Yesterday Peavey; Today Sox Win in 15

Well after getting screwed out of a win that would have put them up by 1.5 over the Rays, by an erroneous call by the second base ump (he later admitted his error), the Sox made a potentially season clinching move just before the trade deadline by claiming Jake Peavey from the White Sox. Like all the rest of us, he changes his Sox each day (at least for Monday and Tuesday). Cost us Iggy, who'll do well wherever he plays, but this was a one time opportunity. Then, following up on last night's 8-2 win over the M's, a great team effort, the Hose tonight went long. By long I'm not talking about a shot to the cheaps (except for the Dustman's two run shot in the 7th). Rather, I'm talking about the length of the game before the Sox took the W. Although they had a number of opportunities as the innings mounted, it took until the 15th until a walk-off by Drew with the sacks jammed and two gone for the team to push the winner across the dish.  Vic, Salty and Dusty all had a pair of hits. Overall, the Sox has 11 hits, but as each inning went on tied at four, it was getting more and more frustrating. Long flies died just shy of the Wall. Runners were stranded. One was thrown out trying to score on a medium deep fly. Finally, the 15th and Drew's walkoff arrived to send us all home happy--and back in first, as the Rays lost. So did the O's.
Pitching was overall very good too. Lackey went seven, giving up three runs on seven hits, while getting a half dozen K's. The pen was its usual excellent self, the only exception being Tazawa's HR by Seager in the 8th that forced us all to sit through an extra half game and then some. Uehara was perfect, striking out the side and Britton got the W, going a pair of shutout innings. He really pitched as he allowed three hits in this space, but also picked up K's, a pair, when he needed to.

Boomer's Gone Deep

Well, today at age 69 one of the more colorful Sox players of the 60's and 70's died. George "Boomer" Scott, former first baseman for the Sox, passed away. He played 14 years in the Majors, nine of them with the Sox, including his rookie year in which he hit 27 homers and drove in 90 ribbies. A three time All-Star, he also was unusually good in the field for a 200+ pounder. For those abilities, he won eight Gold Gloves. During his Sox days, when talking about his powerful drives, he would refer to hitting 'taters', a term that later became somewhat common in MLB in general at the time. Always an entertaining guy as well as a member of the team's Hall of Fame, he'll be missed. RIP Boomer--may you have nothing but taters up there.

The Dustman & Sox Both Winners!

Well, yesterday was a great day for both the team and its All-Star future HoFer. Early on, the Sox came to agreed terms with a seven year contract extension that begins in 2015. It will pay Pedey $100 mill over that time, and virtually guarantee that he remains a Sox member for his entire career, which he's made very clear is what he wants to do. As for the team, they won on two counts: they locked up Pedey from now through 2021, and they beat the current challenger for first place in the Division, the white hot Rays. The game started with the Sox dropping behind one zip on an early homer from the Rays, tarnishing an otherwise good start for Lester. However, the Hose quickly caught up and took the lead at 3-1 by adding single runs to get to that total by the 5th. After Longoria put one into the cheaps to tighten the score at 3-2 in the 6th, Sox, the Sox piled it on in their half of the 8th, scoring 3 runs. It was a team effort, without any yard shots. Nap doubled, followed by singles from Gomes, Drew and Iggy and, bingo--three runs had crossed the plate. Mixed into that combination was a steal by Drew.
As for pitching, Lester gave a much better effort than he has of late, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing two runs. He gave up seven hits and walked absolutely nobody. If that's not good enough, he also K'd eight batters. After coming out in the 7th, he was followed by a pen that was perfect for the rest of thr game! Thornton, in his second appearance, went a third of an inning on just two pitches. Tazawa closed out that inning and then added another whole inning without allowing anything on a total of 20 pitches, 16 of which were for strikes. In the process, he picked up three K's. When he was done, the Sox closer, Uehara, came on to slam the door. Slam it he did! Eleven pitches, two K's and the Rays were gone. See ya'!
Returning to the Sox offense, they got the most out of a dozen hits, including a quartet of doubles in that total. They also swiped three, with Dusty and Vic each adding in their 14th of the year to Drew's aforementioned steal.
With the win, the Sox moved back to a 1.5 game lead over the Rays, and extended their lead over the O's to 3.5 games.

Sox Take Two of Three from Stripes--Napoli's Heroics Close It Out!

Well, I haven't provided a game by game reportage of the Yankees series at Fenway this weekend. The Sox took the first on Friday night, 4-2 with some good all around team play, combined with a solid start by Dubront that was backed up by more excellent work from the pen. Yesterday, the Hose got themselves pushed back by the Stripes' Kuroda, who did a good seven innings at limiting the Hose' offense. Kuroda was eventually followed for the save by, who else? Rivera for his 31st save of the season. Yanks, 5-2.
Tonight's game, however, topped both of them for excitement, swings of momentum and exhilaration followed by frustration. Dempster got the start after the Farrell decided to give scheduled starter Jon Lester an extra day or two before his next start. Things began badly for the Sox as a throwing error by Dempster that could have ended the inning on a DP with no runs allowed Stripes runners on 2d and 3d. This was followed by a throwing error by Salty trying to nail a Stripes baserunner swiping second. Both throws ended up in the same location--center field. By the end of the inning, it was Stripes, two zip and the Sox lucky it was only that bad. The following inning they allowed another run and it was 3-0, New York. Not looking good. However, in the 3d, the Sox picked up a quick run, kept putting men on base and then Nap gave to Sox the lead, 4-3 with one swing of the bat. This was one of the best definitions of a no-doubter I've seen in a long time. The instant Nap swung, the only question unanswered was just how deep it would be when it finally landed outside the park. The answer in this case was either Landsdowne Street or, possibly, the Masspike. The Hose added a couple more the following inning and then Gomes, taking a cue from Nap launched a missile so high and deep into the evening sky that after it bounced off the upper quarter of the light tower over the Monster, it didn't bounce back to the field. Instead, it ricocheted over the wall onto the Masspike. Sox 7, Stripes 3. Things were starting to feel like a definite Sox victory. But n  o  t    s  o    f  a  s  t. Over the next few innings, Mr. Hankie's Yankees clawed back until suddenly in the 7th, the score was tied at 7. Enter the Evil Empire's bullpen. In the last five innings, this group of relievers, many of them unheard of, put the K on 10 Sox batters! In one stretch, four consecutive Sox batters got the K. It made no difference who the batter was or where in the Hose lineup. He came to the plate, took or swung at a few pitches and walked bank to the dugout. In the 8th the Sox had the chance to effectively end the game as Nap came to the plate with the sacks jammed and just one out. What happened? You guessed it! Nap swings at the perfect pitch, but tops it instead of meeting it straight on. Result? A 4-6-3 DP and inning over.
Uehara came on to pitch the 9th and gave his usual effort, allowing no Yankee runs. The game similarly went through the bottom of the 9th, through the 10th and the top of the 11th. Britton and Beato each matched Uehara's efforts with an inning of their own, apiece, of shutout ball. Then, in the bottom of the 11th, with two gone and nobody on base, Nap worked the count full. Next pitch was a fast ball right out over the plate. This time, there was no topping the ball. Nap took one solid swing, the ball launched, the crown stood and cheered hopefully and then erupted as the ball settled into a fan's hands in the second row cheaps behind the center field wall. If that weren't enough for members of Red Sox Nation, the lucky fan was wearing a very faded Yaz (sorry, but even after a lifetime of Sox rooting, I still can't spell out Yaz' name correctly) jersey. Everyone in Fenway (except those in the visitors' dugout) went berserk! The drive couldn't have come at a better time either. Earlier today, both the Rays (Sox next opponent) and the O's won. So, this win allowed the Bosox to maintain their game and a half lead over the Rays and return, for the third time, to twenty games over .500. This was the 100th game of the season--62 to go.

Farewell, Derek

Well, I just got the news that Derek Lowe, the man who pitched the clinching games in all of the 2004 Division, League and World Series championships, has retired. The Sox got him in one of the best trades they ever made, getting Lowe along with his batterymate, Jason Varitek, from Seattle. He started doing various relief roles, then became a really great closer, followed by an excellent couple of years as a starter, including one year as a 20 game winner with a No-No to boot. In the no hitter, he only allowed a single base runner. As part of the news, I was able to also see the video of the entire Game 4 World Series clincher--it felt just as good now as it did when it happened nine years ago! Even though I was watching it in a video, the excitement of every Sox move, every strike by Lowe and the following guys from the pen through Foulke, every Sox hit from Damon's leadoff HR to the end of the game, a three zip victory for the Sox was just as strong as when it was live.
So, farewell, Derek. You made all of Red Sox Nation proud and extremely happy. Enjoy the retirement--you've definitely earned it!!

Getting to Be A Habit?

Actually, there are two "habits" I'm referring to here. One is falling several runs behind early. That I could definitely do without! The other is coming from behind to win, either in the 9th inning or extra innings. That I can live with--the W ,after all, is the important thing--although it gets to be a bit of a nerve racking process.
Yesterday afternoon, the Hose had their final matchup with the M's and were quickly down 5-1 after three innings. After almost climbing back to even, 5-4 in the 4th, they just as quickly dropped to 7-4, M's in the M's half of the same frame. It was a combo of Dempster's pitching and the Sox defense. Demp only lasted 3 1/3 innings, and in that time allowed nine hits and a free pass, leading to all seven of the M's runs. Had he not registered seven K's while enduring this, it could have been worse. However, although he was putting M's runners on board, three of those seven runs were unearned, complements of a couple of Sox errors in the field. So, holding up their end of the 'bargain', the Hose then tacked on a trey to knot the score in their half of the 5th. Then, suddenly, neither team could score. The reason the Sox suddenly started denying home to the M's was that Wright, who entered the game with a double digit ERA, took over the mound duties and slammed the door on the M's offense through the rest of the regulation nine innings, allowing three hits and a pair of freebies against three K's. In the top of the 10th the Hose managed to get a hit, substituted Jackie Bradley, Jr as a runner and brought him home with the winning run on a two out single by Nava. The Sox' newest closer, Uehara, then gave one of his patented perfect, 2K innings to finish things off once and for all. Sox got another 10 hit game, including Jake's third HR of the year in the 1st. Jake's offense is interesting so far, in that he's back over .300, in the midst of a 19 game hitting streak, and leads MLB in steals. But, his HR's and ribbies are way down from 2011 when he had over 30 HR's and 100 RBI's. Of this year's three homers, the last two have both come on this road trip. Not sure what that does or doesn't mean in the greater scheme of things, but I just find it interesting.
Tonight the Sox are opening a three game series against the A's in Oakland and facing possibly as many as four recent Sox players. Should be a good game and hopefully, we'll win 'em all. Going myself tonight with my wife.

Jake, Vic and Papi Lead Sox to Win

A bit of history for July 11 and then on to last night's game. Today is the 99th anniversary of Babe Ruth's MLB debut, pitching for the Sox. He got the win with our site's namesake, Duffy Lewis, providing the winning hit, a 7th inning single.
Now for things more current. Last night's game quickly became a Sox laugher, with the Hose picking up pairs of runs in both the 2d and 3d innings and adding another run in the 4th for an early five zip lead. This grew in the 6th to nine zip with the Sox tacking on four then and an additional pair in the 9th for the final 11-4 score. It was nine zip before the M's were even able to get anything across. Papi and Vic each had a pair of hits, while Jake, extending his hit streak to 18 games, had three. Included among these were two baggers by both Jake and Papi and a 2-run homer by Papi one inning after his double. His pair of hits thrust him past Harold Baines into the all time lead position for hits by a DH. He now has 1690, and counting. Between them, this trio also accounted for six ribbies and five runs.
As for pitching, Dubront did an excellent job. He went seven innings, giving up five hits and a pair of freebies, while nailing down six K's. His game WHIP was a very good 1.0. The only run charged to him came in his final inning, the 7th.
Everyone else in the Div also won, so the margins remain unchanged.

Sox Erupt-End 3 Game Losing Streak

Well, there they were in Seattle--three losses in a row and down 5-1 after two innings. The three loss skein had begun with a come from ahead disaster to the Halos in extra innings and included another to the Halos on ESPN's Game of the Week in front of Jenn and her son, Aiden. What did the Sox do tonight to break the run and close things off where they were after the 2d? They did what the Sox are supposed to do--ignore everything that had come before, dig even deeper than they already had been doing and turn things around! Starting with a five spot in the 3d, they took the lead, briefly gave it back up, but kept on fighting and retook it for good in the 5th and won going away, 11-8.  From the 3d inning on, it was a growing cascade of numbers, most of them positive, for the Sox as every player got at least one hit, for a total of 16, and every player also either scored at least one run or drove one in. Amongst the flood of hits were five balls into the cheaps, including one by Papi and another by Jackie Bradley, just recalled from the Pawsox to get some OF depth while Jake deals with a nagging wrist. Other yard shots were had from Nap, The Dustman and Victorino. Beyond his shot, Papi also had three other hits, including a double squared, totaling four of five on the night. His performance also left him with a career total of 1688 hits as a DH, tied for the all time total lead with Harold Baines.
On the other side of the ball, the Hose moundsmen showed their mettle as the pen took over the game and kept their collective fingers in the dike while the batsmen were taking over the control of the game. Starting with Aceves, the Sox hurlers threw six and 2/3 innings of one run, seven hit ball, topped off by Uehara's sixth save in a totally perfect 9th that he closed out on just seven pitches, six of them strikes. Two of the outs didn't even leave the infield!
Net result of the night--Sox picked up a game on the entire Division, except the Rays, and were able to enjoy some of the Left Coast's best seafood from Kumamotos to Salmon as their late dinner. Let's hope this sets up a repeat W tomorrow in preps for their arrival here in the Bay Area and my visit to watch them live against the A's (most of whose best players are familiar names--all recent Sox players).

Pad'ing the Lead

Well, the Pads finished out the latest homestand. The Sox finished 8-1, their best homestand record since 2010. The latest was yesterday's 8-2 win over the Pads. In this one, the Sox had 18 hits, spreading most of them around the roster every starter having at least one hit. Even better, eight players had at least a pair, and Jake came up with three, including a solo shot in the last of the 8th. Only his second HR of the year, it's been the one thing from his overall kit that has been missing since his near MVP breakout in 2011. He's also back over .300 and leads the majors in steals with a current 33.
Among the other multi-hit contributors were The Dustman and Papi, each of whom added a pair of ribbies to their hit totals on the evening. The team was quickly up three zip after two and five two after five before adding the runs that essentially put things out of reach in the 6th.
As for pitching, Allen Webster, entering the game with an ERA of well over 9, picked up his first Big League W with a neat well pitched six innings. Here allowed the Pads pair of runs, but gave up just five hits and K'd four in his time on the mound. In the process, his ERA also dropped almost two runs per game to 7.88. It's still high, but you gotta' start somewhere, and last night at least has things heading in the right direction. after he left, the pen closed things out with a perfect 2K inning from Bailey, followed by a successive pair of shutout one hit innings from Wilson and Breslow.
With the W, the Sox are now at a season high 19 games over .500, and 4.5 ahead of the Birds. They also remain 6 up on the Stripes. Tonight they're playing out here on the Left Coast, against the Halo's in Anaheim. Later next week they'll be here in the Bay Area and I'll be blogging in person.

Two Basic Facts

Everyone who follows baseball knows how important and exciting it is to see a pitcher overpower the opposing team's lineup or a bunch of hard hit balls rocketing over the fence. But there are times when that doesn't always happen and then the difference between winning and losing comes down to two things: solid untouchable pitching and timely hitting. Yesterday, the Sox found themselves in a tight pitcher's duel, and needed both. The Sox starter, Lester, after giving up a 1st inning run and four innings later receiving only a single tying score, found himself in such a situation. So, continuing his recent return to the top of his game, Lester did what he had to in order to give the Sox a chance at a win.  He went a total of seven innings of six hit ball, allowing just the original run, and a single free pass. His game WHIP was a very good 1.00, and he turned the game over to the Hose pen. From there both Tazawa and Uehara threw shutout ball, one inning apiece. Uehara, in gaining his second W in a few days, finished everything off with only a freebie against him, while his predecessor was perfect while striking out the side. Offensively, it seemed that no-one could manage the one timely hit to put the game away, no matter the situation. The Dustman and Carp each had a pair, including Dusty's 23d double of the year, but the score stayed stuck at 1--until the bottom of the 9th. At that point Gomes entered the game as a pinch hitter to lead off the inning. He wasted no time and ended things right there. Pads closer Gregerson threw the ball and Gomes sent it on a one way trip out of the Fens. Walkoff--Game Over--Sox win 2-1! The W left the team at its season high 18 games over .500, and still holding a 3.5 game margin over the Birds.

Lackey's Return Continues

Well, tonight the Hose hosted the only team farther away from them geographically than the Halos. The Pads came to town from the last outpost before you hit the border in California. Continuing his return from Tommy John surgery, Lackey pitched a very god eight innings. He allowed a single run, a solo shot by the Pads' Guzman. This obviously was a mistake, given that it's Guzman's 4th of the year and he only has 14 RBI's (including this one) and now is hitting just .226. Aside from that, though, the Sox hurler was excellent. He allowed just six hits and a walk, while picking up six K's. His WHIP for the game was a minuscule 0.875--pretty impressive.
Offensively, the Hose at the same time spread the wealth while concentrating most of it among four players, each of whom had a twofer. No HR's, but among the nine Sox hits were dubs from Papi, Gomes and Snyder, the last coming with the bases loaded and opening a three zip lead for the Sox at the time. Jake added his 33d steal to his pair of hits, and in doing so, extended his lead in swipes for both the AL and MLB overall. Trailing in the latter is a member of the Pads. Speaking of swipes, Pedro Ciriaco (remember him?) got a pair against Lackey, giving him six on the year in the NL.
With tonight's win, coupled with a loss by the Birds, the Sox lead is now up to 3.5 in the Division. The Stripes game isn't yet over, but, judging by the score after 7.5 innings, it's over. Mr. Hankie's Yankees are pounding on the Twinkies by a total of 7-1. If it holds, that will leave them still six in arrears of the Sox.