Sox win with Manny homer News and Notes for 5/4

The Sox won the rematch with the Mariners last night with an eigth inning Manny Ramirez homerun that broke a 7-7 tie and proved to be the winning run. That was Manny’s second home run of the night. Along with Manny’s two dingers Wily Mo Pena went 4-4. CoCo was the only Sox batter without a hit last night ending a semi hot streak for him.
Dice-K struggled with his control all night lasting only five innings, giving up seven runs, all earned, walking five and fanning only one. Clearly his worst outing of the season. Seattle’s starter Horacio Ramirez didn’t fare much better lasting only four innings giving up seven earned runs and eleven hits.

News and Notes:

Manny Ramirez’s two homers last night tied him for 27th on the career list at 475 with the two Hall of Famers, Willie Stargell and Stan “The Man” Musial.

Mike Timlin 24 hours removed from his first save of the season was placed on the 15-day disabled list prior to Thursday night’s game against the Mariners with right shoulder tendinitis. In a corresponding roster move, the Sox recalled right-hander Devern Hansack from Triple-A Pawtucket.

Jon Lester confirmed it was just a cramp that took him out of his Triple-A start after just three innings on Wednesday night. This will more than likely slow his return just a bit.

Tim Wakefield will open up a six-game road trip for the Sox when he takes the ball Friday night at Minnesota. He’ll be opposed by Carlos Silva, who is 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA. First pitch is slated for 8:10 ET.

Sox split series with the A’s – Mariners return for make up game

 

Boston won last night 6-4 to earn a split against the Oakland A’s in the two game series after losing 5-4 in ten innings the night before. Josh Beckett improved to 6-0 on the year and is the first pitcher to get 6 wins this year. Also worth noting is each starter got at least one hit last night, the first time that has occured this season. Papi, Manny, V-Tek, and CoCo all went 2-4 last night. Beckett went seven innings giving up six hits, three runs and fanning seven, another strong outing for him. Hideki Okijima pitched the eigth inning and Mike Timlin came on in the ninth to get the save. Papelbon did not pitch last night after blowing the save in the ninth inning the night before wasting a solid outing by Curt Schilling.

Dice – K pitches tonight against another AL West team, the Mariners.  This is a make up game from the first series that was rained out.  Dice gets a chance at some redemption after being matched up with Felix Hernandez in his home bebut for the Sox a few weeks back.  Dice pitched well, but Hernandez was lights out.   The Mariners are starting Horacio Ramirez.

Sox news and notes 4/30

With a two-run shot in the eight inning of a 7-4 win over New York, Boston’s Manny Ramirez became only the fifth player to hit 50 career homers against the Yankees, joining Jimmie Foxx (70), Ted Williams (62), Hank Greenberg (53) and Carl Yastrzemski (52).

Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, who is Boston’s best position prospect, is off to a sizzling start at Double-A Portland. In the first 15 games of the season, Ellsbury is hitting .455 with 13 runs, 10 doubles, two triples and six stolen bases. This is good motivation for CoCo…

Jon Lester will make at least one more start for Pawtucket on Wednesday after turning in another strong rehab outing — this one at Pawtucket. Though the rehab clock expires after that outing, Terry Francona cautioned the media not to simply assume Lester will rejoin the Red Sox after that.

Terry Francona was impresed with Mike Timlins outing on Friday night. He pitched a scoreless 7th innin and threw nine if his eleven pitches for strikes. Francona said “Timlin’s a huge part of our bullpen.” “We want him to be a huge part of our bullpen. He didn’t have much of a Spring Training, and he’s coming off kind of the first time since I’ve known him, a tough second half of the year. We’re trying to get him into a little bit of a rhythm. We’ve all seen what he can do when he’s good. He threw the ball very well last night.”

Sad to hear of Josh Hancocks death. He started with the Sox and made his first MLB appearance in 2002 with them. He died in a car accident early Sunday morning.

Sox news and notes 4/26

The Red Sox sent the bat that Jason Varitek used to hit the Sox fourth consecutive home run Sunday to the Hall of Fame. ESPN also announced the 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees Sunday night was the most-viewed ESPN Sunday Night Baseball telecast ever.

Mike Timlin has yet to throw on back-to-back nights, but that’s largely a function of him still trying to get over the oblique problems that plagued him in spring training.

CoCo Crisp, who was expected to return from a strained left oblique for Wednesday’s opener of a two-game series at Camden Yards, remained sidelined. Crisp hit Tuesday, but reported some discomfort Wednesday.

Second baseman Alex Cora found himself in the lineup Wednesday because of his stellar numbers against Orioles right-hander Daniel Cabrera, against whom Cora is 9-for-16 (.563) in his career. Cora launched a solo home run in the third inning off Cabrera.

Jon Lester’s scheduled Triple-A start for Pawtucket on Wednesday was washed out by rain. Lester will return to Boston for routine medical tests Thursday, then face Buffalo in Pawtucket on Friday.

Josh Beckett (4-0, 2.55) faces Adam Loewen (2-0, 3.72) today at Camden Yards

And we are back to earth and Sox News and Notes

From the high of sweeping the Yankees to a dismal loss to the Blue Jays at home, sigh…

Julio Lugo, David Ortiz and Manny all go hit-less and Dustin Pedroia accounts for the two Red Sox runs last night. Wakefield got roughed up over 6 innings of work giving up eight hits and four runs and our bullpen looked average last night. Both Wakefield and Timlin gave up homers to the Jays. Here is the boxscore.

Manny went 0-5 last night dropping his average back down to a paltry .209, we really need him to get going and stay going. Going 0-5 against the pitchers the likes of Tomo Ohka and the rest that they threw out there is just hard to watch. I thought Manny might have begun a hot streak after Sundays game against the Yankees but obviously not. He has feasted on Toronto pitching during his career with 52 homers, the most the Blue Jays has allowed to any opposing player in its history. He also has 129 RBIs against Toronto, just two behind Harold Baines for the most against the Jays.

Sox Notes
After a relatively good series against the Yankees CoCo Crisp sat out last nights game against the Jays with a minor oblique injury

Julian Tavarez will face Jays ace Roy Halladay in a rematch of last Thursday’s encounter in Toronto on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET. Tavarez took a no-decision in that one, but the Red Sox rallied back from a 3-1 deficit to win after Halladay’s left the game.

There is a lot of banter on sports radio and in the media about the Sox going after A-Rod this offeseason if he indeed opts out of his contract. We would be foolish not too. Our only significant free agent at the end of the year is Curt Schilling. Don’t you think Theo is thinking about really getting rid of Manny yet again for a player that is two years younger and produces more than Manny? Also don’t forget that Lowell is going to start declining as well. A-Rod would fill two holes for the Sox. The big question around A-Rod is can he produce in the playoffs? To this point the answer is no, but he is having an MVP season yet again and is a threat in any line up. Not only that but taking him away from the Yankees sure would be gratifying.

Matt Clement is still in Florida for extended spring training.  He had his labrum and rotator cuff operated on last September and the Sox are taking a slow gradual approach with him.

A clean sweep and an incredible final game

THE BEST RIVALRY IN SPORTS PERIOD!!!

And this series proved it without a doubt. If you dont think so you didnt watch the three games I watched this weekend.

The Sox came back in each of the games to win and swept the Yankees at Fenway for the first time in 17 years. After the five game sweep at the hands of the Yankees last year in Fenway this is a bit of redemption. This series had it all, come backs, key hits, good pitching, bad pitching and most of all home runs and more home runs.

I dont want to review each game, however, here are the box scores from each game: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

The series came down to pitching and the Red Sox pitching was just plain better. Schilling, Beckett and Dice – K all took their lumps but came out with a win against a great Yankees line up. The Yankees pitching was mediocre to say the least. Pettitte had the best outing of the three starters for the Yankees. Where our pitching really shined was in the bullpen. Our pen was lights out and the Yankees just seemed to fall apart, especially Mariano Rivera who came apart in Game 1 for Yankees. We have owned him lately and that continued in this series. Torre even used Pettitte again in a relief role last night. Paplebon and Okijima are a dangerous duo to deal with along with Timlin and Donnelly out of our pen.

The Sox offense really came alive in the series, especially the bottom third of the order. Varitek and CoCo Crisp all had key hits and scored runs for us. But the one big piece that was missing seemed that came alive was Manny and finished the night with three hits and got his average above .200 for the season. Manny, Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek all homered in consecutive at bats for the Sox off of Yanks starter Chase Wright in the bottom of the fourth inning.  This is he fifth time in MLB history this has occurred.  Of note here is that J.D. Drew was one of the hitters on the Dodgers team that accomplished this last year, just not off the same pitcher.  The rest of the heart of the order also came up big, Big , Youkilis, and Alex Cora all had key hits for us and J.D. Drew continues to hit well.

Our pitching and hitting won the games but the Sox showed lot of heart and some grit in this series. Usually when faced with a deficit to the Yankees we seem to fold and die. Not this time, we came back in each of the games and showed some mettle that had not been seen in quiet some time – the 2004 ALCS to be exact. This is a good building block to the rest of the season for the Sox. There is definitely a buzz around this team this year.

We are now four games up on the Yankees with a big series coming against the Toronto Blue Jays starting tonight and an even bigger series at Yankee stadium this weekend. But take a look who is in second place in the division, the Baltimore Orioles who are only a game back of us. As fantastic as this series was there is still a lot of season left and the AL East could shape up to be one of the most contested division in baseball. We all know the Yankees pitching will come back at some point. I still believe that it will come down to the Sox and Yankees dueling it out for the division with the loser getting the wild card.

Sox win series final in Toronto – Manny comes to life

 

Manny Ramirez showed himself today with a two run home run in the eight and the Sox scored two more runs in the ninth to win the finale in Toronto 5-3. CoCo Crisp also appeared with two hits, scored a run and had an RBI. Varitek struggled again going 0-4 leaving Julian Tavarez went 5.1 innings, giving up 6 hits, three runs and surrendered no walks. The Red Sox spoiled a good game by Toronto’s Roy Halliday who went 7 innings and only gave up two runs.  Jonathan Papelbon walked Greg Zaun to start the bottom of the ninth then retired the side.  This was a nice come back win for the Sox.  They travel home to start a weekend series against the Yankees.

Where is Manny Ramirez?

We are three weeks into the season and Manny Ramirez is a no show. Hard to believe that one of the most prolific hitters in recent memory has had such a horrible start to the season – again. This is the third season he has started slow, he didn’t have his first homerun last year until 16 games in and he is on track for that this year as well. Check the numbers .191 avg, 9 hits in 47 at bats, 4 runs scored, 6 RBI’s, 7 walks and 8 strike outs and ten total bases. This is not Manny being Manny. He has struggled so severely at the plate this season one has to wonder what is going on.

Tito does’nt seem worried though, “I don’t think he looks bad”, and continued with “He got into a period last year where it was early and he couldn’t stay back. He’s tracking balls, he’s taking some swings where he’s lining out. I actually think he looks pretty good. He hit that ball to center field last night. That’s just a hang with ‘em. It’s a lineout that he just scorched. Remember the night in Texas he hit three balls hard [for outs]? It’s unfortunate. But he looks OK.” Ok is not what Manny is capable of. Ok is what we expect from lesser players in the league.

We need Manny to start hitting and quickly. The bottom of the lineup has been hard pressed to make a difference so far this year. CoCo, Varitek and Pedroia (a goose egg in RBI’s and HR) are all struggling mightily. Lowell has been good on some occasions and has hit safely in six consecutive games. But the heart of the order, Ortiz, Ramirez and Drew is where our offense generates most of our runs and right now a huge piece of that missing.

Maybe it was the BBQ that did’nt sell, maybe it was the missed opportunity to attend a car auction, maybe its the cold weather, maybe the dreads are getting to long, maybe its the red he added.  I don’t know what it is but Manny needs to get it straightened out and quick.

Dice – K takes a tough loss

Dice – K took a tough loss last night after walking in the winning run in the fourth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays, a critical mistake.  Dice went six innings and allowed three hits and two runs while striking out 10. Three of his walks — and both Toronto runs — were in the long fourth inning, and that was enough to undo him and put him on the losing side of a close game for the second straight time.

Gustavo Chacin baffeled the Red Sox offense and improved to 6-0 lifetime in eight starts against the Red Sox. He allowed six hits and one run. CoCo Crisp and Wily Mo Pena each had two hits for the Sox, with Pena accounting for the Sox lone run with a home run in the 3rd inning. Lugo, Ortiz, Youkilis and Pedroia all went hitless for the Sox. Here is the complete box score.

Sox Notes: 
Dice – K became the first pitcher since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 to register 10 or more strikeouts in two of his first three Major League starts.

CoCo Crisp was put into the second spot in the batting order last night and as mentioned about came through with two hits. I have been tough on CoCo so far this year, hopefully this is the start of a turnaround for him.

Jon Lester continues to progress in Class A Greenville. Lester threw 75 pitches against teammates on Monday. He has one more start at Greenville and the Red Sox will re-evaluate him afterwards. Look for him to have starts at both AA Portland and AAA Pawtucket before joing the Sox.

J.D. Drew had another day off yesterday to keep Drews legs off of artificial turf for three days and allow Wily Mo Pena a chance to get some game time in.

Tim Wakefield will make the next start for the Sox against former teamate Tomo Ohka. Wakefield (1-1 .38 ERA) is looking for his third solid start of the season. Tonights game starts at 7:07.

Boston takes first game in series 10 -1

With a six run 8th inning Boston ran away with the first game in the series with the Angels winning 10-1. Doug Mirabelli, David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew each had a multi RBI game. Manny struggled at the plate with no hits and three walks. Tim Wakefield went seven innings allowing only five hits and striking out three. Papelbon had an impressive strike out of Vladimir Guerrero striking him out with a 97 mph heater. Check the entire box score.

Nice to see the bats come alive to start the series. 10 runs and 14 hits is impressive considering our recent woes at the plate. Julio Lugo had three hits while CoCo went hitless again, wonder how long Tito is going to stick with him.