Well, this is why he’s here, isn’t it?
The shocking posting fee, all those ones, the last-second plane trip to Boston. It was all for this: So Daisuke Matsuzaka, Japan’s biggest-game pitcher could start for the Red Sox in October.
Never mind the struggles of September, the fatigue questions, the walks, the meltdown innings. And never mind the historic debut, the 15 wins, the 200+ strikeouts, the host of team rookie records. None of it matters tonight, when the free-swinging Angels step up for the first time against the rookie pitcher with the highest expectations perhaps in Red Sox history.
On the other side, Kelvim Escobar — a revelation for the Angels at age 31 — has his own questions to answer tonight, and they mostly revolve around the health of his shoulder and his ability to shut down a healthy Boston lineup that looked good against a better pitcher on Wednesday.
A win gives Boston a decided edge heading to the West Coast. Daisuke Matsuzaka may just be the pitcher to get them there.
Comment away!
No Angels lineup posted at the Globe yet:
1. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
2. Paul O’Neill Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. J.D. Drew, RF
7. Jason Varitek, C
8. Coco Crisp, CF
9. Julio Lugo, SS
SP – Daisuke Matsuzaka
I got tickets!!!! I’m in the bleachers WAY up, but I will be there. I would like to thank the Academy and of course, The Lord Baby Jesus.
just keep your voice down this time, Lockland!
Am I the only one who thinks Daisuke needs to pitch perfect games for the rest of his tenure in Boston to make the deal worth it?
Pete? Anyone? Thoughts?
rofl, Quo.
Beckett will have to come off the bench and hit a HR for the only Sox run of the game. Then, tentatively, I can approve of the FO’s acquisitions.
Dear 6 pound, 8 ounce tiny infant Jesus, please let some of your sanctified, blessed, holy baby drool fall upon Matsuzaka and his breaking pitches.
Holy Toledo Devine. I was just going to “pull a Cerrano” and sacrifice a live chicken.
Or is beatific baby drool about the same as, say, putting vaseline on the ball?
Hee hee, Quo!
I will try Nick, but it’s not really in my control. I can’t imagine they would kick me out of the bleachers for being too loud at an ALDS game, but we’re about to find out.
In other news, you know when something really good and really bad happens at the same time? Why does that happen? These tickets fall in to me lap and then I find out my Dad is at Mass General right now because he was in pain and they found a “mass” in his colon on CT scan. We still have no idea what it is, could be anything right now, but it’s still a kick in the nuts.
Go Dad, Go Sox!
Man, Lockland. Good luck. :-( And good luck! :-D
i was in boston…hell i HAD these tickets.
but alas the wife and work call me home to the heartland…a nice kid I met on sunday got the tickets for face value. I never saw a guy jump so high when I gave it to him. one of the bartenders at the boston beer works. I was in town at the end of my “man trip” from lincoln to cinci, to pitt, to NYC, to boston. watching baseball all the way. the kid was a good kid, very helpful, and hooked me up with a ticket to see the DKM…so i left him a tip of two tickets to the ALDS tonight…wonder if he sold em or whent…
was a great time, and I figured I would be there tonight for the game…but alas it was not to be. however I did get to see the dropkick murphys at the avalon sunday, so it was still good.
Nice tip, Tree.
quo, i think you are way off on your assessment of dice-k. he won 15 games in his first mlb season, he’s a gamer who pitches extremely hard and always comes to play, i think he will be fine. everyone saying he’s a failure is really jumping the gun on him.
People People. It’s 8:10, the games is coming on in maybe 40 minutes. Let’s hear some predictions!
I say Dice has 8IP with 1ER. (that’s right, my hopes are high, and you can thank josh for that).
I know this is the sox thread, but jesus did anyone see those BUGS in the yankee game?
they were all OVER joba…he lost control because of all the nastyness…and my GOD is carmona pitching an AMAZING game..3 hits 1 run game in the playoffs against the yankees going complete game….wow what a great playoff game.
and Arod is now 0-18 in last 18 post season at bats…that place is going NUTS
underway…
Dice starts if off with a K of Figgins
lots of pitches so far by dice…battling a lot
OC walks..
Vlad is up.
Vlad fouls out to 1st.
I honestly worry evertime that guy is up to bat. Looks like he is swinging a telephone pole.
Anderson singles, OC motors to 3rd.
Izturis Ks to end the inning. Dice with 31 pitches that inning.
Scary, but I bet he improves as he goes. I say 6+ IP before the night is done.
31 pitches…wow…dice is gonna go 6 and sit if he isn;t careful, he is all over the plate looking at gameday…i hope it looks better on TV(once the yankees game is over)
You can watch on TNT right now, if you like, Tree.
Youk walks
no TNT at the hotel tonight :(
Papi slaps one to left field.
Manny flies out to Center, Youk holds at 2nd.
Escobar is pitching very carefully. Lowell walks.
Drew is up. Please JD, we really need something from you here.
DREW!!!!!!!!
A 2 run single up the middle that knocks in Youk and Papi!!
JD!!!
I can’t really call him nancy anymore, he is producing in the postseason!!!
Tek with a soft liner to 2nd snagged by a jumping Kendrick.
Dice’s first was a bit dissapointing. He usually loads up the bases before getting out number 3.
Thanks, JD! I always knew I liked you.
Just a heads up, our old friend BRaw is back and impersonating most of the regulars. If you see something out of the ordinary, please know it’s probably not really us!
C’mon Dice, throw strikes.
Aw fuck, please don’t tell me Pedroia is hurt. Yeah, definitely screaming about his shoulder. Fuck fuck fuck.
On the bright side, JD Drew! Producing in the postseason! … I really want to make an A-Rod comment, but I won’t due to superstition.
another chance for a genuine Dice-K inning, he could really load the bases this time
he sees to be trying to hit 100 pitches by the 4th inning.
Indians win 2-1, incidentally.
Oh Manny. What was that?
Okay, the meltdown inning is out of the way. Coulda been worse, I guess.
looked like he got confused and tried to field his hat…
Well that was…disappointing.
And on we go.
Dice looks like crap tonight.
Escobar with a quick inning there. We definately need to get his pitch count up quickly.
Come on Dice-K, we need a 1-2-3 inning from you.
Anderson is tagged out at third off the grounder hit to Lugo.
Good thinking, Lowell.
Thank goodness no more damage from DiceK- that time.
Hitters back up to the plate, let’s go Red Sox!
Youk goes down looking.
Papi walks
Here go the Angels again.
I’m thinking Francona really needs to get Ellsbury into this game to goose the Sox offense back to life.
Check it out, DiceK got out of it smoothly.
We need something this inning to keep the pressure on Escobar.
what just happened w/tek? gameday showed him w/a single and then out?
Coco safe on a high throw to 1st. Steals second on the first pitch that the catcher bobbled on the exchange to throw.
Lugo strikes out looking.
Not sure Z, I may have missed the play.
Jose Mota is a horrible sideline reporter.
Izturis with a liner that goes off Youk’s glove. Pedroia fields it, but Dice is playing spectator to the play and no one covers first.
Dice at 91 pitches right now.
Izturis steals 2nd.
Dice walks Kotchman, throws a WP that allows Izturis to advance to third.
Game over on that for Dice. Lopez headed to the mound.
Dice pitched like shit all night. Leaves to a mixture of boos/clapping.
Dice K was crap. This game is crap so far.
Lopez induces the ground ball to short to end the inning.
Lopez gets the job done, nice.
Matsuzaka was ‘eh’, but I wouldn’t say the game has been crap. It’s been a normal Sox game… a couple LOB, some scoring, blah blah.
I’m amused that Scioscia turned that last batter around. Doesn’t he know that our LOOGY is much better against righties?
That should have been a 1 2 3 inning.
Let’s see if Pedroia can see more than 2 pitches this time. It’s been looking like April all over again for him.
Time to put together an inning against Escobar… Tie this one up and get him to 100 pitches.
yeesh, DiceK was a bust tonight. Nice that he only allowed 3 runs but it seemed much worse than that.
Pedroia with a leadoff double down the third base line into the corner.
Dustin with his first playoff hit… and it’s a double!
Youk with a tapper, runs up the first base line and stops? Escobar stares at him and then finally steps to 1st.
IBB being issued to Papi. Manny needs to make them pay.
IBB for Ortiz. Manny is so due…
Youks grounder gets Pedroia to 3rd.
Manny just needs to get it out of the infield, one way or another.
Thunderous Manny chant.
Tip of the hat to that fan who snagged the ball away from Mathis. Kept Manny alive there.
Great play by the fan to take the foul away.
Give that man a free ticket!
Announcers are having a hell of a time telling the difference between manny and Papi.
That kid put his hand damn near in the glove.
Hah. The fan is signing autographs! Manny needs to make it pay off now.
Manny working the count. Now 2-2
Inside pitch..3-2
Manny fouls off first three pitches… Ball… Ball… Ball… Typical Manny patience… And he walked him.
Make ’em pay, Mike.
Lowell with a deep fly to center, sac fly 3-3.
Announcers are having a hell of a time telling the difference between manny and Papi.
Don’t you know, all the brown ones look just the same. :P
I thought that was a salami off the bat from Lowell. I’ll take a sac fly, though.
3-3 on the sac fly. I thought Mikey hit a slam for a second.
Come on Drew!
Thank You —foul ball catching fan. That was good for a tie ballgame.
Shields up and throwing.
Drew just swung at some high cheese.
Escobar has lost it. Drew is gonna get a hit here.
Drew grounds out to 1st after a 10 pitch ab. May have finished Escobar off with that AB.
Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have said that.
Delcarmen coming in.
Groundout to 1st to start the inning.
Mathis with a flyout to shallow right.
Figgins quickly behind 0-2
Figgins goes down swinging on an offspeed pitch. MDC looked pretty good that inning.
He looked awesome there. Quick and efficient, which was refreshing after Dice K.
Shields pitching now
c’mon Tek. Pretend you’ve got some batspeed.
Shields has been scored on in 6 out of his last 7 appearances.
Crisp with the one out walk.
Disregard – I read that wrong. He has still sucked, though.
Darren Oliver up in the Angel pen.
Lugo with a shot down the 1st baseline that just hooks foul.
WTF???
Crisp on a Lugo fly out to center slides into second as he did not know where the ball was. Figgins catches the ball and Crisp flies back to 1st. He failed to touch second prior to heading back and is doubled up.
that sucked.
I thought he was on the bag when he went back. No replay?
Not sure Tom
He did not touch the bag going back.
Finally a replay. Strange boneheaded play by Crisp.
He did not touch the bag going back.
MDC did not peg Vlad on purpose.
Vlad gets hit. He looks like he wants to impale MDC.
Oki coming in.
Vlad looked pissed at MDC. Totally unintentional though. I like Vlad a lot, I think he’s a cool guy.
Please let this be the good Oki
Oh Oki, you make me so nervous.
Anderson flies out to center.
Timlin up and warming.
Good Oki tonight!
Izturis K’s…inning over.
YEAH!! Earning his yen! K for Oki, third out- lovin’ it.
Okie dokie! Think he’ll be back out for the 8th, or are we getting treated to the Eric Gagne Experience?
I think it will be Timlin in the 8th.
Jackie, I think Timlin is coming in.
I’m guessing Timlin as well.
Anyone but Gagne!
I sure as heck HOPE it’s Timlin.
This has been a pretty hard game to watch…lots of tension.
Come on, Manny. Do somethin’.
Ortiz: Ball… Ball… … … Ball… … … … … … … … Taking no chances with Papi, it seems… Foul… … … … … … … Now pitching to him, swinging strike … … … … … … … … … … … … … … 3-2 pitch… Foul… … Ball, he works the long walk.
3-0 to Manny.
2 on for Lowell…
Manny walks on 4 pitches.
Walk #3 for Papi.
ManRam: Ball… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Ball… … … … … … … … … … … … Ball, 3-0! … … … … … Green light for Manny? … … … … … … … Ball, he walks, too.
Either Shields has lost control or these Angels need to have more respect for Mike Lowell.
These announcers say some stupid things sometimes…or contradict themselves in almost the same breath.
0-1 to Lowell.
Is Sciosia making a mistake here by leaving Shields in?
Nuttin’ doin’…
Damn, that was too good an opportunity.
Lowell: … Called strike … … … … … … … … … … … … Foul, 0-2 … … … Pitchers warming for the Halos … … … … … Ball … … … … … … … … … … (Bang it off the Monster, Mike) … Ball, 2-2 … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Ball, full count, runners will be going … … … … … … C’mon … … … … … … … … GAH, out to center.
I hate to see the semi-IBB strategy against MannyOrtez validated.
Oh dear. I’m not sure what to expect from Timlin. And I freakin’ HATE Frank TV already.
Despise it.
Still Okajima…wonder for how long…
Angel pitchers have given up 8 walks.
Oki’s back out? I don’t know if that’s a good idea…
Whoa…
“Nice” catch, Manny. Don’t ever f***in’ do it again.
Manny in left field — you can’t say he’s boring…
Okajima still out for the 8th, probably coming out if he gives up a hit. Thank goodness Gagne is nowhere to be seen.
Timlin and Papelbon warming…correct.
Lopez, Delcarmen, Okajima. That leaves Timlin, Papelbon, Gagne, Lester?
2 out on the K!
Oki out, Timlin in.
Cumulative postseason ERA of 4.04. He was flawless in 2003 (9.2 IP, 0 ER) but not so in 2004 (11.2 IP, 8 ER).
Papelbon? Really…
Woah, scratch that–Papelbon coming in. Wow. No Timlin here?
Oki out, Paps in. Francona is trying to play it safe. I thought he made a smart move pulling MDC after he hit Vlad.
Ask Paps for 4 outs with quite a few days off and a travel day to rest…I guess if the matchup makes sense and you feel good about scoring in the 8th or 9th…
This is a real battle of the bullpens!
Announcer: “Number of runs scored by the Angels against Papelbon? Zero.”
Papelbon immediately gets a ground-out to Lowell, who then verifies the announcer’s jinx by throwing a ball in the dirt.
Ouch. One pitch and out turns into a little more on an error…hopefully not a lot more.
Runner steals. Hoo boy…
That was bad, not looking forward to putting extra pitches on Pap’s arm.
To 3rd goes the runner…
Holy shit, ump squeezing Paps on strike three. Wow.
Super stressy.
The incredible shrinking strike zone.
Runners at 2nd and 3rd now. 1-1 count.
The frustrating thing is that Papelbon is getting used up just to get one out.
1 ball, 2 strikes…
Gah, the error was unfortunate enough, now Paps’ pitch count is way up (for a two-inning appearance) and the Halos have two in scoring position. FFFFFF
Figgins fighting…
Got him…didn’t buckle.
YES!
YES, ump giving us strike-3 on a pitch that was WORSE than the one earlier. Drew, Varitek and Crisp up.
K! Finally. That was both nerve-wracking and totally unfortunate.
14 pitches for Paps. With the day off, presumably he can handle the 9th.
K!!!
Did Papelbon’s face turn fire-engine red on anyone else’s television after he let out that primal scream?
I somehow keep forgetting that Timlin is still in our pen. Hoping we’ll score several here and take the pressure down a notch for the 9th. And I’m not sure I can handle extra innings.
Yeah, that scream was pretty intense. Yikes.
Tek…go deep.
Tek…go deep.
Drew with the 1 pitch out. Nice.
Oops, sorry.
Vlad is out of the game! VLAD IS OUT OF THE GAME! He would have batted 2nd next inning. Wow. What’s up with this? I don’t get it.
Ohhhhhhhh…so close.
Right to 2nd for two straight batters…
Wow…neither bullpen has allowed a hit…
Well that was quick…Sox have only 4 hits so far.
Lugo, Pedroia, Youk in the 9th…will they use K-Rod?
Oy, no Sox runs in the bottom of the 8th… Tied going to the 9th. At least the Sox have Paps, the bottom half, and the home crowd.
Considering that pretty much no one has hit tonight, I’d like to see Jacoby ASAP.
Pap behind Cabrera 3-1…
Very close pitch…called a strike…outside says the TV graphic…
1 down.
You’re out! Popped to short center.
Paps goes full to Cabby (who should be OUR shortstop) … But he pops up, taking Theo off the hook…
K-Rod warming…
And that’s two.
2 out.
Napoli also pops up.
Man, it’s time the Sox shut K-Rod up.
Full count…
Paps is loving his splitter too much.
Walk. 2 walks for Papelbon…
Paps to GAnd: … Swinging strike… … … … Swinging strike … … … … … … … … … Ball … … … … … … Ball … … … … … … … … … … … … Ball! Full … … … … Ball, a walk! WTF! … Still shaking head at the error in the 8th, that has to have cost Paps a lot of mental and physical edge.
Phew, Izturis pops out to Lugo as well.
Time to walk off.
Okay. If you wouldn’t mind scoring like, now…
I jsut got home from work. Man this game is bad on my stomach. There’s no WAY they pitch to Papi in this inning.
All thats left in the pen is Lester and Timlin, right? Man those three catchers look bad now.
There hasn’t been a hit for either team in a long time. Hits are definitely due. Now.
Lugo starts us off right with a single to left…
LUGO!
Do NOT run!! Too many CSs tonight!!
Still no Krod.
Julio!
With a man at 2nd, and 1 out, here’s K-Rod. If 1st is open, no way they pitch to Ortiz.
Nice job there by Pedroia to get the bat on the ball in the hit and run.
Dustin moves Julio to 2nd, 1 out.
K-Rod coming in to face Youks.
I hate hit and runs. Hate em. I agree with Moneyball… except in SUPER rare circumstances, any play that gives up an out.. sucks.
All the anons were me, BTW
No, they’ll definitely walk Papi if first is open.
Let’s go, Youk!
Should Lugo steal here?
Really close on the pickoff attempt…I wanna know how many times Lugo’s been picked off this year.
Youk RIPS it foul. 1-1 count.
Youk looks confident.
1-2.. I dont liek this AT ALL
K. One figures Manny will have to get the hit.
DAMMIT!!!
There goes the ball game.
Youk strikes out on a bad pitch. It’s going to be up to Manny.
I’m gonna vomit. This was our last, best chance.
Youks: … … … Ball 1 … … … … … Close pickoff attempt at 2nd on Lugo … … … … … … … Lined foul off 3rd … … … … … … … … Another foul, off ump … … … … … … … 1-2 count … … … … Ks, swinging. Feh.
Papi. Then Manny, if he’s IBB’d. Timlin warming.
walk ortiz to get manny?
Here we go.
They IBB Papi, sure enough.
I really don’t like Krod.
And THAT’S why you don’t disrespect Manny Ramirez four times in a row.
MANNY!!!
MANNY!!!!
MAAAAAAAAAAANNYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
I ALWAYS WANTED THAT!!!!!!!!!!!
WOW!!!!!!
Manny!!!!!!
Manny 0-for-2 tonight with two walks.
… Ball 1 …
MANNY DOES IT! HOME RUN!
Also, BRAW/Converted Yankee Fan… you’re not fooling anyone. Nobody else here calls them the SOX.
wwwwalkkkk offfff
In your face, K-Rod!
God did he CRUSH that pitch!!
GameDay is showing that as about a 450-footer…
That.. was.. just… wow
Incredible.
Just… I’m out of breath.
6-3 final score.
I love the playoffs. Two incredible games, two walkoffs!
“That was an absolute bomb,” says WRKO.
Man, to be in Fenway…
In rememberance of an OLD slogan, far better than “There is only one October”
I LIVE FOR THIS!
Just awesome. :D :D :D
Paps gets the win.
Manny did some serious posing there. He deserved to on that one.
Grinning.
Can’t wait for the video highlights of that home run. Stuck with radio tonight.
It was a antimatter bomb, hudson. Out of Fenway.
Frank Thomas: “Manny being Manny”.
What a fat ass.
Hudson, Manny absolutely destroyed that ball. I think it was still rising as it left Fenway.
Bullpen: 4.1 IP, 0 hits, 2 walks (both Paps!), one HBP.
Schilling goes for the sweep on Sunday. That would be nice.
THAT is why I love our pen.
Huge. Just pure money.
They get to rest a day so they will ALL be available again on Sunday.
PLUS Schilling.. then Beckett? Me likey
For posterity:
http://hudson.typepad.com/us/2007/10/that-would-be-a.html
Click on image to enlarge.
I’m listening to the GameDay audio call a second time. Ahhhhh.
Did someone say Manny?
Over the Coke bottles!
Watching Baseball Tonight. I had not seen the bugs in the Yankee game yet (read abotu them at work.. didn tsee).
Thats insane
Freakin’ sweet. I almost threw up, I’m so happy.
:D
It bears repeating…I have always wanted to see Manny hit a walk-off homer in a Red Sox unifrom. I was not foolish enough to hope for it to be against K-Rod (!) in the postseason (!!).
I cannot believe how lucky I am tonight.
I cant beleive I got home in time!
Hudson…. had I been on here earlier tonite I would have given you some video feed links… Let me know if you need links for future games
So…which of these series is/are going to 4 games? Any of them to 5? All four series are 2-0…
PS I can’t sleep even though I have to be up early tomorrow. Too pumped.
Yanks/Clevelands gonna go 4. The rest are all done at 3
I got in to work from the football game in the 8th. Raced home and got in for the final out of the top of the ninth, then got to see all the glory.
What a moonshot from Manny! Fantastic blast! And he’s so happy, he talked to TBS … and ESPN … and did the media room!
Actually, Paul.. Mannys been talking alot lately. Did you catch that interview he did with the spanish ESPN?
Its weird.
Manny is a fish out of water in front of the press. He shouldn’t force himself to interview.
Thanks for the generous offer, TJ. I should have TV access to the Sunday game…
Nice call, TJ. Got the first part of the question correct! Let’s see if your prediction on number of games in the CLE/NYY series is correct…