Fresh off battering the Texas Rangers, I’m going to guess the Sox might not score as much today against Roy Halladay. Facing him is Paul Byrd, making his Sox debut. Byrd actually beat Halladay in his last start, but he’s already given up two line drive hits — though he picked off the first one, so there’s only one on with one out in the top of the first.
Comment away!
Aaaaand the home run to Alex Rios. Great.
So they’re starting Clay after all, only the name has been changed? And he has his bad inning in the first.
Paul Byrd is going to be awful for the Sox, guaranteed. I didn’t like the pickup, don’t like the guy. Makes it hard to watch this game, frankly, or any game he starts down the road. I hate when the front office makes moves like this one, however well-intentioned.
Well that started off poorly. Why didn’t we have Beckett start today, and push Byrd back a few?
No clue, Ath. I can’t understand why the Sox wouldn’t take advantage of all their days off to eliminate as many starts from Byrd/Buchholz at this point. I don’t get it.
Halladay’s having a tremendous year. I almost hope something befalls Cliff Lee so Roy can win it.
Shit luck, Drew hit a rope to Wells. F*ck,
Drew hits it hard but Wells tracks it down with a slide. Sad face.
I don’t expect the Sox to win this game, but I sure like the lineup, at least.
God, this guy is awful, I HATE this pickup. Really, we can’t have Bowden or Pauley or Hansack, we have to waste a game with this clown?
There’s no reason that the Sox shouldn’t have skipped this guy for Beckett.
Is your extreme distaste based on performance, style (soft-tosser), or HGH use, SF?
Better inning, at least. Problem is the team has little margin for error here with Halladay spotting him two runs.
I have disliked Paul Byrd for a long time. Since his time with the Mets, at least. I just don’t like the way he looks, the way he pitches. And the HGH thing isn’t that big a deal to me in the grand scheme of things any more than with any other player (I don’t harbor hatred to Pettitte over his use, though I do question his holier-than-thou religiosity with respect to his usage), but it sure doesn’t help.
I just don’t like watching pitchers like Byrd in general, and I haven’t like Byrd specifically for a long while. This pickup really stings me.
WTF. A shot from Lowrie right at Overbay, and it’s a double play. Another ball crushed, but terrible luck.
Fucking hell.
Whoops, my bad, not a double play. Tiny MLBtv window deceived me.
Inning over, anyhow.
There is no way the Jays only get two off Byrd the way he is pitching.
Unless they are colossally unlucky.
HAHA!! You have no power over my emotions tonight, Red Sox, ’cause I just fixed my red-ringed (i.e. broken) Xbox 360 by hand (with help from a website and some tools). Eff you, Microsoft. I ain’t waitin’ three weeks to have you send me another broken machine.
Byrd assumes the mantle of LFRS immediately, particularly because the other guy is out of action.
Making me jealous, Devine. Two kids has ended my video game playing days, at least temporarily. I almost went after a PS3 last year in a time of weakness, but I haven’t pulled the trigger. I do have a birthday coming up, though…
Sadly, I grew up on Atari paddles and joysticks, and now these newfangled controllers have like 17 buttons, two levers, and treadmill. Hard to grapple with at my age.
I think I’m gonna go with Byrd as my RSGIM (Red Sox of Greatest Indifference to Me), replacing Alex Cora. But if Byrd screws up royally here and becomes LFRS, then RSGIM status pass to Jeff Bailey.
Yar, SF, it’s a tough adjustment if you haven’t basically played continuously since you were a kid and gotten used to them adding two to three buttons per generation. Do you want the PS3 just to play or to have Blu-Ray (if not the Blu-Ray, I’d suggest the 360 even with the technical issues…better line-up of games)?
(I started with Atari, too, though my main videogame memories in childhood center around the NES.)
Blind squirrel!
Tek singles to right.
I bet you could’ve won a lot of money if you’d better Tek would get a hit against Halladay.
eh, “bet,” that is.
I think I am going to apply to the Baseball Terminology Committee (is there one?) for the use of “blind squirrel”, meaning a hit by a player that is offensively inept or in an historic slump.
The Committee would also accept “stopped clock,” SF.
“stopped clock” would be better for an announcer, like Steve Phillips or Michael Kay.
Hey, I think we have a thread in this, SW. Look for it soon!
Yeah, you’re right about it being more applicable to announcers. But if Michael Kay or Steve Philips were right twice in one day, it would represent a career high for either.
Alright, time for the bats to make some noise.
I know it seems like we’ve been rooting a lot for the Sox to break up no-hitters lately, but with Halladay, the equivalent for me is rooting for him not to throw a complete game.
Alright, time for the bats to make some noise
Frankly I am just hoping they get this message in time for tomorrow’s game.
Ump blows the call at first, the last replay shows it clearly.
Well, I should have clarified to them that a meant a noise other than “whimper.” So I’ll take responsibility for that last inning there.
Despite my hatred and negative vibes, Byrd has, so far, acquitted himself reasonably well, two runs through five innings.
Bay leads off with a single, 2-2 tonight.
That first pitch to Lowrie looked way off the plate, called a strike.
Oh come on, Lowrie called out on strikes on a pitch that was ALSO a ball. Halladay didn’t throw a strike according to the chart, yet two were called strikes.
BS.
WTF? Now Casey is told he swung at the first pitch, but the replay doesn’t show a swing, a borderline call at best. The calls are not breaking for the Sox at all, consistently.
Annoying as all hell. Facing Halladay you can’t afford shitty umps.
And “Inning Over”, as I like to call him, strides to the plate.
And, inning over.
Watching the new Sox SS, I was reminded that Nomar just came off the disabled list again. Very, very strange to see him in a line-up hitting right behind Manny. On a day Derek Lowe was pitching.
Olympics time. Sox in the background. Later.
NL teams care about clearing the pitcher’s spot in an inning; the Red Sox care about clearing the catcher’s spot.
Another homer for the Jays.
Good pickup, Theo.
Beckett vs. Halladay would have been a fair fight.
So NESN has shown two interviews with Byrd tonight, and he comes off as a seriously cocky asswipe. Considering how mediocre he is, I don’t get it.
The dislike grows. I want the Paul Byrd Era to end, now.
Well, it would have been more fair, still a Halladay advantage.
On the other hand, maybe this is just a ritual sacrifice – the Sox don’t look to be scoring, and last I checked no pitcher can win if his teams scores zero. Maybe this is for the best, throwing Byrd to the wolves.
Still, can’t complain too much if he’s going to go out and give a quality start.
And the Sox aren’t working Halladay hard enough to even get to a bullpen at this point. This has complete game shutout written all over it. In which case, I am glad Josh Beckett didn’t pitch.
Yeah, 66 pitches through 6 IP does not speak well of the Sox.
I still can’t get over Rick Sutcliffe saying he would pick K-Rod for Cy Young. I mean, Halladay is more deserving, and Cliff Lee is WAY more deserving. Even discounting the win stat as somewhat unindicative of a pitcher’s performance, Lee is 17-2 for a team that is eight games UNDER .500. With a sub-2.50 ERA as well. Sutcliffe is an idiot.
Excellent. NBC is showing the women’s marathon. What’s more boring, that or this game?
Pedro’s pitching, I think I will watch the Mets.
I think I will consider this game the Sox’s contribution to the Jays’ effort to finish the season in third, ahead of the Yankees. That makes it more palatable to me.
Nice grab by Drew, and then a quick grounder to Pedroia. Looking like we might get 7IP and 3ER from Byrd, not too bad. Just not good enough against Halladay.
The Sox haven’t hit him well, but they’ve also hit some balls hard right at guys. You are unlikely to win even with decent luck against Roy, so this makes it even harder.
Hey SF, you must have access to the site stats — any idea how many people are lurking in a thread like this (ie, reading but not posting)? I’m curious.
Byrd did his job. Now it’s time for the bats to break through.
Well, this game seems wrapped up. Halladay is just too good.
Dunno, sw. Gerb is our technical guy, I have access to some stats but not sure if I can deduce the lurker factor.
Texas up 1-0 on the Rays in the 3rd, the Twins and White Sox both won (as did the Yankees). Not a good night for the Red Sox, everything has gone wrong so far.
Oh well.
Yeah, I don’t put much faith in the Rangers’s pitching preserving a 1 run lead.
Fell asleep, just woke up. Byrd lasted 7.1? Holy crap.
Yeah, he did, Ath, but it doesn’t seem like running him out there for the 8th was the best idea. Not that it matters, particularly.
What’s even worse is that we left him out there after the triple. It doesn’t matter because we’re going to lose this game 4-0.
Didn’t we have a big comeback agaisnt Halladay in the 8th or 9th inning earlier this year?
Byrd, as much as I dislike him, did his job. The Sox’ bats didn’t do theirs, failing to even get Halladay to give up his average runs. And this from a stellar offense.
Bad night, what can you do but win tomorrow. They have to win tomorrow.
Solid enough performance from Byrd tonight. I don’t think we could have expected much better from Bowden, and I’m pretty sure neither Hansack nor Pauley have ever lasted 7 innings…
MIchael Bowden has, so far, pitched 5 2/3, given up 2 hits, 1 BB, and one run for Pawtucket tonight, his ERA as a PawSox is at 3.24.
I am very excited to see this kid pitch, if not this year than next. Between Beckett, Daisuke, Lester, Masterson, Buchholz, and Paps, that’s a really young squad, and an exciting one.
I still don’t like the guy, Paul. And his on-screen interviews with NESN were totally off-putting.
Byrd isn’t an improvement over Wake, but he’s certainly better than Buchholz at this point. Let’s hope Wake comes back strong and Buchholz goes down to Pawtucket to finish the season.
At a certain point, you’re just glad they didn’t waste a Beckett start on this outing.
It sure seems that the Sox do worse than against good pitchers than those pitchers do against everyone else on average. You’d think that the Sox would be the team making those pitchers worse, but it just doesn’t feel that way. I’d be interested in this year’s stats on that front.
Paul!?!?
At a certain point, you’re just glad they didn’t waste a Beckett start on this outing.
Yeah, said that earlier D. Byrd was the goat inside the pentagram. Fine by me.
Nice outing from Lopez.
Texas still up on Tampa 1-0, thru four.
10 games or so left against Toronto this year. So that’s three more against Halladay, depending on schedule. Oy.
One guy that’s been overlooked this season is Lopez. He has the 3rd best ERA on the team (2.68, behind Paps and Oki).
LASER SHOW with a homer! 4-1 Sox!
Drew rung up on a pitch half a foot off the plate.
It’s a crime that Halladay’s record is only 14-9 now. He should be nearing the 20-win mark right about now if his team didn’t totally suck balls.
looks like bird didn’t have enough of that, you know, “bird food”, before he started tonight… ;)
h-day’s da man
“…like Steve Phillips or Michael Kay….”
and or-silly-o, caron, remy, and maccarver…hahahahahha…good stuff sf…
I never feel too bad about losing to Doc. I think I’d take him on my team over just about any other pitcher in baseball.