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.

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.

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.

Sox roll with 3 home runs, face Halladay in series finale

Tomo Ohka gave up only four hits for the Toronto Blue Jays but three of them were home runs to Papi, Mike Lowell and Doug Mirabelli. Mirabelli accounted for two of the four Sox runs for the night. Tim Wakefield pitched 7 innings, giving up four hits, three walks and striking out four. This was a nice rebound offensively for the Sox who managed just one run the night before. Check the entire box score.

In the series finale Julian Tavarez (0-1 9.00 ERA), having not been on the mound for eleven days faces Roy Halladay (2-0 2.35 ERA), one of the best pitchers in the game at 12:37 EST.  Tavarez was effective at then end of last year for the Sox posting a 3-0 record and a 4.01 ERA,  Historically he has been more effective as a reliever with a 3.99 ERA vs a 5.07 ERA as a starter.

Sox Notes:

Remember this name, Devern Hansack.  If Tavarez falters in the fifth spot look for the Sox to call him up from Triple AAA Pawtucket, and with good reason.  He is 2-0 and sports a 0.84 ERA and has 20 k’s, leading the International League as of yesterday, going into todays start against the Rochester Red Wings.  Hansack has four solid pitches in his repertoire, a 90 mph plus fastball, curve, change and a nasty slider.  Hansack is from Nicaragua and spent the last two years as a lobsterman and pitched for the Nicaraguan national team.  He was dropped by the Astros in 2003.

Hideki Okajima is shining in the bullpen for the Sox. Since a giving up a home run to Joe Buck, the first MLB hitter he faced. Okajima has not been scored upon in his last five appearances. He is sporting a tidy 1.35 ERA and struck out the side in Wednesday game in Toronto.

Overall the Sox pitching has been outstanding. As of Wednesday Sox pitchers had allowed three runs or fewer in seven consecutive games. This is the first time a Boston pitching staff had done that over seven games since May 11-19, 1994. The Sox also entered the night second in the American League with a 2.68 ERA.

Updating yesterdays news Jon Lester is going to pitch one more time in Class A Greenville, throw a session at Fenway then meet with the Sox braintrust and will more than likely pitch his next game at Triple A Pawtucket next week. This gets Lester closer to the Sox sooner than anyone expected.

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.