Fragile Freddy: Manny Ramirez - "Mr. Consistency"

Fragile Freddy has been blogging about the Boston Red Sox for over two years. Check in at The Bottom Line each Saturday to get Freddy's thoughts on the Sox.

Joaquin Andujar was once asked to give one word to describe baseball. His response was "youneverknow."

You may not find the word youneverknow in any of the works of Shakespeare but Andujar was pretty right with his response. No matter what happens in this crazy game you can bet that something wilder will be happening any day now. As an amateur SABRmetrician I tend to think that player performance is highly predictable but rarely are we spot on with our evaluation of players. People change, they grow, they shrink, they learn new skills and the player we think we know can be vastly different from what we expect.

But not Manny Ramirez.

Standing on the precipice of 500 home runs Manuel Aristides Ramirez has been everything we were told about Manny from day one. When Dan Duquette secured the services of Ramirez that December day in 2000 we started hearing stories about the type of player and the type of person we were going to get. The stories were all over the map yet 7 1/2 years later Manny Has Been Manny.

The first thing we expected to get was a dominant offensive weapon. Boy did we get that. Starting with the way he launched the first pitch he saw at Fenway into the ionosphere Manny Ramirez has been a great hitter. How great? Since his debut in the carmine hose in 2001 he has been 6th in Runs Created Above Average in the Major Leagues, fifth in home runs and third in RBI. The devastating offensive weapon has been just as devastating as we were led to believe.

Of course the attitude was part and parcel with the Manny Ramirez Experience. We were told he could be a bit flaky, a bit of a man-child, we weren't quite ready for it though were we? On the field he had his moments highlighted in an amusing way by his much ballyhooed "bathroom break" in the Monster and in a bad way with his walking off the field without running out a grounder to the pitcher in Tampa in 2003.
Off the field we have had Manny moments aplenty. Away from the eyes of the public he was a hitting savant allegedly taking hours of batting practice and studying pitchers with the fervor of a 17 year old ogling the coeds on a college tour. Conversely, Manny has come down with the occasional "phantom" injury and memorably missed a key series with the Yankees but still had time to hang out with Enrique Wilson in the lobby bar of his hotel.

The defense has been the one area where Manny got where he was going a bit differently. Manny wasn't expected to be a good defensive outfielder but his reputation was that of someone with a strong but inaccurate arm. Early in his tenure with the Sox this was the case. Manny quickly learned (and worked at?) left field in Fenway and developed his trademark quick release and accurate throwing styles. At times he looks lackadaisical out there but rare is the time when his economical style of defense costs the Sox a single base let alone a run.
Manny Ramirez is his own man. He was his own man when he chose Boston 's millions over a comfortable situation in Cleveland and he has played the game his way throughout his career.

He never gets lumped in with the steroid crowd, he never gets in trouble off the field and both his flaws and his brilliance have been precisely what we expected. Manny Ramirez is about to hit home run #500 in a long and memorable career and if Joaquin Andujar were describing that career he might just say "youknew."

Fantasy Friday: The story behind The Road to Redemption

I promised to give you guys the back story on The Road to Redemption... so here it is:

In 2007 I signed on to join the fantasy baseball Dream League. I hadn't played fantasy baseball before, but quickly became obsessed - even before the draft. That was mistake No. 1.

This was a Yahoo! Roto league (not H2H) and it was set for an auto draft - meaning the computer drafted your players based on your Pre-draft rankings. I could bore you all to death with my thoughts on how to set your pre-draft rankings, but I won't... Let's just say that I spent a solid month asking other league members questions and staring at the player list, trying to guess in March who would help me win it all come September.

I finally drafted my team (right) but I wasn't overly excited about it. I had pre-ranked Daisuke high and landed him with the #2 pick overall. Keep in mind that this was before he had thrown a pitch in America... but I was convinced he was going to be my ace. Carlos Zambrano and Curt Schilling rounded out a short staff and I had two quality closers in Houston Street and Mariano Rivera... but my offense worried me.

Cano, Lugo, Sanchez, Johijma, Varitek, Hudson, Crosby... how did I manage to not draft a single home run hitter!? My best power bats were OF Raul Ibanez (33 HR, 123 RBI in 2006) and some kid named Prince Fielder who hit 28 HRs in his first full season... it was time to go to work on the waiver wire.

Unfortunately, I can't dig back to show you all of the 117 moves I made that season, but as you can see (left), when the smoke cleared, my 100+ moves had landed me in 2nd to last, just ahead of a manager that I'm pretty sure hadn't looked at his team since the draft, since he had made just 9 moves.

What I can tell you is the No. 1 lesson I learned: Patience. Kevin Millar reminded us that the 162 game season is a marathon, not a sprint. When a guys get over 500-600 at-bats in a season, you have to be ready and willing to take the good with the bad.

As I mentioned last week, I dropped Prince Fielder sometime in May, only to watch him hit 50 HRs... guess what place I can in in that category? Dead last.

That was probably the biggest mistake I made that year, but along the way I dropped, traded or bench some many guys in frustration, that I killed the very offense I was trying to strengthen. I would sit Nick Markakis after an 0-4 night, and watch him go 3-4 with a HR and a SB, while the OF I picked up to replace him went 0-4. So I'd start him the next night and he'd go 0-4 again... by the time the season was over I had missed out of half of his 23 HRs, 112 RBI and 18 SBs.

I spent most of the 2007 season trying to build up my offense, but nobody wanted to trade me a quality bat for Julio Lugo... so this year I vowed that I would draft or create a balanced team.

First, I pre-ranked pre-ranked Prince Fielder as a matter of pride. I landed him and Ryan Braun in the early rounds, but like many experts predicted Braun is out-hitting Fielder at present.

I put Daisuke at the top of my list as well. I know he's hurt right now and he's walked enough guys to populate a small country, but I'm still feeling good about drafting him and his 8 wins, 55 K's and 2.53 ERA.

Then I put Manny on my list. His recent slump has made him an average OF at the moment, but, as I mentioned, my mission was to create a consistent and balanced team... and Manny's as consistent as they come.

After that, I put my fate in the hands of the auto-draft computer and it did not let me down. This time I drafted a squad full of offense, but a little lacking in pitching. I dropped Kelvim Escobar and grabbed Joe Rauch, who is now the closer in Washington. I also replaced Chad Billingsley with Shaun Marcum who currently has the lowest BAA in the majors at .160. But the biggest move of the 2008 season was grabbing Edinson Volquez off the free agent market.

Volquez leads the majors with a 1.31 ERA and 76 strikeouts. He's also tallied 7 wins while pitching for the Reds, who are currently hitting just .259 as a team, but have scored an average of 5 runs per game for Edinson, while he allows just 0.9 ERs per start.

Bottom Line: I didn't make 200 moves last year, but 117 is close. So far this season, I've held off on making a number of moves that I would have made last year, but I still have 20 on the season.

The result: A spot at the top of the leader board... so far so good on the Road to Redemption.

Ken Griffey Jr.: The Stealth Bomber

Manny Ramirez is one home run away from 500.

Big whoop.

Manny will become the 24th player in MLB history to reach the 500 HR milestone, but Alex Rodriquez (525), Frank Thomas (520) and Jim Thome (517) just did it last year... the "500 HR Club" is soooo 2007.

What baseball fans should be paying attention to is Ken Griffey Jr.'s run for 600 home runs - but for some reason they're not.

Yahoo Sports! Tim Brown wrote a great piece about Griffey's quest for 600. As a huge fan of Junior's, I found it very interesting. As far as I was concerned Ken Griffey Jr. was baseball in the early 90's. He was a five-tool player that made spectacular catches in center field while hitting bombs and stealing bases.

I spent over $30 on his 1989 Upper Deck Rookie card - which at the time seemed like all the money in the world - but in my mind, I had suckered the shop owner into selling me a precious treasure.

Then I grew up... and so did Junior. In 2000 he returned home to Cincinnati and hit 40 home runs, but the next three years were filled with injuries and frustration and I forgot all about one of my childhood heroes.

Now, Griffey is two home runs away from becoming just the 6th player ever to hit 600 home runs. Tim Brown's article caught my eye, but apparently I'm still in the minority. While I watched the ESPN ticker below the Celtics/Pistons game last night, they reminded me every time Manny was due up... I wondered if they were doing the same for Griffey... 'cause I haven't seen it.

Even in Cincinnati, no one seems to care that one of their own is about to make history. To quote Brown:

Reds officials report that Griffey’s approach on 600 has drawn less-than-expected attention even in Cincinnati, despite various promotions. Granted, Griffey went a month – and more than 100 plate appearances – without a home run, leaving him at 597. (Griffey hit No. 598 Thursday against the Padres.) And, also granted, Griffey hates to talk about it. (“I’m not a hype person,” he says. “So, it’s kind of tough to hype a guy who doesn’t want to be hyped.”) But, on April 24, the day after Griffey drew within three of 600, the paid attendance for a game against the Houston Astros was about 17,000. A week ago, a three-game series against the unsexy but first-place Florida Marlins averaged about 14,000 fans.

That, my friends, is ridiculous. I know the Reds haven't given their fans much to cheer about, but I'm amazed that a fan base with some deep roots in baseball history don't seem to appreciate the importance of Griffey's achievement.

Here's a look at the career home run leaders:

1. Barry Bonds - 762
2. Hank Aaron - 755
3. Babe Ruth - 714
4. Willy Mays - 660
5. Sammy Sosa - 609
6. Ken Griffey Jr. - 598

Griffey's teammate Adam Dunn really summed it up best:

"It’s a huge deal and it’s almost swept under the rug. I mean, 600. Six hundred! It’s unbelievable. This is so disappointing. He’s a great guy, first and foremost. What he’s done for the game of baseball, it’s sad. It’s a shame. And it’s sad.”

Bottom Line: Other than Arod, I really don't see anyone joining the 600 home run club for a very long time... So read the Tim Brown article and take a moment appreciate one of the prettiest swing in baseball ever... and a pretty amazing accomplishment.

Sox on Deck Prospect Watch: Masterson to make 3rd ML start?

Here's the first installment of the Sox on Deck Prospect Watch with Mike Scandura from MVN's Son On Deck. This will be a monthly feature, but keep an eye out for the Sox on Deck logo for more stories, news and analysis from down on the farm.

Player Updates

RHP Justin Masterson - Has been pushed back until May 31 because Boston needs to have Buchholz make another rehab start plus the organization wanted to give him time to "relax" after all the hype surrounding his second major league start.

UPDATE - Masterson's next start has been re-scheduled for today (Thurs), perhaps in an effort to have him available to make another spot start for the Red Sox on Monday, should Matsuzaka miss his next start. Daisuke is scheduled to have an MRI on Friday.

IF Jed Lowrie - Through May 27, Lowrie has missed 10 consecutive games with a left-wrist injury. The earliest he's expected to return to Pawtucket's lineup is this weekend in Durham.

RHP Clay Buchholz - After tossing a commendable four innings against Rochester in his first rehab start, Buchholz will make his second rehab start Friday night at Durham. Barring an injury to a Boston starting pitcher, Buchholz should be optioned to Pawtucket.

OF Chris Carter - Through May 27, Carter has a seven-game hitting streak during which he's batting a robust .517 (15-29) with two doubles, three home runs and six RBI.

1B/OF Brandon Moss - He returned to Pawtucket on May 22 after undergoing an appendectomy while with Boston on May 3. After going 0-5 in his first game with three strikeouts, he's on a five-game hitting streak, going 9-20 (.450) with a double, triple, home run and six RBI.

RHP Charlie Zink - Zink is doing his best to pop up on Boston's radar screen. Instead of throwing strictly knuckleballs, he's added a changeup and a fastball to his repertoire. In 11 starts with Pawtucket, Zink is 6-2 with a 2.59 ERA.

RHP Daniel Bard - Boston recently promoted its 2006 first-round draft pick, Daniel Bard, from Class-A Greenville to Portland. In 15 relief appearances with the Drive, Bard was 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 28 innings. He also had a .129 OBA. In his first four outings with Portland, Bard was 1-0 with one save and a 1.50 ERA (plus nine whiffs in six innings).

RHP Michael Bowden - Bowden is having an impressive Double-A rookie season. In his first 10 starts with Portland, Bowden is 4-3 with a 2.47 ERA and 53 strikeouts (plus only 14 walks) in 54 2/3 innings pitched.

Photo: Yahoo!

Road woes continue for Sox... but Dustin ain't worried

Red Sox 0
Mariners 1

BL Hero: Erik Bedard - 7.0 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 8 K, 0 runs... I have to give Wake the honerable mention here for pitching his 30th career complete game and bouncing back (8 Ks, 5 H, 0, BB, 1 ER) from a couple of rough starts.

The road woes for the Red Sox continued last night when they ran into Erik Bedard. The Seattle lefty held the Sox to just 2 hits through 7 innings and struck out 8. Meanwhile, Tim Wakefield bounced back from a string of bad starts, pitching 8 solid innings and giving up just a solo shot to Yuniesky Betancourt in the 3rd. Wake also fanned 8 batters with a good looking knuckleball - a good sign for Tim and the Sox.

Manny entered the game 4-20 (.200) against Bedard, so it was likely he would not get #500... he didn't, but his 1-3, BB line was the best by any Red Sox player as the offense continues to struggle on the road.

Dustin Pedroia had this to say:

"Everyone makes a big deal about our road record," Pedroia said. "But it doesn't matter where we win them. If we win enough games to get in the playoffs, it don't matter if we go 81-0 at home and 0-81 [on the road]. As long as we win games, we'll be all right."

I love the positive attitude Dustin... and with that look on your face, I'm not gonna fight ya about it... but with the Red Sox on pace to go 30-51 on the road this year, I was curious to know how much a bad road record can hurt a team. I looked back through 2002 at all the division winners in the AL... The Oakland A's actually won the West in 2003 with just 39 road victories, but the average number of road wins for division winners was 45... quite a few more than the 30 the Red Sox are on pace for.

For the record, the St. Louis Cardinals went 34-47 on the road in 2006 and went on to beat the Tigers in the World Series... so maybe Dustin is right...

All that said, the Red Sox have averaged a 43-38 road record since 2002, and haven't won less than 38 road games in a season during that span - indicating that the law of averages will road things out... eventually... hopefully.

Photo: Yahoo!

Manny Ramirez hits #499 - Video

Manny Ramirez is finally heating up. Manny is 5 for his last 10 (.500) with a home run, 5 RBI, 2 runs and 2 walks.

Home run #499 was an opposite field blast over the right field wall - a good sign that Manny is going with the pitches he is give, rather than trying to pull the ball. He's also cut down on the strikeouts, fanning just once in his last 14 at-bats.

Tonight's he faces Erik Bedard. He's just 4 for 20 (.200) against the hard throwing lefty, but Manny is a .371 lifetime hitter against southpaws... and if this is the beginning of a hot streak... Bedard could be the guy that gives up #500...

Sox lose 4-3; Matsuzaka leaves with "shoulder fatigue"

Red Sox 3
Mariners 4

After snapping a 7 game losing streak on the road yesterday, the Red Sox lost a roller coaster of a game last night.

Facing the struggling Mariners, Daisuke Matsuzaka looked primed for his 9th win without a loss, but left the game before starting the 5th. He ended the 4th fielding a ground ball and grabbing his right hip, but said after the game that it was shoulder fatigue that knocked him out of the game.

"I wasn’t at my best. After pitching the fourth inning, I definitely felt there was something wrong, and I had a conversation with the coaching staff,” he said. “I went out for the fifth inning to give it a try, but felt it was best to stop there."

“With so much of the season left, I thought that it would be best to come out of the game at that point.”

Matsuzaka also admitted that he experienced a similar "injury" back in 2000 or 2001 with the Seibu Lions, but pitched through it with no ill effects. Just like back then, Dice-K could tell in his bullpen session that something wasn't right.

"Even before I went up on the mound, I felt that things were a little bit off in the bullpen," Matsuzaka said through an interpreter. "I wouldn't go so far as to call it discomfort.

"Since this is something I have experienced in the past, I’m not overly concerned with the situation right now,” he said, before bowing and politely cutting off questions.

Bottom Line: Francona said they plan to "err on the side of caution" so don't be surprised if Matsuzaka misses his next start this Monday. Clay Buchholz pitched four innings in Pawtucket on Sunday, and is technically able to come off the DL today (May 28th) but it's unlikely that he will be the guy to fill in on Sunday. Justin Masterson hasn't pitched since his last ML outing on May 20th, so he could be an option... David Pauley (6-2, 3.09, 30 SO) and Charlie Zink (6-2, 2.59, 39 SO) could also get the call this weekend.

Call Your Shot with David Ortiz

State Farm is asking Red Sox bloggers to help promote the Call Your Shot promotion. Since it involves having Big Papi hitting a home run in Yankee Stadium... I figured why not help out.





Here's the skinny on the promo:

Fans can enter the promotion daily through June 24 at:
www.sfCallYourShot.com/2008.html.

The grand prize winner of Call Your Shot will stand beside famed baseball slugger David “Big Papi” Ortiz during the State Farm Home Run Derby and call the home run location of a single delivery for Ortiz. The winner will also receive:

- All-expense paid trip for four to the All-Star Game and the State Farm Home Run Derby
- First class hotel accommodations in New York
- Tickets to a Broadway show
- $1,000 MasterCard gift card

Additionally, 10 fans will win first place prizes consisting of a $300 MLB.com gift card and 25 second prize winners will receive $100 MLB.com gift cards.

For more details, click this link to enter: www.sfCallYourShot.com/2008

Fragile Freddy's Beckett Breakdown

Fragile Freddy has been blogging about the Red Sox for over two years. He recently semi-retired from blogging, but has agreed to chime on on Saturday's here at the Bottom Line. So be sure to check back each week and tell us what you think of Freddy's analysis.

Hey everyone, Fragile Freddy back from a Roger Clemens-length retirement. Thanks to Bottomline Rob for giving me the chance to occasionally write something for him periodically. For my first installment I want to look at Josh Beckett.

The Sox will send Beckett to the mound on Saturday night to face the Oakland A's. So far in 2008 Beckett has been closer to the 2006 Beckett than the 2007 Beckett. Is this a cause for concern or is this just a little hiccup in what will be an otherwise successful 2008 season for the Red Sox nominal Ace?

To determine this I thought it would be worth looking at a few areas of Beckett's performance. Ultimately pitchers have control over a few things; strikeouts, walks and types of balls in play. Once a ball is in play things happen that are outside the pitchers control and the timing of base runners is imperative in terms of how high a percentage of runners score. Let's look first at what Beckett can control;

Strikeout Rate – 25.6% of batters faced – Beckett has been striking out hitters at a higher rate than both his career and 2007 marks. This indicates that he still has his high quality "stuff" and is a positive marker.

Walk Rate – 5.0% of batters faced – Like with strikeouts Josh has managed to better his walk rate versus his career average. Something clicked last year and he dropped is walk rate dramatically from 8% to 5% and that improvement has continued into 2008.

Batted Ball Rates – GB 39%, LD 20%, FB 31% - Here we see a troubling number. Beckett is inducing far fewer ground balls and more troubling those lost grounders are turning into line drives. The average hitter bats over .700 on line drives so allowing line drives to be hit is a very bad thing (give it up for the Master of the Obvious everyone!).

How about those things typically out of his control?

BABIP - .277 – Beckett's "Batting Average on Balls in Play" (hits – HR/at bats – HR – K) is .277. This is typically between .310 and .320 so Beckett has been somewhat fortunate on balls in play particularly when you account for the number of line drives he has allowed. There will be some regression here.

LOB% - 65.4% - Nearly 35% of all base runners against Josh Beckett have scored. This is a high percentage and indicative that teams are converting chances against Beckett. The cause of this is a .379 batting average against Beckett with men on base. In both 2007 and for his career Beckett has allowed a .244 average in that situation.

For whatever reason Beckett is pitching poorly with men on base this year. Given his historical averages in that scenario I expect this to improve and be a significant boost to his performance.

The Bottomline: The biggest concern right now is that Beckett seems to be struggling in the stretch. With his history of pitching well in those situations I believe there is something mechanical that Beckett is doing. Assuming this isn't the lingering effect of an injury it is up to John Farrell to identify the cause and work with Beckett to correct it. If that happens, the Josh Beckett of 2007 will be back in business.

Red Sox v Athletics Preview: Wakefield v Harden

With a sweep of the Kansas City Royals, the Red Sox remain the best team in baseball (.620 W%)... and the best team at home (21-5). But the Sox will have to play their next 10 games away from the friendly confines of Fenway park, starting with a trip to Oakland.

Tim Wakefield will face Rich Harden in tonight's west coast match-up. Harden looked strong in hid last outing, holding the Atlanta braves to 1 run and 4 hits, while fanning 8 in the 5-4 win. It was his second start since returning from the DL with a shoulder injury, and just his 4th start this season.

Harden has great stuff, but he's just 1-1 with a 7.71 ERA in 4 starts against the Red Sox. That said, he has already seen the Sox twice this year, and has a win and an ND, while holding the Sox to 7 hits and 1 run (a Manny home run) in 11.1 innings... he also racked up 15 total strikeouts in those two games.

Tim Wakefield also started his last game on May 17th. The Sox won 7-6, but Wake was erased from the game after giving up 3 runs through 5 1/3 innings. After pitching 8 solid innings in Detroit on May 6th, in which he gave up just 2 hits and walked no one, the "Knuckleballah" lasted just 2 2/3 innings at the Metradome, giving up 7 runs and talking the loss. He looked better in his last outing against the Brewers, but it's always a roller coaster with Wakefield...

Bottom Line: The A's have won just 3 of the their last 10, while the Sox have won 7 in a row... but the Sox are a mediocre 10-14 on the road this year... and went 4-6 on their last road trip...

Guys to watch:

Manny is 3 for 8 with 3 home runs off of Harden... could tonight be the night he finally gets #499 ???

Big Papi is also 5-8 (.625) with a double and two ding dongs against Harden, who has given up a home run in 46% (37/80) of his starts...

2B Mark Ellis owns a .426 BA (6-14) against Wakefield, but he's missed the last 9 games with a sore shoulder.

Jack Cust went 2-4 with 2 home runs against he Rays yesterday. Cust is 3 for 8 with 2 doubles against Wake and tends to hit his homers in bunches...

Fantasy Friday: Should I bench Manny Ramirez?

One of my many "fans" suggested that I do an occasional Fantasy Baseball post... and since I lament over my fantasy team on a daily basis, I figured it only made sense.

So... each Friday I'll give you guys the scoop on my fantasy team 200 Moves and my "Road to Redemption" and then wrap it up with some general thoughts and recommendations - I'll warn you now to take them with a grain of salt.

I'll explain why my team name is "200 Moves" later, but for now, I'll simply say that I almost reached that mark in my rookie season... my worst move and the one that defined my 2007 season: Dropping Prince Fielder in April. He went on to hit (and eat) 50 ding dongs that year... Patience was a foreign word to me.

But, I learned my lesson, drafted a good team in 2008 and was in first place before a big fat -7 appeared next to my team this morning. Why? Because my team went 4 for 25 and Daisuke walked 6 batters yesterday - despite getting the win. Amazingly, Manny lead my team going 1-4 with a walk and 2 runs scored.

Which leads me to today's topic: Should I bench Manny Ramirez?

I just picked up the red-hot Ryan Ludwick (12 HR, 35 RBI, .336 BA) and I've been swapping Markakis, Abreu, Fukodome and Justin Upton in and out all season.

I've tried to stick it out with Manny, because when all is said and done he'll have his 30 HR and 100 RBI, but the strikeouts are killing me right now:

He wiffed 7 timed in 14 at-bats in the 4-game KC series and grabbed juts 1 hit, 1 RBI and 1 run.

He's also batting just .244 w/ RISP and .150 w/ RISP w/ 2 out... compared to his career numbers: .326 - RISP and .311 - RISP w/ 2 out.. that's just awful.

NESN's Jerry Remy said that he's seen many a player go into a funk while trying to reach a mile stone, so hopefully that's all this is, but that makes me wonder...

Should I bench him until he hits #500? Can I really be thinking about playing Ryan Ludwick over Manny Ramirez?

In 2007 I learned the importance of patience, so my gut tells me to stick with Manny, but sometimes you gotta play the hot hand and Ludwick has 4 home runs and 10 RBIs in the past 5 games...

Bottom Line: I currently have both Manny and Ludwick starting today, with Nick "8 K's in the past 4 games" Markakis and Kosuke ".353 on 5/1 -- .305 on 5/23" Fukudome on the bench... but is this the right call?

Rob's recommendations:

OF David Murphy, TEX - 9 game hitting streak that includes 5 multi-hit games, 2 homers and 9 RBI. The former Red Sox prospect is 5 for his last 10, raising his BA from .253 to .291 in the last 10 games.

SP/RP Hong-Chih Kuo, LAD - Kuo has 38 strikeouts in 30 innings as the long man for LA. To put that in perspective, aces like Carlos Zambrano (46 K, 52.1 IP), Tim Hudson (42, 69) and Justin Verlander (40, 61) have just a few more K's and way more innings... Because of his versatility, Kuo has also grabbed 3 wins. Combine that with the K's and a 2.40 ERA and you've got a 5-tool pitcher that's hard to leave on the open market.

Check back each Friday for more recommendations and the latest on the 200 Moves "Road to Redemption."

Red Sox Sweep Royals; Matsuzaka is 8-0

Red Sox 11
Royals 8

BL Hero: Mike Lowell went 3-4 with a Grand Slam, a double and 3 runs scored. I should really give credit to the 3-pack of Lowell, Yuke and Drew - they combined to go for 7 for 12 with two Grand Slams, 9 RBI and 6 of the 11 runs scored by the Sox.

Daisuke got the win and improved to 8-0 on the season, despite walking 6 batters through 5 2/3 innings. Amazingly, 6 walks isn't the most he's given up in game - he walked 8 Tigers on May 5th, but only gave up 1 run and earned the win. This was the second time he walked 6 guys - he walked 6 Yankees on April 13 and got the win then as well.

Matsuzaka did strike out 7 Royals, giving him 20 K's in the past three games, but the the walks lead to an early exit on a day when the bullpen had been used extensively the night before.

The result? Craig Hansen and David Aardsma gave up 5 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks in the 7th and 8th - Only by the power of Mike Lowell's strangely thin mustache were the Red Sox spared... Seriously, I love the guy, but it's like he's missing a blade on the razor or something...

Bottom Line: Last year Matsuzaka had 38 K's through 5 starts in April... he finally reached that same number yesterday in his 10th start. Meanwhile, his walks have risen, making his BB/K rate skyrocket:

2007 April and May - 13 games started... 21 BB / 68 SO = 0.31 BB/K
2008 April and May - 10 games started... 38 BB / 53 SO = 0.72 BB/K

2007 Season Total - 32 games started... 80 BB / 201 SO - 0.39

As you can see, he may be winning, but he is way off his BB/K mark and that is going to catch up to him and the bullpen eventually.

Are the Yankees getting desperate?

Yankees Manager Joe Girardi told the media yeaterday the Joba Chamberlain's two inning stint was the start of his stretch-out to become a starter...

Chien-Ming Wang leads the team with a 3.51 ERA and a 6-2 record... after that, it looks like this:

Darrell Rasner: 3-0, 1.89... a nice surprise...

Mussina: 6-4, 4.11 ERA
Pettitte: 3-5, 4.42 ERA
Ian Kennedy: 0-3, 8.48 ERA
Phil Hughes: 0-4, 9.00 ERA -- DL
Kei Igawa: 0-1, 18.00 ERA

Bottom Line: With Rivera currently ay 0.50 ERA and 11 saves... I'd say this move makes sense. Here's more from Rotoworld.com:

Joba Chamberlain entered an 8-0 game Wednesday and worked two innings for just the second time this season, with manager Joe Girardi explaining why afterward by saying that the Yankees are now prepping him for a shift to the rotation. Coming into the season most speculation had the Yankees aiming to have Chamberlain in the rotation after the All-Star break, but Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy struggling and the team fighting just to stay above .500 likely hurried those plans.

Chamberlain has posted a 1.42 ERA and 59-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio while holding opponents to a .178 batting average over 44.1 relief innings, but being a setup man limited his fantasy value. It'll be nearly impossible for Chamberlain to approach that level of dominance as a starter, but he can significantly boost his value anyway. He hasn't started a game since last July, but has an impressive track record as a starter in both college and the minors.

He had a 2.45 ERA and 135-to-27 strikeout-to-walk ratio between three levels of the minors prior to being called up and has an arsenal of pitches that makes him well suited to start after working almost exclusively with his fastball and slider as a reliever. Assuming that it takes Chamberlain a couple weeks to build up arm strength, he's very capable of winning double-digit games with an ERA in the mid-3.00s and 125-150 strikeouts going forward while making 18-20 starts.

Thoughts??

Red Sox v Royals Preview: Matsuzaka v Bannister

Here's the starting lineup for today, courtesy of Extra Bases.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
7. J.D. Drew, RF
8. Kevin Cash, C
9. Julio Lugo, SS

Daisuke could be come the AL's first 8 game winner today as the Sox look to sweep the Royals and win their 7th straight before heading to Oakland.

Jose Guillen is the only guy with more than a game's worth of ABs against Matsuzaka... and he's batting .333 (4-12) with a double and 3 RBI... but he's just 1 for 11 with 4 K's in the series.

David DeJesus is 2-3 with a homer... and is 4 for his last 9, with a 3-5 showing yesterday.

The Red Sox will see Brian Bannister. Bannister was red hot out of the gate winning his first 3 starts, but lost the next 5 of 6 to fall to 4-5 with a 4.29 ERA. Like Dice-K, Bannister likes to paint the corners and pitch around batters rather than attack them. The Red Sox are one of the most patient teams in the league, so this could be a long afternoon...

Ortiz, Manny and Pedroia all hit home runs off of Bannister in their last meeting in 2007. Bannister lasted 6 innings and gave up just 4 runs, but lost to Kason Gabbard, who pitched a complete game 3-hitter that day.

Bartolo Colon and the Red Sox win; Umpire pulls a Frank Drebin

Red Sox 6
Royals 2

BL Hero: Ellsbury and Pedroia combine to go 6 for 9 with a walk at the top of the order. Ellsbury also scored 3 runs, stole his 19th base and hit a leadoff home run.

Bartolo “El Gordo” Colon looked good in his return to the majors last night, throwing 74 pitches, 46 for strikes and fanning 4 batters over 5 solid innings. Colon did allow 2 runs, 2 walks and 6 hits, but as the Projo recaps, none of them were well struck:

David DeJesus grounded an opposite-field single in the first; Joey Gathright threaded an opposite-field roller inside the third-base bag for a single in the third; Jose Guillen punched an off-the-fists RBI seeing-eye single up the middle in the third, and in Colon’s fifth and final inning, Gathright bunted for a hit, DeJesus looped an opposite-field broken-bat single to left and Alex Gordon dunked a broken-bat RBI single to right.

Colon broke two other bats and was able to jam several of the Royals. Red Sox outfielders did not have to make one putout behind Colon.

It looked like it might be another close one, until the Sox offense got sparked by a Jason Varitek’s 6th ding don of the season – and 3rd in the last 6 games! The Sox followed that with some speed on the bases starting with Coco’s double, then an RBI single from Lugo, a sc fly from Papi and a few wild pitches. When the smoke cleared it was 5-2 Boston and the Sox never looked back.

As if Colon’s start wasn’t enough to make you feel warm and fuzzy about the pitching depth, the bullpen (Hansen, Lopez, Delcarmen, Timlin) gave the Sox four solid outings – though Timlin did give up a hit, a walk and a run.

Bottom Line: The Red Sox have won 6 in a row and they’re now 2 games up on the Rays in the East. As for Colon, Tito summed it beautifully:

“We say all the time that if you think you need five starters for a year, then you’re crazy,” said Francona. “That doesn’t happen very often. … We got Colon for a reason.”

Side Note: Courtesy of NESN and Surviving Grady, check out the real highlight of the evening – Home Plate umpire Tom Hallion doing his best Frank Drebin impression.

TOM HALLION


FRANK DREBIN (cut to the 2:00 mark)



Photo - Providence Journal

Red Sox v Royals - Starting Lineups - May 21

Here are the starting lineups for tonight's game - courtesy of Extra Bases.

Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury RF
2. Dustin Pedroia 2B
3. David Ortiz DH
4. Manny Ramirez LF
5. Mike Lowell 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis 1B
7. Jason Varitek C
8. Coco Crisp CF
9. Julio Lugo SS

-- Bartolo Colon SP

Royals

1. David DeJesus RF
2. Mark Grudzielanek 2B
3. Alex Gordon 3B
4. Jose Guillen LF
5. Mark Teahen 1B
6. Billy Butler DH
7. John Buck C
8. Tony Pena SS
9. Joey Gathright CF

-- Brett Tomko SP

The secret to Justin Masterson's success

Justin Masterson earned his first major league victory last night... but it didn't come easy.

Much like his last ML start against the Angels, Masterson left the game with the small lead, and hoped a major league caliber bullpen would secure the victory... back in April Lopez, Delcarmen and Okajima gave up 4 runs in the 7th and erased Mastertson from the decision. The Sox got the win in the end, but the rookie was sent back to Double A Portland with an ND, after holding the Angles to 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings.

Last night, Masterson used the power of his big, shiny noggin to hold the Royals to just 3 hits and 1 run over 6.1 innings... but just like last time, Tito had Lopez and Delcarmen warming in the pen.

This time, however, the lefty-righty combo did their job, each fanning their batter and ending the 7th... giving Okajima a rare clean inning in the 8th... but Oki continued to struggle and loaded the bases in the 8th - forcing Tito to call Paps out early.

As Masterson watched his first ML win slipping away, the NESN camera's caught him rubbing his humongous head... and then Papelbon struck out Billy Butler to end the 8th!

That's when it occurred to me - the source of Masterson's abilities - that freakishly large dome!

Sure, he's got killer stuff: "A three-quarter delivery with a slinging-type motion... a slider, a change-up and a phenomenal plus-sinker with an excellent heavy drop that ranged from 84-94 mph..."

But you can't tell me that this noggin is "normal."










If you doubt the power of the dome... I offer you a small list of super powered craniums:

Cris Judd's super dome took him from back up dancer to J-Lo's husband... at least for a day or two...









The Leader uses his super-powered cranium to scheme up plans for world domination while battling the Incredible Hulk... not quite as amazing as Masterson's 1-0, 1.46 ERA, 9 SO line in two ML starts, but still impressive.







Vin Diesel went from L.A. waiter to earning a one line part in Saving Private Ryan... and then he convinced someone to make TWO movies about the Chronicles of Riddick... and The Pacifier... now try and tell me that didn't take some kind of super power.







And what about the most famous super powered dome of all... Professor X! This guy founded the X-men, gave Cyclops enough confidence to land Jean Grey and has thwarted the villainous plans of Magneto, Apocalypse and about a dozen alien races in his sleep...




Seriously though, you can't tell me that you don't see the similarities here...









He also looks a hell of alot like Michael Rosenbaum... who happens to play Lex Luther on Smallville... you know the guy who like to mess with Superman...

I rest my case.

Jon Lester throws a no hitter - Video and more...

Jon Lester threw a no hitter last night. He needed 130 pitches, but he threw 19 of 28 first pitch strikes, something he and pitching coach Jon Farrell have been working on all season, and that made all the difference.

"If you all saw my bullpen [session] today, it wasn't pretty," said Lester. "You would have thought I wouldn't have gotten out of the first inning. It was terrible. I got out in the game and I've always been a slow starter. If I can get through the first, second, third, sometimes the fourth inning and be doing all right, then usually I can do all right into the game and get stronger. That was the case. I just felt more comfortable with my delivery, more comfortable with the stuff I was throwing."

It was the fourth no-hitter of the 21st century for the Sox, as Lester joined Hideo Nomo (2001), Derek Lowe ('02) and Clay Buchholz ('07).

Catcher Jason Vartiek also made the MLB record books, becoming he first catcher in MLB history to catch four of no hitters, passing Yogi Berra and a few others who all caught three no-no's.

"I didn't even really know we had a no-hitter until after the seventh," Varitek said. "I kind of looked up in the seventh and saw he was around 100 pitches and thought, he did his job. And I kind of glanced in the bullpen and saw nobody warming up and thought, 'That's kind of weird.' Then I looked back and saw [the zero]. It was good."

"I'm very fortunate. It's so exciting to be part of one as a catcher. Each one's so different. The work that Jonny Lester's had to do -- to be able to be part of something like that with him is totally different. Each one has been totally different, but Jonny keeps working to become more complete, and he's working his way to becoming that way."

Lester had 9 strikeouts on the night, but had just two through the first four innings. But when Jacoby Ellsbury made a spectacular diving catch in center, he preserved the no hitter and many of the player and fans started to realize what was happening...

"After the catch, actually, I realized he had a no-hitter going, and it was nice having that cushion, knowing if there's anything around you, you can lay out," Ellsbury said. "But he pitched tremendously."

"I'm just thinking, 'Go get it,'" Ellsbury said. "J.D. [Drew], I knew he was backing me up on there. So in that situation, I can lay out and go for it, knowing that he's going to back me up, and now [as] I look back at it, I'm really happy I made that catch."

Lester admitted in a post game interview that the possibility of a no hitter had crossed his mind in the ninth, but he did his best to stay focused. He walked the first batter he faced in the ninth, perhaps due to jitters or the rising pitch count, but settled in earned two ground ball outs from Pena and DeJesus. With his confidence restored and German on 3rd base, Lester pinch hitter Alberto Callaspo, who hit for Mark Grudzielanek.

Interestingly, Grudzielanek was 0-3 with 2 strikeouts on the night, despite hitting .371 against lefties this season... Callaspo was no match for Lester and became the ninth strikeout victim of the night.

Jon Lester survived a battle with cancer, returned to baseball and won the final game of the 2007 World Series. Now, with the 18th no hitter in Red Sox history, he will be forever remembered, and at age 23, the sky is the limit for the young lefty.

"It's like divine intervention," said Josh Beckett. "I know it's been two years since the whole cancer thing, but it's pretty cool to watch something like that, and I know he kind of had that last year winning the final game of the World Series, but this is another feat, more personal one that maybe winning the World Series. It's great. He's always had the talent and now it's starting to show."

Also.. the Red Sox won their fourth straight game...

Thanks to MLB.com for the images and quotes. And thanks to Surviving Grady for the video.

Tonight's Match-up: Red Sox vs Royals

Jon Lester (2-2, 3.95 ERA) vs Luke Hochevar (3-2, 3.94)

Houchvar has won three of his last four starts. In his most recent outing, he limited Detroit to four hits and three walks, while striking out five over six innings of a 2-0 victory Wednesday.

Lester gave up two runs and five hits over 6 innings in his last start in Baltimore. The Sox lost and Lester took his 6th ND of the season. Despite earning just one decision (a win over the Rays) in his last 7 starts, Lester has pitched well, allowing 3 runs or less in his last four outings.

The Red Sox have won three straight after losing 4 straight to the Twins and Orioles. During that time the Royals swept the Tigers and took 2 of 3 from the Marlins over the weekend.

That said, the Royals are dead last in the AL with just 165 runs scored, while the Red Sox lead the way with 239. The Sox also lead the majors with a .295 BA, while the Royals are hitting .264... But but pitching staffs are in the middle of the pack with 4.27 (Royals) and 4.21 (Red Sox) team ERAs.

Guys to Watch

Manny is batting .334 with 37 homers and 112 RBIs in 113 games against the Royals... He's also riding a five game hitting steak, but that streak is full of one hit games and just two extra base hits.

Julio Lugo is batting .349 with 15 doubles, 2 homers and 21 RBI against the Royals... Alex Cora is batting jus .100 in 30 at-bats, so expect Lugo to be in there tonight.

Jose Gullien is batting .500 (19-38) in his last 10 games. During that span he has had 7 multi-hit games and 2 three-hit games, as well as 2 ding dongs and 15 RBI.

2B Mark Grudzielanek has also been hot for the Royals. He leads the team with a .331 BA and was 5-8 in the last two games against the Marlins. He also kills lefties - batting .371 against southpaws this year and .321 in 2007.

Weekend Update: Masterson on Tue; Colon on Wed

This is already old news (amazing) but Extra Bases reported on Sunday that Justin Masterson will get the call on Tuesday and Bartolo Colon will take his roster spot in Wednesday. So here's the pitching lineup for the Royals series:

Monday: Jon Lester vs. Luke Hochevar
Tuesday: Justin Masterson vs. Gil Meche
Wednesday: Bartolo Colon vs. Brett Tomko
Thursday: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Brian Bannister

A sweep of the Brewers put the Sox back in first place in the East... here are the quick hits from the weekend:

Daisuke Matsuzaka improved to 7-0 with another solid outing: 6 2/3 IP, 2 unearned runs and 6 strikeouts. It's good to see the strikeouts come back - Dice-K now has 13 in his his last 2 starts afte averaging 2.7 K/GS in the previous 4 starts. He's also gone 6+ in back to back starts.

Davdi Ortiz has got his groove back. He went 5 for 10 with 3 home runs, 8 RBI, 5 runs scored and 3 walks over the weekend and is now batting .250, after topping out at .184 on April 30th. He's currently at .354 for the month of May and has as many homers (5) as he did for the first month plus.

Jacoby Ellsbury was caught stealing for the first time in his major league career on Sunday. He nabbed his 25th consecutive swipe on Saturday, but was finally caught with a pitch-out by Kendall and Villanueva. Two more swipes would have tied him with Tim Raines for the most consecutive steals to start a season at 27.

"I don't know how many times I've beat the pitchout," Ellsbury said. "If I get a good jump, it still takes a perfect throw. There's been a bunch. Probably five or six [pitchouts]. I notice. It takes a perfect catch, perfect throw. Give 'em credit."

Ryan Braun hit three home runs in the series, two off of Josh Beckett on Sunday - that was his 3rd 2-home run game of the season (and month). He now has 13 on the year, while Prince Fielder (50 in '07) hit just his 6th of the season right after Braun's 2nd of the day.

Josh Beckett gave up 4 homers and 6 runs on the day, but still earned the win thanks to 11 runs from the offense. It was the second game in a row that Captain Kickass has given up 5+ runs... after only doing that 4 times in 30 regular season starts in 2007. He did fan nine batters on the day, but the fact that Milwaukee (27th, .242 BA) and Baltimore (24th, .249) beat him up, make me curious...

After an 0-4 showing against Baltimore, Kevin Youkilis is red hot again. He went 3-5 with a homer yesterday and is 8 for his last 17 (.470).

Mike Lowell has also been hot, raising his BA from .138 in April to .280 by going 23-70 (.329) with 5 homers, 7 doubles and 15 RBI in May... and it's on the the 19th...

Bartolo Colon to start Tuesday? How about David Pauley?

With Clay Buchholz on the DL, most of Red Sox Nation immediately turned their attention to Pawtucket, where Bartolo Colon would be making his 3rd start for the Paw Sox.

With a chance to get back to the bigs, Colon did not disappoint. He threw 64 pitches, 45 for strikes over 6 solid innings. He had five 1-2-3 innings and did not walk a batter, while topping out at 95 miles per hour. Colon's record with the PawSox is now 2-0 with an 0.64 ERA. In 14 innings, he has allowed one run on six hits, while walking just one and striking out 11.

If the Sox do indeed call on the Hefty Lefty to face the Royals on Tuesday, Colon should feel very comfortable. Colon is 14-7 with a 4.88 ERA in his career against the Royals... but the Royals did just sweep the Detroit Tigers, so don't expect them to come to Fenway and hand over 3 or 4 wins like they have in years past...

The Boston media would make it seem as though Colon is all bu guaranteed to fill in for Buchholz on Tuesday, but Colon threw just 64 pitches in his win yesterday and may need at least one more start to get stretched out.

Justin Masterson allowed just 2 hits and 1 run over 6 innings in a spot start against the Angels on April 24. David Pauley also had a call up in April, though it was far less exciting: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K... but Pauley is 4-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 7 starts for the Paw Sox this year and he also had started for the Paw Sox yesterday in second game against the Buffalo Bisons. Pauley threw 5 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits and fanning two in the 9-1 victory.

Bartolo Colon's opt-out clause expires on June 1st and enables him to walk if he is not with a major league club by that date, so the Sox would obviously like to see him get a start in the majors and then make a decision. But they have other options for Tuesday's game and if they decide to give Colon one more start in AAA, he could face the Oakland Athletics on Sunday May 25th... Buchholz is not eligible to come off the DL until the 28th...

Bottom Line: Bartolo will get his shot with the Red Sox before the June 1st deadline, and if the team can find a way to keep him in the bigs and he pitches like he has with Pawtucket - he'll be the steal of the year and most of us will forget the Julio Lugo signing... maybe...

UPDATE: The Boston Herald is reporting that Bartolo Colon WILL NOT be the starter on Tuesday...

Here's the skinny on Colon's contract and incentives, courtesy of Gordon Edes:

The former Cy Young Award winner gets $18,000 per month on his minor league deal, with his major league contract valued at $1.25 million. He gets $100,000 for each game started between 8 and 15, and $175,000 for each game between 15 and 20. He gets $240,000 for each game, 21-25, and $350,000 for 26-30. Along with awards bonuses, Colon has bonuses for games finished if he were to come in as a reliever ($250,000 for 25, $350,000 for 35, $400,000 for 40, and $450,000 for 45). He will get $225,000 for 30 days on the big league roster and an additional $225,000 for each 30 games after that up to 150. Colon also gets $250,000 if he is traded.

Clay Buchholz goes on DL; Wednesday Lineups

The Red Sox placed pitcher Clay Buchholz on the 15-day disabled list with a broken fingernail on his right middle finger.

Buchholz has struggled on the road all season (0-3, 8.64 ERA) but really only had one "bad" outing this season - the 15-9 loss to the Yankees in which he gave up 7 runs in just 3 2/3 innings.

This fingernail thing may explain the back-to-back poor outings for Buchholz, but it will remain to be seen if his command returns in 15 days...

In the meantime the Sox catch a break (if you can call it that). Buchholz's trip to the DL opens a much needed roster spot. The Red Sox called up outfielder Jonathan Van Every from Pawtucket to help in the outfield because JD Drew suffered a wrist injury suffered in Tuesday night's loss to the Orioles, Ellsbury is still nursing a sore knee, Manny's got a sore hammy and Coco's tummy hurts.

Bottom Line: It will be interesting to see when Buccholz returns with Bartolo Colon looming in Pawtucket.

Here are today's lineups for the game at 3:00 PM EST.

Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Alex Cora, SS
9. Joanthan Van Every, CF

-- Jon Lester, SP

Orioles

1. Brian Roberts, 2B
2. Jay Payton, LF
3. Nick Markakis, RF
4. Aubrey Huff, 3B
5. Kevin Millar, 1B
6. Ramon Hernandez, C
7. Luke Scott, DH
8. Adam Jones, CF
9. Freddie Bynum, SS

-- Daniel Cabrera, SP

Missing: One Bucket of Magic...

Red Sox 4
Orioles 5

For second night in a row the Red Sox put 3 runs on the board in the first inning and failed to secure the win. After piling up dramatic victory's in April, it's clear that the bucket of magic they were using can't leave Fenway Park. The Sox are now 10-13 on the road and have lost 4 of their last five... the four game set against the Royals at home can't get here soon enough.

The Sox have fallen into a bit of a funk, but it hasn't been due to a lack of offense - just a lack of clutch hitting. They've only been outscored 30 to 26 over the past 5 games, but you can clearly see the moments that would have changed the "L's" into "W's"...

Friday vs Twins: The Sox score 4 runs in the 5th to take a 6-5 lead and hold it until the 9th, but Paps allowed a single, a sac, a steal, a walk and an RBI single - and lost the game...

The Sox also stranded 19 runners in that one.

Sunday vs Twins: The Sox fought there way back from a 5-0 hole in the second, to make it 8-6 in the 7th... but Mike Timlin gave up an insurance run to Craig Monroe... Then the Sox rallied back against Joe Nathan, but Coco's RBI grounder cost us a runner at 3rd and Manny's was unsuccessful as a pinch hitter and the winning run...

22 men were left on base.

Monday vs Twins: The Sox got to Hernandez for 3 in the first, but were blanked the rest of the game. They got two, 2-out singles in the 3rd but Tek popped out... they wasted a lead off single from Casey in the 4th... Lowell hit into an inning ending double play in the 5th... Coco popped out with two men on in the 6th... Then, down 7-3 in the 9th, the big guns had a chance to keep hope alive, but both Ortiz and Manny flied out with two men on...

They stranded another 18 base runners throughout the game.

Tuesday vs Orioles: The Sox took another 3-0 lead in the first, but Beckett gave 5 back before ending the 3rd. Fortune finally smiled upon them in the 6th with a based loaded and no outs opportunity, but Manny would do the one thing you can't do in that situation - ground out to the pitcher... Mike Lowell would fly out to end the inning... The Sox had one more rally in them, but after an Alex Cora single, Casey and Pedroia made outs with two men on , and wasted it... It was still just 5-4 in the 9th with the meat of the order due up for the Sox, but Flat Brim Sherrill would go 1-2-3 thanks to a check swing strike out by Big Papi, a long but futile at-bat by Manny and a strike out by Lowell...

Guess what? 19 base runners stranded.

Bottom Line: Fate is not going to be on your side for 162 games. The balance in the force is being fixed right now at the expense of the Red Sox. They are now hitting just .234 as a team with RISP and 2 outs and can;t seem to get the job done when it matters most.

And last night's bases loaded situation really irked me, so I checked and guess what? The Sox are 11 for 30 (.244) this year... they batted .311 and drove in a league best 175 runs with the bases juiced in 2007.

Manny has been the biggest culprit, batting .158 in 19 chances with RISP and 2 outs. Only Ortiz (24, .333) and Pedroia (24, .208) have had more chances... but Mike Lowell has already had 11 tries and is batting just .091 and JD Drew is batting .111 in 18 tries.

Sox v O's Preview

The Sox will look for Josh Beckett (4-2, 3.70 ERA) to stop the bleeding tonight as hey face Jeremy Guthrie (1-3, 4.32) and the Baltimore Orioles in Camden Yards tonight.

Quick Hits

Baltimore lost 6 of their first 7 games in May, but took 3 of 4 from the Royals over the weekend. They're 10-6 at home this year.

Nick Markakis is 6-17 (.353) with a 2B, HR and 2 RBI against Beckett. Amazingly, he also leads the O's with a .267 BA... All but two of the Red Sox have a better BA (Varitek - .252 and Ortiz - .240).

Josh Beckett has won all four of his career starts at Camden Yards, throwing at least seven innings and allowing two or fewer runs each time.

Manny hit #498 last night, but he hasn’t homered off Guthrie in seven career at-bats, and he has only three home runs in his last 29 games at Camden Yards.

JD Drew is riding a 7 game hitting streak brining his BA to .301... He's also 5 for his last 9 with 2 doubles and an RBI.

Julio Lugo continues to be day-to-day because of the mild concussion he suffered in Friday's game against the Twins. The shortstop rode a stationary bike Sunday, and worked out a little bit yesterday. He was scheduled for baseball activities yesterday. "The thing with the head is, usually when you start doing activities is when you see some problems," Francona said. "He seems OK so far. He's tolerating what he's doing."

UPDATE: Here are tonight's lineups:

Red Sox

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, SS
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
7. J.D. Drew, RF
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Alex Cora, SS

-- Josh Beckett, SP

Orioles

1. Brian Roberts, 2B
2. Melvin Mora, 3B
3. Nick Markakis, RF
4. Aubrey Huff, DH
5. Kevin Millar, 1B
6. Luke Scott, LF
7. Adam Jones, CF
8. Guillermo Quiroz, C
9. Freddie Bynum, SS

-- Jeremy Guthrie, SP

Francona to miss Baltimore series

Extra Bases is reporting that Terry Francona will miss Boston’s 2-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday in Baltimore.

Mary Ann Lang, the mother of his wife, Jacque, passed away on Monday night in Tucson, Ariz. Francona and his family flew to Tucson today.

Bench coach Brad Mills will manage the club during the Orioles series.

I'm sure all of our thoughts and prayers go out to Tito and his family.

Manny Hits #498; Sox lose 3-7

Manny Ramirez got the day off on Monday and responded with home run #498 on Tuesday. Manny went 2-4 on the night and may be turning the page from the mini-slump he was in: 9 for 43 (.209) in May.

See the viedo of #498 - here.

Clay Buchholz got roughed up again, giving up 7 hits and 7 runs in just 4 1/2 innings. He just couldn't find the strike zone last night and when he did, the Twins hit the ball hard. Buchholz is now 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA at Fenway and 0-3 with an 8.64 ERA on the road.

Clay's bad start was bad in and of itself, but with Julian Tavarez being DFA'd that same day, the Sox did not have a mop up man to come to the rescue. Eventually, Francona called on Javier Lopez... and then Craig Hansen... and then Mike Timlin. They all did their job, while the Red Sox offense went to sleep, but the price could be costly if Josh Beckett can't produce 7 or more strong innings tonight in Baltimore... Since the Sox did not crawl back into the game, Tito was able to avoid using Okajima and Papelbon - a silver lining, I guess...

Hansen looked impressive, earning a 1-2-3 inning on just 13 pitches.

Bottom Line: After winning 6 of their first 8 games in May, the Sox stumbled through a four game set in Minnesota, losing three of four and giving up 25 runs in the series - not good.

The Rays are now just 0.5 games back... and have won 5 in a row.

BL Hero: Livan Hernandez improved to 6-1, despite his mediocre stuff. I'm not sure he ever hot 90 MPH on the gun, but he kept the Sox off the board for 6 innings and pitched well enough to win.

Julian Tavarez - Designated for Assigment

Rob Bradford is resporting that the Red Sox have designated Julian Tavarez for assignment to make room on the roster for Sean Casey.

Tavarez has been rumored to be involved in trade talks with the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies, but there has been no news of a deal... yet.

There was some concern that Craig Hansen would be forced back to AAA with the return of Casey, but the Sox obviously decided that having the young reliever in the pen was more important than a veteran long reliever.

Tavarez is 0-1 with a 6.57 earned run average in nine appearances for the Sox thus far this season. He pitched last night, giving up an unearned run in 1 1/3 innings of work, but the Sox just haven't had a need for his services.

Lunch Time Notes: "Straight Cash Homey"

After a 2-4 showing last night, Kevin Cash is now batting .375 on the you season. Cash is not the first guy that comes to mind when you need and hit and the game's on the line, but when Manny grounded out to end the game last night, I wondered why Tito didn't just stick with the hot hand...

Bottom Line: Cash is 5 for 8 with 2 RBI in his last two starts. He won't keep that pace, but after years of Mirabelli hovering below the Mendoza line, Cash's BA is a welcome site... if he keeps it up, maybe someone will finally utilize the awesomeness of his last name and make a T-Shirt...

Sorry Dougie...

Alex Cora went 3-4 in his return to the bigs last night. Jed Lowrie was sent back to Pawtucket to make room, after going 3-4 with a double and a home run on Saturday.

Sean Casey is expected to return to action tonight and has threatened to throw down with Tito is he's not in the lineup soon, but Casey's return will most likely force the Sox to send Craig Hansen to AAA again and Tito seems to think that might not be so smart:

"We're not in a hurry to lose pitching, so we have to do things in a manner that makes sense," manager Terry Francona said.

Casey's response? -- "If it doesn't happen tomorrow, I'll fight him," Casey said with a grin.

Manny Ramirez thinks The Sox should trade Julian Tavarez to the Brewers for one of the Milwaukee sausage guys... and there are still rumbings that Tavarez could be traded to Colorado and potentially be a starter.

He also told Rob Bradford that he thinks he's the best left fielder the Red Sox have even had... “I think I’m the best ever to play left field in Boston.”

He goes on to comment on his fielding... I'll just let you read the quotes:

"How am I going to win a Gold Glove if they take me out in the eighth (inning)," Manny said, jokingly reffering to being replaced by Ellsbury on occasion.

"I invented that throw that I do,” said Ramirez, mimicking the double-play-like flip he uses to get the ball back into the infield. “I don’t know how it started, it just happened like three years ago. I have to practice it, though. I started to learn how to throw it where it tails right into (second baseman Dustin Pedroia [stats]). But I need to practice it more. I haven’t practiced it at all this year. But I’ve got it.”

Lastly, the Herald has an excerpt from Mike Lowell's new book Deep Drive.

Big Papi pranks Tito

David Ortiz had some fun at Terry Francona's expense last night during the ESPN interview... The Sox play the Twins on ESPN again tonight, so keep an eye out for more shenanigans... Thanks to Red Sox Monster for the video.

Babes Love Baseball also have the video and want to know who you'd bet on if Tito and Big Papi squared off.

Perhaps we'll see the battle of bum knees during tonight's interview...

Weekend Update: Quick and Dirty

Here's a quick recap of the weekend games:

Friday: 7-6 Loss -- Box Score

Jon Lester gave up 4 runs over the first two innings, but the Red Sox battled back, scoring 4 in the 5th and taking a 6-4 lead. But Jonathan Papelbon just didn't have it and he gave up the game winning hit to Mike Lamb in the 9th, blowing his second save in a row and causing the Minnesota water jugs to cower in fear...

Youkilis and Lowell stayed hot combing for 4 hits and 3 RBI. Youk also stole a base, along with Lugo and Ellsbury.

Saturday: 5-2 Win -- Box Score

It wasn't pretty but, Daisuke Matsuzaka finally went 7 innings and earned his 6th win without a loss. He gave up 6 hits, 2 runs and fanned 7... he also gave us a glimpse at the "Gyro Ball."

The Sox hit 4 home runs in this one - Kevin Youkilis, Coco Crisp, Jed Lowrie and Mike Lowell. Jed Lowrie was the BL Hero, going 3-4 with a double and a homer... he was promptly sent back to Pawtucket to make room for Alex Cora.

Sunday: 8-9 Loss -- Box Score

The "knucklah" was not working last night for Tim Wakefield, and the Sox found themselves in a 5-0 hole early, but the offense kept chipping away and had the score at 8-4 at the end of 4.

Coco Crisp hit a 2-run shot in the 7th to make it a a two run game, but Craig Monroe responded with his second of the game off of Mike Timlin. The Sox would rally again against cloer Joe Nathan, scoring 2 runs in the ninth and giving Manny a chance to hit #498 and steal a win from the Twins... but that didn't happen.

Crisp had the biggest day, going 2-5 with a homer, a triple, 3 RBI and a steal, but Ortiz, Youkilis, Drew and Cash also had 2-hit games... and Alex Cora went 3-4 in his return to the bigs, while filling in at SS for Lugo.

Bottom Line: The Sox can split the series tonight and with the Ray just 1.5 games back so the Sox need a win.

Manny Ramirez: Not Such A "Bad Man"

After a ton of hype about his new off season workouts with the Athlete's Performance group in Arizona, Manny Ramirez had a red-hot start to the 2008 season that had him batting .370 on April 25th with 6 home runs and 20 RBI.

Since then, the self proclaimed "bad man" (see below) has gone into a bit of a funk. Last night's pinch hit ground out in the 9th was just the latest in a series of disappointing at-bats for Manny... and for red Sox Nation.

Tim Wakefield put the Sox in a 5-0 hole in the second inning last night, but the Sox chipped away throughout the game and found themselves with a the tying run at first base in the 9th. Manny had been given the night off to rest a sore leg, but with the game on the line, Tito called his number and Manny headed to the plate, no doubt looking for #498... and the game winning hit.

Coco Crisp would steal second on the first pitch, making it even easier for Manny to tie the game, but Manny would ground out to the short stop, ending the rally and dropping his batting average under .300 for the first time since April 15th to .299.

Even tough it's hard to imagine Manny tweaking him hammy while "running to first" on Saturday, he clearly needed a day off - for whatever reason.

Since posting back-to-back 3-5 games on April 24th and 25th, Manny has gone 9 for his last 52 (.173) with just 2 doubles, one home run and 4 RBI. He's also struck out 16 times, while earning a walk just 7 times during that span.

Manny's stats: .299, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 24 R are respectable, but his 40 strikeouts and .257 BA with runners in scoring position are a little alarming. Manny didn't rack up 40 K's until mid-June last year and his career BA w/ RISP is an amazing .327... just a few points better than the current .257...

So what's up with Manny?

Some would say that he's pressing to reach the 500 HR mark... Others would tell me to chill out and remember that Manny always gets his 30 HRs and 100 RBI in the end... Personally, I think it's the first option. He's not going to admit it, but Manny's already admitted that reaching the 500 HR mark means alot to him. Once he gets there, I expect him to go back to being a great hitter and stop swinging for the fences so often.

Who's On Deck?

It’s Sunday again, and that means it’s time to take a look at “Who’s On Deck” for the Red Sox this week.

The Red Sox will wrap up a four game set in Minnesota to start the week, followed by a two game set with the Baltimore Orioles. They’ll get Thursday off before hosting the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend in our first taste of inter-league action this year.

So what do we know about the O’s?

Despite the fact that most expected the Orioles to be fighting with an improved Rays team for last place in the AL East, the Orioles came out guns-a-blazin’ in April and won 15 of their first 26 games (0.57 W%). However, as of May 11th, the O’s have won just 3 of their last 10 – and two of those wins happened on May 8th and 9th against the Royals.

Perhaps a trip to K.C. was just what the Orioles needed, but a day off before and after the two game set with Boston, might just cool off this overachieving squad.

The off days will make it difficult to predict who the Red Sox will face in Baltimore, but right now it looks like Daniel “Wild Thing” Cabrera and Steve “4.35 career ERA” Traschel.

Cabrera has a history with the Red Sox, the last incident of which involved Coco Crisp dancing a balk out of Cabrera and frustrating him enough to then throw a fastball behind Dustin Pedroia – resulting in a bench clearing brawl.

Cabrera has always been wild and brash, but after two mediocre starts to open the season, the Orioles “ace” has gone 6+ innings in every start and has not allowed more than 3 runs in any of them – in fact, he only allowed 3 run once in a loss to the Angels.

He’s 3-1 with a 3.54 ERA on the year and has recently cut down on the walks: 3 in his last 16.1 IPs, while fanning 13 over that span. His last time out was a complete game win over the Royals in which he gave up just 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7.

But before you get worried that “Wild Thing” Cabrera has changed for the better, keep in mind that he has given up 12 earned runs in 3 starts at home this year and owns a 5.08 ERA at Camden Yards. He’s also just 1-9 with a 7.84 ERA against Boston…

Interestingly, Alex Cora, who will likely be back with the Sox by Monday, has a team leading 20 at-bats against Cabrera and is 11-21 (.550) with a double, a triple and a home run. Julio Lugo is just 3 for 19, so Cora my get the start…

Manny has also struggled against Cabrera (.200 BA) but does have 3 RBI… the red-hot tandem of Youkilis (.308) and Lowell (.500) have had success against “Wild Thing” - so look for them to do some damage On Monday.

As for Traschel, he’s 2-4 with a 6.75 ERA… A win over KC on the 9th broke a 5 game winless streak for the veteran righty. But has he turned the corner? Since he didn’t make it into the 4th inning in 3 of his 7 starts… I’m gonna say no.

Traschel is the master of the no decision. He went 3 for 3 against the Red Sox in 2007 and took an “ND” in 8 of 12 starts at Camden last year – posting a 3-1 record and a 3.65 ERA.

Another interesting factoid – With 15 years in the bigs, Traschel has faced 29 of the 30 ML teams. He’s done the best against the Sox, posting a 2.10 ERA in 4 starts.

Offensively, the guys to look out for are kinda obvious:

OF Nick Markakis: He recently swapped placed in the order with Melvin Mora, sliding to the #3 spot for the O’s; He’s batting .279 with 7 HRs, 25 runs scored and 6 steals; He’s also 6 for his last12 with 5 runs, a grand slam and 3 RBI in his last three games.

2B Brian Roberts: Roberts has been of to a slow start with the bat. He’s batting just .252 at the top of the Orioles order, but he does has 11 steals on the year; The switch-hitting speedster owns a dismal .232 ERA against the Sox, but he’s 5 for 17 with a homer and 3 steals against Beckett – who should be the starter on Monday.

1B Kevin “El Bencho” Millar: Millar’s stats aren’t pretty (.224, 4 HR, 16 RBI) for a #5 hitter, but they could be worse… The fun part will be watching him when guys like Manny reached first base.

After the first of their two off days this May, the Sox will return home to host the Milwaukee Brewers. Since that won’t happen until the weekend here are a few quick hits on the Brew Crew:
Pitching

Eric Gagne leads the league with 5 blown saves, He’s got 9 saves on the year with a 6.14 ERA. Ex-Pirates closer Solomon Torres could start to see more 9th inning duties…

Ben Sheets is 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA, but the rest of the Brewers starters have struggled: Suppan (1-2, 5.22, 7 GS), Manny Parra (1-2, 5.79, 7 GS), Carlos Villanueva (1-4, 6.46, 7 GS) and Dave Bush (0-4, 6.98, 5 GS)... and their best young arm Yovanni Gallardo is expected to have knee surgery.

Offense

Prince Fielder hit his 5 home run of the year on Saturday. He had 50 in 2007. He’s off to a slow start overall (.253 BA), but he is notoriously streaky – he hit homers in back to back games 11 times last year and seems to hit them in bunches.

Last year’s NL ROTY Ryan Braun has moved from 3B to the outfield. He’s batting just .264, but has 5 homers and 23 RBI. With Fielder’s production down and Bill Hall’s fall from grace (.270, 35 HR in ’06 - .206, 7 HR in ’08) Braun has been solid in the middle of the lineup, but he’ll need some help from the aforementioned, as well as 2B Rickie Weeks and SS J.J. Hardy if the Brew Crew want to contend loaded NL Central.

OF Cory Hart is a favorite of mine. He leads the team with a .294 BA and is second only to Fielder in OBP (.357). He’s only got 4 steals on the year, but he can run.

This week will feature a couple of returning fan favorites. We’ll see Millar in Baltimore and then Gabe Kapler will return to Boston for the weekend. Kapler’s amazing return to the bigs and hot start has been well documented. He’s since cooled off, but is still batting .290 on the season, but the return of CF Mike Cameron my keep “Kap” on the bench…

Bottom Line: The May schedule is a welcome break for the Red Sox. The O’s appear to be slipping back to where we expected them to be and the Brewers are having some big time issues right now. The Sox should be able to take at least 3 of 5 from these two clubs – but I foresee a sweep of the O’s and 2 of 3 from the Brewers.

Who will go when Cora and Casey return?

The Red Sox are currently carrying 13 pitchers and on three extra bench players: Kevin Cash, Jed Lowrie and Coco Crisp.

Sean Casey and Alex Cora will both play their final games with Pawtucket tonight, begging the question: Who is gonna lose their spot?

Alex Cora and Sean Casey will finish their rehab assignments today with Pawtucket. Then the Red Sox will need to decide on how to make room for them on the big league roster.

We all know Lugo isn't going anywhere, and with Lowrie coming back to earth after a strong start, it seems obvious that he will be heading back to Rhode Island to make room for Cora.

I have no problems with Cora, even his .242 BA over the past 2 seasons, but it may be time for the Sox to cut bait here... unfortunately I don't see that happening mid-season...

As for Casey, my guess is Craig Hansen will head back to Pawtucket for the second time. Both he and Lowrie seem ready for the bigs, but there simply isn't room for them.

Julian Tavarez is the only option for long relief, so he needs to stay. And Javier Lopez seems to be guaranteed a job for some reason, so Hansen maybe spending alot of time on RT 95 this year while he waits for a permanent bullpen spot to open up.

Bottom Line: Both guys will be in Boston in September, but I think both can help the club now - they just need a trade or injury to open up a spot.

Game 37: Youkilis homers again, Beckett K's 8

Red Sox 5
Tigers 1

As if anything more could go wrong for Julio Lugo right now... He was the only Red Sox player not to get a hit in last night's 5-1 win. Ellsbury, Ortiz and Mike Lowell each had two and Coco Crisp had three, starting in center with Ellsbury replacing Manny in left.

The Sox got 4 straight hits from Lowell, Drew, Varitek and Crisp to start the 2nd, and Ellsbury finally gave Verlander an out with a sac fly to center. When the smoke cleared Verlander had given up 3 runs on four hits, hit Julio Lugo, and threw a wild pitch.

The only other offense the Red Sox would get was another home run from Kevin Youkilis. He now has 5 in his last 5 games.

While the Tigers "ace" continued to struggle, Josh Beckett mowed down the Tigers, fanning 8 (Granderson 4 times) and allowing just 1 run over 7 innings - just what the Red Sox needed from their ace.

A good sign - Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen each worked an inning and didn't implode. Hansen retired the heart of the Tigers order, getting Polanco and Gullien to ground out and Ordonez to pop out to second. And MDC closed out the win by retiring the first three batters he faced and fanning Cabrera.

Bottom Line: The Red Sox are done with the Tigers and took the season series 5 games to 2. It's hard to guess what will happen with the Tigers going forward, but I expected the Red Sox to split these game at best, so Red Sox Nation should be very pleased.

BL Hero: Josh Beckett probably deserves the Award for shutting down the Tigers the night after they appeared to wake up... but this was a team effort - so I'm going to give the whole team the BL Hero award today...

Even Lugo 'cause he got hit by a pitch.

Red Sox v Tigers Preview: Game 4

Both offenses refused to give in last night and the pitchers paid for it. The Tigers bullpen has been drained in this series, but both clubs will be hoping for long, solid outings from their aces tonight...

Josh Beckett (3-2, 4.19)
Last Start: 8.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K - W against Tampa Bay
versus Detroit: 0-1 in one start, gave up 5 runs on 6 hits over 6 innings at Fenway in 2006.
Match-up to Watch: Magglio Ordonez had 3 hits last night, but is 0-2 with a walk lifetime vs Beckett.

Josh Beckett has won three of his last four starts and has gone 7+ in three of them. The Sox will be looking for another strong outing from their ace tonight. Most of the Tigers have limited at-bats against Beckett, but last night's hero, Placido Polanco has seen him 16 times... he's only manged 3 hits (.188).

Justin Verlander (1-5, 6.28)
Last Start: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, HR, 2 BB, 5 K - L against the Twins
at Comerica: 19-9 with a 3.89 ERA
Match-up to Watch: Kevin Youkilis is 3-7 (.429) with a home run against Verlander

Verlander has been struggling this season, but much like many of the Tiger starters, he has not received much run support (2.8 runs per start). If you take away the 10 runs they scored against Texas, the Tigers have only scored more than 2 runs one once for their ace... That said, Verlander has given up 4+ runs in 6 of his 7 starts, so he can't blame the offense entirely.

He did seem to turn the page in his last outing, giving up 4 runs over 7 innings and fanning 6 in a 4-1 loss to the Twins. The offense let him down again, but that was a good start compared to the others... and he's 19-9 at home, so tonight coould be another step in the right direction.

Like Beckett with the Tigers, the Sox haven't seen much of Verlander. The Match-up yo Watch will be when the red hot Youkilis comes to bat. Yuke is 9 for his last 18 (.500) with 4 home runs... Big Papi is also 2-4 with a home run and two walks against Verlander.

Bottom Line: If you had told me on April 1st that the Sox would take 5 of 7 from the Tigers this year I would have laughed... but they can do just that tonight.

Papelbon kills water cooler instead of Julio Lugo

Game 36: The unstoppable Polanco hits game winner

Red Sox 9
Tigers 10

The Tigers offense finally woke up last night and Clay Buchholz paid the price. Buchholz and Galarraga went toe-to-toe for two innings, keeping two of the league's best offenses quiet, but the Tigers broke it open their second time through the lineup, putting 4 runs on the board in the 3rd.

Youkilis would get the Sox back in the game with a 2-run home run, but the Tigers responded with another run in the 5th and chased Buchholz from the game. Julian Tavarez took over and gave up 3 more runs, and it looked like the game was lost.

But Mike Lowell launched a 3-run homer in the 7th to tie the game at 8-8 and then Dustin Pedroia drove in the go-ahead run in the 8th as a pinch hitter for Lowrie.

It looked like another dramatic win for the Red Sox and another frustrating loss for the Tigers when Okajima and Vartiek got a strike 'em out - throw 'em out play to end the 8th, but Papelbon just didn't have it last night...

Rookie Matt Joyce reached first on a check swing single to short and then Renteria reached on a Julio Lugo error (surprise!). I-Rod sacrificed the two men into scoring position and the Sox were forced to give up the tying run on a sacrifice ground out by Granderson.

Papelbon struggled to get ahead of the hitters throughout all of this and he fell behind Polanco as well. Polanco was 4-4 on the night and is a contact guy, so when Paps tried to go inside, Polanco broke his bat and sent a floater over Lugo's head - driving in the winning run.

Bottom Line: The Tigers deserved to win and the Red Sox deserved to lose. The Tigers have a long way to go, but you knew they wouldn't stay this quiet.

BL Hero: Placido Polanco went 5-6 with 2 rns, 3 RBI and the game winner.

Notes: Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell combined to go 5 for 10 with 3 home runs, 6 RBI and 4 runs... Manny Ramirez went 0-4 with a walk... Dustin Pedroia is now 4-6 (.667 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI as a pinch hitter.

Red Sox v Tigers Preview: Game 3

Tim Wakefield shut down the Tigers last night and lead the Red Sox to their 5th straight win. Clay Buchholz will look to keep the momentum going tonight, but you have to wonder if and when the Tigers are gonna snap out of it...

Clay Buchholz (2-2, 3.71)
Last Start: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K - W versus Tampa Bay

Buchholz has never faced the Tigers, so the stats are limited. He has faced the Yankees twice already, and they feature a similarly powerful lineup... Clay took a no decision in both of those game and was particularly bad in the 15-9 loss, in which he gave up 7 runs in just 3.2 innings.

Since then, he's given up just 3 runs in 19.1 innings with 21 strikeouts... but that was against Texas and Tampa Bay...

Match-up to Watch: Curtis Ganderson and Placido Polanco did not faior well against Wake, but a they are the only Tigers doing much of anything at the plate right now - Polanco had a 7 game hitting streak snapped by Wake and Granderson is currently riding a 4 game streak - they've had 6 multi-hit games between the two of them during that span.

Armando Galarraga (2-1, 1.87)
Last Start: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R (2 earned), 2 BB, 2 K - L versus Minnesota

Galarraga has been the Tigers best pitcher... but whatever is bothering the rest of the starters may have caught up with the youngster in his last outing. He gave up 4 runs over 6 innings, but only 2 of them were earned. Meanwhile, Livan Hernandez held the Tigers to one run over 7 innings and then the Tigers bullpen imploded for 7 runs.

That's been the storyline for the Tigers: Limited run support and crappy pitching. The Tigers will be hoping that Galarraga can play stopper tonight and right the ship.

Match-up to Watch: Kevin Youkilis is 7 for his last 13 with 2 HRs, 4 doubles and 7 RBI during a four game hitting streak.

Bottom Line: The Red Sox have the momentum right now and even if the Tigers make a game of it tonight... Josh Beckett will restore order on Thursday.

Manny hits home run # 497

Manny Ramirez moved one step closer to 500 home runs last night. He hit his 497th of his career off of Freddy Dolsi, after David Ortiz sent Nate Robertson to the showers with a 7th inning home run.

It was the 47th time the dynamic duo have hit dingers in the same game.

Manny's last home run came 15 games ago on April 19th. His batting average reache .370 ahortly after that, but then begane to slip as April winded down, and many were speculating that he was pressing for #500...

“I’m not worried about it,” Ramirez said. “Like I was talking with LMontro (hair stylist), he said, ‘Manny, when are you going to hit 500?’ I told him, ‘Eh, I’ll hit it this year.’ And then I said, ‘Hey, if I hit my 500 home runs this week are they going to pick up my two ($20 million contract) options?’ We both laughed.

“I’m going to do it this year, so I just relax. I’m going to hit eventually, so why do I have to do it this week? You know what, if I do hit 500 I’m still going to have to hit 497 (which he did), 498 and 499. It will happen.”

Now he's just 3 ding-dongs away. He'll face an unkown in Armando Galarraga tonight and Justin Veralnder on Thursday. He's never seen Galarraga and is just 1 for 6 with 2 strikeouts against Verlander... But Verlander is struggling and has surrended a home run in 6 of his 7 starts this season...

Game 35: Wakefield blanks Tigers; Red Sox win 5 straight

Red Sox 5
Tigers 0

Tim Wakefield - you are a mystery to me.

Trying to predict a Tim Wakefield pitching performance is - ironically - like trying to hit his knuckleball. With a 5.08 ERA at Comerica and Nate "just give us the 4 runs now" Robertson as the opposing pitcher, I predicted a slugfest in yesterday's post.

Instead, the Red Sox got exactly what they needed from Wakefield: 8 shutout innings, 2 H, 6 Ks and the W. Dice-K's 8 walk performance on Monday cost Tito the use of Oki and Paps, but Wake's stellar outing enabled him to call on Timlin for the save and keep the bullpen rested.

JD Drew, who I did mention has good numbers against Robertson, got the scoring started in the 2nd with an RBI single, but the surprise of the night was Kevin Cash's 3-4, RBI performance from the 9th spot. He's now batting .361 on the season... Mirabeli who?

Ortiz and Manny would go back-to-back in the 7th to put the nail in the coffin.

Bottom Line: The Sox have rebounded nicely from a that rough patch in late April. They've won five in a row and have Buchholz and Beckett wrapping up the series... Things are looking up.

BL Hero: Tom Wakefield. He made the Tigers offense look foolish and kept the bullpen fresh - what more can you ask for.

“You’ve got to sit knuckleball, because that’s been his bread and butter,” Curtis Granderson said. “But when he’s throwing the other pitches for strikes, it makes it even tougher.”

Damn straight.

Red Sox v Tigers Preview

Tim Wakefield will square off with Nate Robertson tonight. These two went head-to-head in the last series as well - a game the eventually got ugly when the bullpens were called. Wake walked 5 over 5 innings, but gave up just 3 hits and 2 runs to the then struggling Tigers, and secured the victory. Robertson gave up 4 runs - all in the 4th - and then the Tiger's bullpen collapsed and the Sox won 12-6.

Tim Wakefield
Last Start: 7.0 IP, 6 H, 4 BB, 3 ER, HR, 0 K, W
in Comerica: 2-3 in 5 starts with a 5.08 ERA
Match-up to Watch: Magglio Ordonez is 15-35 (.429) with 2 HRs, 5 doubles and 8 RBI against Wakefield... He's only whiffed twice and has 3 stolen bases as well.

Wake has allowed just 2.8 runs per game so far this year, but is only 2-1 in six starts. The Sox have not scored much for him - if you take out the 12-6 over Detroit in which 8 runs were scored after the start of the 7th - the Sox average just 3.6 R/G for Timmy.

Given his history at Commerica, lets hope the Sox keep up this 8 R/G pace they've kept going since Friday - cause Wake's gonna need it.

Nate Robertson
Last Start: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, HR, 3 K, W
vs Boston: 2-4 in 8 starts with a 6.46 ERA
Match-up to Watch: Coco Crisp actually lead the way with a .281 BA, 2 homers, 5 RBI and 4 walks against Robertson. Coco got the start over Ellsbury last time we saw Nate, so I expect the same tonight...

Robertson has lived up to his averages so far this year. He's allowed 4 or 5 earned runs in all 6 of his starts... resulting in just one win - the one he got against the Yankees his last time out.

Robertson gives Manny (.214 in 14 ABs) and Ortiz (.136, 7 Ks in 22 ABs) trouble so it will be up to the red hot Kevin Youkilis (.333 w/ 2 HRs), Mike Lowell (.300), Tek (.364 w/ a HR) and Drew (3-3 in last game vs NR) to put some runs on the board for Wakefield.

Bottom Line: The Tigers need a win right now and if Wake has an off day, they could pounce... I predict a slugfest tonight.

Schilling to start throwing; Renegotiates contract

Curt Schilling says the rehab program the Red Sox put him on appears to be working and he plans to start throwing for the first time in months today.

"Nothing has happened in the last three months to lead me to believe they were wrong. But if this is a climb of a mountain, I'm still at the base of that mountain. But it certainly gives me some insight, a better feel of where I am physically. Until I start throwing, none of this is going to have any carryover."

Schilling has also worked out a deal with the Red Sox to tweak the contract he signed in the off season:

Goron Edes - "At his suggestion, he said, the team has dropped the weight clauses in his contract that could have tacked on an extra $2 million to his $8 million deal, and are reworking his deal so that he could earn the money through performance-based bonuses."

There's no timetable for Schilling return, but there is still a chance he could pitch this year...

"We're closer to the point," Schilling said, "where we'll know whether this worked or not. Until we push it a little and I start throwing, we won't know."

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Game 34: Matsuzaka rolls dice vs Tigers and wins

Red Sox 6
Tigers 3

Daisuke Matsuzaka dares you to score on him... he'll even help you out with a few walks... or eight...

Facing one of the scariest lineup in the league last night, Dice-K chose to nibble at the strike zone for 5 innings, rather than challenge the likes of Maglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Gullien.

It took 109 pitches and 8 walks, but when Matsauzaka handed the ball over to the bullpen, he had given up just 2 hots and 1 run and was set to win his 5 game with a 4-1 lead.

The bullpen would do their job and secure the victory, but Diasuke's "nibbling" is eventually going to hurt the bullpenand the team. After starting the 2008 season with a more aggressive approach, Matsuzaka has fallen back into his old routine - resulting in average of 5.7 IPs per outing. In the April 1st start against the A's and the April 89th start against the Tigers, Matsuazaka used the fastball often and stayed ahead of the batters. The result: 16 Ks and 6 2/3 IPs in each game.

Since then he's never fanned more than 4 batters in a game and he's barely made it into the 6th innning in three of his last four starts - See Game Log.

Lucky for Daisuke, the Red Sox offense keeps on rolling. Mike Lowell had a big game, hitting his first home run on 2008 and Ortiz and Youkilis each hit homers as well.

Bottom Line: The Sox won their 4th in a row. Dice-K won his 5th game without a loss. But the Sox will likely be without Okajima, Papelbon and Hansen tonight, which means the Tigers will get a look at the struggling Timlin, Delcarmen and Lopez if Wake gets beat up early...

BTW - Wake is 2-3 with a 5.08 ERA at Comerica Park and once gave up 6 homers in one game there... although he did get the 11-9 win.

BL Hero: Mike Lowell appears to be back on track. He went 3-5 with a HR, 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, and would have had his 2nd ding-dong of 2008 if Comerica wasn't the size of Texas...

Photo: Yahoo!

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Weekend Update: Offense Returns, Sox Sweep Rays

Friday

Red Sox 7
Rays 3

Saturday

Red Sox 12
Rays 4

Sunday

Red Sox 7
Rays 3

After scoring just four runs in their last five games, the Red Sox entered the weekend with a three game set against the Rays. Despite having to face the Rays' best starters: Jackson, Shields and Kazmir, the Red Sox offense started clicking again.

On Friday Clay Buchholz out pitched Edwin Jackson and Brandon Moss started a 5-run 4th with his second ML homer of the year. Pedroia has 3 hits and 3 RBIs while the bottom of the line up: Moss (2-4, HR, 2 R RBI), Varitek (2-4, 2B, R, RBI) and Lugo (2-3, 2B, 2 R, BB) did most of the damage. Strangely, Manny went 0-5 with three strikeouts.

BL Hero: Dustin Pedroia drove in the first run of the game. Then he drove in two more with 2 outs in the 4th, snuck into 2nd on the throw to the plate and scored on Ortiz's single.

On Saturday, Manny would redeem himself. James Sheilds, who threw a complete game 2-hitter against the Sox in his last start, would be chased after 3 2/3. He gave up 7 runs and 10 hits.

Ortiz and Manny got it started driving in a pair of runs in the first after an RBI double from Big Papi. But the entire offense would ignite before this one was through... Every starter had at least one hit and Ellsbury, Pedroia, Ortiz and Drew all had multi-hit games.

Meanwhile, Josh Beckett turned in another solid outing, going 8 innings and fanning 5.

BL Hero: David Ortiz had two doubles and two RBI on three hits - pushing his average over the .200 mark (.216) for the first time in 2008.

Then on Sunday, the Sox had a chance to return the favor and sweep the Rays. They did not watse it. They had to beat lefty Sox killer Scott Kazmir in his return from the DL, and they did - chasing him after just 4 innings and tagging him for 4 runs (3 earned). Meanwhile, Jon Lester settled down after a shaky start and pitched six solid innings while striking out 5.

The Red Sox were running on Sunday. The successful converted the double steal twice, giving Ellsbury 2 swipes on the day while Pedroia, Lugo and Crisp ran the tally to 5 on the day.

But the BL Hero of the day was Kevin Youkilis, who filled in for David Ortiz in the #3 spot by driving in 4 runs with a homer and 2 doubles... he was more Papi than Papi himself has been this season!

Notes: Yuke was 4 for his last 33 before his big day on Sunday... Buchholz has allowed 3 run or fewer in 5 of his 6 starts, and is now 2-2 with a 3.71 ERA... After 4 straight NDs, Jon Lester earned his second win of the season and is 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA... Craig Hansen will rejoin the big league club today, taking Brandon Moss's spot on the roster while he recovers from and appendectomy... After going just 1 for his last 20, Dustin Pedroia has come alive going 7-14 (.500) with 5 RBI, 4 runs and a stolen base.

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Game 30: Four Hits!? What's wrong with the offense?

Red Sox 0
Blue Jays 3

AJ Burnnett limited the Red Sox to just 3 hits, while walking 5 and fanning 5 through 7 2/3 innings. Burnett is now 4-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 5 starts against Boston.

Tim Wakefield was good, giving up just 3 runs through 7 innings, but the Red Sox offense was unable to give him any support.

David Ortiz beat the shift twice, going 2-4 on the night and raising his BA to .196. Other than that the Sox were thwarted at every turn:

2nd: Moss, Crisp and Lowrie wasted a lead off double by Lowell
3rd: Pedroia and Yuke wasted a lead off walk by Cash
4th: Moss was the victim of an amazing play by 2B Aaron Hill, killing a lead off single by Ortiz and a walk by Manny.
6th: Ortiz and Manny both reach with one out, but Lowell and Moss can't drive them in.
7th & 8th: The Sox go 1-2-3 in both innings - killing any hopes of more late game heroics.

BL Hero: Alex Rios -- 3-5, 2 R, RBI, HR.

Bottom Line: When your best offensive moment happens after the umps call a balk on the last pitch of the game... you know you need to buy somebody a bucket of KFC to wake up the bats...

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Grade the Red Sox

The wild ride through the first month of the season is officially over.

The Red Sox are 17-12 and lead the AL East, just ahead of the Rays and Orioles.

They also lead the AL with a .282 team BA and are second in the league only to the Cubs (.286) - do I smell some foreshadowing? In the same fashion the Red Sox lead the AL in hits (278), just one behind the league leading Cubbies (279).

Despite a very slow start the Detroit Tigers lead teh AL wil 142 runs. The Angels (140) and Red Sox (136) round out the top three in that category and the Cubbies lead the way in the NL with a whopping 171.

David Ortiz hit his fifth home run and 3rd in five games, but other than Manny the Red Sox have been quite when it comes to the long ball. Their 24 ding-dongs puts them in the middle of the pac, while the White Sox (36) Tigers (32) and Rangers (29) lead the AL...

The Sox are tied with the A's with 130 RBI, putting them just 7 behind the AL leading Tigers. They're also ranked just behind the Tigers (.355) in OBP at (.353).

The offensive numbers are okay, but the Red Sox have won 8 games in their final at-bat already this year and 20 of the 29 games were decided by 3 runs or less.

Those late game heroics have made the difference for a team that is ranked 10th out of 14 AL teams with a 4.32 ERA. Another concern is the 123 (12th) walks issued by Red Sox pitchers - only the Tigers and Rangers have walked more.

That said, Red Sox pitchers have fanned an AL best 213 batters so far this season. Diasuke has 32 through 6 games, while Beckett's 13 in his last outing earned him 2nd place with 29 through 4 starts. Buchholz ins 3rd with 27 and Paps has 20 as the closer.

Daisuke leads the team with a 2.52 ERA and ranks 6th in the AL. Unfortunately, Wake and Buchholz are the next closest with ERAs just over 4.00 and a combined record of 3-2. All of the close games have resulted in a 7-6 record for all Red Sox relievers - stealing 13 decisions away from the starters... but the 5 starters aren't really helping themselves when they average 5.9 innings per outing...

Bottom Line: A trip to Japan, a strain if the flu that took out most of the roster, and multiple injuries made April a wild month.

And the kids helped keep this team afloat. Jed Lowrie proved he can play in the bigs and pushed Julio Lugo out of a funk. Jacoby Ellsbury shined when given an everyday job. And even Justin Masterson snuck up to the Fens and pitched a gem.

The bullpen appears to be the number one concern. But overall the Sox are better off than most expected when the 2008 schedule was released.

Personally, I give them B+ for April.

How do you grade the Sox? Leave a comment and let us know what you think... I'll compile the info next week.

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Game 29: Different pitchers, same game...

Red Sox 2
Blue Jays 1

The Red Sox pulled off another last minute win last night beating the Blue Jays 2-3 with a Jason Varitek RBI single in the 9th.

Dustin McGowan (7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 5 K) went toe to toe with Daisuke (7 IP, 2 H, 4 K) for seven innings, but eventually made a mistake to David Ortiz... and Big Papi put that mistake into the right field seats.

Tito turned to Manny Delcarmen in the 8th but MDC allowed Adam Lind to reach and was quickly (and surprisingly) yanked for Okajima... Okie would give up a double to Greg Zaun and put two Jays in scoring position with no outs.

Alex Rios, who could of easily put the Jays up 3-1, merely hit a sac fly to tie the game before Okajima settled down and struck out Eckstien and Rolen to end the inning.

Toronto held off the Sox in the 8th and Papelbon did his job in the 9th... along with another great play from Pedroia to end the inning... dejavu...

Then Ortiz opened the bottom of the 9th with a single and Manny worked a walk, thwarting his chances at #497 again. This time Tito did replace Ortiz with Jed Lowrie, but Mike Lowell would strike out looking... leaving Brandon Moss and Jason Varitek...

Moss would hit a Yuke-like single up the middle, but Vernon Wells was up to the task and gunned out Lowrie at home plate. With Manny opting to stay at second, it looked like extra innings were on the way, but another single up the middle from The Captain enabled Manny to beat Wells' second throw to the plate - and the Sox pulled another win out after getting just 4 hits through 8 innings.

BL Hero: Like yesterday, I'll give this to Dice-K and Vartiek.

Bottom Line: My April Prediction was almost dead on... and I think it's worth noting that the main point of the post was that Fenway Park = success for the Red Sox. They are now 11-4 at home and just 6-8 on the road... but the Sox will play just 11 home games in May with 18 road games and just two days off...

Notes: Matsuzaka has allowed just 20 hits in six starts covering 35 2-3 innings this season... Ortiz’s homer snapped Boston’s streaks of 39 innings without an extra-base hit and 44 innings without a homer... J.D. Drew also sat out with tightness in his left thigh that forced him out of Tuesday’s game in the fourth. “He is not worse,” Francona said of Drew, “but not good enough to send him out there.”

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