Byrd

Wet and Wild: Wake Blanks the Jays

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Quick entry here, folks. (Papers to write, homework to do, and TV to watch – juggling between football and baseball.) Wake rebounded in fantastic fashion last night going 8 strong shut-out innings.

Double header today, we start off with AJ Burnett (on short rest) against Paul Byrd, then the night game is Jesse Litsch against Bartolo Colon.

Just for grins and giggles, something to cheer you up so you don’t think about how we’re still 2 games behind Tampa Bay in the AL East:

First, there was riverdance.
Then, it was the rain delay video.
Now, it’s a whole other ballgame:

CHECK THIS OUT!

Byrd and Boston Soar to Win, but Brady’s Knee is a Big Loss

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The Red Sox won. The Rays lost. The Patriots won. I should be jubilant and obnoxiously happy as a write this, but as it stands, I have almost no joy.

According to wire reports from Yahoo and another site (both citing anonymous sources “close” to the Patriots) say Tom Brady has a torn ACL and will be out for the season. However, this is not from the Patriots as of yet, and could be the same “sources” who told the Boston Herald about the Ram’s walk-through being taped, which we all now know was wrong and unsubstantiated. There is no need to panic. I, for one, will not trust a report until it is coming from Bill B or Tommy or someone who I actually can see who said it. How can they know? He doesn’t have an MRI until tomorrow! So unless you have MRI-vision, oh “sources” of Yahoo, then how can you possibly know? Or are you going on the expertise of the Jets players (who are in Miami currently), who watched the play on TV and said he had a torn ACL?

Too much speculation. I remain optimistic until the official word has come down.

Okay, on to baseball.

Papi ended a 19-game homer-less streak. Yay. Lots to smile about here.

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David Ortiz after hitting a 2-run homer. Image found here

Varitek’s average has stayed in the high 220s for over two weeks now. That’s good news for him, it meas he’s probably closer to his old hitting self.

Ellsbury hit one and walked once (a totally clutch RBI hit with 2-out), Youk is back, Coco had an amazing night, and Byrd and co held the Rangers to 7 scoreless innings. The Rays, White Sox, Twins and Yankees all won, which does nothing but help the Sox in their wild card/AL east race.

PS…anyone notice that the Rays have dropped the past 3 games? They come to Fenway for a three game series, probable pitchers: Lester vs. Jackson. The Sox are hitting .308 against Jackson while the Rays are hitting just .250 against Lester. Should be an interesting game, especially with the AL East now squarely on the line and the Rays coming in having lost three, while the Sox come in having won the rubber match against Texas.

Bring on the Rays. God, if you can hear me, please, let Tommy be okay and let the Rays lose this next series.

Hey, God cares about sports too!

30 Days Has September…

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…and I think the Sox will be there (knock on wood and cross my fingers, do not be angered baseball gods!)

Right now, the Sox are 5 games back of the Rays, and 3 games ahead of the ChiSox/Twins (tied for the lead in the AL Central and for 2nd in the Wild Card) the Yankees, in 3rd for the Wild Card at 7 games back, still wait, ready to ruin someone’s playoff hopes. I know that they are not likely to make it to October, but they are the Yankees, and you can never say never.

A few good things are happening this week: the return of Josh Beckett (hopefully to last year’s sept-oct form), the possible (likely) return of Mike Lowell, and later we might see JD Drew, Colon, and maybe even Buchholz. Also, the Red Sox play mostly at home (even though it is against mostly decent teams), while the Rays, Yankees, White Sox and Twins play mostly on the road (Yay!). This might not necessarily make much of a difference, but it is a lot harder to win on the road and it’s a lot harder for the Sox to lose at home (it happens, but our chances of winning double when we play at home).

I just want to say how proud I am of the way they’ve played this year. The Red Sox have been through the ringer this year (not as bad as ’06, but not good) We lost Manny; Big Papi, Mike Lowell, JD Drew, Dice-K, Wake and Beckett have all had stints on the DL. Youk and Ellsbury have missed a smattering of games with random minor injuries and illness, Ellsbury has been having a hard time batting in the number 1 spot (his bat is inconsistent),  Lowrie, Pedroia,  Bailey, Casey, Youk, Lowell, Lugo, and Cora have all put in time in the infield, with only Pedroia playing daily at his spot. And to top it all off, the Captain has been like an automatic out at the plate (though he is hitting much better recently)

That’s all the bad that’s been the summer months of the 2008 season. Now for the good:

 
pedroiarun.jpg-JD Drew being Mr. June and winning MVP of the All-Star game (where the Sox were well represented)

 -Dustin Pedroia (pictured). Building on a fantabulous rookie season, Dustin has become an RBI machine, with an astounding on-base percentage and playing like he’s at home in every stadium. Excellent fielding, fast runner, and very good at adapting to other situations, he should be a candidate for MVP.

    -Jacoby Ellsbury. Despite his struggles with the bat this season, that boy has wheels. He
    steals bases like a kid snagging candy from a 7-11. He makes great catches, mostly
    because he can make it from one area of the outfield to another in seconds and goes for it     every time.

    -Jason Bay. JBay fits in at Boston like he was meant to play here. He hits, he makes
    plays, and most importantly: we have a left-fielder who’s play gets him more headlines than
    his attitude and his antics. (Sorry Manny, I will always love you, but I am looking forward to
    Bay playing all of September)

    -Jon Lester. In the years to come, he just might be the best pitcher in baseball. He threw a     no-hitter, he’s beaten cancer, and according to Varitek, who is an excellent judge in
    pitchers, we’ve only begun to see what he can do.
 
    -Bailey, Lowrie, and all the other new additions: The Paw-Sox were beastly this year. And     every time the Sox called up a player to the Show, they’ve done well. Especially Bailey and     Lowrie. (Lowrie has finally made Sox fans secure in who was playing at short. We weren’t     worried about the errors.) Plus the players we’ve added over the season, everyone has         been pulling their weight.

    -Youk. Kevin Youkilis should be the AL MVP this year. He’s played first, he’s played third,     he’s been an RBI machine. He’s moved into Manny’s spot and taken on the burden of             hitting after Papi. But don’t tell him about the MVP, he would much rather have a ring.


Now, to recap the game.

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Byrd hung in there to get his third win, but the O’s hung around until the last inning, threatening to take over, but Paps hung in there to notch another save. It was not a good night for the bats. We left 12 men on base. 12. Despite back to back HRs by Tek and Bailey, the Sox had a hard time producing with men in scoring position.
A W is a W and on a night where the Rays were idle, it was a good  win to make up some ground on the AL East leading youngsters.

A good night for Boston, despite a shaky performance. That game should have been a blow-out. Up tonight is  Lester vs. Liz.  Last time the Sox took on Liz, they hammered him, scoring eight runs and knocking Liz out of the game in the 3rd. Lester has had a shakier month in August compared to some of the other months he’s pitched, but his version of shaky is losing 2 decisions in six starts, and having one game where he didn’t go 6+ innings. He bounced back after that particular start to hold the Yanks to just 2 runs, walking none and striking out 8. He is 2-0 against the O’s this season.

As September gets going, look for the Sox to call up some players and have all their injured men come back from the DL, ready to make a strong push for October.

Rockin’ The House That Ruth Built

/ Sara / Leave a comment

One more. That’s it. Tomorrow will be the last game ever played by the biggest rivalry in the history of American sports. It is also conceivably the Yankee’s last chance to get a shot at October this year. They are now seven games out of the Wild Card race, and only four head-to-head games left with the Wild Card leading Red Sox.

The AL East remains the third tightest division in baseball (not counting the wild cards). The Mets and Phillies continue their tango, the Phillies losing tonight to fall .5 games behind the Mets, with Chicago getting hammered by the O’s tonight, the Twins moved to 1 game behind the ChiSox, and with a Tampa Bay win the Red Sox remain 3.5 games back on the Rays. While it is true that the Dodgers are only 3 games back on the D-Backs, Arizona has lost the past 4 and LA has lost the past 6 games. That race is going to come down to who sucks less, as both teams are hovering just above or just below .500. The streaking Cubbies have a secure 5.5 game lead on the streaking Brewers, but no one is more secure in their position than the Angels. Even if the A’s beat the Angel’s tonight, they will still be 19.5 games back, while the second place Texans will be a mere 15 games back on the almighty Las Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Lets talk Sox-Stripes, though.

Ponson got a little rocked and knocked out early. Ramirez and Marte held down the fort, Veras and Robertson got rocked. A game that was tied until the 5th and close at 4-2 until the 8th ended up with a score of 11-3. A solid start for Byrd, a good appearance for Delcarmen, and can we discuss what a beastly amazing team player Timlin is? He’s one of those guys who just quietly does his job, acting as a great veteran presence in a mostly young ‘pen.

Varitek continues to bring his batting average out of the gutter. Cora was the only Sox player not to get on base, but he hit a sac-fly, so I’m okay with that. Jason Bay was phenomenal with a triple and a double. He may not be Manny, but would Manny actually be playing as much as Bay has? Would he have as many RBIs? Would our stress levels be much higher? Pointless questions, moving on. Ellsbury had two hits tonight, in his spot at the top. Maybe he’s getting used to leading off. Youk, who is having a, dare I say it, MVP year, was his normal, beastly batting self. And my boy, (I have several) Dustin Pedroia hit his first grand slam to really pound the Yanks in the 8th.

I gotta say, though I was balancing this game with Project Runway (a really interesting combination, let me tell you) I realized something. While this is historic and it’s a big deal ,y ever-cynical father pointed something out to me: even in a new stadium, the Yankees will always be hanging around to screw the Red Sox over in some way. The Yankees will still be the same pinstripe-wearing, stash-growing, hair-cutting, no-name-on-the-back-of-the-jersey Bombers we are bred to despise. So no sentimentality, we will always have those stories about how Schil took the mound with a bloody sock, the 2003 disaster, the 2004 miracle, and so on, those memories will always be there. And the Yanks getting a shiny new stadium to make Steinbrenner more ridiculous sums of money just makes them more and more the Evil Empire.

Last game is tomorrow night. If there ever was a must-win for a team to keep post-season hopes alive, its tomorrow night for the Yanks.

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Ehem…Aboot The Red Sox

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Hello all. So, as I said in my blog last week, the Olympics have taken over my life. That, combined with the wedding I was in, moving my sister into school, getting ready for school myself, and actually attending a Red Sox game have made it difficult to find time to blog. I went to game 2 of the Sox-Os series, had great seats, and sat next to a kindred spirit. If you don’t know by now, I’m a HUGE Tek fan. I jump to his defense the minute someone says something bad about him. Well, what do you know but I was sitting next to another huge Tek fan who swears the reason for his slump was because she hadn’t seen him play this year. At first, I thought “yeah, right” but then the captain, in his first at-bat, ripped one to left center for a solo shot. He’s hit a home run in his last three games. Even when he flew out, it wasn’t a weak popper to the infield or right to the outfielder, no, it was a long, almost out of the park beauty that the O’s had to chase. Hopefully he’s working his way out of the slump.

Dustin got tossed from the game after having a few choice words with the Ump (mind you, the strike zone was TERRIBLE) and Tito must have come out to argue at least three or four times. But lets talk about Dustin, and if we talk about Dustin, we must mention Youk. The two of them are absolutely fierce. I mean, if Youk continues his performance he could be in talks for the MVP, which he totally deserves. (I think) They are having great at-bats now, they’re hard to get out (most of the time), they hit homers, doubles, triples, sac-flies, RBIs and lots of singles. They spark rallies. They are great fielders. And the best part is, they’ll be great for years to come because they’re not that old (crossing fingers, praying for no injuries and/or trades).

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He is just too cute!

Mikey and Drew are still out (sad face!) but Byrd looked good last night. He got rocked a little, but he got good back-up from the bats (and the lower part of the order too!) So if we have Beckett, Dice-K, Lester, Byrd and Wake (when he returns) then Colon, Masterson, Paps, Smith, Lopez, and Okajima, we’ll actually have a pretty good pitching staff. (bull pen is still a little scary, but if the starters can go six or seven without getting rocked too hard, we’ll manage) If we just keep that offense chugging, keep Lugo on the DL and get everybody healthy, we have a very good shot at the post-season.

A Rays collapse wouldn’t hurt either. And a Twins collapse. And if the Yankees start losing even more ground, I wouldn’t complain.

My boy is pitching today, so bring on the Jays!

Oh What A Night

/ Sara / 1 Comment

This game was the most ridiculous, the longest, and the craziest game I have ever sat
through.

papihomer.jpgAnd I had to balance this while watching the oh-so-nerve-wracking gymnastics team finals (USA won a silver…they should have had gold) and Michael Phelps (who was, at least, stellar and I never doubted him) I can’t handle more nights like this one.

Papi hits not one, but TWO homers in the first. We go into the second inning 10-0 against the rangers. Game over, right?

Wrong.

If anything, this game highlighted our bullpen problems and then put them under the microscope. Zink was good for three, then he got rocked. The innings between Zink and Okajima were horrible. Who has a 12-2 lead and blows it to be losing 16-15 in the eighth? Ladies and Gentlemen, our bullpen.

This was Zink’s first game at the Show ever, so I am willing to forgive him and let him have another chance. He was nervous. And we made a lot of errors. That was a sloppy game. That could have been the most embarassing loss in the history of the regular season (we have had some stupid post-season losses that I will not mention here). All I gotta say is thank goodness for Youk. The beastly man struggled earlier when the Sox were hitting like an offensive machine, but came up with not one, but TWO homers in the fifth and eighth. The second of which would prove to be the game-winner.

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Here’s the goal for tonight: bring that same offense, but please, please, please have better defense. With the solid southpaw on the mound, I have no doubt that Lester can rebound from the loss to the ChiSox and turn in a dominant performance. Everyone will be tired, I know, but that’s okay, because the Rangers had to stay up for last night’s nonsense too. I told my housemate how long the game was and she said “Wow. How many innings did it go to?” and I replied “Eight and a half.”  That is so not normal.

Oh well, we are the Sox, and we did notch the all-important W (which is even sweeter coming off a day where the Rays snagged  a beautiful L) I think the absence of Longoria is hurting them and the Sox need to capitalize on this. Perhaps the addition of Byrd (thank goodness for replacing Buchholz) will give the Sox that extra bit that they need to maybe even take back the division.

Speaking of Clay. Look, he’s a young, talented pitcher, but something is not clicking. It might be something small, I mean, look at Okajima. He went from lights out to terrible, and then changed one pitch and started looking lights out again. The big boys know Clay’s pitches. He’s not really throwing that poorly, but he’s getting hit. A lot. So maybe a little trip down to the minors and a little work on his pitches to really get in there and fool a batter and we could possibly have another ace on our hands. Call me crazy, but I have faith in the kid.