The Phils sent Brett Myers to Boston ahead of his teammates so he could prepare for his start against the Sox this weekend in comfort. Instead, Myers, son of a boxing promoter, decided to punch his wife in the face, earning himself a quick move from the Ritz Carlton to the Graybar Hotel. Actually, we don’t know where he was staying, and we doubt he spent the night in jail. Does it matter? The lesson here is pretty clear: don’t punch your wife in the face. As for baseball, Josh Beckett pitches for the home team tonight against Ryan Madson, who’s no great shakes. Comment here.
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Are they actually going to play tonight? Nothing has been announced, but it’s pouring out where I am, and was pouring in Boston at last check.
That last comment was me, btw.
Despite a 90% chance of rain tonight, the decision has been made to attempt to play. This could be a long night, people. Lots of rain delays in store for us, or so it would seem.
The Globe had some good interleague tidbits this morning, including:
The Sox have figured out through season simulators that an AL team on average will win 10 more games if put in the National League. The AL is just that good.
And the Sox have bat up NL opponents so bad this year that the the entire lineup 1-9 averages the season-long production of Kevin Youkilis. Think about that: Every time we play an NL team, we have Youk at every position. My man-crush addled brain can barely stand it!
Rain delay. Yuck.
Manny! 3-0 Sox on the dinger.
Love me a Manny homer!
Frickin’ Gonzalez, two popped bunt attempts in a row.
Come on, you’re swinging as well as you have all year! Drive ’em in…and he singles! But it’s Lowell on 2nd, and the ground ball was fairly sharp, so they’re loaded for Youuuuuuk.
Is anyone else under the impression that most of Manny’s homers this year have been solo shots? I know I was happy to see him drive in two people besides himself last inning.
3-1 pitch to Youk…fouled, pretty much down the middle from the pitcher.
Single! 5-0 Sox. Two on, nobody out.
Youk, baby, Youk. Sox on a roll right now.
yeah, manny has definitely had a lot of solo dingers this year. Not including today, he had 18 homers, but only 45 RBIs. That’s not a typically Mannyesque ratio.
If the score were different, I’d be very sad about that 2-1 pitch that Loretta missed.
And he strikes out.
RBI double. Manny’s hot…baseball-wise.
Oh…who am I kidding? I’d have his kids.
Lowell snatches a double from Bell.
9 batters for the Phillies and 9 outs to go with them.
Devine, i’s good to know I’m not the only one with man-crush problems…
Twelve up, twelve down for the Phillies…
12 and 12. No provocative words or phrases, please!
I love Youk at the leadoff spot. Have I said that before?
Youk! Another single, another mutihit game…
SF, was that a warning to potential Yankfan trollage?
Yuck, Ortiz down on 3 pitches…
Manny on base for the third time, via the E-5…
Nah, it was a joke. I don’t believe in that crap. I called my mom during Lowe’s NH in like the 6th inning and said “Mom, Derek Lowe is throwing a no-hitter”, and he still did it. So I don’t put much stock in stuff like that.
On the other hand, I haven’t moved my right foot since Beckett started pitching tonight, and am not doing so until someone reaches.
Paging Sal Fasano’s stylist…
Is that dude the ugliest guy in the Majors or what?
Deep flyout by Trot ends the inning…
It’s hard to be a sane rational person and believe that your uttering the phrase “no-hitter” will blow it for someone. It would require believing that thousands of fans watching the game at the park/on TV/on the Net/listening on the radio magically kept that bit of excitement to themselves for all nine innings…
Nevertheless, Josh Beckett is throwing… very well tonight.
Ryan Howard: prime candidate to annoy RSN right now.
And Fasano fits the stereotype of the ugly hairy Italian… I should know; my family is filled with hairy Italians…
You know, even if Beckett keeps this up, is there any guarantee he’d ever be able to last 9?
Yeah, but Fasano is out of control with the ugly hairy thing. It’s like he channeled Ron Jeremy or something.
The K!! And looking no less. Howard’s second strikeout of the evening…
15/15
15.
I only recall one start where Beckett just hit a wall late in the game — that start where he pitched seven great innings, then gave up two home runs in the eighth. He’s had awesome starts (I remember one against Baltimore in particular) where he took it 7 or 8 and looked just as good at the end as he did at the beginning…
hey
15 up, 15 down. Don’t let it creep into your head. Wait two more innings, and maybe you can begin to ponder…
Beckett Ks Howard with some incredible curve balls. Amazing!
He’s thrown only 57 pitches through 5 innings!
Baseball Tonight comes on in 40 minutes. For those of us outside the NESN area, I suspect that’ll be a good show to be watching tonight…
Wouldn’t mind another run or two, just to be greedy and paranoid. Sox’ bats have gone to sleep here.
On a different note, Mathieson has done very well for Philly in relief….
Blech Coco. Every time I think Coco looks to be getting on a roll, he has a couple of dreadful at-bats. He needs a couch session with Papa Jack.
Coco swings at the 1st pitch too much… Sometimes it works, but he does it so much, it makes me pine for a guy with plate discipline — like Wily Mo Pena…
Yeah, as well as Beckett’s doing, his propensity this year for longballishness makes me feel nervous that the Sox have been wasting baserunners like the federal government wastes money (so it sucks, sue me)…
Dellucci to Crisp, 1 down…
Look at that curveball! When you can spot a fastball, curve, and change…man…
17 batters, 1 baserunner.
There goes that PG/NH. Well done, Josh. Now shut them down for the win.
Bell hits the 3-2 single into center…
oh well, fun while it lasted.
Beckett is throwing a lot more pitches this inning…
Could theoretically only face 27, still, though, after the DP.
Ahh well… Still, considering Roger Clemens has never thrown a no-hitter…
Hah! Beckett sayd, “Screw you, Bell! I’ll get you anyway!”
Thank God for fat, ugly, hairy Italians.
Yeah, Beckett threw something like 20 pitches in that inning — Dellucci and Bell each took 8 or 9 pitches. Up to 75 through 6, I think…
Technically, Beckett’s still 18/18 :-)
He totally looks like the next guy who’s gonna get whacked on the Sopranos…
The Sox team BA is now 2nd in MLB. I am starting to like interleague play.
Wow…the bats have REALLY died. Keep goin’, Josh!
Apparently, the new strategy for the hitters is to not allow Beckett enough time to get rusty in the dugout…
Marlins have 1st and 2nd with 1 out in the 8th vs. Farnsworth.
Quick inning, Josh. Minimize the pitches…
I liked the first-pitch swining. Don’t like the resulting double. So barring some crazy play, we will not see a 27-for-27 night from Beckett…
There ya go. 2-run homer Utley. Stop it, Josh!
And the shutout follows soon after… Why does Beckett always seem to do this?? This is why I dropped you from my fantasy team!
Wow, and that flyout was deep to right. It’s like the Phils magically figured out how to hit him. Three straight hits to deep right…
I hope Tito gets the pen ready. Not that he would, like, wait too long or anything.
But then the K of Burell on three straight… Now, however, he must face Howard :-P
Even if he gets Howard here, I don’t think I want him out there in the eighth. No reason now, with the shutout/1-hitter gone…
Farnsworth (Rivera?) gets out of it, 6-5 Yanks into the bottom of the 8th…
The Marlins get only 1 run in the 8th, 6-5 Yanks.
He strikes Howard out too. You know your pitcher’s got good stuff when he gets Ryan Howard to go 0-3 with 3 Ks…
Manny gets one of ’em back. Look at ‘im go!
MANNY! Another jack to give some insurance!
My cat gets a congratulatory scratch on the neck. ‘Cuz that’s how I roll…
Nixon follows it up with the double intothe RF corner. So the Sox are coming alive when most needed…
Atlanta and Tampa Bay go to extra innings…I only mention this because I’ve taken an interest in Atlanta’s spiral into the basement.
Coco, swinging at the first pitch again! Grrrrr… He does indeed need a couple days with Papa Jack. Nomar’s the only hitter I’ve seen that could do that and get good production out of it…
Yanks win, Blue Jays lose, and Beckett’s out for the eighth. I like to see our starters go as long as possible, but I’m officially against this move. We’ll see how it turns out…
I like it, myself. All his pitches are going, he’s not quite to 100. Now he is. And it’s 3-1. Still, I’d say two baserunners before you yank him.
And that’s 2 down.
Cool. I trust he’s done.
Time for some Hansen.
Beckett and Tito (after duutifully warming up and practicing their timing) say in unison: ‘Screw you, Paul…”
I love it when our pitching for a game consists entirely of guys I could have gone to college with…
And I kind of hate it too. Hmm.
They’re bringing him out for the 9th? No one warming?!
No! I’m officially against that, as you say, Paul. Even if they go 1-2-3.
AGon with another two-hit night. I firmly believe that it’s no coincidence that the Sox’ offensive reawakening has coincided with the increased production out of the bottom of the lineup (Tek and AGon breaking slumps and the addition of Crisp)…
Beckett looks like he is coming out for the 9th. I hope that is not the case.
Nice “into a pushup stance” evasion on the inside pitch from Ortiz there.
Being a fan of stats, I always think it’s cool when a pitcher gets a complete game, but it’s completely unnecessary in the context of this game. The pen is rested, there’s no milestone or shutout to be achieved, he’s at 100 pitches, there are young pitchers who could use the work in a no-stress situation. Yeah, not a fan. At least have someone warming… Beckett tends to destruct in a hurry.
A TOWERING blast from Kapler! 10-2 Sox.
Papi walks. Manny was lifted for Kapler in the field, so no possibility for three HRs here. Too bad…
And as I type, Kapler launches the blast!! Wow!
Left field has 8 RBI and 3 HR tonight for the Red Sox.
I feel better about bringing out Beckett, just because the amount of damage he could cause when he tires is limited. But still, this is a great situation to put in Tavarez or Hansen, probably our 2 least consistent relievers at present….
Sox fans and Kapler do the curtain call the right way.
It’s sacrilegious, I know, but I’m now kinda hoping Beckett gives up a couple here…my friend has him on his fantasy team and he leads our league right now.
And he’s not out there. Cool.
It’s Timlin out for Beckett. I like that — he needs to shake off the DL rust…
Walk and the fielder’s choice leaves a runner on 1st, 1 out…
Utley goes down swinging, 2 down…
Abreu singles. 1st/2nd.
Wanna get Burrell here with Howard on deck…
7 straight, y’all!
Strikes him out! Good inning for Timlin, 2 Ks, works around a couple hits… Great game on all levels from the Sox!