July 9, 2007

The Red Sox lead in the AL East dropped from 12 to 10 games this weekend thanks in large part to two more excruciating one-run losses. The Red Sox are 1-6 in their last seven one run games. The Red Sox pitching, with the exception of Matsuzaka's effort yesterday, was very good on Saturday and Sunday but Boston's lack of clutch hitting cost the Red Sox another pair of games.

There have been occasional poor outings but Sox starters and relievers but in general the pitching has been great. Red Sox hitters, on the other hand, have developed an uncanny knack for failing in the clutch. They are putting a lot of runners on base, but driving them home has been a completely different story. The Sox have hit into 82 double plays (the second most in the AL) and have left a ton of runners on base (I haven't found the stats). The Red Sox are 5th in the league in overall batting average, but 8th in the seventh inning or later and 9th with runners in scoring position. I don't think J.D. Drew has had a big hit in a clutch hit this whole season. Come to think of it, I don't recall Big Papi or Manny getting a big hit late in the game in a long time.

Obviously, there is plenty of good news. The Sox have a 10 game lead at the break and with 18 games remaining against either Tampa Bay or Kansas City, Boston would have to completely fold to not win the AL East. Yes, a fold is always possible when you are the Red Sox but I cannot see that happening unless there are several major injuries. If anything, the Red Sox should expand their lead once the offense turns itself around. Ramirez, Ortiz, Drew and Lugo are all neck deep in major slumps. Compare the combined power stats of Ramirez, Ortiz and Drew in 2006 and 2007 at the All Star break.

YEAR  HR  RBI 
-------------
2006  64  202
2007  31  130  

This trio is hitting only half as many homeruns are they were at this time last season and they are producing nearly a run per game less. This simply cannot continue. The Sox are also fairly healthy. There are several nagging injuries but only Schilling's arm is cause for great concern. The Red Sox are in a position where they don't need to make many moves prior to the trading deadline. If Schilling gets healthy, the rotation will be fine. With Delcarmen throwing the way he has been of late, the Sox have a pretty good bullpen (Tavarez would join the pen in the playoffs). The offense can only get better. I am sure the Sox would love to make a move for Mark Buehrle but they don't need to unless they believe that Schilling is damaged goods. The Red Sox desperately need a legitimate fourth outfielder. They simply cannot afford to enter the playoffs with the Eric Hinske/Wily Mo combo plate. That is not working out.

Player of the Week: I am not sure that anyone is truly worthy of the award this week. Dice-K had the only great outing by a starter this week but followed it up with a stink bomb on Sunday. Gabbard pitched fairly well (5 ER in 12 innings) but two walks to lead off an inning in Detroit cost him a 2-0 week. Manny Delcarmen had a very good week out of the pen (3 2/3 IP, 1 hit, no runs). The winner, however, is Mike Lowell who was 10 for 26 (.385) this week with 2 homers and 8 RBI. This included a 5-hit game against Tampa Bay.

July 1, 2007

Putrid. That is the best word I can use to describe the Red Sox offense right now. This week, it was very difficult to watch the Red Sox position players. They absolutely stunk. Not only did the offense not produce against some rather mediocre (at best) pitchers but there were inexplicable baserunning blunders (for example, Lugo trying to steal third on Saturday) and silly errors (for example, JD Drew dropping a fairly easy fly ball on Sunday). Yes, the team is 10 1/2 games up in the AL East but the lead should be at least 15 games. It is almost like the Red Sox are trying to hit in double plays and leave runners in scoring position. Here are some of the lines for those mediocre pitchers who have beaten the Sox (or started games in which Boston lost) in the past few weeks:

Team  Pitcher          IP    R  ER   ERA Prior to Start
--------------------------------------------------------
TEX   Kameron Loe      6.0   1   1   6.02
SEA   Ryan Feierabend  5.0   0   0   8.20
SEA   Jeff Weaver      5.2   2   1   8.56
COL   Josh Fogg        5.0   2   2   5.06
OAK   Lenny DiNardo    6.0   0   0   1.80

The other side of the story is of course the pitching, which has been outstanding. If not for the hurlers, the AL East would be a very different scene right now. In the last 22 games, the Red Sox are 12-10. Of the 12 victories, two were by scores of 1-0 and three were by scores of 2-1. The Sox shutout the opponent in two of the other wins.

All Stars: IN - Ortiz, Lowell, Ramirez, Papelbon and Beckett. OUT - Okajima, Youkilis, Matsuzaka and Pedroia. I don't have a problem with the last three being left off of the team. Okajima is not there for two reasons. Number one, there seems to be an unwritten rule that only starters and closers can be named to the All Star team. Number two, Okajima was hurt by the "one player from every team rule". If not for that rule, Gil Meche would obviously not be there. Nor would Carl Crawford or Michael Young. Okajima is eligible in the All Star Game Final Vote at MLB.com. Here is the AL ROSTER

Player of the Week: Well, it certainly isn't a position player. Plenty of pitchers had good weeks but I am giving this week's award to Tim Wakefield who gave up just one run on Friday to lead the Sox to their only win of the week.

Player of the Month for June: It is hard to find a Red Sox position player who had a great June -- Youkilis (.264), Pedroia (.333), Ortiz (.326, 4 HR, 11 RBI), Ramirez (.322, 3 HR, 12 RBI), Drew (.325, 4 HR, 15 RBI), Lowell (.227), Varitek (.234), Crisp (.330, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 14 runs), Lugo (.089). Yes, that's right - .089. The starters were a mixed bag: Beckett (3-2, 4.46), Matsuzaka (2-2, 1.59), Wakefield (3-3, 6.00), Tavarez (2-1, 3.30), Schilling (1-2, 5.79). That leaves the set-up man Okajima (2-0, 0.68 in 13 1/3 IP) and the closer Papelbon (0-1, 6 saves, 0.84 in 10 2/3 IP). In my estimation it comes down to the two Japanese gents and Papelbon. It's a tough call but my Player of the Month is Hideki Okajima. He and Papelbon were obviously involved in more Red Sox wins than Dice-K. Papelbon was great but Okie was just a bit better.

June 24, 2007

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching. After Curt Schilling's disturbing effort on Monday, the Red Sox pitching staff stepped up and paved the way for four wins in five road games against two of the NL's best teams. Red Sox pitchers gave up just nine runs in those games, six at the expense of Tim Wakefield. Lost in the great starting pitching of Beckett, Matsuzaka and Tavarez was the effort of the bullpen which gave up no runs in 11 2/3 innings in those five games.

The Red Sox continue to struggle at the plate but they have had enough timely hits to win most of the close, low-scoring games. Coco Crisp and JD Drew are slowly getting their act together. Drew is up to .249 after falling to a low point of .222 on the first of June. Drew is batting .327 with four homers since June 8th. I still hate the signing, but at least it is looking like Drew will contribute this season. Coco has moved from .221 to .253 in the past ten days. Coco was 11 for 26 (.423) this week with 3 HR and 5 RBI. Manny is now batting .300 thanks to a .386 June.

Unfortunately, Julio Lugo is having the worst offensive season for a Sox regular since Tony Pena in the mid 1990s. On Saturday, with two men on base and no outs the Sox had Mirabelli, Lugo and Wakefield coming up and I'm thinking to myself that Wakefield is the Red Sox best chance to drive in the run. The Sox of course stranded the runners. If you would like to torture yourself, please take a look at the following numbers for former and current Sox (including Paw Sox) shortstops:

                  AVG   HR   RBI  Runs 
---------------------------------------
Edgar Renteria   .329   10    36    47
Orlando Cabrera  .334    4    44    50
Hanley Ramirez   .322   10    25    62
Alex Gonzalez    .263   12    35    36
Adam Everett     .228    2    15    17
Julio Lugo       .193    4    34    32

In the case of Hanley Ramirez, I cannot fault the Sox because they received Josh Beckett in the deal. I only wish they had been able to deal someone else instead of Hanley.

Is anyone else sick and tired of seeing Big Papi whine to home plate umpires? Yes, Ortiz has been the victim of an unusually high number of bad strike calls this season but most of his complaining is happening when the umpires are making the right call. The last thing we need is Big Papi turning in a prima donna.

The presence of Red Sox fans on the road continues to amaze me. Even in San Diego where the team enjoys solid support, it appeared (at least by the noise factor) that there were more Red Sox fans in Petco Park this weekend than Padres fans. By all accounts, they had a playoff atmosphere in San Diego this weekend. Who knows ... this may have been a World Series preview. The Sox are obviously a Series contender and the Padres are a bat or two away from being the frontrunner in the National League.

With the All Star break just two weeks away there are several Red Sox with a chance to go to San Francisco. Obviously, Manny and Big Papi will be voted in as starters by the fans. Josh Beckett will be invited and may start the game. I am sure that either Papelbon or Okajima, if not both, will be invited. Dice-K has an outside shot. Kevin Youkilis certainly deserves to go but I can't imagine that two first basemen from the same team will be invited to San Fran. There has been talk of Youk taking Big Papi's place. Dustin Pedroia can certainly make a case but I will put my money on Placido Polanco being the one backup for Robinson Cano (who doesn't belong there). They might also take BJ Upton as the one Devil Ray or Brian Roberts as the one Oriole (every team must have one representative). Finally, Mike Lowell has earned the right to be A-Rod's backup at third base. He appears to the logical and most deserving candidate. My current prediction: Manny, Papi, Beckett, Papelbon, Okajima, Lowell and Lugo. Obviously, I was kidding about one of those.

There were plenty of Player of the Week candidates this week. I mentioned Coco. Josh Beckett was 2-0 this week with an ERA of 1.29. He gave up just 10 hits in 14 innings. Jon Papelbon retired 9 of the 10 baserunners he faced this week (2 saves). Julian Tavarez pitched 7 shutout innings (3 hits, 1 walk). Hideki Okajima pitched a pair of perfect innings to lower his ERA to 0.98, the best in the AL for anyone who has pitched more than 25 innings. The winner is:

Player of the Week: Coco Crisp

June 17, 2007

The Red Sox picked up a much-needed game on the Yankees this weekend to move back to 8 1/2 games in front in the AL East. Even with the game the Sox picked up on Friday, the Yankees have managed to trim Boston's lead by six games in less than three weeks. As I said a couple of weeks ago, the current stretch of games which includes two West Coast road trips is extremely critical for the Sox. Right now, they are 7-6 (not great, not terrible) with the toughest part looming. The Sox will play Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle on the road over the next ten days. Those three teams are all tough on the road although none of the three is playing great baseball right now. The Yankees are also heading out for a ten day road trip against a much easier list of foes (Colorado, San Francisco and Baltimore). If they Sox can maintain the current 8 1/2 game lead through this stretch, I will be thrilled. Hopefully, by that time the Yankees will have cooled off.

This was an interesting week. Curt Schilling (coming off a one-hitter) and Josh Beckett (9-0 prior to this week) were bashed around in blowout losses to the Rockies. The back end of the rotation, however, was 4-0 including 2-1 and 1-0 victories. Schilling, Matsuzaka and Wakefield continue to be up and down. Obviously, Beckett had been great up until his last start. I would have to say that Julian Tavarez has been the Red Sox second most consistent (and maybe second best) pitcher over the past two months. Tavarez has given up three runs or less in seven of his last nine starts. He has a respectable 4.08 ERA during that time. The Red Sox have won six of those games.

Manny continues to swing a hot bat. He is batting .388 in June (19/49). On the down side, he has just 2 HR and 8 RBI this month (both homers in the past two games). Nobody is hotter than Dustin Pedroia, however. Dustin's 5 for 5 effort on Friday puts him at .352 in June. He is batting .398 since Cinco de Mayo.

Player of Week: I have had some easy choices of late but this week presented me with a tough decision. Dice-K had an outstanding 1-0, three-hit victory over the Giants on Saturday. Tim Wakefield was 2-0 this week, winning the first and last games of the brief homestand. Dustin Pedroia batted .364 including a 5 for 5, 5 RBI game on Friday. Manny batted .316 this week with a couple of homers. Big Papi batted .375 (but only had one RBI this week). Kevin Youkilis batted .333. Hideki Okajima pitched in all three games against the Giants (3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 runs). Jon Papelbon has two 1-2-3 inning saves in one-run games. The winner by a nose is Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads.

June 10, 2007

Last Sunday night, the Sox were two innings away from taking two of three from the Yankees and moving 14 1/2 games ahead of New York in the AL East. As you probably know, the Sox let that game slip away and lost four of seven games this week (the first time this season the Sox have had a losing week). Meanwhile, the Yankees won six of seven this week and have moved to within 9 1/2 of Boston in the division race. Last Sunday's game may have been the spark that the Yankees needed.

The good news is that the Sox really haven't played too badly during the recent stretch. The loss last Sunday was keyed by an A-Rod 50-foot dribbler which led to three of New York's runs in the one run Red Sox loss. In Wednesday's 3-2 loss to the A's, all three runs scored only because a routine grounder bounced off first base and trickled into right field. Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched very well in both of his starts, but he did not get any offensive support (only a single run combined). In other words, there are no signs that Sox are going into a slide. It's been a case of bad luck and some cold bats. Hopefully, that will change when the return to Fenway this week against two sub-.500 National League teams.

Speaking of the NL, four American League teams scored more than 10 runs today against NL foes. Tampa Bay put up nine runs. The AL is 51-32 against the NL so far this season.

Player of the Week: It was another easy choice this week. Curt's Schilling's line on Thursday speaks for itself:

IP   H   R  ER   K/BB    
---------------------
 9   1   0   0   4/0    

June 5, 2007

The Red Sox have now lost four of five games and are in the midst of their first slump of the season. For the first time all year, Red Sox opponents are getting the breaks. The Red Sox have now lost two heartbreakers in a row. Don't let the 10 game AL East bulge fool you; this is a critical point in the 2007 season. The upcoming schedule is brutal. The Sox play 15 of their next 21 games on the road with a six game homestand splitting two long road trips. The road series include Oakland, Arizona, Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle. These teams are a combined 34 games over .500 right now. The next road trip will cover about 7,000 miles in a span of ten days. Schedule-wise, life gets much easier for the Red Sox after the June road trip. However, the Sox play on 18 consecutive days following the All Star break.

The Sox reached the season's one-third mark (54 games) following Sunday's win. Their 37-17 mark through the first third put them on pace for an amazing 111-51 record. Here are some of the more interesting stats through the first third of the season (I am not counting the past two games):

• Josh Beckett is on pace for 24-0 record.



• Mike Lowell is on pace for 33 homers and 135 RBIs (and 30 errors).



• David Ortiz is on pace for 63 doubles.



• Kevin Youkilis is on pace for 213 hits.



• Julio Lugo is on pace for 48 stolen bases and 99 RBIs.



• Manny Ramirez is on pace for only 24 HR and 96 RBI.



• JD Drew is on pace for 6 HR and 51 RBIs (but still on pace to make $14 million this year).



• Tim Wakefield is on pace for a 15-18 record.



• Dice-K is on pace to go 21-9 (but will not if his ERA remains near 5.00).

Player of the Week (through June 3rd): This was a very easy choice. Dustin Pedroia was a ridiculous 14 for 23 last week (.609). He also had six doubles and drove in six runs. Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 14 games on Monday night. He is batting .444 since May 3rd.

June 1, 2007

May Wrap-up

The Red Sox ended the month of May with a loss to Cleveland but nevertheless it was a great month. The Sox were 20-8 in the month of May and extended their lead in the AL East from 3 1/2 games to 10 games.

The Red Sox had a nice offensive month in spite of the stuggles of their last three big offensive acquisitions. Amazingly, none of the Red Sox regulars batted between .225 and .310 in May. Six of these players batted .311 or better (two over .400) while three batted .224 or worse during the month. Here is the breakdown:

• Dustin Pedroia: The Sox second basemen, who had such a terrible April, batted .415 in May. Dustin had a couple of homers, scored 12 runs and had a .472 on base percentage.



• Kevin Youkilis: Youkilis ended May carrying a 22 game hitting streak. He batted .402 in May with 6 HR, 22 RBI and 23 runs. He had 45 hits in May, second only to Ichiro.



• Mike Lowell: Lowell followed a nice April with an even better May. He batted .343 with 6 HR and 21 RBI. He also had 7 doubles.



• David Ortiz: Big Papi's batting average was .333 in May and he was on base 46% of the time. Strangely, his power numbers were down - 2 HR and 16 RBIs. I'm sure that will change in June.



• Manny Ramirez: Manny is finally hitting after a very cold start. Number 24 batted .327 in May with 5 HR, 18 RBI and 16 runs.



• Jason Varitek: Varitek continue to surprise me. He not only batted .311 in May but had 3 homers and drove in 17 runs. Tek was swinging like a rusty gate when the season started but he looks great now.



• Coco Crisp: Now on to the down side. Coco followed up his disappointing April with even more disappointing May. He batted only .224 with a homer and 8 RBI. On the plus side, he was second on the team with 18 runs scored in May.



• Julio Lugo: It appears that Lugo's struggles in LA were not a fluke. He batted .209 in May after a lousy April. There was good news, Lugo drove in 21 runs in May, which put him in a tie with Mike Lowell for second on the team. Lugo is also a perfect 15 for 15 in stolen bases.



• JD Drew: Unlike Coco and Lugo, there really is no good news when it comes to JD Drew. In May, he batted just .171 with a homer and 9 RBI. I have a feeling that every Red Sox fan in America thought the Drew signing was a bad idea at the time they made the move. I was hoping that we would be proven wrong but right now it looks like a million or so people were right and the two or three guys in the Sox front office were wrong.

The Red Sox pitching was solid in May though not quite as good as it was in April. Team ERA rose from 3.28 in April to 4.07 in May. Josh Beckett was easily the best Sox starter in May. In four starts wrapped around his injury, he was 3-0 with a 2.88 ERA. Julian Tavarez, Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling all had May ERAs of between 3.99 and 4.09. Interestingly, Dice-K had the worst ERA among the starters at 5.22 but had the most wins with a 5-2 record.

In the bullpen, Hideki Okajima continued to shine (1.38 ERA with 3 saves) but it was Kyle Snyder who led the Red Sox with an ERA of just 0.79. JC Romero and Jon Papelbon had mediocre May ERAs of 3.00 and 3.60. Javier Lopez and Brendan Donnelly lost a little of the early magic. Their May ERAs were 4.70 and 5.73, respectively. Joel Piniero seems to be getting worse over time (7.15 in May).

Player of the Month (May): It shows how well the Red Sox are playing that Dustin Pedroia batted .415 and was not the Player of the Month. Mike Lowell, Manny and Josh Beckett may also have won in any other month. Clearly, Kevin Youkilis is Mr. May for 2007.

May 27, 2007

After losing two of three to the Yankees while squandering all kinds of opportunities to score and/or have big innings, the Red Sox are back on a roll. The Sox swept a three game series in Arlington for the first time since 1973 to improve to 34-15 and extend their AL East lead to 11 1/2 games. It's now the Orioles who have bounced into second place overtaking the Jays who overtook the Yankees on Saturday. As has been the case most of this season, the Sox won with clutch pitching, hitting and fielding. For example, on the pitching side, Joel Pineiro's 1 2/3 perfect innings set the stage for the comeback. On the offensive side, Dustin Pedroia fouled off about eight pitches before taking Eric Gagne deep in the ninth inning. This insurance run eventually became the winning run. Defensively, Coco Crisp made yet another spectacular diving catch that saved two runs and kept the Rangers from possibly breaking the game open. When a team is winning, these are the type of things that go right.

What makes the Red Sox run even sweeter is seeing the current state of the Yankees. The "Bombers" were swept by the Yankee-killing LA Angels this weekend. The Yankees problem most of the season has been pitching but this weekend they couldn't hit. After scoring six times on Friday, the Yanks could produce only four runs in the past two games. Since April 24th A-Rod is batting .229 with 10 RBIs. He's driven in runs in just 6 of his last 25 games. Jason Giambi and Bobby Abreu are batting .148 and .214 in May, respectively. Damon, Matsui, Jeter and Posada are hitting the ball well and a few guys are pitching well but basically the Yankees are in shambles. The Red Sox could all but bury the Yanks with a sweep next weekend. Of course "all but bury" the Yankees because history has taught me that nothing is certain when it comes to the Sox. Next weekend could also be a springboard for the Yanks, expecially with Roger Clemens expected back and the very tough Indians on the Sox docket this week. In other words, don't let the 11 1/2 game lead fool you, this is a critical week for the Red Sox.

Julian Tavarez went from Cy Young to Matt Young in about ten seconds flat today, but that doesn't erase the outstanding work he's done in his past three outings, all Red Sox wins. Tararez had given up just three earned runs in 17 2/3 innings prior to the sixth inning meltdown today. He only walked one batter today (compared to four in each of his past two starts). With Tavarez pitching the way he has lately, the Red Sox can take their time with John Lester.

It has been a struggle for Manny all season, but he showed signs of returning to form this week. Despite an 0 for 3 today, Manny batted .417 on the road trip (10 for 24) with 5 extra base hits and five RBIs.

Player of the Week: Choosing the Player of the Week the past two weeks has been very difficult. That was not the case this week. Kevin Youkilis is on fire. The Sox first baseman was 12 for 28 this week (.429) with 5 doubles, 4 RBIs and 7 runs scored. Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 19 games on Sunday. What's more, he has at least two hits in each of his last seven games.

May 20, 2007

Even without Josh Beckett, the Red Sox were able to win 5 of 7 this week from the two of the league's top six teams. The wins enabled the Sox to expand their lead in the AL East to 10 1/2 games over the Yankees and Orioles. The Sox and Yankees get together for three this week in Yankee Stadium. The Sox can all but bury the Bombers with a sweep. New York, on the other hand, can get right back into contention with a sweep.

I think the best news of the week was the pitching of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K was 2-0 this week with an ERA of 2.12. Most importantly, Daisuke did not walk a single batter in the 17 innings he worked this week (he had walked 12 in his previous 18 innings).

The other Japanese star, Hideki Okajima gave up some hits this week but was able to extend his scoreless innings streak to 21 2/3. This is remincent of Papelbon last season. Papelbon gave up just one run in his first 34 appearances of the season.

When teams are on runs like the Sox are on right now (28-10 since April 7th), it means that everyone is contributing. On Thursday night it was Eric Hinske who played the role of hero with a face first diving catch and a two-run game-winning homer. I really appreciated the effort, especially considering that I haven't see JD Drew dive for a ball all season.

It was clear a two-man race for Player of the Week honors between Daisuke and Kevin Youkilis. As great as Dice was this week, the award goes to Youkilis who was 11 for 27 (.407) this week with 3 HR and 7 RBI. His hitting streak now stands at 13 (he's also hit in 22 of his last 23 games). This was the most difficult Player of the Week choice I have had to make this season.

May 13, 2007

What a ninth inning for the Red Sox. In case you missed it (and I hope you didn't) the Sox scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Orioles 6-5. The rally started With one out and no one on base when Coco Crisp's popup a few feet in front of the plate bounced out of the catcher's glove for an error. At this point, O's Manager Sam Perlozzo inexplicably removed starter Jeremy Guthrie from the game. Guthrie had given up just three hits and had only thrown 91 pitches at the time. What followed next was an Ortiz double to drive in Crisp followed by a Pena single, both off Danys Baez. Closer Chris Ray then came in and walked Drew and Youkilis (which plated Ortiz) before giving up a two run double to Varitek to make the score 5-4. After an intentional walk to Hinske, it appeared that the Sox had tied the game on an Alex Cora chopper but Kevin Youkilis was called out on a force play at the plate. With two outs, Julio Lugo hit a ground to first but Chris Ray (covering first) dropped Kevin Millar's toss allowing Lugo to reach first safely and allowing Tek and Hinske to score the game tying and winning runs. I am thrilled for the fans who stayed at Fenway for the entire game. The were rewarded in a big way.

I continue to be impressed by the Red Sox never-say-die attitude but what struck me most about the ninth inning was Perlozzo's decision to remove Guthrie. The Orioles had a five run lead, he was dominating the Red Sox and he had only thrown 91 pitches. There wasn't even a hint of trouble at that point. This is the second time this season that an opposing manager has helped the Sox win by removing a starter for no reason. Last month in Toronto, the Sox rallied from 3-1 down in the eighth inning after Jays Manager John Gibbons pulled Roy Halladay after 95 pitches.

The Red Sox have lost a lot of games lately that the should have won, but today was certainly a game that they should have lost. Losing two of three to Balmer coupled with Beckett's injury would have made this a miserable weekend for Boston. This win enabled the Sox to win their seventh consecutive three game series and they are 9-2 following losses this season. That is how you win division titles.

We'll see what happens with Josh Beckett. I can't imagine that he won't miss at least a start or two. What concerns me more is whether this will have an impact on his success once he returns to the rotation. Beckett has a history of blisters and I am guessing that this injury is related somehow. It reminds us of the fragile nature of the Sox pitching staff. The Sox pitching has been great but with two starters over 40, another with a history of injuries, a closer returning from arm troubles and a set up man who is already on the DL for the second time this season it is hard to relax, even with an eight game lead.

How about Mike Lowell? Prior to the start of the season, I would have been thrilled to see Mike Lowell put up the same numbers in 2007 that he put up in 2006 - .284 with 20 homers and 80 RBIs and 47 doubles. As of now, Lowell is batting .313 and is on pace for 32 homers, 135 RBIs and 41 doubles. In Spring Training last year, we all thought Lowell's $9 million salary would be an albatross for the Sox. You could argue that so far this season, Lowell is underpaid.

Of the 13 Red Sox pitchers with more than one appearance this season, nine have ERAs below 3.70. The others are Joel Piniero who just left that club today, Dice-K, Mike Timlin and Julian Tavarez.

Many Red Sox had monster weeks. Kevin Youkilis was 11 for 21 with a HR, 6 RBIs and 4 runs scored. He also made several excellent defensive plays. Jason Varitek continues to amaze me. He was 7 for 19 this week with a HR, 5 RBIs and 7 runs. Big Papi was 10 for 21 with a homer, 7 RBIs, 6 runs and 4 doubles. Manny was only 6 for 22 this week but homered, drove in 6 and scored 6. Alex Cora was 5 for 11. On the pitching side, Hideki Okajima pitched 2 2/3 more scoreless innings (he has now piched 15 1/3 scoreless since his first batter on Opening Day) and Tim Wakefield gave up no runs and three hits while beating the Jays on Thursday. All of those players were worthy of POTW honors but the clear winner was ...

Player of the Week: Mike Lowell, who was 8 for 19 (.421) with 3 HR, 9 RBIs and 5 runs in five games this week. Lowell becomes the first player to be Player of the Week twice this season.

May 7, 2007

All things considered, 4-2 is a good week, but the Red Sox really should have been 6-0 this week. Obviously, the Papelbon blown save on Tuesday was a total surprise. Jon has been dominant this season but clearly he just didn't have it against the A's. Saturday's contest against the Twins was also a game the Red Sox should have won. Boston scored only once while leaving 12 runners on base. Julian Tavarez actually outpitched Johan Santana but the mix of poor clutch hitting and bad luck (plenty of line drive outs) buried the Sox. Now for the good news - the Red Sox have won four of the last five games by a combined six runs so they are winning close games as well. The outstanding work of the bullpen has a lot to do with that. The Sox bullpen ranks second in Major League Baseball in ERA with a mark of 2.21 (the Mets are first). By contrast, the Sox pen ranked 21st last season (4.51) despite Papelbon's miniscule ERA. Sox starters rank third in the AL in ERA with a solid 3.79.

There are a few candidates for Player of the Week. Tim Wakefield gave up no runs on three hits and three walks in a victory on Friday night. Hideki Okajima appeared three times, surrendering just two hits and a walk in 3 1/3 scoreless innings this week (Okajima has now pitched 12 2/3 scoreless innings after giving up a homer to the first batter he faced this season). Dustin Pedroia raised his average to .239 after going 6 for 12 this week with 3 doubles. He has reached base 8 times in 11 at bats since Thursday. Wily Mo Pena was 5 for 8 this week. Alex Cora is batting .405 after a 6 for 12 week including 2 RBI and 2 runs.

Player of the Week: Dustin Pedroia, by a nose over Alex Cora.

April 29, 2007

After a terrible start to the week, the Red Sox bounced back to win four of five in a brief road trip to Baltimore and New York. The Red Sox will end the month of April with a nice 6 1/2 game lead over the last place Yankees. Ironically, the injury to Saturday's Yankee starter Jeff Karstens in the first inning probably saved the Yankees from a sweep and may have saved Joe Torre's job, at least for the time being. Karstens (ERA = 14.54) was knocked out of the game after being struck in the leg by a Julio Lugo line drive. When Karstens couldn't continue, Kei Igawa came in and gave up only two hits in six innings to pick up the victory. The brief Yankee momentum was squelched on Sunday. Even a rare three run homer by Doug Mientkiewicz couldn't save the Yanks on Sunday.

Who's Hot:

• Mike Lowell at the plate -- Lowell is showing that last season was no fluke. Lowell batted a solid .284 last season with 68 extra base hits, 80 RBIs and 79 runs. This season, he is batting .314 and already has 12 extra base hits, 20 RBIs and 12 runs.



• Doug Mirabelli -- The Sox backup catcher batted .353 in April. This is great news for a guy who batted .193 last season. He also has two home runs, the same number as JD Drew.



• David Ortiz -- Big Papi is batting .297 with 7 homers and 22 RBIs. That puts David on pace for 47 homers and 149 RBIs.



• Alex Cora -- Cora, a .244 career hitter, is batting .360 with a pair of homers and seven RBIs in only 25 at bats.



• Kevin Youkilis -- Yoooooook reached base 14 times during the recent five game road trip. He batted .450 on the trip and .400 for the week.



• The Sox bullpen -- The Sox lead the majors with a bullpen ERA of 2.17. Since Opening Day, Papelbon, Donnelly and Okajima have pitched a total of 25 innings without giving up a run. Opponents have just seven hits against the trio during that time.



• Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling -- Beckett was 5-0 with 2.48 ERA in April. His strikeout to walk ratio is 4:1 (it was about 2:1 last season). Schilling is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.21 and a K/BB ratio of nearly 3.6 to 1 since his Opening Day debacle in Kansas City.

Who's Not:

• Mike Lowell in the field -- The Sox third basemen already has eight errors, two more than he had all of last season.



• Dustin Pedroia -- The 23-year-old batted only .191 in 89 at bats last season and is batting .182 in 55 at bats this season. It looks like Alex Cora will be seeing more playing time.



• Manny Ramirez -- Manny batted only .202 in the month of April. Not including September (19 at bats) April was Manny's worst month last season - he batted .276 in April of 2006.



• JD Drew -- The $70 million man was 2 for 23 this week with no RBIs and one run.



• The Sox Defense -- Boston has made 21 errors in 24 games this season. They made only 66 all of last season.

Player of the Week: Kevin Youkilis, who batted .400 (10 for 25) and reached base 15 times in six games. He also had a homer, three RBIs and six runs scored.

Player of the Month (April): Josh Beckett, who was 5-0 with 2.48 ERA. He had 28 strikeouts and only 7 walks. Runner-up: Jon Papelbon, who saved eight games in eight chances. He gave up just two hits and no runs in 9 1/3 innings.

April 22, 2007

What a great ten days for the Red Sox. Last weekend, they outscored the Angels 25-3 in a three game Fenway sweep. On Thursday, the Sox rallied from a two run eighth inning deficit to beat the Jays in a game started by Roy Halladay and Julian Tavarez. Boston capped off the 8-1 stretch with a three game sweep of the Yankees. The series included a stretch of four consecutive Red Sox homers. This marked the first time that a Red Sox team has hit four dingers in a row and it's only the fifth time in MLB history that anyone has done it. Too bad Wily Mo couldn't make it five in a row.

Thursday's game might be lost in the Yankee hoopla, but I felt that that game was the most important game of the last week. With Halladay facing Tavarez and the Yankee series on the horizon, it would have been very easy for the Sox to mail one in especially after the Jays took the 3-1 lead. But the Sox battled back with clutch hitting, clutch pitching and great defense. When your seventh starter faces one of the top five starters in the league on the road and you win the game, you know things are going well.

The Red Sox really needed to take advantage of the two Yankee series in April. The Yankee pitching staff is in absolute shambles. The Yanks had a mediocre staff to begin with and the injuries to Wang and Mussina obviously have made things much worse. It looks like Wang could be available for next weekend's series. If no games are rained out this week, it looks like it will be Matsusaka-Wright on Friday, Wakefield-Igawa on Saturday and Tavarez-Wang on Sunday. I wonder if the Yankees are worried about Mariano Rivera. He's looked terrible in consecutive blown saves but he also blew his first two save chances in the 2005 season and went on to save 43 in his next 45 chances and finished with a 1.38 ERA.

Some random notes for this weekend's series:

• I had actually forgotten that Matt Clement is still on this team until I looked at the injury list the other day.



• Is it my imagination or do Kyle Farnsworth and Brendan Donnelly look like identical twins these days? They even have the same glasses.



• I can only assume that Yankee fans are already calling Colter Bean "Butterbean." Even Sid Fernandez wasn't as fat as Colter Bean.



• My heart goes out to any serious Sox fans who were at the game on Sunday night but were in the concession line or restroom during the four consecutive homers. Wait a minute, I take that back. No serious Sox fan would be in the restroom or concession line with Ortiz coming up.



• This weekend marked the first time since 1990 that the Red Sox have swept the Yanks at Fenway. That is hard to believe.



• If you missed the great Fenway pizza toss incident, here is Part 1 and Part 2. Remy's comments in part 2 are particularly amusing.

The Player of the Week candidates are:

• Jon Papelbon -- 4 saves in four changes, 4 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 4 walks, 7 Ks
• Hideki Okajima -- 1 save, 3 IP, 0 ER, 1 hit, 2 walks, 5 Ks
• Tim Wakefield -- 1-0, 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, 3 walks
• David Ortiz -- 7 for 24 (.292), 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 runs
• Mike Lowell -- 8 for 20 (.400), 3 HR, 6 RBI, 5 runs
• Jason Varitek -- 7 for 19 (.368), 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 runs
• Coco Crisp -- 8 for 20 (.400), 3 RBI, 4 runs

Player of the Week: Mike Lowell

April 16, 2007

The Boston bats awoke over the weekend but the starting pitching remained the key for the Red Sox. Since Schilling's horrible season opener the four permanent members of the Sox rotation (I am excluding Tavarez) have made nine solid starts in a row. Here are the totals in those nine for Schilling, Beckett, Dice and Wakefield:

W-L     IP     ER     H     K/BB     ERA
-----------------------------------------
7-2     60     10     34    44/12    1.50

The bullpen has been a mixed bag. Lopez, Papelbon, Donnelly and Okajima have pitched a combined 14 2/3 innings and given up just five hits and one earned run. Snyder, Piniero, Romero and Timlin on the other hand: 13 1/3 IP, 16 hits, 9 earned runs.

On the offensive side, several Sox had excellent weeks. In the Seattle and Anaheim homestand, Julio Lugo was 8 for 19 (.421), David Ortiz was 7 for 18 (.389) with 2 HR and 8 RBI and Kevin Youkilis was 6 for 15 (.400). Other important notes - Mike Lowell already has six doubles (he had 47 last year) and Big Papi already has 12 RBI.

The rainouts are a negative for the Sox because (a) they are playing well and (b) the rainouts will cost them days off or force double-headers down the road. On the plus side, the rain allowed the Sox to push Julian Tavarez starts back twice. I suspect that Tavarez will face the Yankees on Friday.

Player of the Week: Due to the rainouts, I counted Monday's game against the Angels as part of last week. This made my decision very easy. Josh Beckett gets the honors. He was 2-0 and gave up just two earned runs and eight hits in 15 innings of work. He struck out 13 batters and walked just one in those two starts. Big Papi was the clear runner-up.

Player of the Week: Josh Beckett

April 8, 2007

The first week of the season was a mixed bag for the Red Sox. The best news came on Thursday when Daisuke Matsuzaka dominated the Royals (7 IP, 6 H, 10 K, 1 BB). No one should be overly excited over one game but it was crucial that Daisuke get off to a good start this season and he certainly did. Another guy who desperately needed a good start in Boston and had one is J.D. Drew. The new Sox rightfielder batted .391 this week and reached base 11 times. The only other Sox player who had a good week at the dish was Dustin Pedroia (.312 avg). After a terrible opener, Schilling was solid in his victory on Sunday. Wakefield pitched brilliantly on Friday but was victimized by a fluke base hit and a Pedroia error (the Sox lost 2-0 and neither run was Wake's fault). Beckett labored on Wednesday but only gave up one run. Papelbon was absolutely dominant in two outings (eight batters faced, eight outs, five strikeouts, two saves). I would like to see Papelbon in the starting rotation someday but for right now, I couldn't be happier that he is closing games for the Sox.

Now the bad news ... Julian Tavarez had problems in his first start on Saturday. I have no confidence that this is going to change. Obviously, the Sox will eventually fill that hole but how long can they wait? Joel Pineiro looks every bit as terrible as advertised. He came into the game on Sunday with a two-run lead and immediately walked two batters. Thankfully, Papelbon pulled a Houdini and bailed him out. The bottom of the Sox lineup looks a bit like the bottom of the Bad News Bears lineup. I am happy that Pedroia had a nice week but Crisp doesn't look any better than last season and Varitek is swinging like a rusty gate. I am still confident that Coco can regain his 2005 form (.300 average with 86 runs) but I am afraid that Varitek is deteriorating rapidly. It is unfortunate that the Sox had to part with Josh Bard to get Mirabelli back last season. Bard batted .338 last season and is off to a .319 start this year. The Sox could have used Bard much more often than they can use Mirabelli who is probably the only guy that will be worse at the plate than Varitek this season. By the way, the Sox also lost Cla Meredith in that deal. What a nightmare?

Here is a question that I find myself asking every year: What is wrong with Dan Shaughnessy? The "Curly-haired Girlfriend" is now mocking Curt Schilling for his blog (http://38pitches.com). Even by Shaughnessy standards this is pitiful. In this era, most professional athletes wouldn't walk across the street to spit on one of their fans. My father often tells me stories from Spring Training in the 1960s. Back in those days, regular guys would often hang out with the players. At the very least, the players were accessible and would probably be friendly if you ran into them on the street. Obviously, those days are long gone. That is why it is so refreshing that Curt Schilling has taken in interest in communicating with his fans. It is not exactly on par with my father's experiences in Spring Training, but at least Curt makes the effort and seems to enjoy the interaction with the fans. It is not just the bloody sock that has endeared Curt Schilling to Red Sox Nation. This type of stuff has a lot to do with it. Shaughnessy of course has selfish reasons for mocking Schilling. If more players had blogs, it would be harder for media types like Shaughnessy to get away with printing half-truths and rumors. At the very least, the blog allows the player to publish his side of the story. Hats off to Curt for doing this and I hope we see more of it in the future.

Can anyone tell me why we always have games the first week of the season in places like Cleveland, New York and Chicago? Having games in Northern parks the first week of April is asking for trouble. How does this happen? Maybe the schedule-maker is caught up in the global warming hysteria and thought is was no longer possible to have cold weather the first week in April. These seven AL teams should start the season with at least two home series: Oakland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Texas, Minnesota, Toronto and Tampa Bay. All of these teams either play in warm weather climates or in domed stadiums. The National League has seven such teams and would only need to play on series in a cold weather area the first week of the season. Of course I realize that inclement weather can occur in the second week of the season but the odds of snow or extremely cold weather on April 9th or April 13th are lower than they are on April 2nd. Baseball, more than any other sport, relies on statistics. You would think they would use the weather stats to their advantage and avoid some postponements.

Now on to the Player of the Week. I really looked at three candidates this week. Daisuke (1-0, 7 IP, 6 hits, 10 K, 1 BB), J.D. Drew (.391 average and 11 times reaching base) and Jon Papelbon (2 2/3 IP, 2 saves, 0 hits, 5 K, 0 BB). And the winner is ...

Player of the Week: Daisuke Matsuzaka