June 29 – Angels (Weaver, 7-0, 1.15) @ Red Sox (Beckett 13-5, 4.77) 1:20 PM
1:19 The Red Sox get their first look at Jared Weaver, who has already become the first pitcher to win their first seven major league decisions. The Red Sox pitcher, Josh Beckett, goes for win #14 today, and has posted a 4.77 ERA so far this year. Weaver’s ERA is an outstanding 1.15.
1:57 2-1 Angels bottom of the second. Hopefully we can get some scoring done of of Weaver.
2:56 3-1 Angels top 5.
The Red Sox were down in the top of the 8th 6-3. Ortiz hit a homerun to lead off the inning, and the Red Sox came back to tie it. Youk missed a walkoff by 2 feet in the 9th, and then Ortiz won it with a single in the 11th.
July 28 – Angels (Escobar 6-9, 3.88) @ Red Sox (Lester 5-0, 3.04) 7:05 PM
6:43 Jon Lester tries to get the Red Sox back on track tonight, after getting hit hard in Oakland in 
his last start.
Second to Jonathon Papelbon as the Red Sox most promising rookie, Lester is 5-0 with a 3.04 ERA. His opponent: Kelvim Escobar – 6-9, 3.88 ERA. Escobar has given up 12 runs this year, which is one less than the Red Sox have hit in a week.
7:16 Game delayed for 1 hr. Worst part about that is that I cannot watch NESN on mlb.tv because, on mlb.tv, I can watch the game, the whole game, and nothing but the game.
9:23 Lester and Escobar work scorless first innings. Escobar strikes out the side and walks Papi, throwing 22 pitches. Lester only throws 11. Yankees winning 6-0 in 7th inning.
9:47 Prior to the game, Jon Lester promised to reduce his pitch count. In 3 innings, Lester has thrown only 35 pitches.
Yankees won 6-0.
10:03 Guererro was caught leaning the wrong way and Lester picked him off. Lester has now thrown 53 pitches in 4 innings (a little less than 13 per inning, or 120 in 9 innings). Angels still lead 1-0.
10:35 What did I say about Coco Crisp? Crisp hits a key double after Lowell strikes out and scores on Gonzo’s single. Loretta grounds into a double play to end the innning, so the Red Sox only score 1. 1-1, Top 6.
10:45 It’s a pitching duel! 1-1 going to the bottom of the 6th, as Lester gets Juan Rivera to pop out to end the inning and strand runners at second and third.
11:00 Red Sox get a run on Manny‘s double on a hit and run after Ortiz gets an infield single. Yes, you read that right. Ortiz got an infield single, and Terry Francona put on a hit and run with him on first. Manny lined one down the line in left to put the Sox up 2-1.
11:30 So much for all the young pitching talent… Lester, Delcarmen, and Lopez all pitched in the bottom of the seventh, and gave up a total of 6 runs. 7-2 Angels.
Some Interesting Statistics
- Ortiz SLG is over 1.000 in 33 ABs when he plays first base.
- Manny is 17-34 vs. the Yankees with 5 HRs and a .581 OBP.
- Beckett’s ERA vs. the Yankees is 10.80.
- V-Tek’s OPS is .977 since the all star break.
- No Yankee has gotten a hit off Papelbon (18 batters faced, 2 BB, 7 K).
- Kyle Snyder has only issued five BBs, and four of them come in the fifth inning. Batters are hitting .444 against him in the fifth, and .476 against him in the third.
- Willie Moe Pena and Gabe Kapler both have slightly lower batting averages versus lefties than Nixon (.204 and .207 versus .213), and much higher averages versus righties (.394 and .389 versus .324).
- Youkilis’s OBP is .528 with RISP and two outs in 40 ABs
- ARod’s career OPS is .888. Manny’s is 1.010
- Jeter and Arod have committed a total of 27 errors. The Red Sox’ entire starting lineup has committed 16 errors.
- Youkilis has a higher OBP(.355) than SLG(.346) since the all star break
July 27 – Coco Crisp improving
After all the promises he made about improving, and all the slumps he has endured, Coco Crisp finally seems to be on the verge of erasing all doubt and finishing this year as strong as he played all of last. After an 1-19 slump, Crisp has gone 8 for his last 17, raising his OBP from .315 to .325 in that span. Despite the successes of Kevin Youkilis, if Crisp continues his hot hitting he probably will (and definitely should) take Youk’s spot as the Red Sox’ leadoff hitter.
Although Youk’s OBP is 75 points higher than Crisp’s, Crisp brings speed to the top of the lineup. If this alone is not enough to justify Crisp as a leadoff hitter (and in all fairness, it shouldn’t be), consider this; Crisp’s OBP is .426 when he leads off an inning, while Youkilis’s OBP is a mere .361 when leading off.
Youk’s sub-par power (.450 SLG, not so great) and excellent OBP make him a perfect canidate to bat behind someone like Crisp. Loretta could then move down to the eigth spot. Loretta’s nack for hits (he has 125 this year – a .309 AVG) make him a logical choice to bat near the bottom of the lineup, when men are likely to be on base. Pushing Youk to the bottom of the lineup would not make sense, however, because his high walk to hit ratio make him less of an RBI guy and more of a get-on-base-in-front-of-Manny-and-Ortiz guy.
ARod vs. Papi
Eric Mack from cbssportsline.com stated that ARod was better in the clutch the Ortiz. He cited ARod’s .300 avg with runners in scoring pos. w/ 2 outs versus ortiz’s .286. What Eric Mack failed to realize was that clutch is more about late innings of close games than RISP. In that category, Ortiz .900 OPS far surpasses ARod’s .600 OPS, and in late inning press with runners on (LIPRO), Ortiz’s OPS more than doubles Arods, and they both have over 20 ABs in that category. Also, Arod has k’d 10 times in 28 AB’s in LIPRO , while ortiz has k’d twice in LIPRO.
first inning
1st inning:
Red Sox open the game by scoring 2 in the top of the first. Youkilis and Loretta single, Oriz grounds into an FC, and Manny hits a double that he turns into a single. As soon as the ball was off his bat he started his home-run trot, and then had to stop at first after the ball bounced against the wall. Nixon hits a sac fly, and the Red Sox ace has a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the first. Schilling, however, seems to like keeping games exciting. Just like usuall, Schilling gives up as many runs as he can afford to give up while keeping the lead (meaning 1). End of the first: 2-1 sox.
@OAK 10:05 PM
The Red Sox remain in Oakland for the second game of a three game series after a promising win against the Al-West leading A’s. Yesterday, the Red Sox belted three home runs and plated a total of seven on route to a 7-3 win that featured ace-like pitching from Josh Beckett (who now has 13 wins). Schilling is trying for his 13th win of the year, which would tie him with Beckett as the league leader.
Schilling has struggled away from Fenway this year, going 4-3 with a 4.14 ERA. These statistics are oftentimes decieving except in their extremes however.
The A’s bring rookie Jason Windsor to the mound, who was 12-1 in the minors this year.
NOTE:The yanks lead the rangers in the top of the 6th 6-3 behind Mike Mussina. They have only 3 hits, yet they have scored 6 runs. ARods been walked twice.
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