Sox knocked in the head by Angels 4-2

Last Night's Umpiring Crew: F--

There were four game changing calls in this game, one was correct, one was borderline, one was probably incorrect and one was definitely incorrect. Every one of them went against the Red Sox. The correct call was Brandon Moss bobbling a routine fly to right before making the catch, the runner had the right to go as soon as the outfielder made contact with the ball, even with a clean catch Moss had no chance of causing a play at the plate and the fourth run for the Angels scored. The borderline call was concerning Manny Ramirez's check swing. The home plate umpire called strike insisting that Manny was not able to check his swing and then refused a second opinion at Manny's request. Looking at the replay this call could have gone either way and a second opinion would have been appreciated, Manny was upset about the call and made the stupid move to argue balls and strikes with the umpire and got himself ejected from the game. With Eric Hinske on bereavement leave the replacement was a rookie from Pawtucket named Brandon Moss who obviously didn't expect to play in this game and looked to be scared shitless to be playing in the majors. The game would end on a strikeout of Moss with two men on base, I can't say things would have turned out much differently if Manny Ramirez had been at the plate, but I would have liked our chances. The "probably wrong" call refers to the foul ball that on replay seemed to land just to the left of the third base line and no chalk dust was kicked up by the impact, suggesting it did not hit the line and was a foul ball. This was called a fair ball and would turn into a double and would close out the night for Curt Schilling trailing 3-2 in the 7th with no outs and a man on second. Two sacrifices would be adequate to advance the runner against Tavarez and pad the lead making it 4-2 and close the book on Schilling. The" absolutely wrong" call came in the top of the eighth. Mike Lowell was up to bat with two men on base and no outs, a rally seemed imminent. Mike Lowell hit a foul tip and the home plate umpire ruled this to have been caught by the catcher and called a strikeout. The third base umpire would confirm this call. On replay there is no doubt that the ball hit the ground before bouncing into the catcher's mitt. The would be rally did not yield any runs. I was very upset by the quality of the umpiring in this game and think it very well could have cost the Red Sox the game.

Sox Pitching: B-
Schilling: B-
Tavarez: B-
Timlin: A-

I really thought Schilling pitched well all things considered. He looked very strong up until the fourth when he seemed to jam his index finger trying to knock down a bouncing ball from Vlad Guerrero with his bare hand. He got into some trouble that inning giving up a double to Matthews and then giving up the big hit to Kotchman to score two runs and tie the game. He resumed his earlier form after that retiring the next two batters and then cruising for the next two innings. He got into trouble again in the 7th by allowing a solo HR to start the inning and then allowing the double to Mathis that didn't look quite so much like a double as it did a foul ball. Tavarez did his best with the situation as the angels put up two consecutive sacrifices to score Mathis. He would then give up a double, intentionally walk Vlad Guerrero and struck out Anderson to end the inning. Mike Timlin followed up with a 1-2-3 eighth inning, not bad for an old man just off the DL.

Sox Batting: C-
Heroes: Kevin Youkilis (2 for 4, 1 BB, 2 RBI), JD Drew (3 for 4)
Goats: Manny Ramirez (0 for 2, Ejected in 4th), David Ortiz (0 for 4, 1 BB), Jason Varitek (0 for 4), Coco Crisp (0 for 4)

As you can see, there was plenty of dead weight in the sox lineup tonight. A 3 for 4 performance from JD Drew was wasted yielding no runs or RBI's on the night. Thanks to a walk to Pedroia from Weaver, Kevin Youkilis was able to post the only two runs of this game on a Homer. The good scoring opportunities were few and they were only able to capitalize on one. With four lineup spots going 0 for 4 on the night (Moss went 0 for 2 filling in for Manny) it's not surprising that the sox had trouble putting up runs.

Coco Crisp brakes for Moose, Moose doesn't return the favor, Sox beat Mariners 9-2

Having broken their Safeco winless streak the night prior, the sox chose to bask in the glory of having that monkey off their collective backs by beating up Seattle in the finale of their season series.

SOX PITCHING: B
Beckett: B
Hideki Okajima: Incomplete
Manny Delcarmen: A-
Kyle Snyder: C+

For the second game in a row the Red Sox starting pitcher had excellent numbers that didn't really reflect how close the pitcher came to giving up a big inning. In the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th innings Beckett ended the inning with two stranded baserunners and the 5th was his only 1-2-3 Inning. For all those baserunners Seattle was only able to convert for one run against Beckett in his 6 2/3 IP. Okajima's services were wasted on his 1/3 inning of relief, but after extending the lead to 7 runs in the top of the 8th bringing him back in for another inning of work just didn't make sense. Manny Delcarmen effectively ate an inning with a nice 1-2-3 8th. Kyle Snyder gave up Seattle's only other run, but with the 8 run lead he was working with he can be forgiven for not throwing for contact and the fielder's indifference that allowed Ichiro to steal second and later convert into a run off of Vidro's single. The way I see it, his ERA was the only thing on the line at that point.

Sox Hitting: B+
Heroes: David Ortiz (1 for 2, 3 BB, 1 RBI), Mike Lowell (2 for 4, 1 BB, 1 RBI)
Goat: Jason Varitek (0 for 4, 1 BB, 1 RBI)

It is so hard to complain about sox hitting given that the sox put up 9 runs this game, but here goes. They certainly passed up multiple chances to blow this game wide open earlier. The first and last runs of the game were assisted by Mariner errors. Despite scoring two runs in the 1st inning they still left the bases loaded. They loaded the bases again the next inning, this time with one out before Manny Ramirez hit into an inning ending double play and scoring no runs. They would score 3 runs in the 8th, but would again leave the bases loaded. Although the game was basically over at this point, they also left two baserunners on in the 9th. You get the idea. The bottom line was that they pulled it together in the later innings and managed to score more than enough runs to secure this game.

Home Run King?

A-Rod hits 500 career HR's and Barry tied Hank Aaron's HR record within hours of each other today. I really dislike A-Rod, I think he's competitive to the point where he's willing to bend the rules and throw sportsmanship out the window to win games. The "slapped ball" against the Red Sox and the yelling to throw off the Rangers 3rd basemen while fielding a fly ball immediately come to mind. That said I think it pales in comparison to the Barry Bonds situation. Breaking this record is going to put a blemish on the record books that is going to be hard to ignore. I really hope that somebody who passionately hates Barry Bonds catches the record breaking ball, takes out a permanent marker and writes "Steroids", "Cheater" or "*" on the ball. I'd like to think that when future generations see that ball in Cooperstown they understand the disgust baseball fans had for what was happening to the game. For that reason, and that reason alone, am I happy to think that A-Rod will most likely pass him some time in the future and restore some dignity to the title of "Home Run King".

Sox pull out slim victory in Seattle 4-3

The sox managed to snap their Safeco field losing streak in a shaky 4-3 victory over Seattle tonight. DiceK's stats don't really give the whole story (7 IP 2 ER 6 H 2 BB 10 K). DiceK got into trouble numerous times and was often assisted by double plays and some generous strike calls. It also didn't hurt that both of the runs he gave up came on solo home runs. In the bottom of the 3rd he managed to escape from a one out bases loaded jam completely unscathed. The very next inning he faced men at the corners with one out and was able to successfully induce the double play to get out of the inning. In the sixth inning he hit the first batter and walked the second but somehow managed to retire the next 3 batters to get out of the inning (2 by way of the K). Gagne came in to pitch the eighth inning and I had Deja Vu from Gagne's previous appearance at Fenway. Gagne entered the game with a lead, quickly retired the first two batters and then got into some trouble. Gagne gave up a single, then a double to cut the lead down to one, then ANOTHER double to put men at second and third with the red hot Betancourt coming up to bat. Fortunately for Gagne, Betancourt grounded right back to Gagne to end the inning with the sox lead intact. Paps seemed to be following Gagne's lead. He struck out both Vidro and Ichiro to start the inning and then got himself into trouble. With two outs and a one run lead he walked the next two batters as the Seattle faithful kept their fingers crossed for a bottom of the ninth rally. In incredibly anti-climactic fashion the following batter hit a pop fly into foul territory and Varitek made the game ending catch. I find it amazing that in a game where Red Sox pitching put up 13 K's they could still manage to look so shaky.

The pitching staff on a whole gets a C-: Barely adequate performances all around, got the job done, but this game looked really sloppy and was often one hit away from a loss.

The sox offense was reasonably well rounded with Coco Crisp and Dustin Pedroia being the only two in the lineup to go hitless. Youkilis, Ortiz and Lugo would all got two hits on the day. Jason Varitek's double to left would bring in Ortiz and Manny from second and first base to give the 2-1 lead in the fourth. Ortiz, Manny and Youk would also string together some hits in the 6th to add two more.

The Sox offense gets a B-: They managed to set up Daisuke with a decent lead and the bullpen was just able to hang on. They looked pretty sad in Ryan Rowland-Smith 1 2/3 IP putting up only one hit and with Rowland-Smith striking out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. He's a rookie, constantly going back and forth between the minors and the big league this season, we touched him up for two runs in his only other inning of work against up back on June 25th. That said the plate umpire didn't seem to be hitter friendly with some questionable strike calls that drew some angry responses from both sides.

Taking two out of three from the Mariners in their home ballpark to end the season series would be a nice sendoff as we may likely see them again in the playoffs.

Sox Win, Yanks Lose, Rocket gets booed in Bronx

I don't know what I like better, watching the Red Sox win or watching the Yankees lose. It seems the Rocket is finally starting to show his age. Roger fell apart in the second inning against the White Sox giving up 8 runs. Watching him get booed off the mound in Yankee Stadium was especially nice. The Yankees would answer back to score 8 of their own in the bottom of the 2nd to end the day for White sox starter Garland. Luckily, former trade bait Jermaine Dye came up big today going 4 for 5 with two home runs to get the 13-9 win.

The sox were again able to rely on the incompetence of the O's bullpen as Rob Bell came in for the 7th inning and gave the sox the four runs necessary to win the game. Tim Wakefield made a quality start (7 IP 3 ER 6 H 1 BB) before passing the 8th and 9th to Okajima and Gagne. Okajima did give up a hit but was able to induce a double play on the next batter to end the inning. Gagne took over the closer role for tonight. He looked very impressive starting off the inning with back to back strikeouts of Kevin Millar and Miguel Tejada, but then a double from Aubrey Huff and a single from Payton gave up a run before Gibbons flied out to end the game. At first thought, this performance was a bit concerning, but the lead he was working with may have caused Gagne to pitch for contact and quick outs. I think I'll wait for an actual meltdown before I start freaking out.

The Red Sox start a 9 game road trip on the West Coast tomorrow with 3 games at Seattle, 3 games against the Angels and 3 games in Baltimore before coming back to Fenway for a series with AAA Tampa Bay on the 13th. The next 6 games are the roughest patch left in the sox schedule. Tomorrow's game is a late game, 10:05 PM start Horacio Ramirez (6-3 6.52 ERA) will match up against baseball's answer to Lance Armstrong Jon Lester.

Sox rally in 7th to beat O's 5-4

I was glad to see KG getting a warm welcome to Boston. This should make sure that even those sports fans who have established a mental block on any information regarding the Celtics are aware that there's a reason to head down to the Garden.

I gotta admit, I was nervous there for a minute. Another loss at home to the O's would have really killed some of the great buzz generated by the recent acquisition of Eric Gagne. Luckily, the O's bullpen gift wrapped another win for the Red Sox. Shuey and Parrish managed to combine for four earned runs, two hits and two walks without recording an out between them. Chad Bradford's record is clean of runs, but all of his inherited runners scored before he could close out the inning. The Sox bullpen performed admirably picking up after a so-so start by Julian Tavarez in the absence of Kason Gabbard. Snyder filled in for 1 2/3 hitless innings, thankfully the two walks he allowed over that span didn't come back to haunt him. Javier Lopez successfully drew a ground ball out from Markakis to close out the inning. Hideki Okajima gave up his third home run of the season to Miguel Tejada, but was otherwise lights out. Johnathan Papelbon successfully bounced back from his blown save in his last appearance against Tampa Bay and looked truly dominant allowing no hits and striking out the last two batters.

I felt that this win was important for the sox. They've established a reputation as a team that has a hard time coming back once they're down. David Ortiz isn't hitting a walkoff homerun every opportunity he gets anymore, but it was nice to see the sox break themselves out of a slump and score some needed runs in the late innings.

Eric Gagne warmed up, but Paps lights out performance kept him from getting into this game. Given that Okajima and Papelbon worked tonight it's likely that we'll see him in the rubber game tomorrow night if the services of a closer are needed.

Done Deals!

Both the Gagne and KG deals are now official.

Rangers get:
SP Kason Gabbard
OF David Murphy
OF Engel Beltre

Sox get:
RP Eric Gagne

Celtics get:
Kevin Garnett

Timberwolves get:
Al Jefferson
Gerald Green
Ryan Gomes
Theo Ratliff
Sebastian Telfair
2009 first round draft pick (top three protected)
return of Minnesota's conditional first round draft pick
cash considerations

I'd say my analysis of both of these trades hold true now that all the details have been hammered out.

With regards to the Gagne trade, I really felt like everybody won on this trade. For the Red Sox it's low risk and high potential reward as Gagne can help them in their post season run. The Rangers got some promising young talent in Gabbard and Murphy who were both going to have problems becoming every day players in Boston as the starting pitching and outfielders in the Red Sox system is already very deep. With Piniero dealt, Donnelly undergoing TJ surgery, Timlin being waaay over the hill some insurance in the form of a former Cy Young winner in Gagne is a welcome addition. Papelbon and Okie win by getting another quality reliever to help them split up the bullpen workload so they'll all be in prime condition headed into the post season and accomodate Tito's generous rest schedule. Gagne wins by jumping off the sunken ship that is the Texas Rangers and has the chance to help the early favorite to win the World Series. The incentive of a winning club will hopefully push Gagne to improve on his already adequate numbers this season