Three years ago Red Sox fans were easily recognizable.   No matter what the standings were, you could always tell if someone was a Sox fan just be glancing at their shirt, hat, backback, etc.  Even in the middle of September with the Red Sox 10 games out; the Martinez's and Gaciappara's would still scatter the streets around New England.  Today, it is difficult to tell a Red Sox fan from a Kansas City Royals fan. Even around mlblogs.com, the #1 site for diehard Red Sox fans to share their thoughts and oppinions, comments and postings have dropped well below average since the "Boston Massacre."  Half of the comments on Ian Brown's blog are by Yankee fans.
    If anybody cares to glance at my last "inning by inning" blog, just scroll down a small bit.  Notice how the Red Sox fall down by five runs in the fifth, the Yankees go ahead by 5 or so as well?  When, exactly, does the post end?  The post ends when the game ends.  The post ends after nine agonizing innings, and I watch every pitch of every one.   How many others did that?
    Today was the first day of school.  I walk into the building that I have dreaded and despised for the last three years for the first time all summer: wearing by Boston Red Sox jacket.  Out of the 50 or so kids in the atrium, at least 20 of them being Red Sox fans, I am one of only two wearing even Red Sox colors.  Out of the 10 people I talked about the Sox with today, every single one of them said they had stopped watching since the Yankee series.
    Remember that movie "still we believe," that was released in the beginning of 2004?  That movie documented the faith we Red Sox fans are capable of.  It chronicled the lives of half-a-dozen fans who followed the Sox religiouly.  Some of them were pessimists, some were optimists, but every single one of them watched every single game that year.  And they had probably watched almost every game for the past decade.  They had had their hearts broken more times in 5 years than most baseball fans had in 20.  And, finally, their faith was rewarded.  The Red Sox beat all odds to win the World Series for the first time in 86 years.  And suddenly those fans, who were renowned for their celebrated "believingness," ceased to believe.  And not just believe, but to care.  At 1:00 in the morning I will probably be finishing up my "inning by inning" blog for tonight.  Red Sox Nation, where are you going to be?

Bad news for the Sox: they have failed to take advantage of the Yankees 1-4 record since the massacre.  Worse news:  Manny's out with a hurt hammy.

Top 1 - Coco draws a walk, but Loretta lines into a double play.  After a walk to Ortiz, Youk flies out to right.  Baek had to throw a lot of pitches in the first, hopefully that and his wildness will come back to hurt him.

Bottom 1 - Snyder gives up a hit, walks a batter, another infield hit, but strikes out Brussard on a nasty curve to end the inning.  The way Snyder is going, he'll be lucky to make it through five.

Top 2 - Baek cruises through the second inning.

Bottom 2 - The M's announcer makes some comment about how the Sox defence is "not even close" to the M's defence.  What the heck is he talking about?  Youk misplays two flys, dropping one, and the M's get runners on 2cd and 3rd with one out.  Ichiro gets intentionally walked to load the bases.  Snelling gets a sac-fly, and Coco gets a fly ball to retire the side.  1-0 Mariners.

Top 3 - Easy third inning for Baek.  The Red Sox cannot afford to play like this against teams like the Mariners.  When Johan Santana is pitching, anything more than 3 runs is good.  When Baek is pitching, anything less than 4 is no good.

Bottom 3 - Lopez throws out a base stealer!  For the first time in a Red Sox uniform!  Maybe we should put Jason Johnson behind the plate.  He has a good arm, and it's not doing any good on the mound.

Top 4 - Baek cruises right through the middle of the lineup.  How is this happening?  A no-hitter through 4 for Baek.

Bottom 4 - A very quick inning for Snyder, score remains 1-0 Mariners.

Top 5 - With one on and none out, Pedroia has a 13 pitch walk.   Javy avoids his usual clutch double play by striking out, and Cora follows with a strikeout of his own.  6 pitches, two strike outs.  Coco hits a grounder to first that the first baseman throws away.  Hinske scores, but Pedroia gets caught off second and is thrown out for the third out.  1-0-1 for the Sox, 1-4-1 for the Mariners.

Bottom 5 - Snelling hits a double to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out.  Beltre walks on four pitches to load the bases for Raul Ibanez, who hits a grand slam.  Well, we got swept by the Yankees, why can't we get swept by the Mariners?  Hey, I have an idea, instead of seeing how many games we can win without catching the Yankees, why don't we see how many games we can lose without dropping into third place.  So much more fun, right?  Snyder is gone one batter later.  Tavarez is on, loads the bases, and, wait for it, gets a chopper to first!  To home for one, and into leftfield for another error (thanks Lopez!), scoring a run.

Just a counter on how many times the M's announcers say something like "we KNOW the Red Sox don't have the best fielding in the league," or "that fielding percentage they have is very deceptive" - it is now up to 4 conversations about the topic.  We get the point!  It is better to throw the ball into the stands than let the batter get an infield hit!  Other than these frequent anti-Sox comments, the broadcast surpasses NESN's by a good deal.

Now back to the game - Snelling K's to end the inning.  6-1 Mariners.

Top 6 - Baek back out their, has thrown 90 pitches with no hits.  It is now or never; their relievers should be able to hold a lead for three innings better than a tired Baek can for 6.  With one out, Ortiz crushes a homer.  One batter later, Lowell follows suit, and Baek is gone.  Hinske, trying to prove he's just like Pena minus the homers, strikes out.  6-3 Mariners.

Bottom 6 - Tavarez makes quick work of the M's, who still lead 6-3.  Tavarez has stepped it up a notch recently, lowering his ERA from above five down to 4.85.

Top 7 - With two down, Cora draws a walk but Crisp grounds out.  6-3 Mariners.

Bottom 7 - Delcarmen relieves Tavarez and throws a six pitch inning.  Has anybody else noticed how well the bullpen does when they don't have a lead to protect?

Top 8 - Two outs, a walk, and another out and the Red Sox are gone in the eighth.  6-3 Mariners.

Bottom 8 - Delcarmen throws 4 pitches and gets 3 outs.  He has thrown a total of 10 pitches in 2 innings.  At that rate, he could concievably throw 24 innings, or throw 9 on 45 pitches.

Top 9 - The Putz is on to try and close the door, and gets Hinske on a fly ball.  Pedroia follows with a K.  Lopez bats after Pedroia, so I might as well stop watching right now.  I don't and get to see one final strike out to end the game.  Lopez struck out 3 times today.

The Red Sox drop to 6.5 games behind the Yankees and 5 back from the Twins in the wildcard.  Not very surprising when you consider that Clement, Wakefield, Veritek, Nixon, Pena, Gonzalez, and Manny are all unable to play.

After this game, the Red Sox play 38 more.  If they win this game and 25 more, they will finish with 95 wins.  Even then, the Yankees would have to play under .500 ball for the rest of the year.  It could happen, as both teams have tough schedules ahead.
Top 1 - 1-2-3 inning, 9 pitches thrown by Wells.  It appears control does not lessen with age, as Wells hits his spots perfectly.

Bottom 1 - Ortiz gets an infield hit, Manny walks, and Lidle throws over 20 pitches in the first.

Top 2 - ARod gets a hustle double but the rest of the Yankees can't get him in.  Game remains scoreless into the bottom of the second.

Bottom 2 - Lowell and Pena strike out and Lopez pops out.  Pena seemingly strikes out more than once per game.

Top 3 - Sal Fasano strikes out on a nasty curve, and Nick Green and Melky Cabrera ground out to short.  A quick inning for Wells, who is perfect in location on every pitch through 3.

Bottom 3 - 1-2-3 inning.  Lidle is quickly proving that he is capable of pitching some quality innings.  I honestly thought his ERA would skyrocket over 5.00 in the switch to the AL EAST.

Top 4 - Jeter singles and Abreu walks to put 2 on with nobody out.  But ARod grounds into a double play (his 19th time of the season), and Giambi hits a grounder to second.  Wells gets out of another jam.  What makes Wells so effective with runners in scoring position is his ability to spot all of his pitches.  Most pitchers in that situation will fall behind in the count and, unwilling to load the bases with a walk, throw a medium-fast fastabll right down the middle.  You do that to Giambi or ARod, you have a 3-0 ballgame.  Wells is able to use all of his pitches and hit the corners even with runners on.

Bottom 4 - Ortiz grounds out in a 7 pitch at bat (he should have beaten the grounder out, but didn't hustle).  Manny, now hitting .330, draws a 8 pitch walk.  Hinske grounds into a fielder's choice (a 4 pitch at bat), and Lowell draws a 7 pitch walk.  Pena also draws a 7 pitch walk (congrats to Pena for taking 3 straight pitches, the first time I've seen him do this).  Lopez grounds out to end the inning (2 pitches), but Lidle throws 25 pitches in the inning, and has thrown 73 pitches through 4 innings.

Top 5 - Kapler subs in for Manny (uh-oh).  Two grounders to Cora and a grounder to Lowell, and the Yankees are gone.  It's nice that a Red Sox pitcher who gets a lot of groundballs is finally capable of getting outs.  Just look at Lowe a few years ago.  He would get 20 grounders in 5 innings, but give up 8 hits and 2 errors on those grounders.  Forgive me for ever doubting David Wells.  Just goes to show that despite all the second guessing, Terry Francona is smarter than the smartest fan who spends 30 seconds looking at the box score and marks off Wells as washed-up 40-something year-old fat man.

Bottom 5 - Cora gets a hit (4 pitches), Crisp gets a sac-bunt, and ARod makes a rare good play.  Ortiz is intentionally walked to get to Kapler (not Manny).  Kapler, hitless in enough at bats to bring his average down from .300 to .220, hits a grounder to ARod to end the inning.

Top 6 - Nick Green K's, but Melky bloops a single into center.  One out and one stolen base later, Abreu softly lines a double into left-center, scoring the games first run.  ARod grounds a single into left, and Abreu holds at third.  Giambi lines one to short for the third out.  1-0 Yankees.

Bottom 6 - breaking news: Manny has sore hammy.  Hinske K's as Lidle's pitch count reaches 94.  Cano and Green botch up a pop-up, and Lowell reaches.  Pena singles, and Lopez grounds into a fielder's choice.  With two on and two out, Cora grounds out to short.  Two more runners are left on, and the Yankees keep the 1-0 lead.

Top 7 - Wells back out there, gets Green on a popup, strikes out Bernie, and gets Fasano to ground out to Lowell, who makes a nice backhand stab and throws across the diamond for the out.

Bottom 7 - Coco grounds out to third on a check swing.  Loretta follows with a single to center, bringing up Papi.  Mike Myers comes in to pitch to Papi, and strikes him out.  Scott Proctor comes in to face Kapler, and gets him to pop up to Nick Green.  The Red Sox are running out of outs, still trailing 1-0.  It would be a shame for David Wells to drop to 2-3 despite this superb performance.

Top 8 - Wells's pitch count hits 101 as Nick Green doubles off the wall.  Melky bunts him over to third, and the crowd gives Wells a standigng ovation as he departs.  Keith Foulke comes in and, having been used to Jason Veritek catching, throws a pitch in the dirt that Javy can't handle, and Green scores.  Jeter strikes out (can you say MVP?), and Abreu follows suit.  Despite the wild pitch, Foulke looked strong against the middle of the Yankees lineup.  If the Red Sox can find a reliever capable of providing consistent, quality innings in a set-up role, they may yet play on into October.

Bottom 8 - The Red Sox last chance, unless you consider batting against Rivera while two runs down a chance.  How do the Red Sox respond under such intense pressure?  With two outs, Wily Mo reaches out to the endge of the strike zone and lines the ball 415 feet over the Red Sox bullpen.  Lowell pops up to end the inning.  2-1 Red Sox, heading into the ninth.

Top 9 - 1-2-3 inning for Foulke, and guess what, NO RIVERA!  I had forgotten, he is unavailable after throwing 30 pitches yesterday.

Bottom 9 - Farnsworth attempting to close (1 for 5 in save opportunities).  On the first pitch, Cora lines one foul, 30 feet short of the foul pole in right.  He then flies out to center.  Crisp strikes out, and Loretta is the last hope.  Loretta lines the ball to second, and the Red Sox have been swept in a five game series with the Yankees.

The Red Sox are struggling.  But they are not playing much worse than we should have expected anyway.  Just look at the team.  Beckett's ERA is over 5.  Nixon, Veritek, Wakefield, and Clement are hurt.  Foulke, Timlin, and Wells have been both hurt and inconsistent.  The rest of our relievers, with the exception of a certain rookie, are incapable of getting outs consistently.  Their infield, although gold-glove worthy, does not consist of proven hitters.  The man who replaced Damon is hitting .270 and spent part of the year on the DL.  When V-Tek was healthy, his average was down around .260.  Theo made no move to counter the Yankees deal for Bobby Abreu at the trade deadline.

If I were told at the beggining of the year that all this was going to happen, I would have predicted the Red Sox to be 8 or 9 games out of the wildcard and in third place in the AL East.  The Red Sox are lucky they are anywhere close to the Yankees.  Lowell, Loretta, Youkilis, and Gonzalez all exceeded expectations.  Pena has been better than Nixon was.  Manny and Ortiz could very well tie for the MVP this year.  Papelbon's ERA is around 1.00.  Lester has filled the shoes of Wakefield.  Schilling has been just as advertised.  So, consider yourself lucky, Red Sox nation.  Consider yourself lucky you have an outside shot at the playoffs. 

Consider yourself lucky that a year from now, we may very well find ourself in a reverse situation with the Yankees.  Pena could hit 35 homers next year.  Crisp has batted over .300 since the all-star break, stolen 8 bases in 40 games, and only been caught once.  Youkilis's OBP will be around .400 again.  Beckett will be one year older and could quite possibly have an ERA around 3.5 and win 20 games.  Lester, Delcarmen, and Hanses will all develop into two good middle relievers and a great #3 starter.  Papelbon will either be an unbeatable closer or an ace-like starter.  Some new relievers will be signed, and the team may find itself searching for a weakness.

Imagine this lineup:
Crisp - .300+
Youkilis - .300
Manny - 50 homers
Ortiz - 55 homers
Pena - 35 homers
Lowell - .280+, good SLG%
Loretta - .300
Veritek - who knows?
Gonzalez - .280+

and this pitching staff:
Schilling - 3.50
Beckett - 4.00
Lester - 3.50
Papelbon - 3.00
Wakefield - 4.50
Hansen - 3.50 (reliever)
Delcarmen - 3.50 (reliever)

That looks like a team that could easily win 100+ games.  And, after dumping Nixon's and some worthless relievers salaries, and maybe Wells's and Clement's salary, the Red Sox could afford a great bullpen.

Pregame Josh Beckett against Randy Johnson. Johnson has been strong his last few games, and Beckett has been crappy his last 20. The lack of Jason Veritek seems to have a negative effect on Beckett. His last game, the only times he hit the target Lopez set up for him, Lopez had set up outside the strike zone.
What Beckett needs to do is get his fastball over for a strike on the first pitch. Once he falls behind 2-0 or 3-1, he tries throwing a fastball middle-in every time, and some lucky fan eating a hotdog on the other side of the green monster gets a souvenir (and a concussion).

I'll begin the analysis in the top of the second.
Top 2 Yankees get two: homer by Bernie Williams, double by Damon. Why does Javy Lopez insist on calling for pitches on the corner on a 2-0 count? Beckett keeps missing by a fraction, falling behind, and then throwing a fastball right down the middle on 3-1 or 2-0.

Bottom 2 Javy grounds into a double play to end the inning. He is quickly closing in on the leauge leaders in that category.

Top 3 Beckett proves unable to hit the mit with consistency. He gives up another run, and throws 23 pitches. That makes 63 through 3.

Bottom 3 1-2-3 go the Red Sox. Through 3 innings, Randy Johnson: no runs, no hits, 1 walk 29 pitches. Josh Beckett: 3 runs, 4 hits, 4 walks, 63 pitches.

Top 4 1-2-3 inning. Beckett only throws 9 pitches. Of the 19 batters he has faced, 6 have received first pitch strikes.

Bottom 4 With one out, a couple of walks brings up Manny. On a 2-1 count, Manny hits a 3 run homer. Two batters later, Pena gets an RBI single. Kapler grounds into a double play to end the inning, but the Sox score 4 times to take a 4-3 lead.

Top 4 A-Rod hits an RBI double on a chopper over Lowell. Posada beats out a near double play as a run scores. 5-4 Yankees. Beckett throws almost 100 pitches through 5 innings. Lopez still ******* out as the Sox catcher. He allows Jorge Posada to steal WITHOUT A THROW. The Red Sox pitcher's ERA has gone up nearly a run since the loss of Veritek. And Yankee fans continue to complain about Matsui and Sheffield, when their replacements (Melky and Abreu) are hitting about as good as them.

Bottom 4 Two walks and Johnson is gone. Loretta bunts the runners over. Ortiz hits a sac-fly to tie the game.

Top 5 With two on, Beckett walks two batters, and leaves. Delcarmen comes in and walks A-Rod, no thanks to Javy who sets up on the corner on a 2-0 pitch. A triple for Posada makes it 10-5.

Comments will cease now, as the Yankees take all hope away from Red Sox Nation.

I won't even comment about the outcome of the two games.  It wasn't pretty.  Jason Johnson stinks.  We have learned to accept that.  John Lester, however, we were not prepared for.  Nobody thought John Lester would give up five runs in one inning, or that our bullpen was bad enough to give up seven runs in the seventh.

A few good things did result from the games yesterday, however.  One, the front office opened their eyes, realized that Rudy Seanez should never pitch another major league game, and designated him for assignment.  Two, Julian Tevarez realized the object of baseball wasn't to see how many runs you can give up without being permanently utilized as a rookie league middle reliever, and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Another positive thing to be taken away from yesterday, is Eric Hinske.  Although he struggled in his second game, his first three at bats resulted in singles.  If Francona so chooses, he can create a 5 person platoon with Hinske, Pena, Youkilis, Lowell, and Loretta.  Also, Hinske showed in his rookie year that he does have more potential then .270, 15 HR, 60 RBI.  In his rookie year he hit 24 homers, and was voted the rookie of the year.

The fact that the Red Sox signed Hinske, who is not a free agent at the end of the year, seemingly proves that Trot Nixon will not be wearing a Boston uniform next year.  Wily Mo, Hinske, Trot, and Kapler would be an unreasonable amount of right-fielders.  Nixon is making 7.5 million this year, and will definitely not be signing for less than 5 next year.  It would make no sense to spend 5 million on a player who would be used as a defensive replacement/sometimes starter, especially when Kapler can already fill that role.

In other news, I officially hate NESN.  Third inning, two on, nobody out, middle of the Sox lineup at the plate, Yanks up by two, and Don Orsillo and Jery Remy take the time to interview a kid with a tumor (or something like that).  As much as I appreciate charities like the Jimmy Fund, I didn't turn on the game to hear it.  I never thought I would say anything like this, but I think NESN has succeeded in making me stop caring about kids with brain tumors and young cance survivors.  NESN, heres a helpful hint: next time you choose to have a "Jimmy Fund Night," make it during May against the Kansas City Royals.  OR, rather than spending an entire inning on the topic, simply say a few words at the beggining of each inning, and CUT OUT THE **** INTERVIEWS.

I was reading about some of Bill James statistical analysis stuff yesterday, and thought it was only fair to post some interesting things about a few players.

Bill James invented a statistic called Runs Created (RC) which attempts to measure the amount of runs a player created without taking into account the skill of their teammates (a player on a good team has more RBI opportunities than one on a bad team).  What he does is multiply a players total bases (TB) by their on base percentage (OBP). 
The complete formula is: RC=TB*OBP

The Runs created formula can be made much more complicated.  The formula used above expresses a players RC potential if they were playing with teammates as good as them.  In many cases this creates a vastly overestimated RC potential.  A more complicated version, that also took into account steals among other things, was devised in 2002:
RC =(A*B)/C
where: A = H+BB-CS+HBP-GIDP
            B = TB+((.24*(BB-IBB+HBP))+(.62*SB)+((.5*(SH+SF))-(.03*SO)
            C = AB+BB+HBP+SH+SF

I used this formula on two players: Manny Ramirez and Coco Crisp.

Manny: A = 130+83-1+1-4 = 209
            B = 252+((83-8+1)*.24)+(0*.62)+((0+8)*.5)-(92*.03) = 271.48
            C = 301+83+1+0+8 = 393
         RC=144.37.
Compare this to Manny's actual runs produced (RBI+Runs-HR) = 134.  Manny's RC score is about 10 higher than his actual runs produced, a deviation of about 7%. 

Coco: A = 83+22-4+1-4 = 106
           B = 117+((22+1)*.24)+(16*.62)+((3)*.5)-(48*.03) = 132.5
           C = 301+23+1+3+0 = 328
      RC = 42.82

Dividing the RC by the player's total chances and multiplying by 27 gives the total number of runs a team composed entirely of this player can be expected to score per game.  This statistic is known as RC/27.  Manny's RC/27 = 9.92, and  Coco's RC/27 = 3.5.

Despite the fact that Coco is my favorite player, I'm afraid I have to bash him a little bit.  3.5 runs per game.  Coco, that is terrible!  Although I think you have the potential to be a 40 steal/10 CS player in the future, and your defense is terrific, you have some serious holes in your repertoire.

Coco Crisp has excellent potential.  At times he has shown us what a truly remarkable player he can be, diving to his right to make the second-best-play-of-the-year (and the weak), or hitting .362 over 14 games.  But one thing he does too much of is swing. Coco has only been walked 22 times this year in 328 plate appearances.  22 times, once every 15 plate appearances.  Manny has walked 83 times in 398 plate appearences, an average of 5 plate appearances per walk.

Willie Mo Pena fell within a single of the cycle yesterday, the second time in the last 20 days that he has come within a hit of the cycle. He had a moon shot over the monster seats, his second triple of the year, and a double, as the Red Sox beat the Orioles in 10 innings 8-7.
Manny Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 27 games with his game-winning RBI single, but Willie Moe was the highlight of the game. Although he struck out in his final at bat, he still recieved quite a reception throughout the game after his homerun and triple. As the Red Sox prepare for the return of key players, including Trot Nixon, many fans, including myself, are hoping the Sox can find another place for Trot (the bench?) when he does return.

Since Trot went on the DL, Willie Moe has hit as many homeruns as Trot hit the whole season (he also struck out twice as much). If Willie Moe, who is hitting over .300, can learn some plate discipline, he has the potential to be a 35 HR, .315 AVG player. Imagine the middle of the lineup (Papi, Manny, Willie Mo) having a combined total of 115+ HRs.

PREDICTION: Trot is not wearing a Boston uniform next year. Do you think Theo would have traded for Wille Moe if he planned on being a replacement outfielder for the next few years. Let us not forget, Wille Mo is only 25 years old. With a little bit of coaching on plate discipline he has the potential to be even greater than a 35 homer guy.

In the last week, we've seen him collect a dozen hits, hit three 425+ ft. homers, but strike out about 10 times. If he ceases to chase curves that are within a foot of the strike zone, he could evolve into a 45 homer player with an average around .315. Two years ago, with the Reds, Willie Moe hit 26 homers in 110 games: while he was only 23.

   Division Winners: Yankees, White Sox, Angels, Mets, Reds, Dodgers
The Yankees are about to have the best lineup in the majors, and the Red Sox have a tougher schedule ahead. Verlander is struggling, but the White Sox will be unable to take the AL Central regardless. The Angels are better then the A's.  The Cards are slumping worse then the Reds, and are worse in inner-division games.  The Dodgers are on a tear and will capture the weak west.

   Wildcard Winners: Red Sox, Astros
The White Sox do not have enough pitching, and David Wells will continue to pitch well and put the Red Sox in the playoffs.  The Astros are on a surge, and Pettite and Clemens are unbeatable.

   League Champions: Tigers, Mets
It all comes down to pitching.  Both the Tigers and Mets will thrive because of the emergence of youngsters Jeremy Sowers and John Maine.

   Word Series Champion: Tigers
The AL is better than the NL.  Just look at how the Mets fared against AL teams.

   MVP Awards: David Ortiz (should be Manny Ramirez), Ryan Howard (should be Albert Pujols)
David Ortiz will win because he is a fan/press favorite, but Manny should win.  Manny is first in the league in both OBP and SLG.  Ryan Howard will win because he leads in homers and RBI, but Pujols leads the majors in OPS and should be the winner.

   Cy Young Awards:Johan Santana, Brad Penny
The AL Cy Young just became less contested, as Liriano is out and Papelbon is struggling.  Verlander has a sore shoulder, and will have a subpar finish.  Brad Penny is tied for the NL lead in wins (12) with 5 other players.  Penny is second to Webb in ERA among those pitchers, and Webb is ailing.

   Hank Aaron Award: David Ortiz
Ortiz will again win over Manny because of his clutch hitting and fan favoritism.

   Rookie of the Year Awards: Jonathon Papelbon, Dan Uggla
Papelbon will win over the injured Liriano and the struggling Verlander.  Uggla will win because he is the best.

    Other Awards:

• Jerry Narron (Reds) and Jim Leyland (TIgers) will win Manager of the Year Awards


• Jim Thome will win comeback player of the year


• Mike Lowell will NOT win a gold glove, but Alex Gonzalez wil


• Gary Mathews will win a gold glove

8:06
COCO!  Coco scores the games first run, and Wells has pitched well through the third as the    Sox lead the O's 1-0.  Corey Lidle is getting hammered as the Angels lead the Yankees 3-0.

Bottom 3rd: Two walks to start off the bottom of the third, Manny chops a base hit into center scoring Loretta: 2-0 Sox. Hits for Lowell and Pena make it 4-0, and Lowens is gone.  Lowell steals third, and Javy Lopez then gets an RBI single: 5-0 Sox.  Gonzalez hits a triple and Loretta hits a single making it 8-0. Manny then strikes out to end the inning.

Top 4th: Orioles do not score as Willie Moe Pena throws out Conine at the plate.

Bottom 4th: With two on, Pena K's for the second time and Lopez hits into another double play.
In 4 ABs with runners in scoring position, Lopez has grounded into a double play 3 times. Pena chased another curve out of the zone to strike out.

Top 5th: Wells gets Tejada to ground out and strands a runner at third.  8-0 Red Sox.

Bottom 5th: 1-2-3 inning.
Coco Crisp is now just 3-18 in his last 4 games after going on a 14 game tear in which he hit .362.  Coco remains tied with Luis Castillo for the AL lead in stolen bases since the all star break, with 8.

Top 6th: 1-2-3 inning.

Bottom 7th: Loretta drives in a run, 9-1 Red Sox.

Top 8th: Vladamir hits a homer to put the Angels up 7-3 (yeah for my fantasy team!), but ARod homers to pull the Yanks within 3.  Snyder relieves Wells and throws a scoreless inning.
Snyders ERA is now 5.72 after being above 8 earlier this season.  He has not given up a run since moving back to the bullpen (5.2 innings).  He struck out Gibbons looking on a nasty curve that came down from above Gibbon's head into the strike zone to end the inning.

Bottom 8th: 1-2-3 inning, game moves to the ninth: 9-1 Sox.

Top 9th: Snyder back on the mound, gives up a homer to Corey Patterson but nothing more, as the Red Sox beat the Orioles 9-2.

It is unfortunate to be so happy about beating a team like the Orioles, but after getting swept by the Royals it is a relief to get the win.  The best part about the win is that everybody in the lineup had a hit, and Wells was fantastic. 

Wells lowers his ERA to 6.23, wins his first game of the year (finally!), and has now given up 2 ERs in his last 13 innings pitched.  As I said earlier, the Red Sox hopes rest on the emergence of one of their starters as a quality third pitcher, whether it be Lester,  Wells, Johnson, or Snyder.  Tonight, Wells proved that he may be the pitcher who will help Schilling and Beckett to carry the team into October.

NOTE: Manny extended his hitting streak to 26 games.

Around Baseball
Yankees lose, Twins get beat by the Jays, and the White Sox beat Detroit.  The Red Sox now trail the Yankees by two, and move to within 1/2 a game of the Twins in the wildcard, 2 games behind Chicago.  Toronto remains 5 games behind Boston.