Friday night baseball, matching up two super teams. Phenom Andrew Miller hurls for the Tigers, while wacky Julian Tavarez goes for the Sox.
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Looking like it’s gonna be a loooong evening against this Miller kid.
I always have a sick feeling in my stomach when Tavarez is on the mound….
Someone named “Josh Bailey” is playing for the Red Sox.
I really dislike Sean Casey – have for a while, and I don’t know why.
He promptly singles, making me dislike him even more. Tavarez gets a forceout, inning over. 0-0 after 2.
I think that maybe Youk’s quad is a little worse than they are letting on.
What in hell was that?
Wily Mo triples, then gets gunned down trying to tag up on a great throw. Call looks suspect as Pena appears to have slid in below the tag. Of course, Pudge gets every call without question, since he’s Pudge.
Wily Mo hits a triple — and then tries to score on a short fly to center by Bailey. Granderson guns him down.
Lugo gets a hit. Maybe he’ll get caught stealing?
Lugo’s on base?? Cool.
Nope. Lugo stole fine. Win some, lose some.
Crisp drives one to center, scoring Lugo, who had stolen second. Well done.
rbi single for Crispy
SF – I don’t think Pudge is catching today. :)
Crisp has suddenly taken it upon his shoulders to be the RBI guy in the lineup.
It was the ghost of Pudge!
Rabelo is catching
Rob – I don’t think he’s dead, just not in the line-up today….
OK imma just enjoy the game and not post because its on its code verification for every post tonite.
SF – I don’t think Pudge is catching today. :)
Yep, my bad. Maybe the umpire didn’t know either> ;-)
tiger announcers call inge’s .251 avg. “very respectable”.
Julio Lugo would die for that respectability. Also, isn’t Inge a pretty bad hitter? For him, that might be pretty decent.
Tavarez starting to fall behind hitters.
Polanco flies deep to Drew. End of three, 1-0 Sox.
Manny drives one to the gap for a double, following a weak grounder by Lowell. I miss Papi and Youk (that’s not a comment on Lowell, just a fact).
Manny with an extra base hit. Seems like it has been awhile
Tek goes down
Tek with a long at-bat, then goes down on a horrible swing.
3-2 angels.
Drew goes down swinging also
Drew goes down the same way, except after a short at-bat.
Crisp obviously does not have Granderson’s arm.
Tavarez is coming completely unglued this inning.
Yeesh, it’s about to blow up. The one out was a deeeeeep drive to center.
Make that both outs were deeeeep flies to center. The last one scored a run, 2-1 Tigers, with a runner at 3rd and 2 out.
Thames with the sac fly 2-1
damn yankees go up 5 – 3. i tune over just in time to see a-rod doing his stupid jog where his heels hit his ass. he’s such a tool.
Then you plunk the bac up catcher, jeez.
Each fly to center has gotten longer…I basically expect a home run to center here.
He just hit a guy too. And goes to 3-0 on Inge.
“Merely” a double to right. Scores one, the Wily Mo-Lugo-Varitek relay fairly handily guns down the runner from first.
maybe it is a respectable .251.
Sorry, to left, the double went.
tiger announcers are killing me. cocky for a team that got used by an 83 win cardinal team.
I think I bumped my head sometime over the last few days…
-Yesterday I was rooting for the Sox to score 15.
-Today I traded Andrew Miller, Troy Tulowitzki and Tim Lincecum for….(Here comes the kicker) DAVID ORTIZ, KEVIN YOUKILIS and Salty.
What is wrong with me??? Help.
Mark Buehrle, please?
The wheels have come off
Tough game for the Sox tonight and yes, the Tigers announcers do stink. You know who else stinks…Bartolo Colon. He’s handed a lead and can’t come close to holding it. Lead could shrink to 11.
P.S.
Great website. I’m going to add this link to my mets/redsox blog:
http://metssox.metsblog.com/
I would appreciate it if you guys added me to your list of links. Thanks and keep up the good work!
Please, dear God, let this be the end of Julian Tavarez as a starter. He did a wonderful, unexpectedly decent job over the first half, but this should be it. Enough, Theo, he’s just not good enough.
The shit bomb has officially gone off tonight!
Thames with the GS.
And of course, Tito ambles out a pitch too late. What made him think Tavarez had anything up to that point?
Hey Sam. I’ll put your link on mine if u add mine to yours :p http://redsox.travisliles.com
Why not just leave Tavarez out there for another couple of innings, save the pen? If you were going to pull him now, Tito, why not when the game was STILL IN REACH?
Asshole.
Lester: 7IP 2 ER 5K 3BB Win
Ellsbury also homered for Pawtucket
We are losing and the Yanks are having a pork roast.
Someone please rescue us from what will likely be several more starts like this from Julian Tavarez.
Buehrle Cleans Out Locker
And in other news, I tidied up my desk today. Mark Buehrle’s housecleaning, however, is just barely newsworthy. It could be a sign that a deal is impending, or it could just be plain old cleaning. I can speak from experience: I only cleaned out my high school locker when school was out for summer. And I found an old sandwich. Just saying.
Where’d you see that, Trisk? Is that a real item or a joke?
http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2007/07/buehrle-packs-f.html
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/07/buehrle-cleans-.html
I would never tease you SF! It’s a real piece.
6 – 9 yanks. angels chipping away at pettitt.
7 – 9 yanks. ballgame again in the 6th.
These Tigers announcers are morons: “Bailey must have some speed”, since he beat out a potential double play ball deep in the SS hole. The only guy not beating that out was FDR circa 1944.
I also think I have a new LFRS, as I now feel so sorry for Julio Lugo that he’s off the list. Yep, I now officially have nothing but hatred for Wily Mo Pena. He defines ‘useless sack of sh*t’ to me. I have no idea why he is on the team. He’s not a capable late-inning defensive substitute, he can’t hit righties, he can’t hit lefties, and he’s relatively slow. My take is that he’s on the team because Theo can’t come to grips with having traded for such a stiff. He won’t develop riding the bench, he’s not about to play regularly (sans injury). He has no place on a team like the Sox.
Yay! Burn Manny Delcarmen in a lost cause! Good idea, Tito!
sf- wiki rod allen. watch the youtube clip linked. he charges the mound, and the look on the pitcher is classic.
ha, that’s f*cking hysterical.
9 – 9 at the stadium. maybe tonites not a wash after all.
like clockwork, right when the sox squander any chance of putting up a fight, the yanks go up 10 – 9. it’s confirmed (like it wasn’t already), i’m drinking tonite.
The look on the pitcher is classic!
Another good set of vid’s on youtube is Fitzey’s Wicked Pissah
12 – 9 yanks on a tool homer. three sox converge to watch a ball land between them. jim beam black tonite.
Nice of Mirabelli to hit a homer when it doesn’t matter
And it finally ends, Lugo grounds to 3rd.
9-2 Detroit
Abreu leads off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left.
Cano ropes a line to left but Anderson makes a good basket catch running in for the first out.
Oops. How’d I get in here? Pardon me while I grab my hat.
TJ i’ll add ur link now. Thanks a lot.
“…Yep, I now officially have nothing but hatred for Wily Mo Pena. He defines ‘useless sack of sh*t’ to me. I have no idea why he is on the team. He’s not a capable late-inning defensive substitute, he can’t hit righties, he can’t hit lefties, and he’s relatively slow….”
…hehe…anybody wanna have that melky v. wilymo debate again?… :)
Ugh. So Tavarez got hammered on the road by the game’s best offense, while the Sox got shut down by a hard-throwing rookie left-hander (who Boston was expected to sign in 2006 before Detroit swooped in with an offer he couldn’t refuse). Big shocker…
Though his peripherals freak me out…Tavarez has been, for a fifth starter, pretty damn good. (Until tonight) He’s allowed 3 runs or less in 7 of his last ten starts; he went 5.2 innings in 4 of those games, 7 in 3, 6 in one, and 4.1 against Seattle. All told, a 4.39 ERA from a fifth starter is well above league average. Of course, that’s up to something like 4.97 now…which is still at least a little better then league average.
Look at the Tigers. Miller is technically their number 5–his ERA is going to jump pretty damn quickly if he keeps walking this many people, by the way–but the fifth best starter to this point has been Nate Robertson, who’s at 4.86. He’ll improve, most likely…while Miller will probably decline.
The Indians: Westbrook is at 6.27; Byrd’s at 4.71; Lee is at 5.23. The Twins’ Bonser and Baker are up there. Mussina’s been nothing but mediocre for the Yanks; Pettitte’s been brutal lately, too. Santana and Colon have been awful for the Angels–though Ervin pitches like Johan when he’s at home, oddly enough.
The A’s rotation has been fantastic all the way through…though somehow I don’t think Lenny Dinardo’s 3.04 ERA is going to stay that low forever.
Anyway, here’s my point: Just about every team anywhere near contention has their Julian Tavarez. Those of you calling for a Buehrle trade should keep in mind that his agent recently stated, clearly and publicly, that any trade would be strictly a rental; he will not sign an extension with any other team but Chicago. I mean if someone offered him Zito-money, he might change his tune…but that’d be pretty stupid…
So ask yourselves this: Is keeping Tavarez in the rotation going to cost Boston the division? I don’t see how he possibly could. Is it worth sacrificing even a small part of the future to grab a Buehrle rental? I really can’t understand why they should; at the moment, Boston looks to be coasting into a division title…why bother?
Of course, if Schilling comes back after the break and is still throwing 84 and getting hit all around the park…that’s a different story. Or if Tavarez pitches like he did today for the next three weeks…ditto. But he’s had blips like this before, and not every team can hit like Detroit…so let’s just relax.
Oh yeah, and there are also a number of guys in the minors who could probably provide a sub-5 ERA should Tavarez continue to decline. Gabbard, for one. Lester. Buchholz. I just don’t see any reason to panic at this point…
(Oh, and if for some reason it turns out that what Mark’s agent said was just talk, and Boston can sign Buehrle to an extension, I’m OK with a trade. Just not if it involves Bowden, Buchholz, or Ellsbury…I’d actually rather deal Lester at this point)
Good points, d1. I am more thinking playoffs, not regular season, but there’s still a big positive reason for picking up a frontish-line starter. And if Buehrle’s a rental, then sure, the price has to drop. No irrationality here; I just don’t imagine that Schill is nearly as “borderline healthy” as it’s been made out, that he’s just got a tired shoulder. I think it’s far worse than they are leading on, and that means we need a third legit starter; Wake scares the crap out of me in a short series – I just don’t trust him and the knuckler enough. Maybe I am wrong, I don’t know, but I don’t like the rotation after Matsuzaka. And that ends up taxing the bullpen, which has been great so far because the starters have gone so deep and gotten so many decisions – this is a big part of the call for a fresh, top three starter: to keep the bullpen going the way they have been for the rest of the season and go into the playoffs with a deep, fresher staff than the competition. If we start getting a lot of 5 inning starts, all bets are off.
i agree with you 100% sf…without repeating exactly what you said, which i’ll probably inadvertently do anyway, the playoffs are about 3 good/hot starters…for the moment the sox rotation is a bit shaky, with schilling out, tavarez’ recent struggles, and the uncertainty about which knuckleball will show up on any given day…nobody’s saying it, but i’d still be a bit concerned as well about beckett’s fragile fingers and paplebon’s tired shoulder possibly returning as the season wears on…i’m not wishing for it, but some insurance is always good, because the pessimist in me says that something is bound to go wrong…
i also tend to agree that schilling’s health may be worse than we’re being led to believe…that’s a serious problem because he’s such a proven playoff performer…the sox offense continues to score plenty of runs, but ask the yanks about that formula [shaky pitching + good offense] come playoff time…
Not quite as pessimistic as DC about the Sox’ chances with the current rotation. I’d be OK with getting Buehrle as a rental, provided we don’t give up any of the Big Three (Ellsbury-Buccholz-Bowden. Probably not Lester either for a rental). If the Sox can get the 72-hr window, then yes. One of those for sure. I think the Sox CAN win with a Beckett-Matsuzaka-Schilling-Lester/Wakefield playoff rotation. I know they SHOULD win with a Beckett-Matsuzaka-Buehrle-Schilling rotation.
In 1995, the Sox traded their No. 1 pitching prospect for a rental of Rick Aguilera. Aguilera solidified the bullpen and the Sox won the division. Frankie Rodriguez was never heard from again. Just a thought.
The Sox don’t necessarily need to solidify the bullpen (I know this isn’t your point, Paul), they need to maintain the solidity of the bullpen as it exists. The best way to do this is to keep the starting five doing what they’ve been doing: eating innings. With a Gabbard/Tavarez/Wake three-spot in the rotation this isn’t going to happen. This is why an upgrade in the rotation makes sense: to help the bullpen stay as strong as it’s been. Without an upgrade, I fear the bullpen with start to smell a bit of fuel oil.
Maybe I’m just being too optimistic…but I don’t really think they’re lying about Schilling’s arm. He was frustrated by how long they shelved him because he wanted to get back before the break…and I don’t think Schilling’s a guy who wants to pitch if that disaster against the Braves is all he’s got left. And if he wants a job somewhere next season, he better be damn sure he’s healthy and not rushing onto the field to blow a rotator cuff. I don’t know…I think the double-digit division lead just has the front office being extra-cautious (See also: Kevin Youkilis). If I’m wrong, I hope a deal gets done.
Oh…and my main point was that a healthy Schilling makes a fine Number 3 in a playoff rotation. Beckett-Matsuzaka-Schilling is a better combo then just about anyone else, besides possibly Detroit. I’d even take them over Lackey-Escobar-Weaver(?), if only because the Sox have handled Lackey (and Escobar, actually) very well in the past.
SF, I have to disagree with your inclusion of Wakefield among the non-innings-eaters. He averages 6.1 IP per start.