Well, Someone Has To Go

October 19, 2008May 13, 2011 / Sara / 1 Comment

Okay kids. Here it is, game 7 of the ALCS. Anyone else but me incredibly surprised to be here? (Think back to Thursday before the 7th inning and be honest with yourself)

Tonight, Jon Boy takes the mound against Garza.

We’re putting our best foot forward, I have my lucky shirt, and join my incredibly superstitious friends in keeping my fingers crossed. Look at this survey on the Boston Globe‘s website:

See the choices? You gotta love superstitious baseball fans.

So I was all kinds of cursing TBS last night. I don’t care if you have a power outtage, the Steve Harvey show was a BAD CALL. The Office would have been a little less annoying. So I logged in to all the various websites, watching TBS Hotcorner (which I am not a fan of) listening to WRKO (love them!) and watching gameday pitch-by-pitch. So of course I found myself yelling agrily at BJ Upton before long. I called home and my mother, though I love her, occasionally choses the “hometown” boys over the team that the rest of my family is insane about. Not a very nice thing to do in the regular season, but a cardinal sin in the post-season, especially when facing elimination.

Note on the “hometown”: I graduated high school with Justin Upton (DBacks), BJ’s little brother. BJ did not go to my school, he went to a local private school, though I have met him, David Wright (Mets), and Mike Cuddyer (Twins) – all local boys. Thus, he’s a “local” boy and my mother loves it when anyone from our area does well. I usually do too…just not in the postseason when they’re playing my team.

Back to the game. The Rays lead 1-0, but never fear! Youk is here! Youk launches a solo shot to tie the game. Thank goodness, because with the way both Sheilds and Beckett were pitching, it was going to be a tight one.

Yay for Youk, because he hits a sac-grounder which scores Pedroia on the go-ahead run in the third. Then Becks gives up a solo homer to Bartlett, and we’re tied again in the 5th. But it could have been worse, had the Rays not put on a hit-and-run which allowed Tek to throw out Navarro at second. So we come to the 6th. Two outs, Tek is up. We love the Captain, and watching him struggle is more painful than most players just in a slump. On a 2-0 pitch, Shields hung a fastball to the corner and bam! Tek hit the go-ahead solo homer and the Sox never looked back.

I mean, if you’re going to have only one hit this series, that was a really great time to do it. It got the Sox pumped up even more and the 2-out rally continued, thanks to an E by Bartlet and some clutch hits from Coco, Dustin, and Papi, who, by the way, hit a double and an RBI single last night.

The bull pen, which came in for the 6th, shut it down. Oki went two beastly innings, Masterson settled down marvelously after hitting a batter, and Paps, even though he looks a little gassed (yipes!) got it done in a big way.

So now there’s one game left. Winner goes to the World Series, loser starts shopping for Halloween costumes. Tonight we hand the ball to the de fecto ace of the team, Jon Lester. To be quite honest with you, win or lose, they have done a GREAT job. And I really feel that if we can hit with men on (stranded TWELVE last night!) and Lester can keep the game under control, we’ll be golden. Though I’d like us to blow them out so Paps can rest. We need him and he needs it.

So good luck Sox, the Nation is behind you.

Red Sox Roll The Dice-K

October 8, 2008 / Sara / 1 Comment

The lineups are out, and here’s how the Red Sox pitching will break down:

1. Dice-K
He’s a heart-attack inducing pitcher, and with the Ray’s tendency to run, that may cause a little trouble for the Sox. However, Dice-K has shut it down on the road, so giving him the first start in the Trop is probably the best call Tito can make.

2. Beckett
He looked rusty, but not injured in his last start. And the game still went 12 innings, so even the high-powered, fast moving offense of the Angels couldn’t take that much advantage of the ace. This time he’ll be pitching on normal rest, so expect October Beckett (the 2007 version) to return.

3. Lester
Jon Lester is a beast. He will get the ball at home, where he is absolutely stellar.

4. Wake
His record doesn’t reflect how well he has really pitched this year. He’s going to give up a run or two, but in the regular season, the Sox had a hard time getting him the bats to back him up.

5. Dice-K (if necessary)
6. Beckett (if necessary)
7. Lester (if necessary)

I’m going to be honest, here. If I could split myself in two and have the neutral sports mind talk to the Boston sports fan, here’s how the conversation would have been:

Neutral: The Red Sox are in the postseason, which should be an accomplishment in and of itself considering the division they play in and the injuries they have sustained.

Fan: They’re going all the way!

Neutral: It is unlikely that they beat the Angels, but that would be a huge accomplishment for a team as banged up as they have been. Top that off with several inexperienced starters and the loss of Manny, it isn’t likely.

Fan: I just don’t want them to be out in the first round.

So that’s my internal conversation with myself. The Boston fan in me just refuses to give up and believes the Red Sox are going to repeat, but the rational part of my brain realizes that the Red Sox are the underdogs.

Who ever thought that the Red Sox playing the (Devil) Rays would be the underdogs of the series?

That Dirty Water Never Tasted So Good, So Good, So Good

October 7, 2008May 13, 2011 / Sara / Leave a comment

Watch Jed Lowrie’s Walk-Off Single!

Sox win. Yay!

Lets talk some post-season baseball. First off, what a start for Jon Lester. The Angels were a tough team, and, as Tito said, “we had our hands full [with them]”. So now the best team (record wise) in the AL and the best team (record wise) in the NL are both gone.

Good, good things happened last night:
–Dustin snapped his October slump by hitting a rocket RBI double off the Monster (or “Monstah” depending on where you live)
–Tek chased down a young guy like a Teddy Bruschi or Rodney Harrison going after a quarterback, getting the out on a suicide squeeze that didn’t quite work.
–Lester finishes the ALDS going 14 innings, scattering 10 hits with 11 Ks and 3 BBs and a 0.00 ERA (that’s right, ZERO point ZERO ZERO. As in goose-egg) Can we just say beast?
–Bay leads the team in post-season BA (.412), OBP (.474) and SLG (.882) with 7 hits, 5 RBIs and scoring 3 runs. He hit what could have been an inside-the-park home run, had it not bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double.
–Lowrie got quite possibly the most clutch single of his career (more to come, I hope!) scoring Bay for the walk-off single with 2 outs in the 9th.

As with all things, we will take the day to celebrate, then look to the future and the extremely tough Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays. After battling the Angels, I feel like the Sox are up for any battle that gets thrown at them. Dice-K is pretty good against the Rays and excellent on the road. Beckett looked rusty in game 3, but I think he’ll be much better when he faces the Rays. Then we have Lester, who is probably the best pitcher in baseball right now. Throw in Masterson and Oki who are tough, and Manny D and Paps, both with 0.00 ERAs this post-season, and the Sox are looking pretty good, if we can just get that offense going a little more. Now that Dustin got his first hit, I think we’re going to be just fine.

Just for a little fun, here are some post-season pics for your enjoyment! (from http://www.boston.com, click to make them larger!)

Finally, because life wouldn’t be complete without some Papelbon antics:

Those shirts, by the way, say “Cinco Ocho: He don’t know how he do…” and on the back it says “He just do”.

Hopefully, Cinco Ocho (Papelbon for those of you who don’t know) will be doing what he do and hopefully we’ll be singing Dirty Water again soon! Go Sox!

A Bay-utiful Morning For the Red Sox

October 2, 2008May 13, 2011 / Sara / 2 Comments

Okay, yes, technically it was not morning for the Red Sox, but it was for me as I sat, bleary-eyed, surrounded by research paper sources and cans of diet coke, on my couch last night/this morning. And since the Sox are an east coast team, we’ll just say that very early this morning, the Sox took game one of the ALDS.

How did they do it? In that spectacular, down-to-the-wire, saved-by-great-plays, give-all-your-fans-a-heart-attack way that the Red Sox specialize in. The Angels scored first, capitalizing on an error by Lowrie which should have been out #3 but instead it lead to the Angel’s only run of the game. Since the Sox were scoreless, hitting atrociously with men on, I thought that was going to be the game. Not good for a young player’s psyche.

So we continue on, two outs in the top of the sixth, and Youk walks. So here comes Bay, who has struck out twice. At this point, I’m picking up my books so that when they go to the commercial for the middle of the innings, I’ll be all prepared to do homework. Then Bay just rips one, and it keeps going, and I’m standing up, trying desperately not to wake the rest of my house up (lame people who don’t like baseball and a Phillies fan who was done with it for the night) so I just did a happy dance and sat back down and called my dad. Its his fault I’m this crazy, anyway.

bay youk.png

(image courtesy of mlb.com)

Lester was sick. Lester was a beast. Lester proved what I’ve been believing all season, he is one of the best pitchers in the league. And of course, Jacoby had a beastly night. I mean, the catches, the hits, the stealing. I’m just waiting for him to score on a wild pitch. From second. JD Drew and Mikey were back in the lineup, and though they didn’t really produce, Mike hit a few that were well-hit balls but better defensive plays.

(image from mlb.com)

Oh, and something else historic happened last night. A second Angels player got a hit on Paps. The entire post-season roster is now 2 and 40 against the closer. I like that stat, I just want that big number to keep getting bigger.

Day off today, then again in La-La-Land for another late-night game. This one starts a whole 1/2 hour earlier, but since the next day is Saturday, who cares?

A final note: Jacoby Ellsbury, who had a stellar night including a great diving catch seen in the image below, has a new blog on MLBlogs, it’s called “Jacoby Ellsbury’s Postseason Blog” and you can read it here

ellsbury dive.png

(image from mlb.com)

There’s Only ONE October – And It Has Arrived!

September 30, 2008 / Sara / Leave a comment

The Sox are off on their way to the land of the La Las (otherwise known as Las Angeles) to face the Las Angeles Angels of Anaheim (they don’t have enough fans in Anaheim so they incorporated LA too). Many Sox fans will be chanting the same thing they did this summer with the NBA Finals: “Beat LA”. Odd how that works out.

Also, as to the question of Lester starting instead of Josh? Well, aside from my concern that Becks won’t be ready to pitch at all (an irrational fear, I hope) Lester is a great back-up. I mean, how many teams would kill to have Lester or Dice-K come and be their Ace? (The Mariners, Nats, Os, Pirates and Padres are all raising their hands). I think pitching wise, so long as Becks is healthy, we’re in good shape.

Lets look at the top 10 teams for the year…(* indicate post-season berth, bold and italics are to make a point)

1. Las Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) 100-62 AL West *
2. Chicago Cubs 97-64 NL Central *
3. Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays 97-65 AL East *
4. Boston Red Sox 95-67 AL East *
5. Philadelphia Phillies 92-70 NL East *
6. Milwaukee Brewers 90-72 NL Central *
7. New York Yankees 89-73 AL East
8. New York Mets 89-73 NL East
9-10 Minnesota Twins/Chicago White Sox 88-74 AL Central (one of them will *)

Sorry, a friend of mine continually claims that the national sports media has an east coast bias. But check out the top 10 teams! Half of them are from the east. Also, the AL has 6 of the top spots, and their final playoff contender, the LA Dodgers, are ranked 14th (going by wins/losses) falling behind every team in the AL East except for the Orioles. If we were to go purely on wins/losses, there would only be one playoff team in the AL not from the East. And it would mean that half of the NL teams came from the East. So there is your east coast bias. Well earned, in my opinion.

So break out the beer, the rally caps/towels/flags/t-shirts and get set for a great October. Lets go over some final stats before the Sox take the field against the Angels very late tomorrow night:

Fielding:
Red Sox: .986
Angels: 985
Edge: Red Sox (mostly because they’ve had Youk playing at either corner and 4 different people at short and still have a better fielding percentage than the Angels)

Batting:
Red Sox: .252 (let us mention this, though. Pedroia has hit .583 against the Angels in Anaheim this year. Astounding!)
Angels: .305
Edge: Angels

Pitching:
Red Sox: 4.01 ERA (3 starters: 2.58 ERA)
Angels: 3.99 ERA (3 starters: 2.48 ERA)
Edge: Angels (but only slightly)

Bullpen:
Papelbon and co: Only 1 Angel has a hit against him in the past 2 years, no one has a hit this year against him
K-Rod and co: Record-setting year, the Sox are batting .133

against him this season
Edge: Neither. While the Angels bullpen has been more consistent, the Red Sox bullpen is coming in hot. It’s anyone’s ballgame.

Bench:
Edge: Red Sox have talented and experienced veterans/youngsters, and they have been well prepared this year with all the various injuries.

Clutch:
Angels: K-Rod is clutch. I mean, big time clutch, plus the extra bats added this year will be a big help.
Red Sox: Dice can load the bases, and 9 times out of 10 get himself out of it. Lester…he turns around series, Becket…domination. The Sox got grit, and everyone has pulled their weight this year because of injuries.
Edge: Red Sox (again, very slight)

This is going to be a good series. I can’t wait to watch!

Red Sox Honor Pesky, Prepare for the Post-Season

September 29, 2008 / Sara / Leave a comment

It’s almost October. The weather is starting to change, the leaves are turning colors, and most importantly, eight teams are gearing up for the post-season. Well, seven. By Wednesday we’ll know the eighth.

The Red Sox honored Johnny Pesky by retiring his number. Finally. I fully believe the Red Sox are a little harsh in their restrictions on retiring numbers. But…Johnny deserves this, and he will always be remembered. He’s got the Pesky pole!

On to the post-season. Lester will get the start on Wednesday due to a minor oblique injury suffered by Josh Beckett, who will start game 3. Tito’s got some roster decisions coming up, including what to do with Lowell and Drew. Drew played 7 solid innings on Sunday, without an issue. Hopefully, this is a good sign.

And for everyone who really wanted the AL East crown…don’t worry about it. Good thing is, as of Wednesday, everyone is 0-0. Yes, the Angels killed us this year, but remember, those games came right as Manny was at his worst. The teams that met in the regular season are not the same teams that will take the field on Wednesday.

So prepare your rally caps, your favorite lucky t-shirts, and your hope for this coming October. May it be a long one for the Sox. Also, thank the good Lord above that you aren’t a Mets fan. So when you’re worried about playing the Angels, think of it this way: it could be worse, you could be the Mets.

I’m so excited. LETS GO RED SOX!

Lester Lights Up Indians To Keep The East In Sight

September 26, 2008May 13, 2011 / Sara / 2 Comments

Jon Lester almost showed that lightening strikes twice. He threw five innings of no-hit ball against the Cleveland Indians. Of course, we all knew he wasn’t going to get a no-hitter, this close to the playoffs, Tito wasn’t going to let him get above 90 pitches. Still, five innings of no-hit baseball gives your team a very good chance to win.

Lester's Strong Start
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=43565119,t=1,mt=video

Then the offense was rocking and rolling, including a shot Youk hit, taking it to the Monstah Seats!
Youk jason.png

I love this time of year for baseball. Although I do admit, I thought this series against the Yankees would mean more. Oh well.

Also, totally off topic, and if you love the Office keep reading. (Note if you haven’t seen season 5’s premier, STOP! Contains SPOILERS!)

Red Sox Edge Doc and Go Bop to the Trop

September 15, 2008May 13, 2011 / Sara / Leave a comment

Okay, I am a High School Musical fiend. I mean, I love it and I freely admit to it. So when the Red Sox had their annual Rookie initiation yesterday, imagine my joy when I saw they made the rookies (most of them in drag) dress as characters from High School Musical. (See video here)

Hence the title. With a Sox win against Doc Halladay (masterfully out-dueled by Lester) and a Rays loss to the Yankees, we are back within 1 of the AL East and heading to face the East leaders themselves at home. I think its only fair, having beat us two games at home, that we go back and sweep them at home (note, this is doubtful due to the fact that Kazmir is starting tonight).

(photo at mlb.com)

After losing two to the Rays (one on a questionable “out” at first in the 9th that would have turned the game around) the Red Sox look to regain the series and win a few in the Trop. Both teams are sending strong pitchers to the mound in Dice-K and Kazmir. Dice was a little shaky in his last start, but if he gets it under control, we could be looking at another pitchers duel. (Two nights in a row, wow!)

Now, on to my campaign section:

pedey smile.png Dustin Pedroia for MVP: I don’t care how tall he really is or that he’s cooled off a little lately, this man should be MVP. He trains hard, plays harder and steps up to the plate and does whatever is needed to help the team. He gets into that batters box knowing he’s going to get a hit and thinking that no one, not Doc Halladay, not Kazmir, should be able to get him out. He leads the league in hits (200), doubles (50) and is 2nd in runs scored (113). He’s 17-18 on stolen bases and is a great 2nd basemen. Someone like that deserves to be AL MVP! (Or Youk, but my pick is Pedroia)

2008 Roberto Clemente Award
Kevin Youkilis is nominated for the Clemente award, the nominees were chosen for their sportsmanship, community involvement and the positive things they bring to the team. Vote HERE

That’s all the campaigning I have for now. I’ll leave you with the video “Bop to the Top” just to get you in a cheerful mood before the Sox take on Kazmir and the Rays at the Trop.

Red Sox Blank Rays, Close In On AL East

September 9, 2008May 13, 2011 / Sara / Leave a comment

Red Sox 3 Rays 0. Lester pitched into the 8th, allowing 0 runs on 6 hits, striking out 9 and walking 3. Paps came in and got a 4 out save allowing 1 hit and striking out 3. With this win, the Red Sox pull into within a half game of the AL East-leading Rays and move up to 7 games in front of the idle Twins for the Wild Card.

Not really the best night for the bats, considering the Sox had 9 hits and only 3 runs, all of those coming in the bottom of the 1st. Lester pitched 7+ innings of shut-out baseball, and Jackson pitched 6 shut-out innings. Fortunately for the Sox, that early jump proved to be enough to win the game.

Tonight the Red Sox made baseball history, breaking the streak for most consecutive home sell-outs with 456, beating the Cleveland Indian’s streak of 455. In honor of that, we will look at the 15 greatest moments at Fenway since May 15th, 2003 (when the sell-outs started).

Why 15? Well, 456 is reasons is way too many to cover in one blog, but 4+5+6=15, which is a much more manageable (not to mention readable!) amount.

15. April 22, 2007: Home Run Bonananza The Sox tie a major league record high 4 HR’s back to back to back to back home runs in the third to help the Sox onto their first sweep of the Yankees in Fenway since 1990. Hitting HRs were Manny, JD Drew, Lowell and Varitek.

14. August 1 2008: A Brand New Bay Jason Bay makes his debut after the down-to-the-wire trade which sent Manny to LA and a few prospects to Pittsburgh. He has a great night,
hitting well and making a spectacular catch, even scoring the winning run on Jed Lowrie’s
single in the 12th. This is not so great because of the game itself, but the fact that energy returned to the Red Sox as they played like a completely different team after ridding
themselves of Manny being Manny and his dramatic unhappiness.

13. October 25, 2007: Schill’s Last Game: In the last home appearance of the Red Sox in
the 07 World Series, Schil and crew hang on to win a 2-1 pitcher’s duel with the Rockies.

12. July 2, 2007 Ellsbury Scores from Second on a Wild Pitch: Three days into his major league tenure, Jacoby Ellsbury did the nearly
impossible. He scored on a wild pitch from
second base. Texas reliever
Willie Eyre hit catcher Gerald Laird in the leg with a pitch,
and Ellsbury was gone. He never
stopped, never thought twice as third base coach waved     him
home.

11. October 5, 2007 Manny’s First Walk-Off Home Run: Manny knocks a three-run shot out of the park to give the Boston Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League
Division Series, beating the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) 6-3.

10. September 21, 2006 David Ortiz hits Red Sox Record Home Runs: David Ortiz
cemented himself in the Boston record books by hitting 54 home runs in a single season in
2006. It was his 51st, on this date, that put him past Jimmie Foxx’s single-season record,
and made him (officially) Boston’s Home Run King.

9. April 5, 2007 Dice-K’s Debut: Dike K strikes out ten in his major league debut and gives Sox fans a preview of all the Ks that are to come.

arodtek fight.jpg 8. July 24, 2004 The Fight: A-Rod is hit
by a Bronson Arroyo pitch and proceeds to jaw about it all the way down the first base line. He and Varitek have words, and bam! A-Rod gets a face full of angry catcher’s mit. A bench-clearing brawl later, Tek, A-Rod, Kenny Lofton, Gabe Kapler and Tito were all ejected.

7. September 28, 2007 Red Sox vs.    Twins: A Red Sox win and a Yankee’s     loss gives Boston’s its first division title     in 12 years. Dice-K racks up the K’s     and bows to the fans, while Papelbon
dances barefoot and thousands of fans hang around for almost an hour to see     the results of the Yankee’s game.

6. May 13, 2007 The Mother’s Day Miracle: Bottom of the 9th, the Red Sox are down 5-0 to the Baltimore Orioles, Julio grounds out, then Coco singles on a throwing error by Ramon     Hernandez and Papi scores him. Mo Pena somehow manages a single that moves David     to third. After both JD Drew and Youk manage a walk, scoring Papi, Tek comes up and     doubles, scoring both Drew and Mo. Hinske walks, and Youk is out at home (its very close, though). Back up to bat is Lugo, who made the first out of the inning. He reaches on a throwing error and Hinske and Tek score to win the game.

5. October 20, 2007 JD Drew’s clutch Grand Slam in game 6 of the ALCS: the Sox down to the Indians 3 games to 2, proved to be the straw that broke the Indians’ back and    propelled the Sox to their second World Series win in four years. It was the shot that was heard ’round Boston and will probably always be known as the 14
million dollar grand-slam,     simply because with the bases loaded and
no out, Fausto Carmona had struck out Manny     and gotten Lowell to
pop out, very few people had faith in the then-struggling outfielder.

4. September 1, 2007 Clay Buchholz’s No-Hitter: In his second Major League start, rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz tossed the 17th no-hitter in Red Sox history, striking out 9, walking     three and hitting one batter in the 10-0 defeat of the Baltimore Orioles. Why is this ranked     behind Lester’s? Keep reading.

3. May 19, 2008 Jon Lester’s No-Hitter: The reason behind this being ahead of Buchholz’s no-no is because not only was it the first Red Sox lefty no-no since 1956, it was also a record for Jason Varitek, who has now caught 4 no-hitters, more than any other catching. Aided by a spectacular catch by Ellsbury and some heads-up infield plays, the Sox beat the Royals 7-0.

2. October 18, 2004 ALCS Game 5: After going 12 innings the night before, the epic game 5
outdid it by going 14, ending when Big Papi’s single brought in Damon for the win. The Sox would go on to Yankee stadium for the Bloody Sock game, and as the 26th team in playoff history to
face a 3-0 series deficit, become the first to force a Game Seven.

1. October 17 2004 ALCS Game 4: The Sox go 12 innings, with a walk-off homer in the 12th. But they never would have gotten there if Dave Roberts hadn’t stolen 2nd and scored on Bill Mueller’s single, tying the game 4-4 in the 9th. This sparked the Sox comeback, down 3 games to none, to win it in seven take their first World Series in 86 years.

So there you go, 15 great moments from the sell-out period of Fenway park. Next up: A big time pitching show-down as Rays ace Kazmir takes on Sox stud Dice-K. Should be a great game, with the AL East being given to the winner. (If only for a day) So put on your best Papelbon glare and watch the game!

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