Schilling

Rays Relief is a Relief For the Phillies – And Congrats Youk!

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Well, the Phillies took game 4 in spectacular style last night, and being that I am temporarily a Phillies fan, this is a good thing.

The game was close-ish until the later innings when Philly just opened up on the Rays ‘pen for homer after homer. It makes me begin to think that maybe the Rays didn’t beat the Red Sox, the Red Sox’s injuries finally caught up to them and they lost. I mean, really, the Rays being in the World Series is really a giant scouting game for the Yankees. They are mostly locked up until 2009, but the next year, the Evil Empire will come calling.

As for the Sox, I hope we rob the Jays of one of their starters, like AJ Burnett or something, keep Tek on a two year deal and phase him into the coaching staff slowly while grooming a young guy. I think bringing in a guy from another team would not be good for the pitching staff, but as all of you who read me regularly know, I’m a Tek supporter. The players have already come out and said they will be shocked, disappointed, sad, worried about the kind of team they are on, etc. if he isn’t signed. Now all we gotta do is keep Boras from being too greedy…(like that’s going to happen)

Without the big money contracts of Manny and Schill, we have a good bit of money to work with and really, not that many holes. We have the Cora-Lowrie-Lugo shortstop debate, and there’s no one we can dump Lugo on at the moment, but this means we don’t need a shortstop. Pedrioa and Youk are solid infielders and even solider bats. If Mikey comes back from the surgery OK, then yay! If not, we should pick up Texiera, maybe we should pick him up anyway, since Mikey might be on the way out at the end of next year…(hopefully retiring… I don’t want him to play for anyone else) Papi will be back to his old self, so no need for a DH, but we’ll probably keep Casey around as a good overall backup. Then we’ve got Bay, Drew, Coco, and Ellsbury in the outfield. The starting rotation of Beckett, Dice-K, Lester and Wake is still pretty potent (I know Wake led the team in losses, but go back and look to see how many of those were 1-run losses where we couldn’t generate the offense)

So, we add a pitcher, maybe an infielder, or a good backup like Kotaras who can play both pretty well, maybe bring up a new guy to work in the ‘pen. We’ll be good. The big question is catcher, and with limited prospects around the league, and Tek meaning so much to the team, it would be a stupid decision on Theo’s part not to keep him around.

Here’s to game 5. May it silence the Cowbells forever.


Also, Congrats to KEVIN YOUKILIS who won the Hank Aaron Award! Yeah!
Here’s what he had to say (and it makes me love him even more!)

“Well, I don’t think I can ever compare myself to Hank Aaron in any
way,” Youkilis said. “I’ll never see myself in that level. So to win
this award, I don’t know, I’m a little humbled by it. But it’s great
just to be able to have an award that’s named after somebody that
exemplified so much in this game and has brought so much history to
this game. It’s an honor just to be named in the same sentence. So for
me, I’m thrilled.”

 

Sox Blank Jays, Yanks halt the Clinch

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Okay. So all we needed was a Yankees
loss after Dice, Oki and Paps combined to shut out the Jays. But it was
the last game to ever be played at Yankee stadium, did you really think
they were going to lose?


Nope.


Lets honor the House That Ruth Built after the Sox Traded Him For
Goodness-Knows-Why with the top 5 Red Sox moments at Yankee Stadium (in
no particular order)



1. 10/19/2004 ALCS Game 6: The Bloody Sock. Schill pitches great, giving up only 1 run in  7 innings.

 

2. 10/17/2004 ALCS Game 4: Papi’s 2-run shot in the 12th to win the game and keep the Sox alive.



3. 10/20/2004 ALCS Game 7: Sox cruise by the Yanks 10-3 and go on to win their first World Series in 86 years.



4. 4/14/1967 Rookie Billy Rohr kicks
off his Major League career and the “Impossible Dream” season by coming
within one out of a no-hitter. A soft grounder blew the no-hitter, but
the Sox still got the shut-out.



5. 7/16/2008 All-Star Game. J.D. Drew
became MVP of the game going 2-4 and hitting the game-tying home run in
the 7th. The game went 15 innings, and featured 8 Red Sox players and
the skipper, Terry Francona. A long game, but a great send off for the
stadium. 🙂



That’s all I got. I’m going to bed. Bring on the Indians.

Red Sox Blank Rays, Close In On AL East

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jles.pngRed 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.jpg8. 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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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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Rock The All-Star Vote

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Yankees got crushed. Sox won a heart-stopping-last-minute victory against the D-Backs. If only the stupid Rays had lost, my life would be complete. They’re still a game back, but…eh. All I gotta say is we have to play sharp on the 30th.

Without Tek’s RBI last night, I don’t know where we’d be, but hopefully this can rally the Sox into getting their offensive mojo back. I mean, how cool would it be to get Papi back swinging hard and combining that with an already hot offense?

Good news all around: Youk is fine. He played last night, and they think he may be able to get in the batters box tonight. Papi is going to take a few shots off the tee (the baseball kind) today, which is always good. Schill’s surgery went well, and he hopes to pitch again (yay!)

Also, congrats to Chris Smith on his first Major League W.

Alright, Transplanters and Homeboys alike, listen up: GET GOING ON THE ALL-STAR VOTING! We’ve slowed down and now Tek is out of first and some of our leads are dwindling. AND a YANKEE has the most votes! This is not allowable. Get online and vote 25 times! It’s tedious, but I tell you what, it takes like, five minutes max to get all 25 in, so is it really that hard?

Vote HERE for our boys.

There are so many of us, we can really control this voting, but we gotta vote! Come on, how much would the Yanks hate us if the All-Star game played in their stomping grounds featured mostly Sox players?????????

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What are you waiting for? VOTE!