Wake & Speed! What Else Do You Need--Peter

Well, tonight's game in KC, the final one between the teams this year was a Sox victory, although it took a few innings longer to develop than pre-game guesses would have indicated it should have. In fact, but for a bang-bang catch and relay for an inning ending DP in the 1st, the Sox would have broken on top a lot sooner.

Anyway, as the title would indicate, Wake was once again in excellent form tonight. Staying almost exclusively with the knuckler in the low 60's, not even going very much to his "fast" ball (around 70--hell, wouldn't even break a pane of glass), he celebrated his 42d birthday (actually last Saturday) with a win. He has deserved to be the winner a number of times through the summer, but failed because he got no run support.

Not tonight! The eight runs the Sox bunched between the 5th and 7th innings were more than enough to insure that this time he came away with the W. Even though he gave up the Royals' two runs, he allowed just four hits and not a single free pass. One of the runs was unearned, coming after Cash's passed ball in the 5th. After that, the bullpen took turns, an inning at a time--an inning per hurler, finishing off the Royals.

As for the speed, Jake took over the game offensively. Looking more and more like he's coming out of the long slump he's been suffering through, he went 3-4 tonight, topping off the performance with his 6th homer, a solid shot that brought across three runs in the 7th and finished out the scoring for the evening. Perhaps he didn't attempt any steals tonight, but you got the sense watching him perform that the urge-not to mention the certainty--was right there just waiting for the right moment to be unleashed.

There was one play in the 5th, however, when he demonstrated his ability to turn on the jets at a moment's notice. With the boys from KC batting and already having plated a pair, the next batter, Maier, drove a low screamer into center. Anyone else likely would have taken it on the first bounce, allowing a single and another run. Jake isn't anyone else. He flipped on the switch for the afterburner and, stretching full length, snared the ball in a tumbling roll, making the out and ending the inning. For you older folks, it almost made you think of Number 37 from the mid-50's--Jimmy Piersall.

Other highlights of the game: Bay continued to hit and score, getting a pair each of hits and runs, and JD also picked up a pair of hits and scored one.

One possible negative: Youk was hit on the hand or arm by a pitch in the 1st and after the inning ended, left the game. MRI's showed no damage, but it was/is worrisome. It doesn't take much for a misplaced pitch to radically change a team's offensive lineup via a broken bone. One of the Sox' great stars of the 60's was put on the sidelines with a broken hand or arm at least three times, not to mention literally almost being killed by what was ultimately a career ending beanball in 1967 during his relatively and unfortunately brief stint with the team. That's Tony C I'm referring to--another memory for those of you older than 45. Conigliaro was the most tragic example of getting hit, but even a broken hand and DL for a month or so can drastically affect a team's chances in a tight pennant race.

Speed & JB:Back on Course--Peter

Well, tonight's victory in KC was truly a team effort--13 hits, five for extra bases, from eight guys. Even though we left eight on base, we still managed to get what we've all too often been missing--timely hits. Also, the pitching was solid from start to finish.

JB started out with a quick one zip lead and, although he gave up the tying run in the bottom half of the 1st, partly due to JD's error, and then surrendered a leadoff double in the 2d, he quickly returned to the form we've come to expect from him. Of the next 17 batters he faced, he retired 16. Finally surrendering the Royals' second run in the 7th, he left with 7 K's, only 4 hits and a pair of passes, his WHIP for this game under 1.0.

Jenn's favorite pitcher, Timlin, took over, closed out the 7th and then pitched a scoreless 8th, surrendering just a single hit while tossing only 15 pitches. He was followed in the 9th by Smith, who threw a nine pitch perfect inning to close out the game.

I also noted the return of SpeedRacer, better known to you all as Jacoby Ellsbury. Jake not only continued to show signs of recovering his stroke, going 2-4 and driving in a run, he also got back on track in the running department, stealing his 36th and 37th bases, extending his league leading total over Seattle's Ichiro.

Papi only got a single hit in 5 AB's, but it accounted for the first Sox run. In my opinion, both he and Lowell are still slightly affected by their injuries; their timing isn't exactly on, but it's close.

Oh, some other good news--as I was writing this, the Rangers finished off Mr. Hankie's Yankees, dropping them 3 1/2 to the rear of our heroes. Unfortunately, Tampa won tonight, coming from behind to beat the Tribe for the first time in six games. While I'm at it, the Chisox are tied with Detroit in the bottom of the 10th, 6-6, but have a runner on 1st. Root for the Bengals to hold off and then beat them! The Twinkies are trailing Seattle in the bottom of the 6th and the M's have the bases loaded. Hope they get 'em all home and blow out the Twins!

OOOPS! Latest update: Seattle picked up a pair in the 6th and now lead 6-3 in the top of the 7th, while the Tigers and Pale Hose are still knotted at 6 in the bottom of the 11th. You'll have to catch the finals in tomorrow's paper or later tonight on ESPN.

Back On the Road Again--Peter

Well, as the song title says, "Back on the Road Again"--just with less satisfying results, as usual. Things started off well, as the Sox quickly put a deuce up on the board in the 1st. Although they were threatening more, that was all they got--until the 9th. It was the same problem that's frequently dogged them all season--lack of a timely hit that could/would have broken the game wide open. By the end of the game, they'd had a dozen LOB, whereas KC only had 7. Simple math tells you where this could have gone very easily with just one or two more nicely timed knocks.

The other problem is Buchholz. He's got talent, but something that he had when he first came up last year is missing. He seems to get along fine for an inning or two, and then everything falls apart. Either Bucky serves up a fat one that ends up in the cheaps, or, as yesterday, he can't find the strike zone or, again, yesterday, he hits a batter. Whichever it is, he suddenly has dug himself a hole that's too difficult to climb back out of.

The positive side of things is that at least both the Rays and Stripes lost yesterday, so our relative position remained the same. Also, from the Central Division, both the Pale Hose and the Twinkies are a game and a half behind the Sox in the Wild Card.

JB's taking the ball today, so hopefully, we'll have a better result.

Bay Helps the Sox Sweep - Jenn

Over the three game series against the Oakland A's there were a lot of posters and signs welcoming Jason Bay to Fenway. But my favorite had to be "The Manny Show Cancelled for Baywatch." And as a TV writer, let me tell you - this midseason replacement was just the breath of fresh air the Red Sox Channel needed.

This weekend Bay made the Fenway Faithful believe in life after Ramirez. While he may not have the stats Manny has, he's not too far behind the guy. And he proved in his first three starts as a Red Sox, that his heart is firmly planted in the game. Something we haven't seen from Manny in a long time. Over his 11 at bats, Bay had four hits including the triple in the 12th inning that led to the Sox win on Friday and the homerun that cemented the win on Saturday. Although yesterday Bay failed to do anything quite as heroic as he had on Friday and Saturday, he still got two hits and scored on both of them.

But if you think his offense is something to write home about, you should've seen his defense. On Friday he kept the Red Sox's one-run lead in tact when he made a sliding catch reminiscent of Coco or Ellsbury to end the fifth inning. And he's learning how to play the wall as if he's been playing Fenway's Monster for years.

Now while I understand that it's still only been three games and there's still two months left in the regular season, I have to say, Bay's off to a pretty nice start.

As for Manny, sure he hit two homers over the weekend and had five RBI's, but he also ground into a double play on Friday in the 9th inning with two men on. And here's something else I found out about our left fielder. Turns out, the Fenway Faithful weren't the only ones sick of Manny being Manny. Lowell and Varitek both went to Theo Epstein and told him that Manny had to go. His stats weren't worth what he was doing to the team emotionally.

But the real shock was to discover that Ramirez actually lobbied to stay in Boston after he learned of the trade to the Dodgers. His agent, Scott Boras, told the Red Sox management that his client would behave for the rest of the season, if they kept him on. As you know, the Red Sox responded with a simple, "thanks, but no thanks".

In my opinion they made the right choice in sticking with their decision to cancel the Manny show. As for the shiny new season of Baywatch, only time will tell if the ratings remain high. But right now, it looks like this new show will be on for many seasons to come. Good thing I'm already a huge fan.

Sox Sweep At The Fens--Peter

Well, it was only the lowly A's, but for the second time in a week, the brooms were out at Fenway, and this time they were in the right hands. Continuing the momentum they built in successive wins on Friday and Saturday, the Sox finished the sweep against the A's with a workmanlike 5-2 victory. The W featured a good combination of timely hitting, including a pair of hits by Jason Bay and doubles by Yooouk, Dusty and Lowell with a pair of sac flies from Coco for good measure; and good pitching from start to close.

The Sox scored the first run to open the first with a two bagger by Dusty followed by a hit by Yoouk. They closed out the scoring in the 6th with a sac fly by Coco to expand the lead to three runs.

Pitching was pretty solid for the entire game. Dice-K started and rebounded from his last start by pitching a solid six innings. Although he gave up the A's only two runs on a pitch he left out over the middle of the plate, he looked good: eight K's and only two walks and four hits in six innings. His countryman, Okajima followed and pitched a scoreless 7th. Continuing the quality, Delcarmen came on for the 8th and surrendered only a single free pass in an inning of shutout work. TOM was then followed in the 9th by Pap. Laser did what he's expected to do and emphatically slammed the door on just 11 pitches, three of them for a K, while allowing no-one to reach at all--save 31 for him this year.

Only two things broke up the flow of the game: a 37 minute rain delay during the Sox half of the 6th and Papi's first stolen base since last September. He had such a huge jump on the Oakland battery, he didn't even draw a throw--in fact, the A's catcher was so stunned by the sheer audacity of the move, he fumbled the ball and couldn't even cock his arm to consider a throw.

Now, it's off to KC and hopefully, the Sox can reduce their road W-L deficit by a substantial margin. It would be a great help to them in getting back on top of the Rays and keeping ahead of the Stripes. By the way, if it needs emphasizing, the final three games of the year for our heroes are at Fenway against the very same Stripes. So building up a lead of more than three games going into those final ones would basically slam the door on any Yankee hopes for the year as far as the rivalry goes.

Bay State, Take 2--Peter

Well, it began a bit shakily for our heroes today. Lester was on the mound, but after the Oakland half of the 1st, it was two zip A's. Lester gave up a walk and a homer and a couple of other hits before settling down. This brought us to the Sox in the bottom half, and did they ever respond! Their leadoff, Dusty, gets a hit, followed by Yooouk who hit his 19th shot, this one over the Monster, to tie the score. The next two guys up, Papi and Lowell, also get hits and then up comes our new left fielder, Bay. On a 3-1 count, he finds a pitch to his liking and drives it to dead center, and suddenly it's 5-2 Sox and the game, for all practical purposes, is over. But, the rules say you gotta' play nine, so the Sox keep going for the rest of the game. By the time they're done, they've tacked on an additional seven, Including Yoooouk's second two-run shot of the day. Final score: 12-2, Sox. Lester coasts through the rest of a seven inning stint and improves his record to 10-3.

Does he have a shot at 20? Figuring 51 more games, pitching every fifth day, he's got a very outside shot at it, but the important thing is, he's healthy and getting better every start. Hopefully, he'll have some great opportunities to match and improve upon last fall's post-season. Conceivably, the Hose could have two 20 game winners, but it's far more important that the team secure the post-season, and then move toward another title then.

In case you care how Manny's doing on the Left Coast, so far today, in the 7th inning, he's at least 2-3 with a two run homer, his 21st of the year. Be something if the Sox ended up facing the Bums in the Series.

Welcome to the BAY State!--Peter

Well, it was the first game in the post-Manny era. The sports pundits are back and forth about who got the best deal; if the Sox are better or worse off, and so on and so on, ad infinitem. But the fact remains, Manny is no longer a Sox member. His replacement in left is Jason Bay, hitting .282 for the season before last night's inaugural with the Bosox, with 22 homers for the season. It turns out Bay grew up with posters of Yaz, Rice and Pudge on his wall in Vancouver, BC. Why? Because his dad was a rabid Sox fan and he brought this kid up right! If this has a familiar ring, well....I plead guilty.



Anyway, against the A's at the Fens, trying to get back on the winning trail and gain a game on the Stripes, who'd lost earlier in the day to the Angels and not lose ground to the Rays, who've beaten Detroit, Wake is pitching an excellent game against the A's, matching zeroes with the Elephants' only All-Star, Deutscherer. Fairly early on, the Sox go ahead with none other than Bay scoring the lead run, having gotten aboard on a free pass.



The game proceeds on and Wake continues to put up the zeroes. Finally, one gone in the 7th, he's pulled for Okajima. Oki makes only one mistake, but it's an instant blown save. He offers a fat one to the A's excuse for a star, Cust (hits homers and very little else--ever), and Wake's chance for a W is gone like a fart in the wind--1-1. There the score remains through inning after inning; through he, who shall now be referred to as The Only Manny-Delcarmen (still TOM, though), through Lopez and through two innings of The Saver. Nothing changes. After 11, it's still 1-1.



Top of the 12th--enter Jenn's favorite pitcher, Timlin. He's masterful--really! In and out of the inning in nothing flat, no runs or much of anything else. Bottom of the 12th with two outs and facing another former Sox hurler, Embree, up comes Bay. To this point, he's 0-2, with two walks and one HBP. So, his OBP is looking pretty good, .600. All he needs is a hit to round things out, and a walkoff shot would be Hollywood's ideal. Just as the thought speeds though the grey matter holding my ears apart, he swings, the ball takes off like something out of Cape Canaveral and I scream, "YES!", thinking it's over the Monster ending the game with a W. Unfortunately, its flight path is slightly altered by the time it approaches the Wall and it caroms high off it in deep left center. If it'd been twenty feet to the left, it probably would have cleared the wall and that would have been it.



Anyway, Bay kicks it into gear and when the dust clears is standing on third with a triple waiting rescue by the next batter; the crowd is going berserk; and you can feel the momentum swelling through the old park. Jed Lowrie taps a slow chopper just over the upreaching glove of Embree toward second, where A's SS Crosby makes a vain attempt to grab it and throw out Lowrie. But Lowrie, fairly speedy in his own right, is already standing on first when the ball arrives, and Bay has already crossed the plate. Game over--Sox win, 2-1.



How does the trade look after one day? Well, Bay himself says he knows he isn't Manny, and that's fine with him. But he IS a pretty good hitter who has power, and Manny's antics, which had apparently gone from being just amusing to being disruptive when he started to not run out balls and arbitrarily skip games, are no longer a factor in the dugout to be concerned about. They're now Joe Torre's problem. By the way, in case anyone's interested, Manny went 2-4 in his first game in Dodger Blue, but grounded into a double play with no outs and two on in the 9th when his team needed a rally to win the game. Can we still win the division and go deep into the post-season? Yes, assuming the team starts to hit again, and Oki's lapse yesterday was just a one pitch mistake and the rest of the pen hangs together.