The vacation is over, unfortunately. And so is the series against the Devil Rays. Tonight the Sox head north to the godless, soulless, Memorial Day-less land of Canada, where they face off against Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays. Is it just me, or is anyone else getting sick of these AL East matchups? The imbalanced schedule has major merits, but this never-ending string of in-division games is starting to get tedious. We want to see some new faces, not the over-enlarged noggin of Shea Hillenbrand, again.
Tonight’s matchup couldn’t look worse for the Sox. Matt Clement vs. Roy Halladay. Timlin on the DL. Pena on the DL. Manny uncertain. Just when you think it’s all getting Coco-pacetic, the baseball gods remind you not to get too cocky. So our expectations are low, but we’re looking for a happy ending — to the vacation, the holiday weekend, and tonight’s ballgame. Chat away.
134 comments… add one
Manny is in tonight’s lineup. Always a good thing.
So much for Coco taking the leadoff spot right back over.
anyone got any thoughts on who will/should go for Wells on Wednesday, now that he’s been definitively scratched?
Also, I think it’s great Coco’s batting 8th tonight; with any luck, it’ll help keep up the bonus production the Sox have been getting from the bottom of their order.
Two hits to start it off!
I’d assume Abe Alvarez tomorrow.
I’ll be around, but I won’t be very active. I plan on having GameCast up on the computer while I sort baseball cards on the futon…
I like the idea of having Abe Alvarez try his hand at starting. It’s what he’s comfortable with, and it would be interesting to see if he can pull off a Papelbon-esque debut.
And, reading the projected lineup in the Globe today (the one we’ll get presumably when Crisp is at the top), makes me sad. Youk hitting eighth? Why not have him right behind Manny, then following him, Trot, Lowell, Tek 9til he gets hot again at least) and AGon. Ah well. Either way, it’s a damn good lineup, with seven of the nine either hitting .300 currently or who hit .300 in 2005. Very impressive.
Loooong foul ball from Manny.
He K’s down and away. Yick.
K’s on ball four. And he knows it.
Two on to start, but the big bats offer no help.
Waste. Nothing surprising there, the Sox always leave two guys on.
Can’t let opportunities like that slip away. Might be the only ones we get…
Does Clement have a little speaker that announces “this device will self-destruct in…” embedded in him? If not, the Sox ought to think about a procedure.
I swear everly Clement walk comes with 2 outs.
No harm done this time…
phew…
am i the only one who ponders after every pitch clement throws, is this when he falls apart?
I think even Clement thinks that…
In fact, that’s the problem.
“I am not Matt Clement…I am not Matt Clement….”
I just don’t get why Tek is hitting 6th.
paul- abe started a game in a double header last year so it wouldn’t be a debut. he’s my neighbor and friend which pretty much makes me his biggest fan, or only fan.
Yep, that lineup choice is incomprehensible.
Let’s see if Clement doesn’t walk anyone this time…
Okay, this is good, Clement isn’t going for a perfect strikeout every time, he’s letting the ball in play. It’s when he keeps trying to get guys to chase, that he starts walking guys, and starts freaking out.
Nope, double this time.
Through two.
That is SO not Youkilis’s error.
Ah, there’s the Clement I know and hate.
Opponents are hitting .439 against him with runners in scoring position.
That’s um…
That’s not very good.
Damn him!!!!
Theo: you know what to do. Make this guy disappear.
Trade him to an NL team with prospects (*cough* Marlins *cough*) and eat all the salary if you have to. There is no room for a pitcher who can’t pitch with RISP on a team trying to get to the postseason…
Another highly productive inning
What 10 pitches?
Clement clearly has no stones. He’s useless to the Sox.
One big stone in that melon he calls a head
3 innings…. 60 pitches
How damn special was that!!!! Moron!!
And another HR to Overbay, who was sooo intimifated by Clement that he swung 3-0.
Oooh, I came up with a new word: intimifated… Anyway, Glaus doubles, and the Clement of yore is in full form after two whole decent innings…
Here comes the meltdown
Someone please put a line drive down his throat
Molina single makes it 4-0, now a Hill double (Hill hitting .243 before that AB) puts runners on 2/3…
I can’t imagine Epstein is sitting up whereever he is sitting thinking “we’re better off as a team with Clement”. I expect he’ll be gone from the rotation very soon.
I know we’re all passionate and angry, but let’s not resort to wishing violence upon people, like some other fans might…
That’s the silver lining here. Epstein has shown himself very capable at recognizing and fixing his own mistakes, ie Renteria. Here’s hoping, we see a trade soon. Because that’s the only way I see us staying on top of the East. Three good pitchers out of five isn’t good neough…
Paul: True
I’ll pull up the Ghandi web page
Any bullpen action?
Ick. Rios two-run single, and this game’s juuuust about over…
Only thing surprising about that is that Rios didn’t hit a homer…
Now it’s 6-0 Toronto.
Notice how many of the Jays’ hits off Clement came on 3-2 counts. He just doesn’t have a pitch he can blow by good hitters, and he seems to know it.
Van Buren on the way
Opponents are batting over .430 against Clement with RISP. I mean, that’s a joke. This guy should not be making another start for the Sox. Probably ever. He’s easily my least favorite player on this team, maybe of the last few years. Just gutless.
Bottom of the 3rd:
– Wells homers on a 3-2 count
Bottom of the 4th:
– Overbay homers on a 3-2 count
– Rios brings home two more runs with a single on a 3-2 count
Well, the only good thing about this game is that Van Buren gets some good ML experience here. I like him a lot, and as I recall, we basically stole him from the Cubs in a trade. He could be a good ‘un that few people talk about. The other good thing (“Two! Two good things!”) is that this should be the final nail in Clement’s coffin. I mean, shouldn’t it?
It’s laughable now that Clement got the All-Star nod ahead of Timlin last year…
Rios easily swipes 2nd base off Van Buren.
I didn’t realize that Van Buren is a pretty big guy.
Clement’s going on the DL, I guarantee, regardless of whether he’s actually hurt or not.
Clement is on borrowed time. Maybe a swap to Cincy for Arroyo? They may be dumb enuogh for that.
And look at that. A K and a foulout. Not bad from the rookie…
Van Buren, 8 pitches = 2 outs
Clement, 9 pitches to Rios
The way that Clement was making a show of limping around after he started getting tagged, as if to say, “It’s not me, it’s the injury,” he ought to be DL’d.
Bring Lester up
Maybe the Sox will rally around the rookie and get him some runs. But Halladay’s looking tough.
Here’s the dream: Lester comes up to take Clement’s spot, after Clement is traded to the Hanshin Tigers. David Wells recovers well enough to spot-start. Roger Clemens signs with the Sox.
Ah, dreams….reality bites, unfortunately.
I concur with Rob. We don’t know if Lester’s ready yet to face major league hitters, but we do know that Clement right now definitely can’t face major league hitters.
I am not sure either if Lester can or not. But I do not think he would throw 80 pitches in 3 1/3 innings pitched
DL-ing him doesn’t exactly enhance his trade value though…
Hey, Crips homers! A bright spot.
Get rid of Seanez also
Are there any Siberian baseball teams where we could send Clement, Seanez and Tavarez in exchange for some ex-convicts to roll out the tarps during rain delays?
I think Lester would probably be on a strict pitch count if he was brought up. I am not entirely confident they will promote him in the next week, as the FO probably would much prefer that he continue to develop in the minors. On the other hand, the Clement situation really is dire, and unless there’s a trade to be made I think we may see JL.
Well, the Astroos are tanking, the Rangers have always been out of it — so it might be between the Sox and Yanks after all for the Clemens sweepstakes. I feel like he’d wanna break the tie with Cy and come full circle, but I don’t have any evidence backing that up… I’d say the chances for Roger coming to Boston are better now than they were two weeks ago…
Jeez, amazing catch by Wells. That guy just kills us.
Would definately make Roger happy to think he could be the missing piece to a championship run,
Without some blockbuster Zito/Willis-type trade catching us all by surprise this week, it’s gotta be Lester and Alvarez, no? As several have said, you can’t do much worse than 6 ER in 3 1/3.
Could we possibly get invovled with a trade with the Indians to get Eddie Harris? I’ll take anybody right now.
Van Buren doesn’t look all that bad, to these amateur eyes.
It;s exciting to think about a trade because Theo’s expertise certainly seems to be in that area (Cabrera, Roberts, Mientkewicz, Crisp, Beckett, Lowell and Loretta all came via trade). Free agent signings (Renteria, Clement), maybe not so much. I suspect Epstein does indeed have some trade up his sleeve that will magically protect our farm bus still give us a third top-flight starter. It just seems to be his way… Or my wihful thinking ;-)
Clement is going to get Foulk’d in the papers tomorrow.
Look at that, a rookie with all of one (yes, one) ML game under his belt this season calmly gets the next two men out after giving up a walk. Imagine that!
It’s an especially bad hair day for Tina Cervasio.
just think…we could have had Pavano
Halladay hits Papi on the right knee.
Yeah, that’s just what we need right now, David Ortiz getting hit in the knees.
holy crap…it is somewhat a game again!
Manny makes it a ballgame, 6-3.
Um, wow. It might be a game again.
Now, is the Toronto media going to whine that Manny watched that one too long?
OK, I think we have a consensus that it is more of a ballgame now…
You know, when I saw that HBP, I thought, “I bet Manny hits a HR here,” and then looked away for a second. Next thing I knew, it’s 6-3. I fear we’ll pull a Pedro when Manny’s up for free agency and just let him go…
Tek singles.
(It isn’t easy to drop a ball into the outfield against the Jays. They seem to get to everything.)
Right after the Blue Jay fans boo Vernon Wells for striking out in his next at bat ;-)
I think we have Manny for atleast two more years under contract?
I think so too, and there are options. We might actually have him through 2010 with options — I forget. So I guess it’s a tad premature, but still… I worry… I really wish we’d kept Pedro, extra yar be hanged…
Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like Lowell hasn’t really come through in those hard-to-define “clutch” situations. It seems like a lot this year, I’ve said, “Now would be a great time for a double” and he makes an out… His WPA is quite low too, if I remember correctly…
Y’know, if the Tampa Bay Devil Rays can score 4 runs off the Sox in the 9th with 2 outs, then by the same token Boston really should have a chance in this game…
Why take Van Buren out here? He’s rolling along. I like Delcarmen and all, but it seems you should let the guy finish the inning. Neither has enough experience to make splits or 1-on-1 stats mean much of anything…
And, on cue, Delcarmen gives up a single…
I think after Van Buren landed on his leg awkwardly, they didn’t want to risk any further injury. It’s not like we need any more injuries on this club.
Well, folks, there;’s a tstorm rolling in and since I’m at home, I don’t feel like taking the chance with my nice new Mac Mini… Adios! Maybe the Sox’ll surprise me and have a win when I check back later :-D Go Red Sox!
Coco with the leadoff line single.
Come on, AG…
Too bad, AG went with the pitch nicely but right to RF. 1 down. One more baserunner and we’ve got the tying run up. Let’s go, Youk!
Blech. Youk with the GIDP. Not our night. Utterly predictable. Thanks, Matt. And good riddance to you, hopefully.
Halladay’s out…
Loretta hit… Time to capitalize again (and for Papi to make them sting this time).
Ortiz walks, 1st and 2nd, no outs.
Manny is the tying run… New pitcher for the Jays.
They walk him! Come on, Manny!
Pitching change…
Manny Ks.
Nixon pops out.
He K’s.
Noooooooo. Nixon, then!
Oh, darn, I’m behind the times.
TEK!
TEK!!!
6-6 :D
TEK TIES IT UP WITH A 3-RUN HOME RUN!
L O W E L L E W O L
Frickin’ awesome. We were buried. Let’s grab that lead!
Clement, you have got to effin’ go.
Sometimes a situation like the Manny at-bat, where he K’d, works to Boston’s advantage… There’s so much tension for the pitcher, trying to get that big out, that he may lose focus on a successive hitter.
Speier looks spooked, as the Jays’ manager comes out to pull him out…
Wonder if we see Paps for two here…
C’mon, Coco, just a single, just a single.
Nope. He flies out to Wells.
Hell of a comeback. The Sox gotta bear down now.
Ump saves Riske from a leadoff double.
He gets one anyway…
Molina doubles anyway, this time to right-center. So at least the Jays’ fans can’t complain about the outcome.
Bunt situation.
Fouls off first attempt to bunt… Hillenbrand pinch-hitting next.
Bunt moves Hinkske to 3rd base. 1 out.
Pop-up or strikeout needed here… I’d really feel better if Paps were brought in. Here comes Hilly.
Grrrr.
Riske gets ahead with an 0-2 count…
… and Shea gets the next ball through the infield, 7-6 Jays. Riske gave him something to hit on a count when he was defending the plate. Oy.
I think it’s fair to say that we’ve got no one trustworthy in the pen now but Papelbon.
Good catch by Crisp saves a potential double.
Didn’t like whatever he was doing with his wrist afterward. Maybe it was nothing.
Riske hits Johnson. 1st and 2nd, two outs.
Gotta wonder why Tito wouldn’t use Paps for two innings. Yeah, we’re headed into a long, difficult stretch, but why give away a stunning comeback?
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Aw hell.