Redsox lose in Disappointment

The Redsox dropped game 2 last night in the worst possible way. The Redsox walked in the winning run to lose game 2 in Detroit. Even more than that, the Rays, Yankees, and Bluejays still won, to move Boston back another game.

Lester did well, going 7 full innings allowing 4 earned runs on 4 hits and striking out 10. Manny Delcarmen received the loss last night in the game, due to him owning Magglio Ordonez who walked home on the 3-0 pitch from Ramon Rameriez. Ramon walked home the winning run on a 4-0 count.

I am not quite sure who to blame, weather its the offense for not producing against the pitching staff of the Tigers, or the Bullpen for not holding onto the tie. The offense had more than enough chances to gain runs, I.E. had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, when there was a pop out, and JD Drew grounded into a double play to end the inning.

David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre were the only sox players with multiple hits. Ortiz who went 3 for 6 with 2 RBI's and a run scored, and Beltre went 2 for 5 with a run scored. Redsox had a total of 9 hits in 12 innings of play.

Boston will play an afternoon game tomorrow in Detroit before flying to the Bronx. Boston will have John Lackey(4-1) against Armando Galaragga(0-0). Galaragga had just been called up from AAA after Detroit put Scott Sizemore and Max Scherzer to AAA.

Redsox take game 1 in Motown

With Boston struggling through the first couple weeks of baseball, it is noted Boston needs to pick up the pace. Boston had young right hander Clay Buchholz on the mound lastnight and did exceptionally well against the powerful offense of Detroit who has put up great run totals so far this season.

Buchholz pitched 6-1/3 innings allowing only 3 hits and 1 earned run. This out was another great one for Buchholz who has had successful consecutive outings. His ERA has dropped to a 3.46 one of the lowest in the starting rotation. Bostons bullpen has been on game the past couple of times, Daniel Bard, and Okajima pitched 2-2/3 innings, while only allowing 2 combined hits and 3 strikeouts and no earned runs.

David Ortiz once again battled to keep his spot on the roster, and perhaps on the team for the remander of the season. Ortiz hit a multi homerun game again making that 6 on the year. Victor Martinez has been slumping in the 3 hole, and it may be time for Francona to think about moving him down in the order.

Boston will play game 2 tonight with Jon Lester(3-2) against Dontrelle Willis(1-1). Boston should play well against the Tigers, Dontrelle is now what he use to be like he was in Florida.

Day Off Comments

The Redsox will take a 3 game series to visit Motown this weekend. Boston who is still 6.5 games out of first place will need to win, once again another series against a strong offensive opponent.

The matchups are as follows:
Game1: Clay Buchholz(3-3) vs. Max Scherzer(1-3)
Game2: Jon Lester(3-2) vs. Dontrelle Willis(1-1)
Game3: John Lackey(4-1) vs. TBD

As far as I can see matchups look very favorable to lean towards Boston, however, you never know in this game. Boston will face the Yankees after the Detroit series, this is a must win situation.

New York will take on the Minnesota Twins for a 3 game series and Tampa Bay will host the west coast Seattle Mariners for series. Toronto can be scary at times with their performance on the field, however, I do not think they will be competition in the long run of the season. With only 4.5 games separating 2nd place New York from 4th place Boston.

There has been a lot of talk going on about the free agents coming up for Boston. Two names that have been very frequent are Victor Martinez and Jason Varitek. I would not mind moving Martinez as long as we get a production player who is younger in return. We have signed older players this past offseason and I hope experience plays a part in this division, as it is by far probably the toughest.

July tradeline could pay off huge for Boston. I have read some things about Albert Puljos having interest in the Yankees, of course who does not. If the Yankees some how manage to pull him, or Prince Feilder or Adrian Gonzalez, there must be a bid for a Salary cap. Boston has to purchase players for huge contracts because that's what they have to do to compete in the division.

Redsox main concentration is bullpen for a shot at the playoffs, with the health of Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury berrying any set backs. Cameron should return this week, and Ellsbury hopefully within the next 2 weeks.

Tough One

This afternoon was quite a ballgame. A quiet one, and a slow but steady pace game as well. Tim Wakefeild took the mound after being sent to be done of bullpen duties, due to Josh Beckett having back spasms and will probably miss his next start.

Starting Wakefeild was a smart move by Francona and a very easy one. Beckett will miss his next start, and it seems as if nothing has happened to the rotation in Boston.

Redsox lose a tough one 3-2 after trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the 9th inning, with the home plate umpire have a strike zone as big as a bat. The strike zone carried all the way into the right handers batting box on JD Drew and David Ortiz. Bad strike zones happen, but ones where you can literally see the catcher framing it, is uncalled for.

Redsox player of the game goes to David Ortiz for his 2 hits in the game, the only Redsox player to do so. The Redsox only allowed 6 hits, although, that's all they earned in their efforts as well. The redsox did win the series which was a plus, however, the Yankees did split there double header against Detroit and the Rays walked home again with another win as they continue to dominate.

The Redsox have Thursday off and will head to Detroit for a series in Motown. After the conclusion in Motown it gets no easier, as the sox head into the Bronx to face once again the hated Yankees.

Dice Dominates

Dice-K took the mound for the game 2 series against the Jays at Fenway. Dice-K was very good against the tough offensive team. The Jays were 4 games above .500 before the game putting them 3 games up on the Redsox.

Boston took an early lead in the bottom of the 1st inning with Scutaro and Pedroia earning the runs and JD Drew and Kevin Youkilis earning the RBI's. Redsox earned another run with the Captain, Jason Varitek connecting for his 6th home run of the season.

Dice-K took Boston's offense into the bottom of the 5th with only allowing the Jays with 1 hit through 5 innings of work and striking out 7. Dice-K and the offense were still looking great through 5-1/2 leading 6 to 1. Dice did give up a leadoff double to John Buck, then Fred Lewis earned the RBI with a double of his own.

Matsuzaka finished the game going 7 innings, giving up just 1 earned run on 3 hits, while striking out 9. This win gives Matsuzaka a record of 2-1. Each outing this season has been much improved after his first horrendous outing.

Lots of odd ball names in the lineup tonight as Jason Varitek replaced Victor Martinez, Mike Lowell took over as DH and Bill Hall filled in for Jeremy Hermida. those 3 players combined going 2 for 10 all hits with Jason Varitek.

Ramon Ramirez came into pitch the 8th innning, Ramirez who has an ERA over 5 this season pitched a 1 hit 8th, while walking 1. Ramierez has been one of the bullpen personal who has struggled to say the least this season. Okajima came into the 9th inning to pitch with Boston still on top 6-1 and pitched a perfect 9th inning to give Boston the win.

Tomorrows Boston game is an afternoon game with Tim Wakefeild(0-1) taking on Shaun Marcum(1-0). Boston has already won the series, however, tomorrow with a win can be another sweep against the Bluejays.

Redsox Hold Strong

The Boston Redsox held off the hard charging Toronto Bluejays for a 4th straight win against the division rival. Boston won 7-6 in old fashion, while holding Toronto off. John Lackey earned the win in lastnights game as Brandon Morrow took the loss.

Both teams earned 8 hits together. Scoring for both teams were completed in the 4th inning alone, where they scored a combined 8 runs. The redsox top 3 batters did most of the work lastnight, which should be done anyways. The top 3 in order, Scutaro, Pedroia and Martinez went 4 for 12, 4 runs and 5 RBI's.

Bostons bullpen came in to work the 7th through 9th innnings of work with Okajima, Daniel Bard both pitching scoreless innings in innings 7 and 8 and Jonathan Papelbon earned the save with a hit less 9th. Bostons bullpen worked together and it looked like a great time to earn a win if you were in a Boston uniform. I would not have had a lot of confidence, however, last night showed me how much work the pen has given

Tonight Boston will pitch Daiskue Matsuzaka(1-1) against Dana Eveland(3-1). Matsuzaka had a decent outing last time out giving up 4 runs in the 1st and none after that. Tonight will hold another test for him and the redsox as well.

Wow that was close

The Redsox avoided being swept yet again at Fenway Park last night with a final 3rd game win against the hated Yankees. The bats came out of the closet against AJ Burnett who to say the least hates to pitch in Fenway with the Yankees, shows his numbers.

Boston jumped on Burnett early which was all they needed as young lefty Jon Lester continued to stay hot yet again. Lester completed 7 full innings allowing only 2 runs, which were solo home runs, 4 hits and struck out 7 Yankees. I have always believed Lester was Bostons number 1 starter, and it showed tonight.

The offense combined for 10 hits on 9 runs. JD Drew and Adrian Beltre continued there hot beat with the bat, as they both had 2 hits, along with a combined 3 RBI's.
Adrian Beltre will be Boston's player of the game tonight. Beltre is carrying the offense with a .333avg, not huge power numbers but in order to score, you need players on base, which is what Beltre gives Boston.

Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury are due back from the DL very soon, Cameron sooner than Ellsbury though. Jonathan Van Every will likely be sent back down to AAA Pawtucket. Darnell MCDonald is where Boston needs to make a wise decision. McDonald is out of options, and his hitting decently from his call up from Pawtucket. Bill Hall would be available for AAA but he is capable of being in multiple positions in the outfield and infield.

The good things about Sunday night:Redsox won, Yankees, Orioles and Rays lost. Granderson, Johnson, Pettite all hurt. Rays were a no hit ball club.

The Tampa Rays still lead MLB in record of 22-9, however, they are being caught by the Twins and Yankees in the AL. Boston is still 6 games back of the Rays and in 4th place, 3.5 games serperate the sox and the jays. The next 3 games against Toronto are very important. You cannot say must win, cause you never know, however, they need to win.

The Redsox will invite Toronto to Fenway for another 3 game series. The last visit took place in Canada and it was not pretty for the Canadiens. The redsox will have John Lackey(3-1) take game 1 against Torontos Brandon Morrow(2-2).

Extra Well Done

This performance was very sickening to the stomach. Boston needs to regroup and come together to play baseball tomorrow night. What is very worse than them losing these past two games, is tomorrows night game will be televised nationally. I will take a hard loss any day, however when you lose embarrassingly it is putrid.

The pitching is what is has been all year, disgusting. Buchholz when 5 innings giving up 5 runs on 9 hits. Scott Schoeneweis who I cannot wait till we cut, gave up 4 runs once again in 1-2/3 innings. I have yet to get an answer to why Terry Francona still plays Schoeneweis who has been horrible this entire year, 10-2/3 innings pitched, has an era of 6.75. Sure Francona, that's the guy I want on the mound.

The lineup is not producing, the pitching is not hitting there marks like professionals should. One month or not, this is not redsox baseball. Over half the league is better than the redsox right now, and we cannot wait till July to make moves we have to act fast.

Schoenweis needs to be cut, Dice-K to the pen, Micheal Bowden from the minors will be called up. Should have not signed Mike Cameron, nor Marco Scutaro. As a club you would like to get younger, however, the sox are not doing that. Everyone is talking about Boston will probably acquire Prince Feilder or Adrian Gonzalez, therefore, act like you want them in Boston. If you keep playing like the way you do, this team will be 4th or last in the division and maybe thats what they need.

The Boston Redsox need a rude awakening, and if getting swept by Baltimore was not enough, I guess an ass whooping by the Yankees is what they need. I hope they perform much better than what they have been. I understand they just swept the Halos in 4 games, then turn around and get embarrassed.

Jon Lester(2-2) will face AJ Burnett(4-0) tonight on ESPN. Lester will have to buckle down if he expects to last more than 5 innings. The last coupld of outings for Burnett have been outstanding, and if Boston expects anything less, they better recover quickly. The road does not getting any bigger, as after tonights game, Toronto comes into town for another 3 game series. Boston Redsox get your game face on, or eat dirt.

Boston drops game 1

The Boston Redsox have failed to gain a win against the Yankees tonight in game one of the series at Fenway. Boston started off the first two innings great with Josh Beckett striking out the 5 of 6 batters. Beckett did not have a successful outing once again.

Beckett was tagged for 9 earned runs in only 5-1/3 innings on Friday night, while striking out 8 batters. Beckett did get a hot start, but automatically cooled off, after a Nick Swisher 3-run home run to give the Yankees the lead. Boston never really got the offense going, they were just trying to play catch up ball.

Boston did manage to tag 9 hits off the Yankees, JD Drew and Victor Martinez continued there bats with 2 hits in the game. Martinez did not start the game, but came into pinch hit for Jason Varitek and got another at bat getting 2 singles in just as many at bats.

JD Drew will be bostons player of the game, though not much of a game. He was 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. Drew and Beltre have been Bostons most consistent hitters in the past 10 days.

Young right hander Phil Hughes moves to a nice record of 4-0 while Beckett drops another game. Clay Buchholz(3-2) will take the mound in tomorrows afternoon game against the power pitcher CC Sabathia(4-1).

Bats come alive

Boston managed to take a 4 game series from the Angels. After getting swept in Baltimore over the weekend, Boston need to at least take 3 out of 4, and they topped that going for a 4 game sweep.

Redsox scored in just 3 innings, however, they came to score 11 runs on 11 hits. Matsuzaka took the mound for Boston, and after his last outing I was weary of another. Matsuzaka had given up 4 runs in the first inning alone. Dice-K went 5 1/3 innings, allowing 5 earned runs, on 5 hits, while striking out 3 and allowing the same in walks. Dice-K did walk away with the win.

The bullpen was good tonight, the only miss-hap coming with Manny Delcarmen relieving Dice-K and allowing a run. Oakjima and Ramon Ramirez, also came into the game to pitch. Bullpen gave up 4 hits on 1 earned run in 4-2/3 innings of work. There is much to say to that performance.

Once again, another Angels pitcher does not survive, as Scott Kazmir was knocked silly at Fenway Park. Kazmir who was a rival with the Rays, who use to be automatic, is slowing down and becoming quiet the "normal" pitcher. Kazmir was tagged for 7 earned runs on 6 hits.

Player of the game will go to Victor Martinez, who finally got out of a bad slump since opening day. Martinez hit his 2nd home run of the season off Kazmir, while driving in 4 runs in the game.

Boston will play the hated Yankees starting this weekend. Josh Beckett(1-0) will take the mound in game 1 against the young right hander Phil Hughes(3-0). Hughes who comes to Boston carrying a 1.44 era, will hopefully leave Boston with a higher era.

The very first meeting with these 2 teams took place back in April 26th, 1901. Since that year, they have had 2,067 meetings with each other, and New York leads with a record of 1,119-934-14(.545). Boston has to win this series, and I will stress that tremendously. As I have mentioned before, Boston always seems to win, just as the other AL East division teams. Tonight, Tampa and Toronto both won, however, Redsox did gain a half game on the Yankees as they had an off day.

Perfect set up Win

Boston continued to glorify once again with a victory over the Halos 3-1. John Lackey faced his former team in the match up at Fenway Park last night. Lackey completed 7 strong innings, only giving up 1 run to a Brandon Wood home run. Lackey also only gave up 2 hits, while striking out 4.

Looks to me as if signing Lackey was a plus for Boston, perhaps he or maybe he and Beltre was there only successful signings. Daniel Bard came in to receive the hold, and striking out all 3 batters, and then Jonathan Papelbon came in to close the door on another victory.

Boston out hit the Angels 11 to 2. In 3 games Boston has out hit the Angels 42 to 19. Adrian Beltre has really seen the ball well and continues to smash the baseball. Kevin Youkilis was the disappointment of the night has he went 1 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. David Ortiz came in to tonight with a single and a home run.

Boston will have to depend on the struggling Daisuke Matsuzaka(0-1) to earn a 4 game series sweep to beat the Angels and face the lefty Scott Kazmir(2-1).

As the Redsox continue there win streak, so does every other team besides Baltimore in the AL East division. Redsox cannot seem to catch a break with a victory. No ground lost and no ground gained, guess it could be considered a non decision.

Yankees have found some trouble with starting pitcher Andy Pettite reportedly having left elbow issues, and OF Curtis Granderson was sent to the DL with a hamstring issue. No problems to conclude in Toronto or Tampa, however, Baltimore is having issues with their offense per MacPhail. He stated if the offense does not pick up anytime soon, players will be sent to Norfolk(AAA), with no questions asked. MacPahil also stated that if players do not live to the potential, they will not be traded just demoted. Alan Emree has elected to become a FA and leave Boston. Embree was sent back down to make room for Dice-K.

Boston now 6.5 games behind MLB leading Tampa, will finish there 4 game series against the Halos and will then see 2nd place team New York Yankees at a 3 game series at Fenway Park. Boston will have Buchholz, Beckett and Lester for the series with the Yankees.

Lester has it

Great pitching will lead to wins. Pitching is what the Redsox had Tuesday night to win once again beating the Halos 5-1. Jon Lester was on the mound, and he went 8 innings giving up 1ER, 5 hits, and striking out 5. Papelbon came in to finish off the 9th to give the sox another win.

Someone has needed to step up and Lester has. His last 3 outings he has went 20.2 innings, striking out 23 and giving up only 1 ER. That are stats you would like out of your starting pitching. I realize this cannot happen every night, however decent outings would help, and the offense needs to pick it up some when the pitching is down.

Redsox backups came out once again with Jeremy Hermida coming up big with a bases clearing double last night while going 2 for 4. The only sox player to look embarrassing at the plate was once again David Ortiz who went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and grounded into 2 Double Plays.

Ellsbury is due back very soon, which will give Mcdonald or Hermida the hook back to a backup once again, however, I think Francona may give Hermida or Lowell a look at the DH spot. With the Rays and Yankees winning every series, every game counts. The sox are still 5.5 games out, with 2 more games agains the Halos and then the Yankees come to town.

Scutaro will probably be demoted to the bottom of the lineup when Ellsbury returns next week, however, Scutaro is hitting the ball consistently in the leadoff spot. Ellsburys' retrun will give the sox the spark they need once again to run the bases wild. With behind the plate issues behind us, due to Victor throwing out people on a regular basis now;we have a fighting chance of not seeing teams getting 9 SB against us.

Sox play the Angels tomorrow with John Lackey(2-1) vs Joel Pinero(2-3). Pinero has been horrible as of late, and I can only hope the Redsox keep it that way.

Offense, Offense, Offense

Boston came out tonight with the bats off their shoulders and towards the ball. With young right hander Clay Buchholz on the mound, he needed confidence in the offense to give him a win.

Ever notice how commentators will speak of a batter at the plate and talk negative about him, and then all of a sudden that particular batter hits a bases clearing double or a home run? That is exactly what happened tonight. They talked about how Terry Francona has yet to see Adrian Beltre hit a home run in a game or spring training, well guess what, he belted a home run tonight at that exact moment. Boston came out swinging with Youkilis getting a run on the board with a solo shot first. Youkilis was followed by Bill Hall, Adrian Beltre, and Dustin Pedroia all hitting home runs tonight.

Boston capped off 17 runs in the game, the most runs all year, while collecting 20 hits. Boston was led by 6 doubles, 4 home runs and 10 singles. Much small ball being played once again. Mike Lowell came up big going 4 for 4 and JD Drew went 4 for 5. Lowell has been hitting the ball exceptionally well as of late, he and Jason Varitek.

I can never get through a post without complaining about the bullpen. Scott Schoeneweis came in for the top of the 9th inning with a 17-4 lead. 3 outs and we go home no biggy; yea right! He gives up 4 runs, 4 hits, and walks 2 before Boston gets the win. I am beginning to think it is just Schoeneweis after all. I can only hope he gets the boot and we can call up Micheal Bowden or Casey Kelly to get some reps in.

Boston has a 4 game series against the Angels this week followed by the Yankees coming into town. Tomorrows matchup will be Ervin Santana(1-2) against Jon Lester(1-2). Lester needs another great outing like his previous 2. Last outing Lester came away with 11 strikeouts.

Ellsbury can be back in about 10 days or so, and Mike Cameron looks to be back in about another 15-20 days. Francona needs to see what will happen with Lowell and Varitek swinging the bat quiet well as of late and Ortiz no so hot, although he did have a decent series against Baltimore.

Boston did gain a 1/2 game on the division leading Tampa Rays, however, Yankees and Toronto both won their games. Boston 5.5 out of first, needs for Baltimore to at least take 1 game from the Yankees and then win the series agains the Yankees when they come to Beantown.

Sucking in Baltimore

Jost Beckett took the mound in the afternoon game today in Baltimore. Becketts keys to success is to maintain his fastball and use that nice 12:6 curve ball to strike out the batting competition.

Adrian Beltres bat needs to continue today, as he comes in hitting .345 with 10 RBIs. Beltre has a 8 game hitting streak coming into today's game, however the glove which he is known for is not as good as his bat is. Beltre took a horrible ground ball on Friday night, and the fundamentals of baseball did not play a factor in his role as he did not get in front of a ground ball that should have been a routine out; that resulted in a run that gave the O's the lead.

This afternoon was a good matchup between the pitchers. Both pitchers were solid through the first 7 innings with the game tied at 2. Varitek hit his 5th home run of the season to give the sox there first run of the game, then JD Drew followed up with his 3rd home run in this series to tie the game up.

With Youkilis out, and Martinez not starting the lineup was good an minimal. Bard came in to pitch the 8th inning, however, pitching with the bases loaded is not easy to do in any situation. Bard had 1 out and struck out Luke Scott and Nolan Reimold to get out of a jam. Papelbon came in to hold the tie into the 10th inning, but Weiters came in to hit a double to deep center and then Adam Jones came to the plate with 2 outs and Weiters on 2nd base. Papelbon got Jones to ground out to head to extra innings.

Papelbon and the bullpen blows it once again. Markakis who was walked in the 10th, advanced on a throwing error by Papelbon and Ty Wiggington hit a game winning RBI double to sweep the Boston Redsox, who dont deserve nothing. Boston just deserves to head to AAA and play the teams there. The Redsox just lost 3 in a row to the worst team in MLB.

Boston loses 2 to Baltimore

Ugly! This is my word to describe Friday and Saturday nights games at Baltimore against the MLBs worst team. Boston had Lackey on the mound Friday night, and I must say Lackey was decent. Lackey did pitch about 130 pitches in 7 innings about 15 more pitches than I would have like to see. I was talking to another Boston fan and he said he thought Francona over-managed the game.

Francona did leave Lackey in too long I thought, but the bullpen has been horrible. Is what you have on the mound better than what is in the bullpen?;maybe. Atchinson was sent down to AAA to bring up Alan Embree.

Needless to say, our bullpen blew it Friday night, with a game winning single to Tejada in the bottom of the 10th inning to lose 5-4. I cannot stress enough how upset I am with the moves this off season. I do not like the signings of Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, Scott Showenweiss, Scott Atchinson, and Bill Hall.

Saturday nights game brought Dice-k back to the mound for the first time this year, and I surely didn't miss him. Dick-k showed him usual self as he gave up 6 runs in his short outing. However, Wakefeild who gave up a rotation spot for Dice-k did not perform any better out of the pen. It was a slug fest last night as both teams combined for 9 home runs.

Boston lost 12-9 for its second straight lose to a horrible team. I am impressed how Boston did come back from a 7 run deficit to knock in some runs, and David Ortiz and JD Drew impressed me this weekend. Drew had 2 home runs on Friday night and Ortiz hit 2 home runs on Saturday night.

Today Bostons ace Josh Beckett(1-0) will face Kevin Millwood(0-3). Weather is calling for thunderstorms so we will see if the game starts on time, or at all for that matter. If the game is on time, it will be blogged live.