I was hoping he'd come out for the 9th, but it was not to be. Donnelly closed out the game by pitching a scoreless one.

Another huge win for Boston. Man, what has gotten into them lately? Whatever it is, I like it. And they should most definitely keep it up.

Can They Keep it Going?

I've been away and the Sox have been destroying. Except for that Matsuzaka start, that wasn't such a great one. But since then, they've only had to play one game because of the rain, and they just pummeled the Angels in a 10-1 victory yesterday. The most surprising part of that win wasn't the huge offensive production (that's to be expected, right?), it was the huge offensive production in a game pitched by Tim Wakefield. I was amazed. Tim was pretty awesome himself, pitching 7 innings and only allowing that one run on 5 hits. Please note though, that 6 of the 10 runs were scored in the 8th, after Wakefield came out!

I had kind of given up on good old Tim, but if he keeps pitching the way he's pitched his 2 games...ooh man, we might have an ace. Not to get too far ahead of myself, though.

The game today starts in just over 30 minutes, and I do not think it is on TV. Which sucks. If only the stupid baseball channels on Comcast didn't cost a million dollars! Thankfully, the new and improved Gameday will keep me in the game.

So I'm watching tennis now, and my favorite player Jelena Jankovic is playing Venus Williams in this marathon match. They are in the 3rd set tiebreak, and man, they're playing some good tennis out there today. Venus is back, man. Of course, I'm cheering against her, but...J.J. won! AWESOME match.

Now That's a Beating

The Boston Red Sox put on QUITE a show today.

14-3!

Pitching: Beckett pitched SEVEN innings and gave up ONE run. Could this be his year??

(Who gave up the other 2 runs? None other than Timlin. How many guesses did you need?)

Offense: RBI leaders for the day: Drew and Varitek, each with 3. You'd think with 14 runs there would have been a lot of home runs, but there was only 1, by Mr. Drew, and it came early (2nd inning). Youkilis was 3-for-5, Lugo was 2-for-2, and Pena came in late and got hit by a pitch. Bad luck for him, but I want more Wily Mo! I like that guy.

Here's the man of the day, J.D. Yes, he's wearing #7, yes, I wish it was still Trot Nixon's number, but yes, I am happy he is on the team and doing well.

Who Had a Good Night?

All the Red Sox players did! Schilling, Ortiz, Papelbon...they all had great nights. Ortiz had a 2-home run evening (contributing all 3 RBI), Schilling gave up one earned run in 7 strong innings, and Papelbon got the final 5 outs in dominant fashion.

Who had a bad night? The Rangers. Too bad.
The Yankees had a bad day courtesy of Baltimore, which was cool with me.

Timlin also had a good day, since he might be ready to pitch by Tuesday. What that means for us is yet to be determined, because who knows what kind of outings he will have.

Off day tomorrow, with Opening Day on Tuesday. Beckett vs. Seattle. Be there or be square. I, of course, will be working till forever, so I am very, very square.

Oh yeah, and congrats to Zach Johnson for winning the golf thing. I was watching it while I was cleaning, and while I wanted Rory Sabbatini to win, I was happy for Johnson. I kind of like watching golf. But only like 2 or 3 times a year, any more than that I can't do.

Bad Night

Javier Lopez came in after Julian Tavarez had a good inning (and he only ended up pitching 4) and gave up a triple with no outs. Tavarez had a great first inning, an okay second, a bad third, a good fourth, and then he was gone. Of course he did have 87 pitches, so that was probably why. He gave up 4 runs, all earned, all in one inning. If only that third inning hadn't happened, he would have had a pretty good outing.

So what happened after Lopez gave up the leadoff triple? Ground out x2, walk, fly out. He worked his way out of a pretty big jam. Nice work from Javier.

The Sox put together another run in the 6th inning, with Varitek RBI-doubling Drew home. That made it 4-3 in favor of Texas.

So in came Kyle Snyder, who gave up a double and got an out before he was replaced by J.C. Romero. Mistake? I'd say. He threw 3 balls and one strike before giving up a run, then let Sosa hit one out of the park to make it 7-3. Then a single, another single, maybe time to take him out??! Nope. Just a visit to the mound. Another single, this one an RBI. 8-3. FINALLY he came out and Brendan Donnelly came in. A little too late, if you ask me. It took Donnelly 22 pitches to get 2 outs, but hey, he got the outs and didn't give up any runs. I'm looking at you, ROMERO.

So Boston's offense was fed up with the bad pitching and decided they had to do something. Lugo started it off with a single, (Youk flied out), Ortiz walked, and Manny singled in Julio. Okay, down by 4 now. J.D. Drew popped out and made me miss Trot Nixon some more, Lowell did nothing, and I was wrong -- seems that only Lugo, Papi, and Ramirez wanted to do something about that awful score.

Okajima was 1-2-3. The one good thing.

Even though he had a perfect inning, Okajima was replaced by Pineiro in the 8th. But I'm not complaining, because he had a pretty good inning himself.

You know, it's really hard to get excited about games when you know there's a really good chance the bullpen will blow it in the end. This time, even though the relievers did give up a lot of runs, it didn't matter since the Sox offense didn't make up for Tavarez' earned runs. All in all, a very bad, forgettable game.

Oh yeah, and Youkilis hurt his ankle. Swell. Though, he should be ready to play again tomorrow. When Curt Schilling gets his first win of the season.

Funny Quote of the Day: Headline on redsox.com: Bullpen source of strength

Poor Timmy

I wasn't going to say anything about yesterday's game because it was just another loss. However, when I see headlines like this: "Wakefield Outdueled in Loss," I get a little upset and feel the need to comment.

This man

deserves a medal.

Why? It's the same thing I said all last season: HE NEVER GETS ANY RUN SUPPORT. It's like as soon as Tim Wakefield steps to the mound, his teammates' bats go cold. And it happens like every time he pitches. I just don't get it. Do they hate him? He seems like a nice guy. Why do they do this to him all the time? He only have up one earned run!!

Oh yeah, plus that whole Wakefield/Rangers mental thing he's got.

Someday, Tim. Someday you will only give up one run and actually get a win out of it.

He Didn't Disappoint

Matsuzaka, I learned today, does not like to let his fans down. He was pretty superb in his first start, allowing only six hits and recording 10 strikeouts while throwing 108 pitches in the Red Sox's 4-1 victory. He gave up one run and walked one. "The fourth inning was his most dominant, as Matsuzaka struck out the side on 14 pitches. He finished the frame with a flourish, blowing a high fastball by Brown." He did give up a solo shot, but that was the only run KC got all day and I am cool with that.

So if Matsuzaka pitched 7 innings and gave up one run, and the final score was 4-1, that means....the bullpen didn't give up any runs! Romero and Papelbon did their jobs, with Papelbon getting his first (of many) saves of the season. He only had to throw 13 pitches (11 strikes) to end his inning.

Video recap here - watch it just for the strike out-throw out!

So now we're 2-1. Is it bad that I'm already thinking about standings after only 3 games?

Gameday

HOLY COW Gameday is freaking awesome now! They totally retooled it and it looks really, really fantastic. Almost makes not having the games on TV okay.

Not. I'd much rather see Youkilis hit a HR than read about it on Gameday, but I have to say how great it is now. I love it.

So Boston got out of their funk and gave Kansas City hell tonight. Beckett worked 5 innings and only gave up one run, and the bullpen (Lopez, Snyder, Romero, Pineiro) was pretty snappy too. They didn't give up a single run, if you can believe that.

As I mentioned, Youkilis contributed a HR to the winning effort; that along with offensive production by Drew, Lowell, Varitek, and Lugo sealed the deal for Boston. Glad to report a win tonight, I'm feeling a lot better about this season than I was a couple days ago!

See y'all tomorrow night, when we finish up the KC series with a pitching performance by Matsuzaka. Ooh, I can't wait!

Here's a pic of HR Youk - but an older one, without the crazy hair thing:

The First Game of the 2007 Season

...started off great with a David Ortiz RBI double. As usual, Ortiz didn't need any time to get going.

Schilling, on the other hand....whoa. Did not bring his A-game. Maybe his D-game, and that's being nice. By the time he was done, it was 5-1, not in our favor, and I was depressed. Javier Lopez impressed me more. That poor Okajima: his very first Major League pitch, and it goes out of the park. Just nerves, I hope. And Pineiro wasn't too good either, which brings us back to really bad pitching as our major problem.

There were highlights: a sweet double play courtesy of Lopez that went Lugo-Pedroia-Youkilis; an almost comeback in the 8th (even though it ended with a Papi K); I got a good laugh at Youkilis' beard thing; and oh yeah, baseball is back on!

So it wasn't the best start I could have imagined, but I have to be happy, because even bad baseball is better than no baseball...right?

A Fresh Start

Well, it's that time again. Baseball is officially starting tomorrow. And at just about 4:10 pm, the first pitch will be thrown in a match-up between the Red Sox and Kansas City...and we will finally have real baseball again.

Of course, 4 pm is not a good time to start a game since I will be at work then. Luckily, ESPN will be showing that game (one of many games actually) and I can record it and pick it up when I get home.

My hopes for this year are simple:

1. A non-destructive bullpen. I want to see pitchers come out confident and believing that they will get their outs with no chance of screwing up. The late-inning disasters can't happen anymore.

2. No injuries! Last year we all saw how absolutely critical it is to have a very healthy team - so please, no crazy base-stealing or leaping over people or anything like that. It's better to not make the play and be okay than injure yourself and be out for 3 months.

3. Can Toronto stop being good? Finishing in third place again is not acceptable!