November 12, 2007

I had some problems with my web hosting company so I am a little late with the Sox wrap-up. What can I say? It was a great postseason. 2007 reminded me of 2004 in many ways. In 2004, the Sox were down 3-0 to the Yanks in the ALCS before catching fire and winning eight in a row. This season, they were on the brink against Cleveland before winning seven in a row to close the season. In both cases, the Sox relied of clutch hitting by many different players and had outstanding starting pitching. In 2004, Boston outscored the Yanks and Cardinals by a combined 49-25 over those final eight games. This season, they outscored the Indians and Rockies by a stunning 59-15 margin in the final seven. Although the 2004 team will always have a much more special place in my heart, I think the 2007 team was a far better team. In fact, the Sox will very likely be the favorite to win the 2008 series when Opening Day rolls around.

Josh Beckett's postseason numbers deserve an encore: 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA in four starts. Beckett struck out 35 batters and walked just two. He gave up just 19 hits in 30 innings. This was one of the greatest postseason pitching performances in baseball history. Let's not forget Curt Schilling who was 3-0 with a solid 3.00 ERA in four starts. Jon Lester had two great appearances spanning 9 1/3 innings. He gave up just a pair of runs on 6 hits. Daisuke of course struggled. Jon Papelbon was as dominant out of the pen as Beckett was from the rotation. Paps was 1-0 with four saves. He gave up no runs and five hits in 10 2/3 innings of playoff work. Hideki Okajima was also outstanding.

Pretty much every Sox batter was stinging the ball by the end of the playoffs. Youkilis, Ortiz, Ellsbury, Lowell and Ramirez all hit .348 or better in the playoffs with JD Drew at a solid .318. Dustin Pedroia hit .283 in the playoffs but .387 during the 7-0 stretch. Varitek and Lugo both hit over .300 in the World Series. Ramirez and Youkilis each hit four playoffs homers. Big Papi added three. Manny (16) and Lowell (15) led the Sox in postseason RBIs. Youk scored 19 runs, one more than Lowell. Maybe the most amazing stat of all: both Ramirez and Ortiz had on base percentages of .508 in the playoffs (Youk was at .475).

The defense was great as well with the exception of the Julio Lugo drop of a pop-up in Game Seven of the ALCS. In that case, the Sox pitched their way out of trouble followed by the offensive explosion. It was just a great team effort.

Since Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, the Sox are 15-3 in the playoffs. The Yanks are 4-13.

Speaking of the Yanks, I think I represent about 98% of Red Sox Nation when I implore the Sox brass to not pursue Alex Rodriguez. Many have argued that the Sox became the Yankees in 2007. I don't agree with that. New York's payroll remains far larger than Boston's and most of the Sox key players were either groomed in the farm system or acquired in trades before they blossomed. The big money guys of 2007 (Drew, Lugo and Daisuke) probably contributed the least to this championship (not that they did not contribute). If the Sox sign A-Rod, I believe they will become Yankees-light. I do not think that Sox management will betray the fans by signing A-Rod.

If all goes well, the Sox will sign Mike Lowell and bring back their entire World Series lineup. I like Coco Crisp but clearly the Sox will try to move him for young prospects, a top-notch middle reliever or a backup catcher who can handle a knuckle ball. The rotation will be Beckett-Schilling- Matsuzaka-Wakefield-Lester with Clay Buchholz probably joining the rotation by midseason. The Okajima-Papelbon setup/closer situation will remain in place but the Sox will need to add to the rest of the bullpen. They could use a lefty specialist and another set-up type guy. If Mike Lowell gets away then the Sox will need to either acquire another third basemen or move Youk to third and pick up a first basemen. Florida's Miguel Cabrera might be available. My preference is to keep Lowell but as long as it is not A-Rod, I'll be happy.

Congratulations to Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia. I don't think there is much doubt that Josh Beckett will be receiving the Cy Young award. What a season!

October 20, 2007

Thanks to Josh Beckett, the Red Sox are still playing baseball. The Sox ace is 3-0 in this year's postseason with a 1.17 ERA. He has struck out 26 batters and walked only one. He's given up three runs (one resulted from a fluke double by Sizemore on Thursday) and 13 hits in 23 innings. It's hard to imagine a pitcher being any better over three postseason starts. For all of the bad moves the Sox have made since 2005, they deserve a lot of credit for acquiring Beckett (and Mike Lowell) from the Marlins. I think this is one of those rare trades that worked out very well for both teams. The Sox ended up with a young ace who can win in the postseason and a perfect middle of the lineup guy in Mike Lowell. The Marlins saved some cash and acquired an everyday player in Hanley Ramirez who could win the MVP someday. Anibal Sanchez has also had flashes of brilliance for Florida.

Ahead 3 games to 2, the Indians still have the upper hand in this series but not by much. The Red Sox regained home field advantage and they will be fully confident that they can win the next two and head on to the World Series. I did a little research and found that only eight times since 1986 has a team come back to win three elimination games in a row to win a series. That includes seven games series where a team was down 3-1 and five game series where a team was down 2-0. Of those eight comebacks, the Red Sox have had four. Here's the list:

1986 ALCS: BOSTON defeats California 4-3
1995 ALDS: Seattle defeats New York 3-2
1996 NLDS: Atlanta defeats St. Louis 3-2
1999 ALDS: BOSTON defeats Cleveland 3-2
2001 ALDS: New York defeats Oakland 3-2
2003 ALDS: BOSTON defeats Oakland 3-2
2003 NLCS: Florida defeats Chicago 4-3
2004 ALCS: BOSTON defeats New York 4-3

I really think Curt Schilling will come up with a great effort tonight. He's had a full week off and threw only 85 pitches last Saturday. I don't think last Saturday's failure was because of a tired arm. I think Schilling just had a bad day. Who knows what Carmona will bring tonight. He didn't show me much last week. I wouldn't be shocked to see him knocked around tonight nor would I be surprised if he throws a three-hit shutout. I am much more concerned with Game 7. Daisuke has not looked very good and he does appear to have a tired arm. I'd love to see a rainout on Sunday which would allow Beckett to start on Monday on three days rest but it looks like clear weather in Boston for the next few days. I am sure that Beckett will be available for 2-3 innings if there is a Game 7. Wakefield will be available as well. The downside to that being that Mirabelli would need to replace Varitek. Tek is not hitting but I'd much rather see him at the plate in a tough spot than Doug.

Speaking of Wakefield, he pitched very well the other night. He ran into some bad luck in the fifth. If he doesn't deflect that ball hit by Cabrera, he escapes that inning down just 1-0. If Youkilis had caught the Cabrera popup earlier in the count, Wake would have left the mound down just 2-0. If the Sox win tonight with Schilling and tomorrow with Daisuke, I suspect that Francona will go to Wakefield for Game 2 of the World Series on Thursday then use Schilling on six days rest in Colorado on Saturday.

The Red Sox story is a tale of two lineups. Batters 1-5 are swinging the bats extremely well led by Ortiz (.500 avg, .639 obp, 3 HR in the playoffs) and Ramirez (.440 with 4 HR and 12 RBI). Kevin Youkilis is batting .355 with 3 HR. Mike Lowell has 3 doubles, a homer and 7 RBI in his last six games. Dustin Pedroia is only 5 for 20 (.250) in this series but he could easily be 9 for 20. Unfortunately, the bottom of the lineup has been a disaster. Drew, Lugo, Crisp, varitek and Mirabelli are a combined 15 for 76 in the ALCS (.197) with 1 HR and 4 RBI (all from Jason Varitek). I expect Jacoby Ellsbury to be in the lineup tonight.

A few more things:

• Please, Tito, do not let Eric Gange throw another pitch in a Red Sox uniform. If the Sox are lucky enough to reach the World Series, Gagne should not be on the roster. Choose Tavarez or Snyder or Luis Tiant for god's sake. Gagne was already going downhill when the Sox made the trade and it is only getting worse.



• I find it hard to believe that the Indians will be able to get through this series without having to use Joe "Blow" Borowski in a tight situation. At some point, he's going to hurt them. Eric Wedge could be setting himself up to be the next Grady Little if he uses Borowski in a save situation where Rafael Bettancourt is available.



• John Lester pitched a great three innings in Game 4. That could be great confidence builder if he's needed again in the 2007 playoffs. If not, that outing is a great way to end the season.



• I have mixed feelings on the Joe Torre situation. On one hand, it was a bush league move by the Yankees with all their money to offer a one-year deal and a paycut. On the other hand, Joe Torre really didn't really deserve a new contract. I think he's a good manager, but winning 95-100 games a year with a $200+ million payroll is like losing 95-100 games per year in Kansas City or Tampa Bay. Most of the blame belongs with the GM, not Torre, but someone needed to go. The Yanks are 4-13 in their last 17 playoff games, have not won a World Series in seven years and if not for Grady Little's bufoonery wouldn't have reached the Series in six years.

October 3, 2007

You cannot pitch much better than Josh Beckett did on Wednesday night at Fenway. The Sox Ace surrendered only four singles (no walks) on his way to a complete game shutout of the Angels. At one point, he retired 19 consecutive Angel batters. Probably the most amazing stat was 83 strikes on 108 pitches. This is exactly why the Red Sox traded for Beckett prior to last season. Given the recent woes of Daisuke, the Red Sox could not afford to lose Game 1, especially at home. Now the Sox need to win just one of the next two games to get back to a Beckett-Lackey matchup in Game 4 in Anaheim. Hopefully, there won't be a Game 4, but if there is, I love Boston's chances.

The Angels are hurting. I mean that literally and figuratively. Vlad Guerrero was relegated to DH because of arm troubles, Gary Matthews Jr will miss the series because of a leg injury and Garrett Anderson is fighting pink eye. The Angel lineup doesn't really scare me to begin with. Anderson's eye problems and the absence of Matthews makes that lineup that much less imposing. Dice-K is coming off a very good outing. Friday will be a great opportunity to continue that success.

Thanks to the extra days off in the new playoff format (I don't like the format but it did help the Sox this year), the Sox were able to keep Tim Wakefield off the first round roster and go with a three-man rotation. The Yankees and Indians, who do not have the extra day off between Games 1 and 2, will apparently use four-man rotations. On one hand, this is good news for the Yanks because they will only see Carmona once. On the other hand, this will force the Yanks to start Mussina against Paul Byrd in Game 4. Of course, New York or Cleveland could come back with Wang or Sabathia on three days rest for Game 4. The ALCS will have an extra day off between Games 4 and 5. This means that a team could use a three-man rotation with all pitchers having the regular four days of rest with the exception of the Game 1 starter going on three days rest in Game 4. This means that the Sox (or Angels) could see Sabathia and Carmona five times combined in a seven game series (all but one start on regular rest). Obviously, if the Indians and Yankees go the full five games, that ceases to be a possibility.

What an amazing week in the National League. If the Mets had won just one more game in the final week, they would have played Philly on Monday to decide the NL East. The loser of that game would have then joined San Diego and Colorado in a two-day, three-team playoff on Tuesday and Wednesday. I shed no tears for the Mets but I would have loved to have seen that four-team/ three day/one game playoff scenario play out. I wonder what Vegas would have offered for an NL Playoff of Arizona-Philly-Chicago-Colorado at the beginning of the season? 9000:1 is my best guess. Those four teams averaged 76 wins in 2006. The D-backs and Rockies were 76-86 and the Cubs were 66-96. As someone pointed out to me today, the NL's top seed Arizona was outscored this season by 20 runs. To put this in contrast, the Red Sox outscored their opponents by 210 runs this season. The Rockies actually have the best runs scored/runs against differential with a +102. The Phils were +71 and the Cubs +62. In the AL, the Yankees were +189, the Indians +107 and Angels +91. The Cardinals were only +19 last season so I am not sure how much that all means.

Now for the awards:

Player of the Week: The final POTW for 2007 goes to David Ortiz who was 11 for 17 in the final week with 3 HR and 5 RBI. Papi actually reached base 16 times in 22 plate appearances in the final homestand.

Player of the Month: There were four good candidates for September. Josh Beckett was huge when the Sox desperately needed it down the stretch. He was 4-1 with a 3.18 ERA in September. He struckout 36 and walked only 6 batters. David Ortiz batted .396 for the month with a .517 on base percentage. He blasted 9 homers and drove in 27. Mike Lowell also had a great month with a .317 average, 4 HR and 26 RBI. Jacoby Ellsbury is the fourth nominee with a .361 average in addition to 17 RBI, 16 runs and 8 steals. For the first time, I am going to give the award two two players: Josh Beckett and David Ortiz. Ortiz numbers are jaw-dropping but Beckett was the MVP for this month.

September 23, 2007

The Red Sox simply can't stand prosperity. When Josh Beckett beat the Yankees a week ago Saturday, it looked like the Sox had wrapped up the division title. Well, five losses in seven days have left the Sox just two ahead of the Yanks with the pesky A's and Twins coming to Fenway over the final six days of the season. The Yankees play lowly Tampa and Baltimore on the road. Meanwhile, Cleveland is one ahead of the Sox in the loss column in the race for the AL's best record. The Sox will be in playoffs but they could be seeded anywhere from 1st to 4th. Even the Sox win the division, there is a chance they will have to start the playoffs in Anaheim. This could mean two trips to Anaheim in about a week. If the playoffs began today, New York would travel to Cleveland and Anaheim would head to Fenway. In the National League, the Cubs would start the playoffs in Arizona with San Diego visiting the Mets. The Phillies are in the mix for both the division title and the Wild Card. Colorado has an outside chance to make the playoffs the a Wild Card.

I don't think there is much doubt that Josh Beckett (20-6, 3.14 ERA) wrapped up the Cy Young on Friday night in Tampa. A-Rod (.311, 52 HR, 147 RBI) is a lock for MVP. The Rookie of the Year Award is still up for grabs. I think it will come down to Dustin Pedroia (.315, 7 HR, 49 RBI, 81 runs) and Kansas City starter Brian Bannister (12-9, 3.61 ERA). I'm predict Bannister by a nose. In the NL, Jake Peavy will win the Cy Young (18-6, 2.36) and Ryan Braun will be the Rookie of the Year (.321, 32 HR, 88 RBI). Braun's stats have come in only 107 games - WOW! The MVP will probably be either David Wright (.321, 30 HR, 105 RBI) or Prince Fielder (.286, 47 HR, 112 RBI). The MVP was Fielder's to lose a month ago but I think the Brewers have cost him the hardware by falling apart in the last two months.

Josh Beckett is the only Sox starter to record a win since September 7th. Josh is 3-0 in that stretch. The rest of the starting staff is 0-6.

With pretty much the entire roster mired in a slump there aren't many Player of the Week candidates this week. Josh Beckett pitched well on Friday to pick up #20, Jacoby Ellsbury was 9 for 24 (.375) this week with four runs scored and Jason Varitek batted .400 (6 for 15) with a pair of homers and 4 RBI.

Player of the Week: Jacoby Ellsbury

September 16, 2007

The Red Sox missed a golden opportunity this week to essentially wrap up the AL East. The Sox outscored their opponents by 13 runs this week but three more one-run losses resulted in a 3-3 week and a 4 1/2 game lead over the Yankees in the race for the division title. Boston's magic number for clinching a playoff spot stands at six. With two weeks left, the Sox are still in good shape as far as the division title goes. If Boston goes 6-6 against Toronto, Tampa Bay, Oakland and Minnesota (four teams with no playoff hopes), the Yankees would need to go 11-2 to tie the Red Sox (and win the division based on the head to head tie-breaker). The Yankees play two series with Baltimore plus Tampa Bay and Toronto, so this scenario is entirely possible. The Sox will be in the playoffs but the division is far from won. The other negative is that the Sox are just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Indians and Angels for the league's best record and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Player of the Week: David Ortiz, who batted .450 (9 for 20) with 3 HR and 8 RBI. One of his homers was a walk-off game winner against the Rays on Wednesday. Other candidates were Jacoby Ellsbury (7 for 19), Mike Lowell (10 for 21, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and Josh Beckett.

September 9, 2007

The Red Sox had a pretty solid 5-2 week to maintain a relatively comfortable lead over the Yankees in the AL East race. With three weeks left in the season and the Devil Rays coming to town, 5 1/2 games strikes me as "pretty comfortable". Anything less than three games would be "very uncomfortable" and anything above ten would be "very comfortable" in my humble opinion. With the Yankees coming to Fenway on Friday, we could be moving into one of the latter two categories by this time next week. The Red Sox playoff hopes, however, are in the "very comfortable" range of 9 1/2 games over the Tigers who are second in the Wild Card standings. So, if the Sox go 9-9 the rest of the way, the Yankees would need to go 15-4 to catch the Sox in the AL East. The Tigers would need go 19-0 to match the Sox record. Even if the Sox were to fall apart and go 6-12 over the next two weeks, Detroit would need to go 16-3 to catch them. The bottom line, the Red Sox still need to do some work to wrap up the AL East but realistically there is no chance they will not make the playoffs. Lately, it doesn't feel like the Sox are trying to win a division title as much as they are trying to survive a division title.

Even if the Yanks do not catch the Sox in the AL East, Boston still has a lot to play for. The Red Sox lead the Angels by 2 1/2 games (and the Indians by 3 1/2 games) for the best record in the American League. The team with the best record gets home field advantage in the AL Playoffs. This is huge of course. If you compare games over .500 at home vs the road for the AL contenders, they are as follows: Boston +8, Cleveland +11, Angels +23, New York +21, Detroit -1 and Seattle +19. With the exception of Detroit, those numbers are striking. The Angels have won nearly two-thirds of their home games, but are nearly .500 on the road. The Yankees have similar numbers. The other issue is travel. If the playoffs were to start today, the Indians would begin the playoffs at Fenway while the Yankees would travel to Anaheim. Let's assume that those are the playoff matchups and the Red Sox beat Cleveland in the first round of the playoffs. The Sox would head into the ALCS having made one short trip to Cleveland. If the Yankees were to beat the Angels, they would have to do it by making at least one, if not two cross country trips (and three time zones away). If the Angels were to win, they would start the ALCS with a second East Coast trip in about a week. This would be a tremendous advantage for the Sox. So if you are a Sox fan, you should not only root for Boston to finish with the best record in the AL but you should also root for the LA Angels to finish with the second best record in the AL and for the Mariners to miss the Wild Card. Let's say that Cleveland wins the Central and finishes second, LA finishes third and the Yanks take the Wild Card. In that case, the Sox would open the playoffs at Fenway but would then have to travel to Anaheim for games 3, 4 and 5. Meanwhile, the Yankees and Cleveland make short trips within the same time zone. If Seattle takes the Wild Card, then the Sox would definitely have to travel to the West Coast.

Random Stuff: Kevin Youkilis has set an American League record for consecutive errorless games at first base. If he doesn't make an error the rest of the season, he will break Steve Garvey's MLB record of 193 consecutive games. The Red Sox are considering beginning the regular season next year in Tokyo. It sounds like the A's have already accepted and the Sox are considering it. LINK

Once again, the Red Sox youngsters played a big role this week. Jacoby Ellsbury was 10 for 28 this week (.357) with four extra base hits and six runs scored. Dustin Pedroia was 10 for 29 (.345) with five runs scored. Clay Buchholz pitched three innings of scoreless one-hit ball on Thursday to grab a win in relief. John Lester improved to 4-0 with a seven inning, no run, four hit performance on Friday night. Lester is now 11-2 in his career with the Sox with a 4.65 ERA. The ERA does not look great but with a young pitcher it is more important to look at the percentage of good outings. This season, Lester has given the Sox six innings or more and given up two runs or less in four of his eight starts. He gave up four runs in two other starts. Last season, he gave up three runs or less and pitched five innings or more in nine of his 15 starts (and seven of his first eight). Lester's problem has been control. He's walked 3.9 batters per nine innings this season, down from 4.8 last year. As this number declines, so will his ERA.

Some of the veterans chipped in as well. David Ortiz was 9 for 27 (.333) with a pair of homers and 5 RBI. Coco Crisp was 8 for 24 (.333) with 5 RBI and 7 runs scored. Josh Beckett was 2-0 with an ERA of 3.00. He struck out 15 and walked only 2. Jon Papelbon picked up four saves and retired 12 of 13 batters he faced this week, striking out 7.

Player of the Week: Unlike last week, this week's decision was a tough one. Four Sox batted .333 or better. Papelbon was dominant. Lester had the week's best outing but Beckett won twice. My choice is Papelbon with Lester coming in a close second. There have been many weeks this season where Papelbon could have won the POTW award but because closers are expected not to fail and because they pitch so few innings, they sometimes get lost in the shuffle behind a starter who pitches a shutout or a batter who has a big week. So, Papelbon is certainly worthy based on this week's effort but I also figure I owe him one for his conistently great performance this season.

September 3, 2007

It wasn't a great week for the Red Sox (2-4) but Saturday was one of the great nights in recent Red Sox history. Clay Buchholz became just the second pitcher since 1900 to pitch a no-hitter in his second career appearance. Buchholz walked only three and struck out nine. It was a great night for the Red Sox organization. In fact, it was a great weekend. Their top pitching prospect tossed a no-hitter on Saturday and their top position player, Jacoby Ellsbury, homered and made a great diving catch on Sunday. Rookie Dustin Pedroia was 8 for 14 in the Baltimore series and second year man John Lester pitched well and improved to 3-0 on Sunday. The future is indeed bright.

Now the bad news. The Red Sox squandered a golden opportunity to bury the Yankees in the AL East race. A six game lead with four weeks to go put the Sox in a solid position but I am sure that no one in Red Sox Nation is comfortable with this lead. Injuries are also becoming an issue. Tim Wakefield and Manny Ramirez are both having back problems. Gagne and Okajima are banged up. Matsuzaka and Beckett are not injured but have pitched a lot of innings this season. It would be have been nice to have built a 10-12 lead and be able to limit the innings and maximize the days between starts for those guys.

Player of the Week: I didn't have to think much about the POTW this week. Congratulations, Clay Buchholz.

As for the month of August, here are the highs and lows.

Highs:

• Dustin Pedroia -- The Rookie of the Year candidate batted .346 in August with 2 HR, 12 RBI and 22 runs scored.



• David Ortiz -- Big Papi appears to have come alive with the power side of his game. Ortiz batted .311 with 8 homers and 26 RBI in August. He also scored an amazing 29 runs.



• Mike Lowell -- Lowell batted .393 in month. He only hit 2 HR but drove in 21, scored 14 times and had 9 doubles. His on base percentage was .452 in August.



• Jon Papelbon -- While much of the staff is banged up or showing signs of a long season, Jon Papelbon is pitching like he just arrived from Spring Training. Paps did not give up a run in 10 August appearances. In 9 2/3 innings, he struck out 18, walked 4 and gave up just one hit.



• Manny Delcarmen -- The young righty was solid in August (12 1/3 IP, 1.46 ERA, 12 K).



• Tim Wakefield -- Wakefield's overall August numbers were great (4-1, 2.45 ERA) but he was particularly good in late August. He did not give up a run in his last three starts.



• Josh Beckett -- The Sox ace was 3-1 with an ERA of 2.86. He struck out 35 and walked only 7.

Lows:

• Kevin Youkilis -- Unfortunately, Youk is having his usual second half slide. He batted .241 for the month with 3 HR and 17 RBI. On the plus side, Youkilis walked 17 times giving him a solid OBP of .362.



• Jason Varitek -- It is not surprising that a 35 year old catcher would put up some weak numbers in August. Tek batted just .234 in August with 3 HR and 13 RBI.



• Coco Crisp -- The biggest disappointment was Coco Crisp who heated up in June and July but dropped to an average of only .227 in August. Coco struck out 26 times in August, a terrible number for a guy who relies on his speed to reach base.



• Hideki Okajima -- The Japanese rookie appears to be showing the wear and tear of a long season. He was almost unhittable in the first half but had a 5.06 ERA in August.



• Eric Gagne -- Since arriving from Texas, Gagne has blown three games for the Red Sox. His ERA was 9.00 in August.

Player of the Month for August: Tim Wakefield had a great month but Mike Lowell was just a bit better.

August 26, 2007

The Red Sox offense finally seems to be coming around. Boston scored 46 runs in the four game series in Chicago, by far the most runs they have scored in a four game stretch this season. With the exception of the agonizing one-run, 14 men left on base effort in a 2-1 loss on Wednesday, this was a great offensive week. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come for the Sox lineup.

The Red Sox made history on Sunday. The sweep over the White Sox marked the first time since 1922 than an American League team has scored ten runs in each game of a four game series. Since then, only the Colorado Rockies (1996) have accomplished the same feat.

The Red Sox will be ahead by either 7 or 8 games when they square off with the Yanks on Tuesday. New York desperately needs to sweep the Sox. Even if they beat Detroit tomorrow night and take two of three from the Sox, New York will still be 6 games behind with 28 games to go.

Tim Wakefield is absolutely on fire. This week, Wakefield was 2-0 and did not allow a run in 14 innings of work. In the last two weeks, Tim is 3-0 and has not given up a run in 22 innings. He's given up just 9 hits and has 17 strikeouts (and 6 walks) during that time. Wakefield will probably make six more starts this season, so he has an excellent chance to win 20 games for the first time in his career.

Player of the Week: Three players really stood out for the Red Sox this week. David Ortiz who batted .478 with 3 homers and 8 RBIs, Mike Lowell (.500, 1 HR, 11 RBIs, 8 runs) and Wakefield. It's hard to go against any of those guys but since I have to choose, I'll go with Wakefield.

August 19, 2007

It was another strange week for the Red Sox. In seven games this week, Boston used seven different starting pitchers. In Friday's double-header, the Sox beat Angel Cy Young candidate John Lackey but lost behind their own Cy Young candidate Josh Beckett. The Sox beat the Devil Rays in a game started by Scott Kazmir on Tuesday but lost the next night to a Devil Ray pitcher with a 1-8 record and a 6.35 ERA coming into the game. The Sox made four great comebacks this week - two resulted in wins, one came up a run short and another was coughed up in the ninth by Eric Gagne. "Infuriating" is the best word I can describe the Red Sox right now.

Eric Gagne gave up just 8 runs in 33 1/3 innings with Texas this season. He's already given up 10 runs in 7 innings with Boston. Meanwhile, Mark Teixeira has hit 7 homers in 17 games with Atlanta. Kevin Youkilis has a .306 career average prior to the All Star break. He is batting .238 in his career after the break.

On the plus side, Dustin Pedroia is batting .349 since May 1st with an on base percentage of .411. Julio Lugo is batting .336 since the break.

On the odd news front, Tim Wakefield has recorded a decision in all 24 of his starts. The last time a pitcher with at least 24 starts had a decision in every game was 1939.

Player of the Week: Not much to think about here. David Ortiz was 8 for 26 (.308) this week with 2 HR, 9 RBI and 7 runs scored. Runner-up was Julio Lugo, who was 9 for 23 with 5 doubles and 5 RBIs.

August 12, 2007

The Red Sox are quite simply a painful team to watch right now. They are getting every bad break and are playing just poorly enough to lose games they should be winning. Meanwhile, the Yanks are playing great baseball and getting one break after another. The Sox need to stop the bleeding now and a three game series at home against Tampa Bay is a good place to start. The Yanks host Baltimore beginning on Monday.

Player of the Week: The candidates this week are: Dustin Pedroia (10 for 26 with a HR and 7 runs scored), JD Drew (11 for 20, 3 RBI, 3 runs), Mike Lowell (9 for 24), Julio Lugo (8 for 24) and Josh Beckett (W, 2 ER in 8 2/3 IP). Well, I am giving this week's award to JD Drew for his .550 average. It seems appropriate that Drew's bat would come alive in what turned out to be the worst week of the season for the Red Sox.

August 5, 2007

The Red Sox finally appear to be playing some consistent baseball again. After racing out to a 36-16 record through the end of May, the Sox were only 20-23 between the beginning of June and July 19th. Since then, however, the Sox are 12-4 and have reached a high water mark of 25 games over .500. The Sox are now on pace to win 99 games. The bad news is that the Yankees will simply not go away. The Bombers are 18-7 since the All Star break. However, it must be noted that 12 of those wins came against Tampa Bay and Kansas City.

Still, the Red Sox are in great shape in the AL East, especially if they can survive the rest of this tough road trip. Here are the remaining schedules for Boston and New York:

BOSTON
------
HOME (25): TB(6), LAA(4), Bal(3), Tor(3), NYY(3), Oak(2), Min(4)
AWAY (26): LAA(3), Bal(7), TB(6), CWS(4), NYY(3), Tor(3)

NEW YORK
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HOME (23): Bal(6), Det(4), Bos(3), TB(3), Sea(3), Tor(4)
AWAY (28): Tor(6), Cle(3), LAA(3), Det(4), KC(3), Bos(3), TB(3), Bal(3)

The strength of schedule slightly favors the Sox. The Red Sox have two more remaining home games than the Yankees. The Red Sox have 12 more games against the AL road kill (Tampa Bay) while the Yankees have 9 more (6 with Tampa, 3 with Kansas City). The Red Sox have 7 more games against the four top teams in the Central and West (7 with LA) while the Yankees have 17 more (8 with Detroit and 3 each with LA, Cleveland and Seattle). In addition, the Red Sox play 18 of their last 28 games at home. New York only plays 13 of their final 28 at home.

Player of the Week: Daisuke and Josh Beckett both made excellent starts and Jon Papelbon pitched two scoreless innings and notched a pair of saves but this week's award clearly goes to David Ortiz. Big Papi was 11 for 23 (.478) and reached base 16 times this week. He had 3 homers, drove in 7 and scored 9 runs. Amazingly, this is the first time this season that Big Papi has been by Player of the Week. Last season, Ortiz was the Player of the Week seven times and the Player of the Month three times.

Speaking of Player of the Month, here are the candidates for July:

• Kason Gabbard --
Gabbard was 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA in July for the Red Sox (Texas numbers don't count).


• Daisuke Matsuzaka --
Dice-K was 3-3 with 3.62 ERA and 32 strikeouts.


• Hideki Okajima --
The lefty had an 0.71 ERA in 11 appearances spanning 12 2/3 innings.


• Mike Timlin --
The veteran did not give up a run in 14 1/3 innings in July.


• Manny Delcarmen --
Delcarmen had a 2.40 ERA in 15 innings of work.


• Manny Ramirez --
Number 24 batted .340 in July with 7 HR, 25 RBIs and 23 runs.


• Mike Lowell --
Lowell batted .330 with 3 HR and 18 RBIs.


• David Ortiz --
Big Papi heated up in July with a .330 average, 5 HR, 15 RBIs.


• Coco Crisp --
Coco batted .323 with 5 doubles, 5 triples and a homer.


• Julio Lugo --
Lugo may have turned his season around with a .313 July. He also stole 6 bases.


• Dustin Pedroia --
Dustin batted .299 and scored 11 runs.


• Jason Varitek --
The Captain hit .294 while driving in 11 and scoring 10 times.

Player of the Month for August: Manny Ramirez

July 29, 2007

The Sox had a solid 5-2 week but it could have been better. They wasted a brilliant performance by Josh Beckett on Wednesday in a 1-0 loss and Dice-K was an inning away from turning the game over to Okajima and maybe Papelbon in Sunday's 5-2 loss. Still, the Sox are 8 games in front of the Yankees with only 57 games left, 12 of which are against the Devil Rays. They are in great shape. In the battle for American League home field advantage (aka. the league's best record), Boston is currently two games ahead of the LA Angels.

The past two Sundays, I have mentioned (and quantified) the Red Sox woes in close games. Since a comeback win in Arizona on June 9th, the Red Sox have played eleven games in which they were trailing by one run or tied entering the seventh inning. Today, the Sox were tied 0-0 heading into the seventh. As you know, Boston lost again, making them 0-11 since June 9th in games where they were tied or down by a run entering the seventh inning. In the prior ten games, Boston has not scored after the sixth inning. The homers today by Ramirez and Youkilis ended that streak at an incredible 37 consecutive scoreless innings. Unfortunately, those two runs did not matter today but would have mattered in most of the ten prior games.

Player of the Week: This week's choice was an easy one. Manny Ramirez takes home the prize for the second time in three weeks. Manny was 11 for 28 (.393) this week with 3 homers and 10 RBIs. He reached base 14 of 31 times this week. The other candidates were Mike Lowell who was 9 for 26 with 3 RBIs and Daisuke Matsuzaka who was 1-1 with an ERA of 1.35 (12 hits, 11 K, 4 BB in 13 1/3 innings). As I said, it was an easy choice.

July 22, 2007

The Red Sox are finally showing some signs of offensive life. Boston scored 29 runs in the final three games of the four-gamer with Chicago. This after scoring just 15 total runs in a 1-4 stretch against Toronto, KC (three games) and Chicago. Hopefully, the Sox reached their low point of the season on Thursday with the two runs and the six walk effort by Matsuzaka. The Sox can't mess around anymore. The Yankees bats are coming alive and their pitching is at least a little better. The next four days will be crucial for the Sox as they play four games in Cleveland while the Yankees travel to Kansas City for four. In fact, the Sox will begin a pretty rough patch in the schedule. Ten of their next 16 games are on the road against Cleveland, Seattle and Anaheim, three of the AL's five best teams (at least record-wise). The good news is that the schedule eases considerably after that. Best of all, the Sox still have 15 games left with Tampa Bay. The Rays looked like a AA team this weekend against the Yankees.

Kason Gabbard is putting up some amazing numbers. In his last four starts, Gabbo is 3-0 while giving up just nine hits and four walks in 28 innings of work. The six earned runs during that time adds up to 1.93 ERA. Gabbard's performance is quite a story because he has not been particularly good at the AAA level. Last season, he was 1-7 with a 5.23 ERA at Pawtucket. This season, he's been much better at AAA (7-2, 3.24 ERA) but I am quite sure that the Sox were not expecting this kind of success. If Gabbard (25 years old) can put together a few more starts like this, it will be worth mentioning his name as part of a potential great young pitching staff along with Beckett (27), Matsuzaka (26), Lester (23), Papelbon (26), Delcarmen (25), Hansen (23), Buchholz (22) and Bowden (20). The pitching talent in this organization is outstanding and the future is bright. Let's just hope the Sox brass is smart enough to hold onto these guys. Lou Gorman or Dan Duquette would trade Clay Buchholz for someone like Reggie Sanders or Kenny Lofton in a heartbeat. I'm confident that this group won't do anything that stupid. Then again, they signed Drew and Lugo for a combined $23 million per year.

As I said, the offense picked it up this weekend. Coco Crisp has been the main catalyst. Coco is batting .387 since June 16th. That includes 17 runs, 22 RBIs and 5 triples. Since dropping to .189, Julio Lugo is batting .457 with 9 runs and 9 RBI (12 games). Manny has 4 HR and 9 RBI since the All Star break and is close to .300 once again. JD Drew is still a disaster.

I wanted to update the stats on the Red Sox anemic performance in close games. Since a comeback win in Arizona on June 9th, the Red Sox have played nine games in which they were trailing by one run or tied entering the seventh inning. In those games, Boston has not scored after the sixth inning. Including extra innings, that's 33 scoreless innings. Here are those games:

• 7/19: Boston trails Chicago 3-2 heading into the seventh. The game ends 4-2.
• 7/18: Boston trails Kansas City 6-5 heading into the seventh. The game ends 6-5.
• 7/15: Boston trails Toronto 2-1 heading into the seventh. The game ends 2-1.
• 7/13: Boston trails Toronto 6-5 heading into the seventh. The game ends 6-5.
• 7/7: Boston and Detroit are tied 2-2 heading into the seventh. Detroit wins 3-2 in 13 innings.
• 7/1: Boston trails Texas 2-1 heading into the seventh. The game ends 2-1.
• 6/30: Boston trails Texas 5-4 heading into the seventh. The game ends 5-4.
• 6/27: Boston and Seattle are tied 1-1 heading into the seventh. Seattle wins 2-1 in 11 innings.
• 6/10: Boston trails Arizona 2-1 heading into the seventh. The game ends 5-1.

Player of the Week: It was easy to settle on the top two candidates for Player of the Week. Kason Gabbard was 2-0 this week with an ERA of 0.56. He struck out 9 batters in 16 innings while giving up only six hits and two walks. Coco was 10 for 27 (.370) with 9 RBIs. Crisp had a great week but I have to go with Gabbard.

July 15, 2007

The Red Sox put up some runs in the first three games of the Toronto series (21 runs) but on Sunday, they reverted back to their pre-All Star break bad habits. With the loss, the Red Sox are now 1-8 in their last nine one-run games. What's worse, the Sox seem to be completely unable to score runs after the sixth inning when they are trailing in close games. Since a comeback win in Arizona on June 9th, the Red Sox have played seven games in which they were trailing by one run or tied entering the seventh inning. In those games, Boston has not scored after the sixth inning. Including extra innings, that's 27 scoreless innings. Unbelievable!! The good news is that the Boston bullpen has been great in close games. They have surrendered only five runs in those 27 innings (only two in the last six games in those situations). Here are those games:

• 7/15: Boston trails Toronto 2-1 heading into the seventh. The game ends 2-1.
• 7/13: Boston trails Toronto 6-5 heading into the seventh. The game ends 6-5.
• 7/7: Boston and Detroit are tied 2-2 heading into the seventh. Detroit wins 3-2 in 13 innings.
• 7/1: Boston trails Texas 2-1 heading into the seventh. The game ends 2-1.
• 6/30: Boston trails Texas 5-4 heading into the seventh. The game ends 5-4.
• 6/27: Boston and Seattle are tied 1-1 heading into the seventh. Seattle wins 2-1 in 11 innings.
• 6/10: Boston trails Arizona 2-1 heading into the seventh. The game ends 5-1.

Player of the Week: The candidates are Manny (6 for 16, 1 HR, 7 RBI), Big Papi (8 for 17, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and Julio Lugo (7 for 16, 2 SB). In a close race, the winner is Manny Ramirez. Incredibly, this is the first time all season that I have named either Ramirez or Ortiz Player of the Week. Lowell and Youkilis have each been named three times this season.