Panic in the Manager's Office?

Tonight's line-up is out, and Terry Francona has made a couple of changes. Let's take a look at it:

1) JD Drew - RF
2) Pedroia - 2B
3) Ortiz - DH
4) Youkilis - 3B
5) Bay - LF
6) Kotsay - 1B
7) Crisp - CF
8) Cash - C
9) Lowrie - SS

Drew has replaced Ellsbury at the top of the order, while Crisp has replaced Ellsbury in CF. Ellsbury has been struggling, as he was 0 for his last 20 ABs dating back to Game 3 of the ALDS when he doubled in the 5th inning. Obviously, some sort of change was needed, but I wouldn't call this Panic. It looks like I like to ask questions in my titles and answer no to them. Haha.

Anyway, Drew batted lead-off 8 times early in the season. He batted .172 (5-29) from the lead-off hole. However, he did walk an impressive 10 times, for a respecatble OBP of .385.

We knew that Varitek would be sitting today, as Kevin Cash is Tim Wakefiled's personal catcher. However, we shouldn't expect anything from his bat.

Finally, the Sox will be calling in a Dirt Dog from season's past as the Red Sox Insider is reporting in his blog that Trot Nixon, THE DIRT DOG, will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch tonight. WELCOME BACK TROT.




Go Sox!

Time to Panic?

It’s been a busy week, both for me and for baseball. Sorry for the absence of posts, however, I was helping the little woman prepare the house for a party in celebration of our daughter’s 1st Birthday / Baptism which took place on Sunday. The event was a success, while the Patriots game later that night was not a success.

Anyway, a lot has happened. The Phillies are on the verge of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1993 (oh Mitch Williams, your redemption may come) after taking a 3 – 1 series lead over the Dodgers. Game 3 of the series provide a weak attempt at recreating the Red Sox – Rays brawl from this summer. It was another humorous square dancing event, rather than a fight.

Meanwhile, our beloved Red Sox started out great, shutting out the Rays in Game 1 behind a great pitching performance by Dice-K. Red Sox fans had visions of a 3 game to zero lead in their head with Beckett and Lester to follow, but the Rays bats through in a monkey wrench. Tampa’s offense came alive with back-to-back games of 9 runs, bashing 7 HRs in the processes, reducing Beckett and Lester to the likes of John Wasdin and Matt Young (minus the walks).

Meanwhile (I feel like the narrator from the old Batman TV series with all of these meanwhiles), the Red Sox lumber have seem to take an extended slumber. Aside from Pedroia (.545), Youkilis (.429), and Bay (.455) not another batter is batting above .250. Ellsbury, Ortiz, and Varitek are all hitless in the series.

Should we be worrying? History says no. We all remember 2004, down 3 games to zero to the Yankees, don’t we? How about 2007 where we were down 3 games to 1 to the Indians and had to face their 2 best pitchers in games 6 and 7? So, being down 2 games to 1 while troublesome, is not worrisome on the whole.

Tonight, we have Tim Wakefield slated to start against Andy Sonnanstine in Game 4. In 3 starts this season versus TB, Wakefield is 0-2 with a 5.87 ERA. The Red Sox have lost all 3 of those games. Sonnanstine, in 2 starts, is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has given up only 7 hits, 2 walks and 2 Unearned runs in 13 innings while Tampa has won both of those games. So, looking at those numbers, it doesn’t look good for tonight.

However, so far in these 3 games, nothing has really gone as anticipated. I mean, how many people predicted that Jacoby Ellsbury and David Ortiz would combine for zero hits and 1 RBI in the 3 games? Would you be surprised if Wakefield went 8 innings of 3 hit baseball? Well, maybe! There is still lots of baseball to be played, and lots of thing could be happen. That one thing that would truly be surprising, though, is if Ortiz finishes the series still without a hit.

Go Sox!

Boredom Sets In

Well, since the Sox beat the Angels last night in an incredibly exciting game (I guess if you aren't an Angels fan) and the Rays beat the pale hose that leaves me bored. Tonight could have been game 5 of either the Cubs-Dodgers series or Brewers-Phillies series, but know luck there. Thus, I am left without any baseball to watch not only tonight, but tomorrow.

"Wouldn't that leave you with the opportunity to watch history in the making, Greg?", you ask. Well, there is only one thing that I hate more than politics...

Holy '70's leisure suits, Batman. Somebody not only needs to help Craig Sager (you didn't think I was going to talk about Kevin Youkilis, did ya?) with his wardrobe, but please somebody help him with sideline reporting. He is probably the worst aspect of the TBS coverage. Just think, we'll probably get 7 more games of him and TBS as they cover the ALCS, but we will get a break from TBS with the NLCS on Fox.

Anyway, I do, actually, like how TBS was able to get James Woods to do some color commentary during the post season. He must be happy to get work after having his series, Shark, canceled by CBS. Seriously, though, am I the only one who thinks Ron Darling's voice is a dead ringer for James Wood's voice?

Enough about TBS. Seriously, I am bored and a presidential debate is not the cure for boredom in my book. Not only that, but because of this debate, there is no Fringe, no Mentalist, no Without a Trace (Tuesday seems to be a busy night TV wise), only NCIS that isn't getting pre-empted. I guess, I'll just watch a few back-to-back-to-back Law and Order's on TNT (jeez, I can't seem to get away from these Turner channels) and then hit the sack or something and dream about baseball...which will be back on Thursday and then Friday.

Go Sox!

Red Sox - Angels Thoughts

- A bases clearing single? (the first in MLB post-season history)

- 2 HRs allowed? (1st HRs by allowed to RH batter since July)

- 27 runners LOB

- Beckett looking like Colon.

- K-Rod looking like...well, honestly K-Rod (had the 4th highest WHIP in MLB (2nd highest in AL) of relievers with 30 or more saves.

- 0 for 13 and 0 for 8. 20 - 39 (.513 AVG of Tex, Vlad, Hunter who combine for over half of the Angels 36 hits so far)

- 7 - 40 (.175 AVG of Pedroia, Papi, and Youk)

Just some interesting numbers, trends, and such.

Was Beckett rusty or is the oblique still causing trouble? This was the perfect situations for the Sox. Up 2 games to none. Their best post-season pitcher on the hill. Back home in Fenway park. Everybody though that tonight would be the clincher. However, the Angels showed why they had the best record in the majors, along with an 8-1 record against the Sox this season. The win was their 6th in a row at Fenway park.

Tonight, we have Lester against Lackey. Lester has been incredible at Fenway (11-1, 2.49 ERA) while Lackey, including his almost no-hitter versus the Sox at Fenway earlier this season, has a 2-4 record with a 6.34 ERA. This is a big game for the Sox, because I am not really looking forward to seeing Dice-K pitch again, especially to that Big 3. So, the question for tonight's game is which Lackey is going to show up? The battered Lackey from 2007 who blown up in Fenway or the Lackey from July, who lost a no-hitter and shut-out in the 9th thanks to Pedroia and Youk, but was UNTOUCHABLE up until then.

A final ominous sign from Buster Olney's blog over at ESPN.com:

"Mike Napoli hit two homers, and is just the sixth catcher ever to have a multi-homer game in the postseason. The previous five have all been on the team that won the World Series that year.

Multi-Home Run Postseason Game by Catcher
2008 - Mike Napoli (Angels)
2005 - AJ Pierzynski (White Sox)
1986 (aye curumba) - Gary Carter (Mets)
1976 - Johnny Bench (Reds)
1972 - Gene Tenace (A's)
1956 - Yogi Berra (Yankees)"

So, with that piece of info, maybe Chip Carey is right. The pressure is back on the Red Sox tonight. Haha.

Go Sox!

Young Guns

It is amazing the young talent we are seeing in this post-season. Evan Longoria hits home runs in his first 2 at-bats while going 3-3. Cole Hamels pitching 8 shut-out innings. Ellsbury doing it all in the field, at the plate, and on the base paths, just like last October. Lester going 7 strong innings. Ryan Braun putting the Brewers on his back to claim the Wild Card. Dustin Pedroia doing what he's been doing. These 6 guys are all 25 or under.

Then you have Alexi Ramirez, Prince Fielder, James Shields and more I am not thinking of. There just seem like a bunch of young players who are not only on the verge of being the games next superstars, but who are basking in the spotlight of October baseball.

It should make for a great October, no matter if you have a team in it or not.

Manny Who?

Jason Bay's 2-run homer in the 6th propelled the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory in Game 1 of the ALDS versus the Angels. The blast also had me saying "Manny Who?", as it sailed over the wall in left field. Chip Carey must have heard me, as he repeated the question on the TBS broadcast, but I'm sure it was sentiment echoed throughout Red Sox nation. Bay also doubled in the 8th to go 2-4 in his first post season game. I don't know how much pressure Bay really felt coming into this game, but while he is not Manny Ramirez, he is a more than suitable replacement for him. However, Bay was not the only hero on the night.


With is defense, at the plate, and on the base paths, Jacoby Ellsbury picked up where he left off last post-season. Ellsbury was 3-5 with a double, an rbi, a run scored, and 2 stolen bases. He lifted his average in the post-season from .360 to .400. However, the play of the night may have been his spectacular catch on Mark Teixeira's 8th inning blooper. That prevented the lead-off man from reaching, which proved especially important when Vladimir Guerrerro and Torri Hunter followed with singles. More on that later, though.


This could almost be a hockey blog, because the 3rd star of the night for the Sox was undoubtedly Jon Lester. He continued his ascension to becoming a #1 Ace with his performance tonight. 7 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run are the numbers for him. More importantly was the poise with which he performed. Unshakeable, he over came the rare Jed Lowrie error that extended the Angels 3rd, allowing Hunter to knock in the games first run. I thought (if you call yelling at the TV thinking) that Bay could have dove to catch Hunter's single, as it practically dropped at his feet, but I guess it was smart to be cautious. After that 3rd inning, Lester allowed just 3 singles over the last 4 innings. He retired the last 7 batters in a row he faced, striking out 4 of them. If Lester is going to continue to pitch like this during the post season, Boston is going to be a happy town.

While Ellsbury catch may have been the highlight of the night, the most important play of the night for the Red Sox may have been what happened right after that catch. Guerrero followed the catch with a line-drive single through the left side of the infield against Justin Masterson. On a 1-1 count to Torri Hunter, Masterson got him to pop-up. However, the ball just carried over the outstretched arm of Sox 1b Kevin Youkilis, dropping for a single. Guerrerro, without picking up the stop sign of 3rd base coach Dino Ebel, rounded second and headed for third base. Youkilis was quickly up with the ball and gunned down Guerrero at 3rd base by about 20 feet. Instead of having the Red Sox in a jam with runners on 1st and 2nd and one out, the Angels had a runner at 1st with 2 outs. Howie Kendrick followed with a ground (that may have been a double play ball if Guerrerro didn't get thrown out, but who knows) out to Lowrie at short, and the Sox had 3 outs left to get, which Jonathan Paplebon did by striking out the side in the 9th.

In their returns to the line-up, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew each went 0-4 with a strike out. A couple of Lowell's at bats were not typical Lowell at bats. So we'll see how both of these guys come back after Thursday's off-day when Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to pitch against Ervin Santana in what should be another pitchers duel. Only a 9:30pm start to that one, so hopefully I won't be up as late as last night. But it was worth it.

Go Sox!

Will He or Won't He?

We know if it was up to him, Mike Lowell would be on the playoff roster. However, the biggest decision heading into to tonights opening game between the Angels and Red Sox is if Lowell will be healthy enough to be on the roster.

The last time he played, it didn't look very promising. Lowell has been playing with a partially torn labrum in his hip. He was taken out of the game after his only at bat the last time he played against the Yankees on Friday.

Terry Francona has a big decision. If he does put Lowell on the roster, and Lowell is still not healthy enough to be a productive batter and fielder he will be down a man. Actually, if Lowell wasn't healthy enough or re-injured himself, the Sox could place him on DL and put another play on the roster for the series. However, in that case, Lowell would not be eligible for the ALCS if the Sox go on to defeat the Angels.

The post season roster is due to MLB in about 45 minutes, 1:00 pm EDT / 10:00 am PDT. I know I'll be waiting anxiously to see if Lowell is on the roster. A healthy Lowell is an integeral cog to the Red Sox line-up, both defensively and at the plate.

Hopefully, I'll be able to stay awake long enough to watch this whole game. Maybe Friday's game will be on a bit earlier.

Go Sox!