Having now won seven of their last ten (and lost two games in the standings during this .700 run!), the Sox travel south to Georgia to face the Braves. Resident Sox loudmouth blogger Curt Schilling takes the hill. We don’t expect a one-hitter (for the record and according to the Globe the Yankees apparently all stood and cheered in their clubhouse when Shannon Stewart got the hit, yet somehow the Sox are painted as the ones with a complex), but we also don’t expect Curt to get drubbed like last time out. Something in the middle will do, as long as the bats do their thing.
Comment here.
Was it because it was a Sock that they cheered the end of the no-hitter or because it was Curt Schilling?
Drew goes down, Pedroia walks
Youk walks. Manny headed to the plate.
Wow, as always, this is basically a home game.
That really has to bother the REAL home team.
Manny swings at the first pitch and pops out to 1st. Pitcher is lacking control and we go after the 1st pitch.
Tek up
Two days in a row Manny comes up in a spot with men on when the pitcher has no control, two days in a row he hacks at the first pitch and quiets a rally. Very frustrating. His homer yesterday was after a long battle, seeing pitches. I am not one to crap on Manny for his offense, but at the very least the free-swinging is not brilliant situational hitting, he just really looked like he had his mind made up, no matter where the pitch was.
Tek grounds to the pitcher, and the Sox squander two men in the first. F*ck.
Was it because it was a Sock that they cheered the end of the no-hitter or because it was Curt Schilling?
Who cares? It’s low-rent, either way, frankly.
Wow, as always, this is basically a home game.
Yeah, except for the “no Ortiz” thing.
What Schill do we get tonight?
Lowell fails to make a modestly difficult play, and Harris is aboard with a single. What is it with Lowell’s glove this year?
Nice DP to end the inning.
Not sure what is up with LowEll this year. I think it would be looked at more closely if he his offensive numbers were around, say Lugo’s.
I know I say this every time, and people think I’m nuts, but screw it, put Youk at 2nd and Pedroia at SS, that way we have Papi in the lineup and we don’t have to decide between Youk/Lowell out or Papi out.
It’s Slumpy and the two Sucky twins up to start the 2nd.
Slumpy makes an out.
Was that Coco?
Wow, did that just happen?
He crushed that.
Coco has kinda turned it around recently (very recently), so maybe I’m wrong to label him Sucky #1…
Yes, the home run probably indicates I was wrong.
Lugo walks?
No no, I could swear the script went, “Crisp grounds to 2nd, Lugo grounds to short”.
Devine, I’m still taken back by you calling Lowell Slumpy. He has 15 hits in his last 10 games.
Oops, I take that back, looking at the wrong number…
BUT..
He does have 7 hits in his last 7 games. Not too bad.
Lockland, he also has 7 hits in his last 11 games.
He also has 5 RBIs in that same 11 games.
That projects to about 72 RBIs in a season’s worth of games.
I’m just saying, it hasn’t been good recently.
Ninja.
DPod with a great play to end the inning. Man that little guy can do it all.
Schilling gets out of the 2nd, with just a single for the Braves.
Making another scrub pitcher look like a magician.
Manny walks, but that’s it and that’s all for the Sox in the 3rd.
Just like your usual Sox fan, Ramirez is a flee in the pig’s ass.
Meow meow meow meow.
Thorman battles Schilling, ends in a double to leadoff the bottom of the inning.
Sac bunt, man on 3rd, one down.
Coco with no arm trying to throw the runner out on a sac fly.
1-1
Sac fly, run scores, tie game. 2 out.
Was Willie Harris playing for the Sox in spring training one year or other (possibly this one?)?
If not, where do I know him from?
Caught stealing! Love those to end the inning.
Devine, he played in something like 50 games for us last year.
Correction, 47 games, but I don’t blame you for not noticing, he hit .156, I’m just AMAZED he’s hitting .382 this year.
GO COCO!!!
Schill swinging the lumber, singles up the middle.
Lugo must be ticking real close to .199
Also, this game has “frustrating loss” written all over it, already. I HATE Ortiz-less lineups.
Curt very much sucking this inning.
Wow, everything from Curt is just hanging, whoever is up right now just missed a total meatball…
This doesn’t bode well, particularly not when the 0-1 pitch is a strike and Curt doesn’t get the call.
And there’s a total laser the opposite way for a double. The Sox will be down three very soon. Curt looks hideous, again.
He hangs ANOTHER to Andruw Jones, who luckily misses it and pops up. Schill doesn’t have squat tonight. Good thing Ortiz isn’t playing and the bats have been unclutch. Hello, 8 game lead, if this keeps up.
I think Schill has been over 87 twice tonight, at the most. I fear he’s cooke. He’s had 3 good starts all season, honestly, and his no hit bid invloved a lot of luck.
Yeah, it’s really been the better part of 6 or 7 weeks that Curt has had any kind of consistency over a long stretch. He really seems like an aging pitcher (which he is, of course).
And of course, he gives up a single to the FUCKING pitcher. That’s horrible.
Way to get the road trip started right, Curt.
Thanks a lot. Way to suck the momentum right out of the team.
Who is our fifth starter right now, Curt? It can’t be JT based on the last four weeks. Wake’s a candidate, too.
I think right now we have a #1, a #2, three #4s (maybe 2 #4s and a #5). Not good.
Glad to know Curt would be a sport and take $13M from the Sox right now for 2008. What a guy.
Over/under on pitches the Sox see this inning? I say 8.
That fly ball looked deep on Gameday. Gameday has a penchant for not being totally accurate. Was it hit hard, or just a routine fly to left?
Meanwhile, this Ump is totally inconsistent, like Reliford on Saturday. Pedroia down on 3 pitches. 5 to go.
Hard hit, deep fly ball. Not quite the track, may 3 feet short, Andrew.
Three pitches for Youk. That’s six. Two to go.
Manny singles on the first pitch. 7 pitches. Still a chance at the 8 pitch inning, of course.
Tek swings and misses at the first pitch. Nice discipline, fellas. Tek back to not hitting with power at all.
Ok, there’s the ninth pitch. The overs have it.
Thanks, SF. Coco is 2-2 with a homerun, I see. Maybe the start of something, or just your run-of-the-mill every dog has his day thing?
Tek whiffs Wily MO style, on a pitch near the on-deck circle. We suck tonight, all around. Time is running out, too, as the rain begins to fall and the game is official.
Why do I have this feeling this weekend was just a tease, and that this is going to be a total disaster of a road trip?
No, Coco looks good, and has for almost a week now. I think he may be on to something. The problem is just as he starts to hit Youk goes somewhat cold, Lowell is slowing down, Ortiz has to sit in the NL park, and Lugo is still sucking. So Coco’s heating up is not sufficient to make up for all of that other stuff. Good to see, but the Sox still have big problems, from where I sit.
Schill has given up 7 hits and 2 walks in 4+. There is no other word for that other than “horrendous”.
Renterrhea (why did that spelling not catch on in Boston?) with another hit.
He’s cooked, totally cooked.
He needs 10 days rest to have a shot at hitting 90+.
I’m calling it now, they bring in Snyder and he is lights out.
I am going to throw this out there in a game thread that noone is participating in, but does Curt have a no-trade? Is there a market for him, can the Sox even think about this? He’s DONE, near no-hitter in a park the size of a continent be damned. I have no expectations for him at this point, he looks that bad, and has looked that bad for a few weeks.
Orsillo now points out that Schill has given up the most hits in the AL.
Can Tito PLEASE pull Curt before this gets out of hand? What is he waiting for?!
(and I don’t care about the pitcher’s spot coming up next inning — the Sox may be down 5 by the time that happens if the bleeding isn’t stemmed right now)
I bet you he has a no-trade, but if he doesn’t and he were traded I would love reading 38 Pitches. It might even the first blog I visit every day.
Great. I am so glad I called that one.
Homer for McCann, and NOW Terry comes out. F*cking SHIT managing of the pitcher tonight, and even worse pitching from the pitcher himself, Schilling. How could Tito leave him out there, getting absolutely CRUSHED?
Theo Epstein:
Good at not re-signing old guys.
Signing young or middle-aged guys? Not so much.
Snyder gets the ground out and the K. Not that that would have happened with men on base in a pressure situation, but still an opportunity to say “F*ck you, Tito!”.
My blood pressure is too high. Good night.
(Not gone yet – Coco with ANOTHER dinger)
Coco can manage two dingers and the rest of the team is hitting like crap.
The world has come to an end.
Seriously, WORST managing ever. Tito pinch hits for Snyder with two down and nobody on. If that was the plan, then WHY DIDN’T HE PULL SCHILLING EARLIER?
God, that’s just about Tito’s worst sequence of the year.
JD Drew adds another run with a solo shot. Droid gets a walk, only to watch the next three get out easily.
Schilling got schelled
Thanks for pointing that out.
It’s amazing I don’t remember that, Lockland, if you see this. Must be a casualty of my Eternal Sunshine-style mind wipe of the 2006 season.
Does anyone know where I can find velocity statistics for pitchers in individual games?
I would like to know what’s going on with Schilling. He tosses an absolute gem 2 starts ago and then gets SHELLED the next 2 times out. Seriously, what gives? Did he use up his quota of scoreless innings already? I don’t expect perfection from him every time out, but his pitch location has been absolutely horrid recently.