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 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 take series from O’s with Pena slam

The Red Sox took the series from the O’s last night with an 8th inning grand slam from Wily Mo Pena that was the game winner sending the Sox to New York for their weekend series with the Yanks on a winning note. Pena showed his promise with two hits and the four RBI, if he could just do this on a regular basis. Youkilis, Drew, Ortiz and Lowell were the other Sox hitter with a hit. With his hit Lowell extended his hit streak to twelve straight games last night. Sadly, Manny went hit less again. Adam Loewen, the O’s starter, held the Sox in check for the most part but Chris Ray out of the pen in the eigth inning let the game slip away after walking the bases loaded before surrendering the grand slam to Pena.

Josh Beckett improved to 5-0 and joined an exclusive club in Red Sox history. He joins Babe Ruth (1917) and Pedro Martinez (2000) as the only Red Sox pitchers to go 5-0 in April. Beckett was previously unaware of Ruth’s pitching ability, however, he was aware of Pedros saying “I don’t know how elite Babe Ruth was as a pitcher, but he was an elite hitter. Pedro Martinez was, maybe for seven or eight years there, the most dominant player.” Beckett went eight innings allowing two earned runs and striking out three. Paplebon came on in the ninth for his seventh save of the year.

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

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.

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.