No, not Mariano Rivera, or even erstwhile, infamous poster MoForPresident. Not even Mo Vaughn.
We’re rooting for the big Mo-mentum. As in, a team with three straight wins has a better chance of beating a team with five straight losses even though that team has a tired and struggling bullpen, inconsistent starters and an only recently revived lineup. Between Big Mo, Fenway Park, and the inning-to-inning walking heart attack that is a Josh Beckett start, this should be a heckuva start to a heckuva series. It’s the first game of what Theo Epstein has called "The Gauntlet."
Root for Papi or Manny if you must. I’m rooting for Mo.
Comment away!
P.S.: Look for Timlin and rookie Craig Breslow to be the first two out of the pen. Not sure how many rookies the Sox will have fielded this year once Breslow makes his debut (he pitched briefly last season in the NL), but it’s gotta be approaching a dozen. Will research and add later.
1. Coco Crisp CF
2. Mark Loretta 2B
3. David Ortiz DH
4. Manny Ramirez LF
5. Kevin Youkilis 1B
6. Mike Lowell 3B
7. Wily Mo Pena RF
8. Javy Lopez C
9. Alex Gonzalez SS
of course Tito has placed WMP 7th.
Beckett’s going to have to do better than grooved, non-moving fastballs. Terrible pitch to Granderson leads to a triple.
Granderson triples to deep right to start….crap.
I’ve given up trying to complain about Terry’s lineup-setting abilities. He does what he does, and so far, their effects have proved fairly negligible.
Still, I’d think Manny would love to be sandwiched between the big burly felolw-Dominicans — wait, that doesn’t sound right…
Beckett walks…
Rough beginning.
That is some deep prison humor
oh god, please do not do this to me tonight.
And Young singles. Tigers up 1-0, 1/3 nobody out. Beckett looks absolutely horrid. No deception, no location, no movement.
WM is killing me
Looks like we are back on the SS Shitbird again.
*sigh* Bad time for Beckett to be in his three-start Crap Phase. I was hoping he’d be starting a three-start Great Phase.
If WM is killing you, then what’s Beckett doing?
Passed ball to the lead weight at the plate scores Monroe.
Somehow it gets scored a wild pitch, but that’s just bad scoring.
(Gameday has is scored as a Wild Pitch, fwiw.) Not that it makes things any better. Still, it’s early. *breathe*
We do not talk about Beckett. From here on out he will be referred to as “The pitcher formally known as our future ace.”
WM’s error killed me.
It wasn’t anything close to a wild pitch – hit the dirt about 3 inches in front of Lopez’ glove, and Lopez lifted up and it went right through the wickets. Little league play for Lopez, I have no clue how they charge it to Beckett. Perhaps the fact that Beckett is sucking so bad made the scorer less favorable towards him. Don’t blame him. Third run in on the comebacker to Beckett. 2 down. Brutal start for Beckett, giving away the weekend’s momentum in 13 minutes flat.
Tough break for Coco – ripped liner right to Guillen for the first out.
Another liner by Loretta leads, this time, to a single. Just over Guillen. Work him, Papi!
Papi looks icky. Whiffs.
2 men left on base and an early three-run deficit. Why does this feel familiar?
Blecch.
Time for dinner and a little Tivo’d “Entourage” with Mrs. SF. Back in a while.
Well, Beckett’s second inning was remarkably good. But he has walked the second batter of the third. I don’t predict fun times tonight.
So, are we having fun yet? Beckett off to one his more memorable starts, though he really does suck for certain in the first inning
1st and 3rd, 1 out. *long sigh*
Double play ball anyone?
MLB.TV locked up on me…liner to 1st? The runners don’t move anyway.
well, not as good but under the circumstances… we’ll take it
TWO DOWN one more Josh
Walks ’em loaded.
>sigh< ol' josh is sucking tonight
great way to get outta the inning Josh
Wall ball single scores two more. 1st and 3rd, 2 out. 5-0 Tigers.
I have to say, with it already a 5 run hole we are probably toast
Hey, I thought Jason Johnson pitched the other day?
That’s all for the inning, but what a disaster.
I think I might watch Entourage again…
Thanks, Josh.
good thing we picked this guy up off the waiver wire… Oh wait that was Jason Johnson.
We just extended this guy for how much???
I am only too happy to stop having dinner (at my desk in the office) and go back to work.
I think he’ll be a pretty good value over his contract, but man…
Wait, don’t go, I’ll bet Josh settles down and doesn’t allow more than 4 or 5 more the rest of the way…
Yeah, that’s a good one, Brian. So very tempting…now I’m really gone.
Coco rips another. Maybe the heart of the order can chip away this inning.
Or, Loretta could hit a weak grounder to second and do zippo.
Oh yeah, and of course the Spankees are up 2-0
Not expecting a lot from Papi this at-bat after his last effort. He looks confused – just took a hanger and the knees kind of buckled.
Yeah, well that there just tells you how bad we are right there… Papi may be a feared batter, but not for the last few games he isn’t
Josh “let them eat cake” Beckett returns to the hill…
Beckett comes out and puts up one of those deflating efforts. First of all, he’s likely to pitch barely six innings, setting the bullpen up for a rough week. Second, his next start is against the Yankees, who have to be loving the thought of facing him at this point.
Geez even Becketts out are tagged a long way
Like I said even his outs are tagged
Meanwhile the Yanks are ahead of the Angels 2-0.
Beckett is just causing so much fun in my house right now.
sigh, lets see, maybe he only lets them score bunches in odd innings??
I think Beckett needs a new nickname:
Laloosh. Million dollar arm, ten cent head. Or something like that.
As demoralized as this team appears to be, I’d be surprized if the DON’T get shut out.
Beckett tries to overpower hitters in the AL. He has not learned that his fastball is not going to blow away every hitter and needs to learn to pitch.
Off to watch hell’s kitchen…..watch old Gordon Ramsey cuss someone out.
Perhaps he would make a good MLB manager.
Nice inning, guys. Way to show up.
Now i’m pretty sure of it, that was a horrific at bat by Manny second pitch pop up would have been ball two well outside the zone
Okay, so that right there was as weak an inning as the Sox offense has had in a while, even counting the recent crap they experience against the Royals and D rays
I know that we fans have much bigger emotional swings than the players, by a longshot. And that we tend to overreact to the tiniest setbacks. But I do want to know how the Sox can come out tonight and look so disinterested, so flat. Is that just me projecting my own frustrations on an effort that is not really any different than any other night? Or are we fans able to detect such subtleties, if they are, in fact, subtleties?
Is it a case of our lyin’ eyes?
Show up, wasn’t Davey Jones that said… “we have not yet begun to fight!” Same with the Sox today
maybe we expected them to come out flat after yesterday.
Maybe the players are tired of being down by 5-6 runs when Beckett pitches and it is getting tiring to have to come back as often as we have. We have 35 come from behind victories this year.
Listen when the Red Sox go 1-2-3 on what SIX friggen pitches including Youk Manny and Lowell??? there is something seriously wrong
Yeah, well it looks like Beckett is just not a fan of the odd innings today
but he escapes unscathed this time
lol, Brian, it was John Paul Jones, U.S. Naval captain, not Davey Jones, mythical sea captain.
I think the hitters are pressing because of the multirun deficit and the need to keep winning before the Yankees series. Bad pitching helps create bad hitting and vice versa.
Nate Robinson’s location is UN-F**KING believable
Or Davey Jones, non-mythical lead singer of the Monkees.
Wily Mo gets it started. Two runs here, that’s all we ask. Chip away. Work him. Make him pitch a few.
Well except fo that pitch >grin<
Eight game hitting streak for WMP. Take your time with the rehab, Trot…
Gapper for Javy, scoring WMP! That ball found the hole like…oh, forget it, we all know where that was going.
We scored! We scored! We Scored!
At least get him to third, Gonzo…
Nice AB Javy… some life shown by the “new” guys
It was Javy Lopez, SF, not Sal Fasano… hehe
Lopez is doing all right as far as the bat goes. He’ll be a good pinch hitter when Tek comes back…
Gonzo looks lost, but spoils a pair of nice pitch on 0-2.
Gonzo hustles down the line, and Inge’s look back to second forces a bit of a hurry on the throw, and Casey can’t scoop the poor throw. 1/3, nobody out. Fingers crossed here…
Sorry, 1st and 2nd.
Oooh, Coco missed a fatty on 1-0. Dang.
Awful at-bat by Coco there, popping up a 2-1 pitch to short right. Only thing worse would have been a double or triple play. Christ.
Does Magglio Ordonez have a wig on?
*sigh* *sigh* *sigh*
DAMN IT all to hell!
Well that inning disappeared in a hurry. Thanks, Coco, for doing absolutely nothing to help out and setting that up.
Lovely way to take charge of a Rally right there… Pop up, double play, but I can’t blame Loretta there SF
No complaints on Loretta, just seems to be our luck this year. Get a chance to cut into a lead and an unlucky DP ball hit to kill the momentum.
Love having Coco up there in case the bottom of the order gets on base instead of Youkilis. I continue to be baffled by the idiocy of this batting order. I am tired of complaining, frankly, but almost every game we see a good example of why Youk should be leading off, that situation was just another example of why Coco should be lower in the lineup: if he gets on, Youk comes up. If not, Youk (and his HIGH OBP) get on for the next set of hitters.
Gotta blame you on that one SF… you mentioned the double play moments before Loretta can to bat, sure jinx right there, for shame
I saw that too, Brian.
Double play = SF’s fault.
Where did I say anything about Loretta? That was on Coco, who didn’t get the guys over and changed the situation for Mark. With 2/3 and Ortiz up and no double play in order, Robertson likely pitches more carefully to Loretta. With the double play in order, he can challenge him a bit more with sinking pitches, cutters, etc. Coco f*cked that situation up for Loretta and the Sox.
“Ortiz” should be replaced by “Loretta”, rather.
Oh, ok. Now it’s my fault, and not the lazy, do-nothing Red Sox and their pitcher who put them in a five-run hole. That seems fair…
Yes Coco did. His crappy hitting helped us out again.
I’m tired of complaining about it too SF, but when a line-up as productive as ours WAS… well…
What is Beckett trying to do? Be effective?
I am no fan of the big-inning killing bunt, but in that case there’s a reasonable justification for it. Coco can do it, and he’s got the 2-3-4 guys following. Instead, Tito has a guy with a .320 OBP swinging away and he’s almost as unproductive as one can be.
Papi K’s again.
Papi getting worked over by Robertson. He’s in one of those stretches where he looks baaad. He’ll bust out, for sure.
Manny works the walk. Youkilis up, let’s see if he presses harder. As if we could tell…
I would rather have WM’s big bat here in the 5 spot.
Youk looks really confused too – backed off a pitch that was maybe 1 inch inside, like it was coming right at him. Then he hacks at the 2-1 pitch, way off balance.
Angels have cut the deficit 2-1
I like the way Robertson is pitching, though. Moving it around, changing speeds, can still chuck it up there in the 90s if need be. He’s got it going tonight pretty good. Credit due.
And just tied it 2-2
See, I should type compliments more often. While that was posting, Youkilis BOMBS one off the Volvo sign, over the monster.
Did I tell you how much I love Youk in the % hole???
YOUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
uuhh the 5 hole… just kidding
This game constantly reminds me that, despite having watched literally thousands of baseball contests in my life, I know very, very little about how to manage a game.
(But that won’t stop me from being a critic!)
Man, Youk’s homrer was great. Woulda been even better with two on last inning…
Fo Shizzle SF
Lowell says to the 3-1 pitch “no soup for me”. Not a good hack at that one, pops out to Granderson.
TIED up in NY
Ok, so does Beckett come back out?
I am not allowed to offer an opinion on this one; I’ll tell everyone what I think after the decisions are made and all the events transpire ;-)
Nice pitch to WMP gets the K. Good inning, though. Three innings to get two, as long as we can hold them. It definitely can be done.
Geez Wily Mo, Plate Disipline???
Pedro tonight against Philly
1.0 IP
4 H
6 R
6 ER
1 BB
1 K
35 Pitches thrown…left the game with a strained right calf.
Ohhh god it’s Seanez!!! worst of all posible eventualities
Wow, Seanez. WTF?
White Sox just went up 4-0 over …you guessed it or buddies the Kansas City Boils
Thank God we don’t play those pesky Royals 19 times a year…
Monroe tries to make Seanez believe he can pitch?
Hey Paul, I thought Timlin and Breslow were going to be the first out of the ‘pen? What up with this Seanez stuff??
I swear, they are trying to be nice to him REALLY
Young Ks. 2 outs here. Come on Rudy, YOU CAN DO IT! (said in worst Rob Schneider voice)
Wow, very nice inning from Seanez there. What’s that saying about a broken clock again?
They LOVE him I am telling you!
Spankees go up one…
Ahhh yes, it warms my heart how tough those Royals are against everyone else 8 nothing Wrong Sox
Egads – Zumaya has 74 Ks in 48 innings.
ahhh Gonzo I just was hoping for a walk there
There we go: 1-2-3, with no punch. Yay us.
Nice Rally there….
Ewww Mets getting Punked by Philly, 13-zip
It is seriously embarassing, don’t they know this guy can’t pitch?
Okay, now they are getting it…
Milk Seanez dry, Tito. Milk him. Until we’re behind by like 8 runs.
The fact is the Tigers are so aggressive they ve passed up like 4 walks already
But now they have a bead on him
C;mon Inga, double play ball!
Or a walk…whatever
Jeez, bases loaded. Seanez getting wild, hittable. Francona just sticking with him, totally greedy.
Rudy “Can Fail” Seanez is trying real hard to prevent a BoSox comeback. WTF.
Now they like him again…
Here comes the 0-2 heartbreaker…
jeez what happened to those swinging strikes!
On the upside, I didn’t expect it to be this close when I got back.
On the downside, Seanez is pitching with the bases loaded in a close game.
And…single. 2 more runs score. I’m going home!
It’s like clockwork.
JFC. That was utterly predictable and just putrid managing from Francona, who NOW comes out of the dugout. I have been defending Tito of late, but this was just a train wreck of an inning, first bringing Seanez out again, then sticking with him after two, then three guys are put on base. Beyond bad, and worse, predictable.
oh yeah, that’s right I forgot who was pitching for a second, stupid me
Meanwhile, here comes… Mop-up expert Craig Breslow!
Check out Breslow’s Gameday pic. Yiiiikes.
and of course the Yankees go up two now
You mean that’s NOT a picture of the BAT BOY???
What, did Francona think a 2 run deficit was insurmountable? Since when does Seanez get a long leash, of all the guys on the team? Besides Tavarez, what other pitcher is more likely to bomb out the longer he stays in? Really, what the f*ck? It’s nights like these where I can’t understand what the f*ck Francona has on his mind, on any level. To save the bullpen? In a two run game? What is his reasoning? F*cking idiot. At least tonight.
Geez that K woulda been nice about a batter or two ago
Hey, I gotta hand it to Breslow, though. He just K’d two batters to end the inning… all the while looking EXACTLY like the 18-year-old who tried and failed to change the oil in my car at Midas this morning.
Christ, where has Craig Breslow been all my life??? A pitcher that can K two to end a threat… $major league minimum money..
Of course Tito saves him till the game is just about out of reach, PRICELESS
Too bad Terry didn’t hand it to Breslow one batter earlier, Hud.
Loretta singles, just to tease us.
Rudy Seanez and/or Julian Tavarez = Tito is already conceeding the game…
Makes me nauseous…
Papi, we need you NOW
Thanks, Terry, for making Papi the “two-batters-short-of-being-the-tie” run.
Watch us lose this one 7-6.
Papi in a slump right now. No good contact at all; it’s been a while now, hasn’t it?
Papi in a slump, been a few days in comin too
Manny with a hard single back through the box. Youk up as the “one-batter-short-of-being-the-tying-run”. Thanks, Tito!
lets see if Youk can blast another…wouldn’t that be amazing
Gotta be tough facing Zumaya – an 86mph changeup and a 100mph fastball. How the hell can you guess right? I don’t envy Youk right now.
Youk! Single plates Loretta, and the tying run comes to the plate in the form of Mike Lowell.
Super at-bat from Youk. Oh, and THANKS, TITO.
Well I’ll take it… Cmon MIKEY!
oh yeah woulda been tying run at second…thanks Tito
Oh, man, what the hell was that. What was Hale doing? WHAT THE HELL????
That was brutal. No other way to describe it, just brutal. Never should have sent Ramirez.
Yankees breaking it open…
Somewhere, Dale Sveum is has a wry grin on his face.
[strike the “is” above]
Four singles… One run.
Four singles… One run.
And tonight is a perfect illustration, in all it’s ugly glory, of why I don’t believe that, despite being a good team, the Red Sox cannot and will not win in the playoffs (if they even make them). They just aren’t good enough. I hate to sound so pessimistic, but really, what a distillation of this season – bad starting pitching, the bullpen can’t stem the tide, and then a mental error costs them a big rally. That’s it, nothing more to explain.
The problem, in my view, is that there is such a wide gap between the Sox stars and the fill-ins.
Boston needs more fair-to-middling players.
You can’t tell me that the team isn’t feeling the pressure of the season. Hale has done a great job this year, but that play felt, well, desperate. Down three run, possible bases loaded situation and WMP coming up, you have to know not to send a guy like Manny on a potentially devastating play. Hale waving him home there strikes me as a bad decision under pressure, probably more pressure than there’s been all year.
Now of course Breslow will probably show his contempt for the Tigers by allowing them to score a bunch
Yanks won thank you Tito
Craig Breslow… my new hero… no thanks to Tito
Breslow is the new Papelbon.
Tonight, at least.
I need a shot. And a beer.
I don’t know which is worse, the Red Sox or the fact that I can’t drown my sorrows with a pint of Harpoon because it’s not sold here.
Gonzo has been in a slump after being hot for a while…
so there they go like little lambs to slaughter
5 pitches to get two outs
PA FUCKING THETIC
This is the way the game ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.
Seven pitches, three outs. What a f*cking white flag.
Put a fork in them, they’re done.
2 pitches to get Coco.
7 pitches to get through the bottom of the 9th.
7
Hudson, this is the way the season ends.
On the bright side, if we sweep the Yankees (hey it COULD happen) we would be back in first!
Sucky game all the way around. Except Craig Breslow. Good 2 innings from him… Just two innings too late.
Nah, I guess that couldn’t happen
You Sox fans go from chipper to chicken little in 0.3 seconds. Your team is not bad, and they still are an extremely dangerous ballclub. Wallace needs to introduce to Beckett a thing called movement on his fastball. Those 97mph straight darts ain’t workin.
It’s so funny… early on when our #1a stud starter was like 3 and 0 with a 2 point something ERA the Globe did a poll question…
How many wins do you think Josh Beckett will have for the Red Sox this season
The multiple choice choice answers to choose from as I recall were
17+ games
17 to 21 games
and
21+ games
The overwhelming answer to that question?
21+ wins
I have to laugh, because even early on he had some no decisions in which he was erratic, and because of that, I answered 17+ wins.
But honestly,in my wildest nightmares, I never would have believed that that he’d be a 5+ ERA pitcher for us and STILL have a chance to make 17 wins but NOT a PRAYER of a chance at all, to make it to 21+!
uhhh BloodyYank us Sox fans have always gone from chipper to the sky is caving in on our heads, so what is your F**king point?
But in case you hadn’t noticed we haven’t been that chipper lately, because while it looked like the offense and pitching were going to snap out of the funk they have been when the pummeled the Orioles 9 to 2 the other day, the fact is even in that game they showed lingering signs of the funk they were in.
Just so you know, the Red Sox, 3 of their last 7 wins have involved winning in the final at bat…and the Sox have gone 7 and 11 in their last 18 games.