"All Hail The Miracle Men In Pink!"

Week 6:

After an off day on Monday, the Sox traveled to Toronto for three games with the Jays. It was “two-buck Tuesday” and the “paid attendance” was stated at 41,000+. By the look of things, approximately 30,000 of the attendees were ghosts. And so were the injury ravaged Blue Jays over the course of the next three nights, getting humbled by scores of 9-2, 9-3 and 8-0. It was reported that closer BJ Ryan had season-ending elbow surgery, which was a crushing blow to their ballclub.

In the first game of the series (Game 31 Mon. N. 5/8/07), Josh Beckett got the call against Victor Zambrano, and the Sox wasted no time putting points on the board. Youkilis hit a solo shot in the first and Alex Rios countered with a lead off shot to tie the score. With two outs in the second, Varitek singled, Crisp walked and Pedroia smacked a three-run homer to left to make it 4-1 Boston. In the third, Manny Ramirez singled and Drew walked with two outs. Lowell followed with a three-run homer of his own and Varitek went back-to-back, 8-1 Red Sox! That was the night for Zambrano.

Things stayed quiet until the Sox’ eighth when Varitek walked to lead off. And scored on Lugo two-out doubled to center. Devern Hansack, just up from Pawtucket, got the call in the eighth and allowed a run, Clayton and Rios walked. With one out, Matt Stairs (pinch hitting for Wells) drove in Clayton with a base hit to right. After Hansack loaded the bases, JC Romero came on in relief and nailed Overbay on a called third strike. All in all, it was another terrific outing by Josh Beckett, who has gone to 7-0.

Beckett’s Line: 7.0 5 1 1 1 5 1 89-59 2.51

The middle game of the series (Game 32 Wed. N. 5/9/07) featured a duel of Japanese righthanders. Daisuke got the call against Tomo Ohka, who handily defeated Boston on April 23rd. Tomo was not so handy on this night, as the Red Sox hitters easily clubbed him and his Blue Jay teammates by a 9-3 final.

With one out in the first Crisp walked Ortiz singled Ohka`s threw a wild pitch, advancing both runners. Manny Ramirez grounded out to third; and Crisp came in the back door. In the second, the Sox manufactured a pair of runs. Hinske walked and Pedroia reached on a bunt single. Both runners moved up a base on Ohka`s throwing error. Lugo grounded to second, scoring Hinske. With two out, Ortiz doubled, scoring Pedroia. The Sox held the 3-0 lead until the sixth when they struck for three more runs. Pedroia led off with a base hit and came home on Lugo’s two-run shot to left. With two outs, Manny hit his sixth of the year, a bomb to left, to make it 6-0. The Jays’ Overbay hit a solo homer off of Matsuzaka in the bottom of the inning. The Sox picked up two more in the eighth on Ortiz’ blast to right and another run in the ninth on Lowell’s solo shot. Toronto scored twice in the bottom of the ninth off of Piñiero, but it was way too little, too late. Final score, Red Sox 9, Toronto 3. Matsuzaka (W 4-2) had a great night on the hill for Boston.

Daisuke’s Line: 7.0 5 1 1 3 8 1 108-70 4.80

(Game 33 at Toronto Thurs. N. 5/10/07): Wakefield (3-3, 2.11) vs. Halladay (4-1, 3.59) squared off in the series finale. Jays have now lost eight in a row, so logically they’re due, especially with their ace on the hill and the SkyDome roof wide open to counteract Wakefield’s k-ball. Toronto’s shut-down closer, BJ Ryan is through for year with elbow surgery. More than one fan out there in the GTA is feeling blue. It’s a real shame, surely it is. There’s nothing sweeter than defeating a rival when he’s on the top of his game, and Ryan’s a ferocious competitor.

With one out in the first, Youkilis doubled off the wall. Rios gave it a nice running try but the ball was twisting to his left. On a pickoff play, Halladay threw the ball into centerfield and Youkilis scooted to third. Ortiz grounded out to first and Youkilis came in the back door with the first run of the ballgame.

Wake whiffed Rios to start things off. Lind reached first on a hard grounder that took a wicked hop in front of Cora and bounced into rightfield. Sluggo (whose bat has been unusually quiet in the series) lined a base hit to right. Drew misplayed the ball and Lind ended up on third. Glaus walked to load ‘em. Wake cannot get the ball over the plate. Bases loaded and Frank Thomas swinging the bat: not a pretty sight for Red Sox fans. Thomas struck out swinging, and Mirabelli (doing his best I-Rod impersonation) fired down to first and caught Glaus off-guard, he was tagged out for the 1-2-3 double play! That was some baseball play.

Halladay and Wake both had an easy time of it in the second. Cora singled with one out in the third and made it to second on Lugo’s “Baltimore Chop” infield out. Youkilis followed by ripping a grounder up the middle that nearly took the shortstop’s glove into left field, scoring Cora. Ortiz doubled to the gap in right-center, Youkilis raced around to score from first base. On the play, Ortiz took third on Hill’s throw that sailed over the catcher’s head. Manny singled to right, scoring Ortiz. Drew hit a pop single to centerfield. And Lowell followed with a long-gone three-run homer to make it 7-0, just like that. Crisp doubled to the gap, but Mirabelli ended the inning by grounding out to third. In the third, Lugo’s “Baltimore Chop” bounced so high that the third baseman, Glaus, lost the ball in the lights and it bounced into the outfield. Lugo stole second and scored the eighth Boston run when Youkilis ripped a double to left. With an eight run lead, the Sox were in garbage-time mode for the remainder of the night

Halladay (who has given up 16 runs in his last two starts) was lifted after five in favor of Jamie Vermilyea. Cora greeted the lad with a one-out double off the right field wall. In the seventh, Manny laced a bullet down the left field line for a base hit, and was removed for Wily Mo. Other than those hits, Vermilyea had a nice three innings’ work.

The story of the night was not only timely hitting but great pitching as well. Once Wake got out of the first inning jam, he was unhittable. Toronto tried to foil his knuckleball by opening the roof, but even that failed. Okajima and Romero were also very effective in relief.

Boston IP H R ER
Wakefield 7.0 3 0 0
Okajima 1.0 0 0 0
Romero 1.0 2 0 0

However, the play of the night, and one of the highlights of the season was the play that ended the first inning. A season can turn on plays such as that, and Mirabelli has “made his bones” for this year on that play alone. It’s always particularly sweet to sweep a divisional rival on the road.

The Sox opened up a ten-game homestand with three against the Orioles. The weather in town was simply perfect for baseball. On the other hand the Sox were consistently inconsistent at the plate. Perhaps they thought that they could smash their way through the Orioles’ starters, but such was not the case. For the weekend, it seemed as if they left 150 runners on base, even though they won two of the three games.

Game 34 v. Baltimore (Fri. N. 5/11/07): Julian Tavarez got the call which means there’s a very good likelihood that this one would be marked as an “L”. The Orioles wasted no time picking up a pair in the first. Markakis doubled with one out and came home on Ramon Hernandez’ double. Aubrey Huff singled up the middle, driving in Hernandez.

The Sox left the bases loaded in the first without scoring, but came back to tie in the second when Varitek led off with a double. With two outs, Lugo doubled, scoring Varitek. Crisp followed with a base hit and stole second. Ortiz walk to load the bases. Manny walked, and Lugo trotted in with the tying run. While they tied the score, leaving six runners on base in two innings usually spells disaster. They left two more on base in the fourth, so it was just a matter of “when” the inevitable would take place.

It didn’t take long. Markakis and Tejada started off the fifth with base hits. Markakis scored the go-ahead run on Hernandez’ grounder to third. With two outs, Mora hit a ground-rule double, scoring Tejada. Gibbons hit a fly to right that Wily Mo dropped (E8) and Mora came across with the O’s third run of the inning.
Tavarez was through after six, giving way to the recently recalled left-hander Javier Lopez. Lugo was picked off first in the Red Sox sixth, killing a potential rally. In the seventh, the Sox loaded the bases again, but could only push across one run on Varitek’s bases loaded walk. Drew hit a scorching liner on which Tejada made a nice leaping grab (would’ve scored two runs). In the eighth, the O’s pushed across their sixth run on Millar’s sacrifice fly, scoring Mora. The O’s closer, Chris Ray, came on in the ninth and shut down the Sox 1-2-3. Sometimes, it’s just not your night; although losing in such frustrating fashion is tough to swallow. Let’s move on.

Game 35 v. Baltimore (Sat Aft. 5/12/07): Through the first 4 ½ , this game was about as dull and boring as baseball gets. Schilling got the start and pitched OK, but didn’t have his best stuff going. The Orioles started the well-traveled Steve Trachsel, who’s a “slow worker” but is the second coming of molasses when there are runners on base.

The game was a scoreless snoozefest until the bottom of the fourth when Ortiz and Manny walked. Ortiz tagged up on Drew’s fly to right and scored on Lowell’s sacrifice fly. Baltimore tied the game in the fifth when Gibbons doubled to lead off and scored on Roberts two-out doubled to leftfield.
In the Sox’ half of the fifth (seemed to take an hour to play) Huff missed a pop out chance, and Pedroia made it to first, then second on Trachsel was called for a balk. Lugo sacrificed Pedroia over to third. Youkilis walked. Big Papi doubled, scoring Pedroia. Manny followed with a double, scoring Youkilis and Ortiz. Trachsel was lifted at that point, and the thinking was the pace of the game would pick up significantly. That’s not exactly how things played out.

Tejada led off the sixth with a base hit. Hernandez followed with a single. Runners on Huff singled to load the bases. Schilling then got Mora swinging. Gibbons knocked in Tejada with a base hit and Schilling allowed a bases loaded walk to Payton. That was it for Schill, and the call went out for Lopez. Patterson grounded out second, and Huff came in with the tying run. So there would be a “ND” for Schilling today.
The Sox picked up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 6th when Varitek was hit by a pitch to lead off and moved t second on Crisp’s sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Lugo singled. Youkilis ripped a base hit up the middle, driving in Varitek.

After that, the bottom dropped out for Baltimore. The Sox scored three in the seventh and five more in the eighth. Manny and Drew walked to start things in the seventh. Lowell walked. Baltimore’s reliever Jon Leicester then called to the O’s dugout signaling an apparent arm injury. He was wisely removed in favor of Todd Williams. With one out, Manny scored on Crisp’s grounder to short. Alex Cora (pinch-hitting for Pedroia) smacked a base hit to right, scoring Drew and Lowell. The Sox were “comfortably ahead”, 8-4.

The Sox’ eighth was about as brutal an inning to watch (from a Baltimore perspective) as could be remembered. And what made it most unnecessary was that all the scoring took place with two outs. Ortiz singled to lead off and Manny was plunked. Drew drove in Ortiz with a base hit. Lowell singled, scoring Manny. Varitek followed with a base hit, driving in Drew. With two outs, Cora singled to load the bases. Lugo singled to short scoring Mike Lowell. There was yet another pitching change, but that didn’t work. Youkilis single drove in Varitek with Boston’s 13th run. In the ninth, Papelbon entered (after not having been used in several days) for an inning’s worth of exercise. By the time the final pitch was thrown, the game capped out at a less-than-brisk 4:04. No complaints on how this one turned out, however, as the Sox were able to execute with RISP.

Game 36 vs. Baltimore (Sun. Aft. 5/13/07): Today’s game will be forever remembered as the “Miracle Men in Pink” game. Major League Baseball celebrates Mother’s Day each year with a pink theme, not as some goofy publicity stunt but to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. So, there are pink wristbands and lacquered bats and ribbons which the players wholeheartedly endorse.

Things didn’t start well for the Red Sox. Jeremy Guthrie got the call for Baltimore and he was outstanding, just unhittable. He kept a lid on the Red Sox hitters all day long. The Orioles plated a deuce in the first and single runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth. Millar hit a fly to left that Manny dogged and it fell in for a base hit. Allegedly, he claimed to have a “hammie twinge” and the manager “being overprotective” removed him from the lineup. After 8 ½ all Baltimore needed was three quick outs and they could leave Boston on a high note.

Many times the outcome of a ball game turns on one play (as occurred last week game in Toronto when Thomas struck out and Mirabelli caught the runner at first napping and picked him off). Today’s game, something utterly harmless in and of itself changed the entire course of the ballgame.

Guthrie had breezed through the first eight innings, the only occasion previous to this in which Boston was held utterly in check was King Felix’ one-hitter a few weeks ago. That’s how dominant Guthrie was.

Lugo started the inning by grounding out. The only thing that kept fans from a mass exodus was the “Moms & Kids Run Around The Bases” promotion. Crisp skied a harmless infield popup that Hernandez dropped, so he reached on the E-2. No sweat, right? So what did Perlozzo do? He removed Guthrie at that point. What on earth for? The kid was pitching a masterpiece. So, the well-traveled Danys Baez comes on on relief. Ortiz greets him with a double, scoring Crisp with one out. Wily Mo (batting in Manny’s slot) singled, putting runners on the corners. Exit Baez, enter the O’s closer Chris Ray. Drew walked to load the bases. Youkilis also walked, and Ortiz came in with the second run. OK, so the fans are starting to get into the game after sitting on their hands all afternoon. Varitek followed with a double to rightfield that plated Wily Mo and Drew, making it a one-run game. Now the fans were actually thinking that they could tie the score and send the game into extra innings. Eric Hinske got the intentional pass to load the bases and set up the force play. Cora hit a grounder to second. Roberts made a heady play and threw home, forcing Youkilis. The runner appeared to beat the throw home by a step but the ump saw they play otherwise. Lugo stepped to the plate and it was do-or-die. He waited for his pitch and didn’t exactly drive the ball, instead he hit a ball that dribbled into the no-man’s land between first and second. Millar went to his right, made a nice backhanded pick. Meanwhile, Ray broke toward first as Lugo is raced toward the bag. Millar threw to Ray as Lugo slid. Ray took his eye off the throw for an instant, and dropped the ball. Varitek and Hinske raced around the bases and crossed the tying and winning runs. Perlozzo hurled his cap in disgust and took the Lord’s name in vain, which is a huge no-no. Sammy, it wouldn’t be inappropriate to drop an f-bomb or two, but some utterances are really bad form.

How historic was this comeback? The last time the Red Sox came back from a 5-0 deficit in the ninth inning was May 30, 1931, when they pulled the same feat against Connie’s Mack’s Philadelphia A’s. Go figure. After six weeks, the Red Sox are 26-11, in first place in the East.

Week 7:

Game 37 (Mon. N. 5/14/07). The Red Sox began a tough stretch beginning with a four game stretch against last year’s Pennant winners, the Detroit Tigers. So far the Tigers have not suffered the usual “hangover year” that seems to generally affect clubs the year after going to the Series. There’s no way that a manager like Leyland would allow a drop of complacency to seep into his clubhouse. This is a team that has no intention of being dethroned; and is once more primed for another October run. His team comes into Boston looking to knock their opponents block off.

Having Detroit back in the thick of things is good for baseball. Leyland is the perfect guy to manage this team. They spent heavily in free agency (I-Rod, Ordoñez, Rogers) and it paid off in a big way last year.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (4-2, 4.80) got the call for Boston. When recently asked about Matsuzaka-san, Leyland reportedly stated, “I don’t give a shit about him…” You’ve got to respect that sort of candor, no? Granderson went to a full count before by ripping a base hit to right. Drew bobbled the ball and Granderson wound up on second. Monroe was caught looking for out #1. Gary Sheffield stepped in (to an appropriate chorus of boos) and popped out to short. Ordoñez followed and waved at a high fastball to end the inning.

Lefthander Nate Robertson (3-2, 3.43) got the nod for Detroit. Lugo led off with a bloop single to center. Will he try to steal on I-Rod? With two outs, he did. I-Rod’s throw bounced, but it looked like Polanco tagged Lugo out. The blown call was harmless as Manny struck out on the next pitch. In the second, the Sox had a pair aboard but Crisp’s 6-4-3 grounder killed that chance.

(How dreadful: Remy and Orsillo have now taken to wearing “Zaka-San” headbands. It’s just another item for sale on “RemDawg.com”, no doubt. These shameless self-promoters—and that is what Remy has become--never learn. There is no longer any boundary between the “analyst” and the infomercial. This guy has worked an announcing gig into a goldmine.).

With two out in the third, Granderson took a low fastball and rocked it over the bullpen, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Granderson followed that with a terrific straight-ahead diving catch of Lugo’s short fly to center. Youkilis banged a two-double that one-hopped the wall in left. This time Ortiz delivered, smacking a line drive single to center, scoring Youkilis with the tie run.

In the fourth, the Tigers put on a pair of runners, but Matsuzaka-san was able to get out of the inning unharmed. In the Sox half, Varitek doubled down the rightfield line, Crisp (after fouling off about ten pitches) blooped one that landed in front of Granderson, and Varitek barreled on home with the Sox second run. Robertson is nearing the 90-pitch mark and four innings have yet to have been played. Pedroia grounded one up the middle. Neifi Perez made a nice diving attempt to stop, but could do no more.

With one out in the fifth, Big Papi banged one off the Monster for a double. Manny (first pitch swinging) ripped a grounder down the third base line, over the bag and the ball caromed off the “jut-out” portion of the grandstand, scoring Ortiz.

With two outs in the sixth, Ordoñez lined a ground-rule double over the short wall in right. Matsuzaka was able to avoid further difficulty by striking out Guillen looking. In the bottom of the inning Robertson was lifted in favor of lefty Tim Byrdak, who pitched two beautiful innings of relief. This guy has kicked around triple-A for awhile, but looks like a bona fide reliever, nasty stuff.

Bobby Seay (formerly of Tampa and Denver) came on in the bottom of the eighth, and was whipping gas out there. He was 90+ and hitting spots. Lowell lined out to Mayor Casey. But Seay’s breaking stuff wasn’t all that hot: Varitek walked. Crisp lined a base hit to right and Pedroia followed with another single. Lugo ripped a bases-clearing triple, and Youkilis drove Lugo in by lining a base hit past the shortstop’s dive to make it 7-1.

Matsuzaka came on for the ninth. Sheffield looped a base hit in front of the loafing Manny. Ordoñez struck out looking on a fastball that hit the outside corner. Guillen flied to center and I-Rod grounded into a 5-4 force, to end it. It was the Red Sox’ first CG win of the year, and a great way of starting things off with Detroit. Matsuzaka (122 pitches) improved to 5-2, and pitched a beauty. There were high-fives and bows all the way around. Maybe the next time Leyland heads for the john he’ll give Daisuke a second thought. This was a nice win for Boston.

In the middle game of the series, Game 38 (Tue. N. 5/15/07), the Tigers got even. Wake’s knuckleball failed in the third inning, and the Sox went down in flames, 7-2. The Sox picked up an early 1-0 lead when Youkilis singled with one out and scored on Drew’s base hit with two outs. However, a lineup constituted to score runs, such as Detroit’s, cannot be held in check for long. In the third, Inge hit a solo homer to tie the score. Granderson and Sheffield singled, and Ordoñez hit a mammoth three-run shot that bounced off the parking garage on Landsdowne Street before taking a roll on the Pike east. The game stayed 4-1 until the eighth when the Tigers scored three more runs. The Sox responded with a run on Youkilis’ fourth home run of the year, but it was Detroit’s night all the way ‘round. Justin Verlander (W 4-1) was fantastic for the Tigers tonight, going well into the eighth inning, walking none, and striking out seven.

Another storm front made its way up the eastern seaboard and dumped a substantial amount of rain in southern New England. Wednesday night’s game was postponed amid tornado watches and heavy showers. So, it would be another of those dreaded “day-night doubleheaders” that wreak havoc on pitching staffs in April and May.

Julian Tavarez got the call for the first game, (Game 39, Thurs. Aft. 5/17/07), and if the Sox ever needed him to come through in the clutch, it was now. It was a unusually chilly cold, drab afternoon for mid-May, but to his credit, Tavarez came up big, giving the team seven very effective innings of work en route to a 2-1 win. The Sox squeaked across a run in the first when Crisp singled with one out and scored on Manny’s base hit up the middle. In the third, Lugo reached Guillen`s ground ball muff and scored on Youkilis’ base hit. That was all the run support Tavarez needed. Detroit pushed across their only run in the fifth, but Tavarez hung tough thereafter. The bullpen chipped in with two innings of stellar relief as the Sox’ pitching was the order of the day.

Boston IP H R ER BB SO PC-ST
Tavarez 7.0 4 1 1 4 3 103-60
Okajima 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 13-9
Papelbon 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 13-11

In order for teams to win over the long haul, they need key contributions from role/bench players in critical situations. In the nightcap (Game 40, Thurs. N. 5/17/07) it was Eric Hinske’s time to shine. Schilling got the call against Chad Durbin, a journeyman who’s kicked around with three or four clubs since ’99. This was a ballgame where both clubs left legions of runners on base (11 each), especially early on. The first two innings took about an hour to play and there was little action of which to speak. Youkilis drove in Crisp with one out in the first and Boston had chances to score further but it didn’t happen. Both clubs loaded the bases in the second but failed to deliver. The Tigers didn’t wait in the third to pile runners before striking. Ordoñez doubled and scored the tying run on Guillen’s double. In the fourth they went ahead 2-1 on Inge’s lead off home run.

In the fifth, it appeared as if Detroit was going to add to the score. Guillen doubled to lead off but was later caught in a run down trying to score. With Thames on second and two out, Mike Rabelo hit a line drive toward the right field corner, it looked like a double for certain, perhaps a three-bagger. Hinske charged to his left, dove and made a tremendous catch, hitting the ground at full force, he got a face full of dirt.

Schilling was through after six innings and 118 pitches. He stood to lose when he left the game and really seemed to struggle finding the plate. The Sox waited until the sixth before tying the score (and letting Curt off the hook). With one out Hinske got on base courtesy of Inge`s flub. Wily Mo walked. After a pitching change, Crisp walked to load the bases. Cora singled, scoring Hinske. In the bottom of the seventh, Hinske smacked a two-run homer into the bullpen to put the Sox up for good. Donnelly and Javier Lopez gave the Sox two innings of quality relief and set the stage for Hideki Okajima’s 1-2-3 shutdown save. The Sox sweep the doubleheader and took three of four against a very tough opponent. As of May 17th, the Sox were 28-12, best record in the Majors. Do not get apoplectic, it’s only the middle of May. Let’s not forget that in 2002, the Sox were off to a 30-11 start in mid-May, and ended the year 10 ½ games behind the Yankees. It’s been a nice start, but there is a whole lot of baseball left to be played.