Beckett first seven game winner in MLB

 

With a 9-2 win over the Blue Jays last night Josh Beckett improved to 7-0 becoming the first seven game winner in the majors. Beckett went seven innings giving up only five hits and one run, a first pitch lead off HR to Alex Rios. The middle of the order struggled again accounting for none of the Sox nine runs. Youkilis, Pedroia, Lowell and V-Tek all had home runs off of Toronto starter Victor Zambrano.

Josh Beckett is locked in right now. This is the pitcher the Sox thought they were getting last year when they traded with the Marlins to get him. He is the ace of the staff, no matter what Curt Schilling says at this point. With Dice still have some control problems Beckett’s improvement is that much more welcome.  Jon Lester will be back in the not to distant future as well.  I still believe we have the best starting five in the AL East and maybe all the majors.  Not only are the starters solid but our bullpen is solid and maybe the best in the league to this point.

Sox news and notes 5/3

Hideki Okijima was named the AL Rookie of the Month for April.  Okajima allowed only five hits in 12 appearances during the month and finished with a 0.61 era, one save and 19 k’s.  Okijima throws a sneaky fastball, a curveball and a changeup that has surprised some of Boston’s coaches.  Along with the other Sox signing from across the Pacific, Dice – K,  the Sox staff is one of the best in the majors this year.

Some what of a coincedence that while in town the Sox had talks with the A’s over starter Rich Harden who is currently on the DL. The A’s reportedly asked about Wily Mo Pena and pitching prospect Clay Bucholz. The Sox have been hesitant to trade away pitching prospects and with the injury to Mike Piazza in last nights game the A’s certainly need a hitter to replace him. Letting Pena go for another starter may not be a bad move, the only concern being Hardens health.

Julian Tavarez says the Sox don’t need Roger Clemens. “I don’t think we need him.” “I don’t think we need him. We don’t need him,” insisted Tavarez. “We’ve got some young guys down there who can do it, too. We’ve got Kason Gabbard, Jon Lester, a guy who is 22 years old who can bring it. This guy is going to be a Sandy Koufax some day.” I didn’t realize Tavarez was now GM. Clemens, if in top form, would be a welcome addition to any staff at this point.

Speaking of Julian Tavarez several teams may make a run at him soon. Tavarez would have value to several teams, particularly National League clubs looking for a middle reliever or a starter. The Mets, Cardinals, Phillies, Rockies, Marlins, and Reds would all be candidates.

Jon Lester’s start last night in Pawtucket was cut short by a cramp in his forearm. Lester allowed three hits and two earned runs, while walking three and striking out four. H threw just 63 pitches, 39 for strikes, before being removed from the game. “Obviously, I’m frustrated,” said the 23-year-old, who successfully battled lymphoma over the offseason. “It’s one of those things that happened. It happened for a reason.” Lester said he felt his arm tighten after throwing a pitch in his final inning.“It was in the third inning,” said Lester, who indicated he had never experienced a similar problem. “I threw a pitch and it tightened up. It was a freak thing. I hope it’s not a setback. Like (manager Ron Johnson) said, it’s just a cramp. In five days hopefully, I’ll make another start and we’ll go from there.”

Sox take two of three from the Yankees

In a rematch of the series from last weekend the Sox came into the Bronx and took two of three games from the Yankees to extend their lead in the AL East to 4 1/2 games and their lead over the Yankees to 6 1/2 games. For a review of each game here are the box scores: Game 1 Game 2 Game 3

It was a very good series – for Sox fans at least. Dice – K and Julio Lugo carried us in the first game, Wakefield was a hard luck loser in the second game receiving only one run of support and in the third game Papi, Manny and Alex Cora all hit home runs. Its been the same story for the Sox strong consistent starting pitching with a solid pen to finish games with good run support. The Yankees pitching woes continue, and who is complaining. The starters are ineffective and the pen even more so. Rivera did get the save n Saturday. Jeff Karstens injury didnt look that bad but breaking a leg off a line drive is brutal. On top of that Wang has a broken fingernail and may miss his next start for the Yanks.

One thing that still needs to be worked out is consistency in the heart of our order. Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell each had two hits, but the heart of the order David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and J.D. Drew — went a combined 0-for-9 in the the second game. We need them to be get it together. Manny especially. Just when you think he has turned the corner he disappears for two or three games. Alex Cora has certainly made the most of his playing time hitting .360 with two home runs. He is the best bench/platoon player we have until Wily Mo Pena can be more selective at the plate. One player that needs more recognition is Hideki Okajima, he has been stellar in relief for the Sox and has been lights out for us. He has been just as valuable as Dice – K to this point.

Lets also remember it is early in the season and a lot can and will change. The AL East is a strong division with three teams really contending, the Sox, Yankees and Toronto. We have a long way to go. Taking 5 of 6 from the Yankees is gratifying and proves this team is capable and can win the big games and series. It needs to prove it can do it series after series and the middle of the lineup needs to get it together day after day. Manny, are you listening?

Sox news and notes 4/27

Dice – K (2-2, 4.00 ERA) opens the three-game series at Yankee Stadium against left-hander Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.78 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Heading into this weekends series with the Yankees David Ortiz holds the highest career slugging percentage amoung active players at Yankee Stadium at .675.

Mike Lowell carries a 12 game hitting streak into tonights game while J.D. Drew is 1-12 and is just 4-for-22 in his last five games, dropping his average from .375 to .314.

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 vs. Yankees

What else can you say, this is the BEST rivalry in sports today no questions asked. And here we are late April and the first series of this rivalry for 2007 is upon us . The Red Sox and Yankees. The SOX, the Bronx Bombers. This is what baseball is all about. This is what Red Sox and Yankee fans live for. Fenway will be alive this weekend, filled to the brim no doubt.

Lets break the match up down and see what we can expect this weekend.

Pitching:
The edge has to go to the Sox here. Schilling, Beckett, Dice – K (taking away his two tough loses) and Wakefield have been lights out this year. Papelbon and Hideki Okajima have been dominate out of the bullpen this year. The Red Sox are second on the majors with a team ERA of 2.58. The Yankees pitching has been marginal at best. Both Carl Pavano and Mike Mussina are on the DL. Andy Pettitte and Kei Igawa have been shaky in two starts and they are throwing two rookies during the series this weekend. The Yankees are tenth in the league with a 3.67 ERA.

These are the matchup for the series:

Curt Schilling (2-1 2.84 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte (1-0 1.50 ERA)
Josh Beckett (3-0 1.50 ERA) vs. Jeff Karstens (0-0 0.00 ERA)
Dice – K (1-2 2.70 ERA) Chase Wright (1-0 5.40 ERA)

Offense:
The edge has to go to the Yankees here. The Sox have struggled at times to hit and score runs. We have three starters, Varitek, Coco, and Pedroia all hitting under .200 and one, Manny of all people, is hitting .200 and has one – one – home run. The rest of our lineup is looking good, just not great. Papi has come around of late and, J.D. Drew is hitting very well and is well rested after the weather time off and sitting a game in Toronto. Lugo has done well in the lead off spot and Youk is coming around in the two hole. The Yankees line up is stacked, I have to admit. Up and down that lineup everyone can hit. The heart of the order is scary with Damon, Jeter, Abreu, A-hole, and Giambi are all capable of big things on any given day. I do have to concede that A-hole is having a fantastic April and I am interested to see if that continues in this series.

Pitching wins games and the Sox pitching is just better than the Yankees right now. We are coming off of a strong series against Toronto where we hit pretty well and hopefully Manny will build on the day he had yesterday and start hitting more. Papi, Manny and Drew will have to carry us offensively with spot help from Lugo, Youk and Lowell. I say we take two out of three in this series.

This not just about baseball, this is about two teams whose fans generally do not like each other and whose players don’t like each other as well. The Damon defection to NY, A-Rod pulling out of coming to Boston, the biggest collapse in sports history and yes Sox vs. Yankees are all subplots that will continue to play out over this series. This is what baseball is all about folks. Enjoy it.

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.

Angels swept away on Patriots Day

Josh Beckett had another fantastic game after a first inning homer by Orlando Cabrera. Beckett improved to 3-0 for the second straight season, allowing just the one run on six hits while striking out five and walking one in his six innings. Manny Ramirez singled in two runs, while David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and Alex Cora all doubled home a run against Los Angeles starter Ervin Santana. Ortiz also hit his fourth homerun of the season in the 7-2 rout of the Angels sweeping the 3 game series.

Next up is a trip to Toronto to take on the Toronto Blue Jays who are only a half game back in the AL East from the Sox. Dice – K gets the call tonight to open the Series against Gustavo Chacin.

Patriots Day 2007 Sox vs. Angels in Series finale

 

UPDATE:

The start of today’s game has been moved back to 12:05 due to weather concerns in the Boston area.

Josh Beckett (2-0) will get the Patriots Day start for the Red Sox against Angels right-hander Ervin Santana (1-1) in Monday’s contest. Beckett has been particularly good in the early going of 2007 starting 2-0 with a 1.50 era. He was masterful in his last start, against Seattle, allowing one run in seven innings and striking out eight. In that start he threw 61 of his 84 pitches for strikes and mixed an assortment of breaking pitches, a curveball and a mid-90s fastball with ease. To say Beckett looks sharp is an understatement. He allowed exactly two hits in each of his first two starts.

If you get a chance to watch the game check out Julio Lugo who is quickly fitting into the lead off role nicely for the Sox. He is hitting .316 with the three steals, 3 RBI and has scored 8 runs.

Sox Notes:

Julian Tavarez, who was slated to start Sunday, was bumped back in the rotation again and will now start Thursday’s series finale against the Blue Jays. Dice – K will start Tuesday’s game in Toronto, while Tim Wakefield is still slated to pitch Wednesday. Gates at Fenway are going to open at 8:05 am for a scheduled 10:05 am start.

Not to get to far ahead of our selves here but take a look at the schdule and guess who is coming to town this weekend, The New York Yankees. Curt Schilling is slated to start the opener Friday night at Fenway.

Sox and MLB news

Sox News
Saturdays game against the LA Angels is going to be televised on FOX. The game starts at 3:55 pm. This should be a great series. The Angels are the arguably the best team in the AL right now and Vladimir Guerrero is in mid season form already hitting .382 with 3 HR and 10 RBI coming in the series.

The Sox may be interested in working a deal with Texas for reliever Akinori Otsuka should Eric Gagne win the closers role outright. Not holding my breath on this one as Gagne has not looked good up to this point after coming off of surgery. Florida and Cleveland are also believed to have interest. The same three teams would also have interest in recently demoted Houston closer Brad Lidge.

J.D. Drew to get regular rest. Tito has decided to give Drew a day off every 10 days regardless of schedule or Drew’s performance in hopes of keeping him fresh all year. “Again, I told J.D. a couple of days ago, ‘We’re kind of leaning toward doing this,’” Francona said. “It looks like it makes sense. We’ve got Wily Mo, who we really want to get at-bats. We have J.D., who we want to play a lot of games because he’s a good player. If you go up about every 10 games or so, depending on travel, night game, day game, I think the math works out pretty well. I think he agrees and understands it.” I am a tad skeptical at this point in the sense that Drew is our only hitter doing anything and replacing him with Wily Mo Pena is a sharp drop off.

Dice – K’s next start moved back to Tuesday against the Blue Jays in Toronto due to yesterdays rain out.

MLB News

The above mentioned Eric Gagne was officially activated from the disabled list and is available for the Rangers for tonights game in Seattle.

Braves pitcher Mike Hampton has been lost for the year again after elbow surgery on Tuesday. This is the second season Hampton will miss due to injury and or surgery. Hampton hopes to pitch in the Winter League this year to be ready for next year.

Dodgers SS Rafael Furcal tweaked his ankle in a rehab start possibly delaying his return to the Dodgers.