Sox winning, but storm clouds ahead....

So the Red Sox seemed to bounce back nicely from an embarrassing series with the Rockies, a team bad enough that anything but a sweep would've been a disappointment, never mind losing two out of three. The sox seemed to have gotten their act together and managed to sweep the Giants thanks to a shutout performance in the second game by Daisuke to preserve the 1 run lead for the win. The other two wins are thanks to the Red Sox offense finally clicking. The run support put up against Morrisson was quite impressive. Everything seems to be looking up for the sox right? RIGHT?

Well, here's the thing folks. The Sox have been doing well, but the Yankees have been doing better. They have won 11 of their last 12 games and the upcoming competition isn't exactly "stiff" playing their next 9 games against Colorado, San Francisco and Baltimore (combined record 94-112 .456). The sox have been doing well, but they're about to face some tough competitors with 9 games away against the Braves, Padres and Mariners (combined record 112-92 .549). This really has the potential to be rough on the sox's ample lead in the AL East over the Yankees.

Wakefield shuts down Colorado in slim 2-1 victory

It felt damn good to have the sox back in town after a long west coast road trip with alot of late nights spent watching NESN. It was nice to have the team functioning as it should be rather than juggling personnel around to make up for the lack of a DH and having to watch Red Sox pitchers attempt at bats. The sox seemed to have made a general bounceback after the terrible streak prior to Curt Schilling's near no-hitter. Taking 2 out of 3 from a young and promising Diamondbacks team was impressive and could have been a sweep if not for the continued lethargy of the sox bats scoring a single run in the third game. The Yankees have been on an offensive tear as of late and continue a 7 game winning streak. They have also not failed to produce less than four runs since the 29th of May in the loss to Toronto. The sox offense by comparison has performed poorly putting up relatively low run totals and relying on the strength of it's pitching to get wins. If these trends continue this could get ugly for the sox very quickly....but I doubt it will. The Yankees offense is firing on all cylinders at the moment and I think it's safe to say they won't go chugging along producing runs like this all year. The sox offense is also bound to work out the kinks and when they do they are likely to go on a tear of their own and rack up the wins.

Despite this turnaround the sox are still 9.5 games ahead of the Yankees.....there....feel better? I'll say it again.....the sox are still NINE AND A HALF GAMES ahead of the Yankees. Now, on to tonight's game.

The Rockies came into tonight's game just below .500 and aren't as bad a team as fourth place in the NL West might suggest. Wakefield did well tonight. Wakefield seems to always pitch well against inexperienced teams, teams that haven't seen him pitch too many times and in domes. 2 out of 3 of those conditions were met tonight against the Rockies and he managed to mystify them with his knuckleball going 8 innings and only giving up one run. The sox offense was also relatively lethargic with the big exception of David Ortiz who went 3 for 3. Kevin Youkilis' RBI and a sac fly by JD Drew would be adequate to secure the win for the sox with Johnathan Papelbon catching a hint of his early season form with his fastball back up into the Mid 90's and striking out 2 in the 9th to get the save. Papelbon had appeared to be struggling recently with the velocity on his fastball dropping and acquiring some shakier saves than we were accustomed to seeing from Papelbon. We can only hope that this is an indicator that he's worked out whatever kinks he has encountered and has returned to his usual dominant self. The two upcoming games bode well for the sox with Curt Schilling coming off of one of the most impressive starts of his career and Josh Beckett who has been rock solid this year and is still undefeated. Rockies pitcher Josh Fogg comes into the game with an unimpressive 1-5 record and 5.06 ERA. He recently came off the 15 day DL and stuggled in his previous start against the astros. The Thursday starter, Jeff Francis is steadier at 5-5 with a 3.81 ERA but nowhere near as impressive as Beckett's body of work this year. If the sox can get out of this offensive slump and provide their pitching staff with some run support they could easily win the next five games against some unimpressive NL teams at Fenway.

Schilling dominates in 1 hitter to avoid 4 Game sweep by A's

It really is indicative of just what a slump the sox bats have fallen into as of late that Ace Curt Schilling has to throw a no hitter through 8 2/3 Innings in a complete game shutout of the A's to secure the 1 run lead secured by Big Papi's solo shot in the first. It was really heartbreaking to see Schilling lose his bid at a no-hitter shaking off catcher Jason Varitek's signal with 2 down in the 9th to Shannon Stewart, but his performance was very impressive nonetheless. I think it was also important for the sox to put a halt to what has been far and away the worst stretch of baseball the sox have played thus far. The pitching has been acceptable, but the offense has simply dropped off the map and this skid may have marked a turn for the worse for the sox. Hopefully this win will restore some confidence for the Sox as they cruise in to Arizona for a 3 game series with the Diamondbacks. The Dbacks have put together an impressive year just below the .600 mark and a game behind the Padres in their division. Tonight's game with Beckett v. Doug Davis looks promising, the subsequent games of Tavarez v. Owings and DiceK v. Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson are not as promising, but if Tavarez and Daisuke put up good starts like each of their last outings they should be wins with a bit of offense from the sluggish sox bats.

It's impressive to note that despite being in a slump the sox are still the best team in baseball (Angels tie for wins but have 2 more in the loss column) and have a commanding 10 game lead over Toronto in the AL East (10 1/2 games on the Yankees). If the sox offense can get out of this slump and the pitching continues to be strong (possibly stronger with the imminent arrival of John Lester to the Sox rotation) their winning ways should resume in no time at all. The lackluster NL Colorado Rockies and SF Giants coming to Fenway for 6 games following the Arizona series and an off day probably won't hurt either.

Can't Win Them All.....apparently.....Tribe def Sox 8-4

The story of this game is pretty simple. One of the most potent lineups in the game finally woke up and got to Daisuke Matsuzaka who was clearly having an off night. The Red Sox gave some solid run support and fell just short as David Ortiz' blast went just inches foul of the Pesky Pole missing the grand slam to tie the game at 6-6. The pitching staff had an uncharacteristic breakdown with Daisuke giving up 6 runs and then the typically rock solid bullpen (particularly JC Romero) allowing another 2. I'm not disappointed with the outcome as the Indians are a solid team and had you told me the sox would be taking 2 out of 3 from them a week ago I'd have been more than satisfied. Daisuke is still young, coming off an illness and probably still adjusting to American baseball. I was encouraged by the lack of walks given up by Daisuke as this had been a problem for him in many of his past outings and I'm confident he'll make the adjustments necessary and be in excellent form for his next start. Kevin Youkilis had an off night going only 1 for 5, but was still enough to keep the hitting streak alive. Dustin Pedroia continues to prove that his early season slump was just that and nothing more as his average climbed to .308 with a 2 for 4 performance in last night's game.

The sox open up a 3 game series against the Yankees at Fenway on Friday and will be facing the meat of their rotation with Wang, Mussina and Petite and quite notably NOT the Rocket who's start has been pushed back to the following series with the Chicago White Sox. There seems to be some mixed feelings on this decision to push back Roger's start to Chicago. Some people feel this is giving the Red Sox the psychological edge and showing that the Yankees fear the Red Sox and this misses the opportunity to send the message that the Yankees are coming after the Sox head on. This is all true, but you know what would REALLY give the Red Sox the psychological edge? If they put Roger in against a potent Red Sox lineup, he gets booed onto and off the field as he gets shelled in his first attempt back in the majors with everybody in Boston and New York watching. That could potentially shatter the Yankees already low confidence to the point of no return and solidify the idea that the Rocket isn't going to bail the Yankees out of this one in the minds of the fans. I agree with the Yankees decision to let him start against the so-so offense of the White Sox to build up the confidence of the club, the New York fans and the Rocket himself before pitting him against a powerhouse like the Red Sox.

14.5 games up and Giddy as a schoolgirl

This is the sort of scenario you dream about in the preseason. The Red Sox are firing on all cylinders handing loss after loss to the best teams MLB has to offer. Josh Beckett has finally recovered from his minor injury and seems to have rejoined the rotation without missing a beat. We can afford to give David Ortiz a few extra days to recover from a minor hamstring injury because hey, no use blowing out the guys when you've got 14.5 games on the Yankees. The Yankees on the other hand are absolutely falling apart. Alex Rodriguez's hot bat has finally cooled off enough that he's no longer carrying their offense and the starting pitching continues to give up runs. The only relief in sight is the return of Roger Clemens. I can only say that I think Roger will be an improvement on an extremely lackluster pitching staff, but it won't be enough. I would question whether he would be enough even if the Rocket was in his prime. With some mixed results in various minor league starts, the Rocket's advanced age and the fact that he'll be going up against some solid AL hitting rather than the soft NL lineups he's faced the past few years with the astros strikes me as a recipe for disappointment for Yankee fans. Will he get lit up every night and booed out of baseball once and for all? Probably not. Will he be the Yankees knight in shining armor who's going to turn the corner for the Yankees, anchor the pitching staff and rebuild the confidence of the Yankees as every New Yorker has his fingers crossed that he will? I doubt it. The Red Sox are just too strong right now with 2.5 Games over the NL best Mets and 4.5 over the AL's second best Indians, whom the sox have roughed up for 2 wins in 2 games, going for the sweep tonight with Daisuke on the mound tonight. The sox have proven that they can beat the best, they're resilient in the face of injuries due to their excellent depth. The bulk of the offense has not been provided solely by the 3 and 4 spots as we had come to expect from the Sox offense, but rather from a number of sources. Kevin Youkilis is atop the AL for batting average tied for second behind Jorge Posada. Other contributors include Mike Lowell and Dustin Pedroia as of late who have been contributing to the offense. It really doesn't get much better than this.

Sox take 2 out of 3 from Braves, Head into rubber game vs. Yankees tonight

Well, not going to lie, I missed the day/night doubleheader against the Braves as well as the third game on the occasion of my friend returning from Indiana and my girlfriend's graduation ceremony. Needless to say taking 2 out of 3 from an NL powerhouse like the Braves further proves that the Sox can compete and win against the best MLB has to offer, after taking 3 out of 4 from the Tigers as well as this recent series against the Braves. The one loss to the Braves, an embarassing 14-0 rout, is forgivable given the lackluster performance of minor leaguer Davern Hansack as well as a poor follow up by the Red Sox bullpen giving up an additional 10 runs on top of those given up by Hansack. If there was a game to put a second string performance out against, the logical choice would have been the start by Braves starter John Smoltz. Smoltz quieted the Sox bats that had rung up the Braves for 13 runs earlier that day allowing just 3 hits in 7 innings with the Braves bullpen holding the sox hitless in the final two innings of the shutout. Smoltz made his start despite a dislocated pinky in a previous start.

The third game also looked like another "would be loss" with a second AAA call up in Kason Gabbard facing Braves starter Tim Hudson. This was not the case however with the sox beating up on Hudson early to score 4 runs in the first inning and two more before Hudson was pulled after 4 2/3 innings. Gabbard provided a solid performance going 5 innings and allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits at which point the Boston bullpen provided the remaining 3 innings allowing a run to secure the win. Hideki Okajima and Johnathan Papelbon seemed somewhat shaky with Okajima allowing two hits in his one inning of work and Papelbon allowing 3 hits and a run in his one inning of work. Fortunately the sox were still able to clinch the 6-3 win with ease despite these atypical performances by the otherwise lights out sox relievers.

Tim Wakefield had clearly been off his game in his previous start and Monday in the bronx was no different for Wakefield who had another rough outing, missing the mark and allowing far too many walks in the opening game against the Yankees. These would come back to haunt Wakefield as he would allow 6 runs in 5 innings, which the Red Sox would be unable to overcome despite 3 hitless innings provided by the Boston bullpen (Romero, Delcarmen, Piniero). Tim Wakefield's ERA has skyrocketed due to his last two starts from a league leading 1.79 to 3.14.

Last night's game also seemed as though it could be a rough ride with fifth starter Julian Tavarez against Mike Mussina. The sox again surprised with Julian Tavarez escaping with a respectable 5 2/3 innings with 3 hits and 2 runs allowed. Unfortunately, he also issued 4 walks and was lucky to end his day on a double play ball to get out of trouble. Okajima and Papelbon again provided adequate relief but had a somewhat shaky outing both of them walking a pair in their inning of work. Okajima allowed a run to score on a near double play ball hit by Derek Jeter which Jeter was able to outrun with his exceptional speed and a little help from A-Rod shoulder tackling of Dustin Pedroia in an attempt to disrupt the throw to first.

The game tonight puts sox Ace Curt Schilling against Andy Petite in what should be an interesting game. Petite's unimpressive 2-3 record is deceiving given his excellent 2.83 ERA

The celtics got royally screwed by the ping pong balls yet again as the team with the 2nd worst record in the NBA will miss out on both highly touted draft picks Kevin Durant and Greg Oden to the Portland Trailblazers and the Seattle Supersonics who beat some long odds to get the top picks in the draft. Sure, the Celtics will get somebody good, but not a franchise player like they needed. But I can see where this is going to go, the celtics will take another year to mature for it's young talent, their high draft pick will certainly help them to a better finish than last year, just short of the playoffs or possibly lose in the first round of the playoffs leaving them with a mediocre team with mediocre draft pics dwelling just below the cusp of being a real contender for years to come. This was the year they needed a big name to help them get over the hump and get Boston to remember where the Boston Garden is and draw some eyes away from Foxboro and Fenway. But it looks like that's not going to happen, another 5 rebuilding years for Danny Ainge and the boys in green.

Day...Night...it's all allright, Sox take 3 of 4 from the Tigers (Day 2-1, Night 4-2)

I must admit I was cautiously optimistic coming into this series against the Tigers. This would be the first real chance for the Sox to test themselves against a really well rounded and potent Tigers team. They made a very impressive showing taking 3 out of 4 from one of the AL's best teams and proved they can beat good teams as well as bad ones.

The first game I must admit I had nearly chalked up as a loss mentally, fortunately the Red Sox did not. The matchup of the undefeated Mike Maroth against the struggling Julian Tavarez did not look favorable for the sox. Prior to the game Maroth fell ill and was unable to make his start, forcing the Tigers to call up struggling minor league pitcher Zach Miner. With the new matchup between Tavarez and Miner one would have anticipated fireworks from the potent Sox and Tigers lineups rather than the unlikely pitcher's duel that ensued. Tavarez gave what is most likely his most impressive start of the year with 7 innings, 4 hits and only one run scored silencing the Tigers bats. Zach Miner also gave a more impressive performance than expected pitching a better game against the sox than in his most recent starts at the triple A level. Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon seemed to wrap up the game with ease in the 8th and 9th innings not giving up a single hit and holding on to the smallest of leads to clinch the win and the save for Papelbon. Manny and Kevin Youkilis were responsible for most of the Red Sox offense both having 2 for 4 days and driving home a run. Kevin Youkilis' consistent hitting has continued to be impressive and has one of the best averages in the American League.

Game 2 called for some roster movements with David Ortiz sitting out the second game due to illness. This allowed Manny to be moved to the DH spot. As a result, Eric Hinske and Willy Mo Pena started in the outfield to replace the still injured JD Drew. This games looked much more favorable for the Sox than the day game with Ace Curt Schilling on the mound against the Tigers Chad Durbin. Schilling had what could only be described as a shaky outing, giving up 8 hits and 4 walks over 6 innings. Fortunately for Schilling these base runners were well distributed and only two runs scored thanks to some outfield heroics by Eric Hinske making a diving catch while simultaneously doing a faceplant in the outfield warning track. Brendan Donnelly and Javier Lopez combined to provide two scoreless innings leading into a perfect ninth inning by Hideki Okajima in his second appearance of the day to record the save. On the offensive side Eric Hinske provided a home run two score the two runs with two outs in the inning to provide the difference in the contest in favor of the Sox. Wily Mo Pena was walked three times in the game defying the belief that he is an impatient hitter who constantly strikes out and shows that he may be maturing in his major league career. Perhaps at some point he'll be worth trading away Bronson Arroyo for....but I doubt it.

Props:
Hideki Okajima making two appearances in one day and not allowing a hit.
Julian Tavarez for making his best start of the year.
Eric Hinske for winning the night game for the sox with both his glove and his bat.
Kevin Youkilis for continuing to be a vital part of the sox offense.

Slops:
Curt Schilling for having a shaky outing that by all rights should have yielded more than two runs for the Tigers offense. This win had more to do with the Heroics of Eric Hinske than Curt's pitching.
The sox offense for failing to score more than two runs against a struggling minor league pitcher who flew in from Detroit only hours beforehand.