Wake won as usual against the Fish last night. Tonight, Jon Lester takes on Andy Sonastine. Andy Sonastine? Yeah, Andy Sonastine. Sounds more like a dentist than a ballplayer. Hope he gives a little rout canal on the Sox lineup. Have at it!
Here You Go: Sox-Fish Gamer
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Pedroia struck out to lead off, Youk with a double.
ORTIZ TRIPLES!! Scores Youk, Sox up 1-0.
An Ortiz triple should immediately create a rip in the space-time continuum that sucks in the team that has allowed such atrocity.
Sac fly to right-center Manny, in comes Ortiz. 2-0.
Manny with a SAC fly, scores Ortiz. Sox up 2-0.
Looks like the Dentist is getting his grill worked on.
Wow – Papi made it to third? If that had been Ichiro running, it would have been another inside the park home run.
There’s no way Sonastine would be able to do well against us TWICE in one week. Just no way.
Glad to see Ortiz didn’t have a heart attack on the way to 3rd… he’s one big boy.
Thanks for the gamer, YF!
I couldnt see it, just heat it, rbf.. but I wonder how much of his stretching it out was a result of his beign David Ortiz. I mean.. no one expects him to try to run that out. I have to wonder he jsut caught the D-Rays off guard.
Triple was to the deepest part of the ballpark, and it died against the wall on a weird bounce. He legged it out…it was relatively close at 3rd, though there was no tag.
Ouch. Tied.
Well that didn’t last long. Pena takes the first pitch from Lester for a ride. 2 Run shot, score tied.
Son of a bitch.
Fuck. Tie game.
Lester did not help himself by issuing a walk to Upton on 4 straight pitches. You would have to think that Pena was sitting dead on a 1st pitch fastball.
Yeah, Rob–it’s always the walk more than the home run that infuriates me in that situation (particularly with 2 out).
Kept the inning alive. Prior to Upton he had two outs on 5 pitches.
Drew gave it a ride to the center field wall…but caught.
Drew crushes a ball to the deepest part of the park, 5 feet from a homer. 1 out.
I’m so torn…I want to root for Lester. But that means rooting for the enemy! Arrrgh.
I can root against Lester just fine, thanks Carlos Pena! :)
I hate you, Sonnanstiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!
Sonastine is striking us out. Looks like this is gunna be a lot like last week against him.
You could root for him to hold the score while the Sox don’t score, YM. Then pray they put Gagne in.
What was it you said, Atheose? I think it was, “There’s no way Sonastine would be able to do well against us TWICE in one week. Just no way.”
Sigh.
Unfortunately, that remains to be seen. 3 Ks for the Sox already.
Lowell with a strange, slow throw to first. Barely beats the runner out.
Settle down Lester, get into your groove.
Excellent idea, Devine. Thanks!
To this layman, it looks like Lester’s pitches are moving a little more this inning. If the guy could just throw strikes consistently, he’d be golden.
Well we’ve scored twice early against him, so it’s automatically a success in my book. We didn’t score this many until the 7th inning, last time.
Emphatic inning from both pitchers there: each ending in a strikeout, no baserunners.
Lugo hits a pop-up to shallow right center.
Dude-you’re-getting-a-Delmon catches a pop-fly for out #1.
Grounder to short, Pedroia.
This is beginning to have the makings of a long game.
Youk Ks, argues pointlessly.
Wow, the ump calls strike 3 without appealing to the 1st-base umpire. Youk hasn’t had much luck lately to accompany his slump.
I’m only going to get really unhappy if Sonnanstine shuts down the Sox and the Yanks light up Escobar. That could be frustrating.
I don’t mind this too much for now, though, so long as the Sox stay close. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself.
Well, I’m gonna go home to my sick significant other, so I may not see much of this game.
Go Sox! Die, Sonnanstine, die!
(…which is German for “The, Sonnanstine, the!”)
//(…which is German for “The, Sonnanstine, the!”)//
I don’t know why, Devine, but this made me laugh histerically.
Looks like Lester watched Phil Hughes last night and decided to emulate him, control-wise…
Lester K’s Crawford, which he desperately needed to do.
Now to retire Upton before facing Pena again…
Aki caught stealing 2nd, Lester to Youkilis to Pedroia. Great play.
We got a hit!!
Ortiz runs out a little dribbler to the left side, barely beating out a throw and a tag. We got the lucky call on that one.
Papi beats the shift. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get someone on base again.
Manny strikes out. Sonnanstine is really getting on my nerves. Act like the 2-8 pitcher you are!
David Ortiz, the speed monster!
Lowell gets plunked.
Lowell hit hard on the hand. Please jesus don’t be broken.
Drew up…like how overdue can a guy get?
Drew singles, bases loaded. Please Tek.
Atheose: did it look bad? I’m only following on Gamecast…
Drew got a hit! Bases loaded with 1 out for ‘Tek.
The hit on Lowell’s hand looked bad. He was acting like it was really hurt, but thankfully after a few moments with the trainer he was shaking it off. Scary 30 seconds, let me tell you.
Yah….I’m amazed more people don’t get hurt by HBPs.
Tek with an RBI single, bases still loaded. 3-2
Varitek did an amazing job fouling off balls. He did everything he could to keep from striking out.
Blooper over the shortstop, 3-2 Sox. Bases still loaded for my chocolate boy, Coco Crisp.
HEHEHE the Rays pitching coach’s last name is “Hickey”. This team is so laughable sometimes.
Only sometimes?
Coco fouling off 3472 pitches. 3-2 count.
GOD BLESS COCO!
5-2 Sox on the double by our soggy-in-milk friend.
Crisp doubles scoring 2! 5-2 Sox, still one out.
Sonnanstine on the ropes! Acting like a 2-8 pitcher finally.
Coco now has 46 RBIs. I make mention of this due to Drew only having 45. The leaves the only regular with less RBIs than him being Pedroia with 38.
Lugo doubles clearing the bases! 7-2 now.
Pfft. Guess Lester didn’t need any additional rooting for, after all, with the run support he’s getting. Grumble.
This inning should get us into the BP earlier than I hoped.
Sonnanstine now up to 86 pitches.
Just gonna bring back what I posted in a previous thread:
J.D. Drew, last 15 games: .367/.436/.531
J.D. Drew, since June 1: .288/.372/.447
J.D. Drew, OPS+ w/RISP: 114
J.D. Drew, OPS+ w/men on base: 110
J.D. Drew, OPS+, men on 2/3: 191
J.D. Drew, OPS+ w/RISP, 2 outs: 111
J.D. Drew, OPS+, Late and close: 110
I just don’t see the reason for all the hate. Those numbers might not be worth the mounds of money he’s making, but considering those OPS+ numbers include his terrible slump…
Nice inning by Lester
…aaaand the batting practice continues into the 5th inning. Manny with a single.
Also SF, I think you forgot a decimal or two when it comes to the OPS numbers
It’s Paul, Atheos, and no, those are OPS+, adjusted for league average, which is exactly 100.
I did cherry pick slightly in including the men on 2/3 number, as that’s just 6 at bats. Makes up for his -2 OPS+ with the bases loaded in 12 at-bats. Neither of those stats is really that instructive…
Now watch him strike out here and make me look like an ass.
I don’t hate Drew. OPS is a great stat, however the end result is runs on the board. In keeping with the RBI observation there is only one regular on the team with less hits (Tek).
I am just making an observation. I know it seems like hating on the guy, but I read today somewhere on the net that maybe the arm is not as healthy as it should be and it is affecting his ability to drive the ball. Something just seems wrong/off with the guy health wise.
Sonnanstine at 99 pitches, hopefully he is done for the night. 4 innings of BP pitchers would be nice.
RBI are heavily team-dependent, so I’m not sure how useful that is, Rob. One thing is that Drew has had more men on base than the average hitter but fewer RBI per PA than the average hitter.
I suspect that’s also tied to his slump, as well as his lack of power — which is a big problem. If everyone were criticizing Drew for not being the home run hitter we though we were getting, that’d be different. But instead people are saying he sucks, that he grounds out all the time, that he’s unclutch, and these are simply untrue.
Sadly, Drew did ground out that time. :-P
Paul, I don’t think he sucks. I understand that there is a number of factors involved with what is going on. I am really not looking for the guy to hit homers, just plate some runs.
It seems that he is going to see runners on base a lot when he comes up with a chance to knock them in given who hits in front of him. The problem is everyone is looking for him to make them pay and he has rarely done that this year.
I do hope that this year is just a “new league” season and that he gets it together for the team.
I would be curious to hear if the shoulder is still bad, it would explain a lot of things and shed light on this season. I can respect the fact that he playing possibly hurt.
Lester does not seem capable of going more than six innings. He’s at 73 pitches now and just one out, just walked his third batter of the game.
On the bright side, you see what’s happened to other great pitchers when they stopped walking so many people. (Of course, they dropped from like 2 BB/9 to to 1, not from 4 BB/9).
Wheels coming off the Lester roller coaster.
Yeah, I don’t mean to sound like I’m ctiticizing you, Rob. It’s just mounting frustration coming out. I feel bad for Drew because it seems like he never really got a chance here.
If it was his shoulder, I imagine we’d already know because the Sox would have exercised that out clause so fast…
How was that not a DP? Is Dioner Navarro really that fast?
I don’t get Gameday. It showed Navarro as walking on four pitches after the Wilson walk on four pitches. Now it shows Navarro as grounding into a FC (making it runners at the corners, two out). So Lester may get out of this yet.
I am not taking it personal Paul. This is just a discussion on stats.
I think the Sox would have also revealed it unless they have been getting PR classes by Belichick.
Prepare ye the way for the middle relief (and get set to pray).
I walk out of the room for FIVE DAMN SECONDS and the Rays hit a 3-run homerun? Goddamnit.
Here we go, Imawura with a 3 run shot.
The guy had three homers and 16 RBIs before that. How do you serve a meatball up to him?
Holy crap, Lester. Pull him, Tito.
How do you give up five runs on three hits? When you throw 45 strikes and 37 balls, or somewhere around there when Iwamura hit the homer…
um….tito, mr. lester requires your attention.
Is *anyone* warming? 7-5 after the three-run dinger, then Crawford singles…
Wow, Lester rallies for the strikeout. If he returns for the sixth, I’ll be less than amused. Funny thing is he’s in line for the win now.
Paul, why is it “funny” that Lester would get the win? The Sox still have the lead, after all.
Do you suppose Dohmann’s teammates pronounce his name in a Homer Simpson voice?
Lester walks ANOTHER hitter. This guy is just making this harder than it should be.
Lester finally coming out after walking Delmon. Delcarmen comin in.
This was a laugher for a little while. Now it’s not so funny.
MDC, one pitch, DP to end the inning. Now that is efficiency.
Delcarmen draws a broken-bat DP. Any Gagne sightings?
Way to go, Little Manny, inducing the much-needed DP.
Pedroia leads off the 7th with a two-bagger. Pad the lead, pad the lead…
Pedroia does a great job stretching a single into a double to lead off the inning. Come on guys, let’s stretch this lead.
Pedroia with a leadoff double.
Pedroia tags-up on a line-drive out to right field, barely beating out the throw.
Youk stayed at home crying about his out for a while though. Youk needs to start thinking more positively.
Pedroia moved to third?
E-6, Pedroia scores. 8-5 Sox.
Gamecenter fixed itself.
Manny drives in Pedroia on the error. 8-5!
A gimme from the Rays makes it 8-5 (Wilson error). Now Lowell singles, 1st and 2nd, two out, pitching change.
JDre Ks and strands another two. I believe that’s the second inning he’s ended with runners on today.
Every Red Sox player has a hit, and every player also has a run scored or an RBI. Everyone is hitting tonight.
Delcarmen beans Wilson, and the announcers say it’s payback for Lowell getting hit earlier. This guys are idiots.
Double play would be nice here.
Okajima up in the pen.
MDC working himself into a pickle here. Just issued the 5th walk of the night by us.
My kingdom for a guy who can throw strikes and set them down 1-2-3.
Bringing out the big guns, huh? I assume that Oki in the 7th does not necessarily mean Gagne in the 8th, as was the original plan…
we are havign ALOT of trouble with the strike zone tonight.
Sigh…D-ped makes an error on a line drive and it’s 8-6.
Ball lined hard at Pedroia, runner scores from 2nd. 1st and 3rd, no outs, 8-6 Sox.
Pedroia got screwed there. God this game is sucking. He’s gonna get an E
Oy, Pedroia muffs a ball hit right at him, now 8-6, Crawford represents the go-ahead run with two outs.
Upton is the go-ahead at the palte. Crawford is merely the tying. Of course the tying might as well eb the wining with how disgusted I will be.
1-2 count, Oki way ahead of him.
Oki does his job!
Come on Oki…
2-2.
Foul, still 2-2.
SWINGING STRIKE!
THANK YOU OKI!
Still…the walks by the youngsters is just soul-killing. Is there a fear of the bat that these guys bring with them up from the minors?
Soooo…Gagne for the 8th? *ducks*
Sure…just as long as he throws his change up and his breaking stuff for most of it.
The announcer just said Gagne was warming up. *shudder*
What? I heard Paps was warming.. which makes only slightly more sense than Gagne.
Got a fresh bottle of Pepto sitting here with me for the next Gagne showing.
I figured out Davids problem! WRKo just pointed out that this like the first off seasont hat Big Papi did not play at least a little bit of Winter Ball. Clearly Winter Ball was a rejuvenatign salve that replenshed his Home Run stores. Like changing the clip in a gun.
You’re listening to the Devil Rays announcers, right Dionysus? Or do you have NESN?
WRKO Boston, Atheose. Gameday Audio.
I’m a genius. Does anyone have Theo’s cell number?
Gagne’s getting loose in case DJ Shadow needs help striking out Pena, Young or Gomes. Those guys are Frenchie’s bread and butter.
*’s heart explodes in his chest*
Jesus christ that ball was close to going out. Okajima is scaring me.
Paps coming in for a 4-out save. Hopefully it won’t end up with a blown save (like Lester’s LAST outing in Tampa ended).
Here comes Paps.
Paps coming in. Seems a little like overkill to me, but I guess Oki had the walk and a very close call on that fly-out…
Paps with a much needed strikeout there to end the inning.
JPap gets the K, so I guess Francona deserves some credit… Though who’s to say that HOka wouldn’t have done the same.
Did I hear that Tavarez is warming?
Youk hits a ball 390 feet towards the 410 Center Field wall. Man can’t catch a break.
Manny GIDP. Definitely happening a lot more often this year.
Come on Paps, close this thing out. 8-9-1 hitters up, hitting .236, .203 and .283, respectively.
This game has been taking forever, it feels like.
So Manny GIDPs to speed things up. Bottom of the 9th, I hope Paps has a 3-pitch save.
Guh. Would have been nice to pad the lead there.
Correction, Norton (batting .212) is pinch-hitting. Beautiful.
one down
Paps gets K #2.
K, one gone.
Navarro K’s
2 down
Two down.
K #3 for Paps.
K#2.
Iwamura pops out..game.
Magic number now 32…
Onward to the Yankees game!
Pop up! Sox Win!
Save number 30 for Paps.. first Sox pitcher to EVER have two 30-save seasons.
Pop-up, game over. Phew. Magic number 32, I believe.
Now: Let’s go, Halos.
ARod hits #41. Damnit.