Things went swimmingly the last time Schill faced the A’s. The first time in the Fens? Not so much. Here’s hoping he goes 2 for 3 with O-town this year.
Let’s face it, there’s no place the Sox would rather be right now than at Fenway Park. Even Tampa Bay, where they took 2 of 3 again to stop the bleeding and regain at least a modicum of positive trajectory. Tonight, Curt Schilling steps back to the mound to face the team he nearly one-hit in one of the most masterful games of controlled execution in recent memory.
Of course, tonight could be a different story. Or maybe not. Like the last time Schilling faced Oakland, the Sox have been reeling, struggling to find any offense, often letting down decent pitching efforts in the process. Lately, the lineup has looked like a pair of reliable on-base guys at the top - rookies Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia - Big Papi, who is starting to round back into form at just the right time, Mike Lowell, who continues to out-produce his career statistics, and then a whole bunch of crap. Coco Crisp hasn’t done anything particularly notable since returning from back spasms. Julio Lugo continues to provide intermittent sparks, but little else. In fact, only captain Jason Varitek and - get ready to be shocked - J.D. Drew have provided any substantive offense in the second half of the lineup during Boston’s struggles.
That makes for an interesting comparison with Oakland’s stretch lineup, a group that includes Sox-killer Eric Chavez, the surprising and surging Jack Cust and, well, a whole lot of crap. They don’t even have the unreliably potent bat and temper of Milton Bradley. For proof of the potent temper, check this.
So, will Schilling return off extra rest tonight and put up the kind of triumphant performance he mustered out at “Enter Bland Corporate Sponsor Here” Park in Oakland early this spring? Or will he put up the kind of solid starts he’s had the last three times out, when he’s thrown five-plus solid innings, slipped a bit in the sixth and then been rocked in the seventh?
Good questions all, and only one man - if that - knows. Here’s hoping Schilling lets us in on a good secret rather than a bad one. If he does, the entire point of winning these games at home down the stretch will be a sort of place-holding mental masturbation anyway.
After all, if Boston can’t beat the A’s at home, far removed from the playoffs as they are, then how are the Red Sox supposed to beat the Angels or Indians?
And tonight, the great Boston resurrection continues?
Dice-K’s been in better moods at earlier points in the season.
Good question right? Last night the Sox got through Tampa Bay’s best starter and still escaped with a win, thanks to your future AL Cy Young winner Josh Beckett. Not only that, they also got some keen help from the team that spent the better part of the last week trash bagging them: Toronto. The Blue Jays beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, and they spent a full 14 innings doing so, wearing out some of the pinstripe bullpen in the process. Including Joba the Piglet.
Not a bad way to start a weekend.
Still, that extra game buffer will mean nothing if Boston blows game two tonight. The mercurial Japanese national treasure is back on the mound, and his very appearance will underscore just how unpredictable he may be for the rest of the year. Before his last start against the Yankees - a significant and strong outing eight days ago - Dice-K had five consecutive woeful starts, each looking more tired than the previous. Then last week he looked like vintage Dice, tossed either his best or second-best outing against the Yankees this season, and seemed destined for a win.
Of course, we know what happened after that.
Tonight he gets a significantly easier lineup, though it’s one he’s struggled with before. In fact, that up-and-down line graph is a true theme for the game, as Tampa starter Andy Sonnastine has gone through similar issues against the Sox this season.
So which starter shows up with his good stuff? And which lineup comes through with big hits tonight? The Sox looked like they were on a mission last night. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury looked like MVP candidates, not rookies. Big Papi blasted a shot that was remiscent of the past three years. Mike Lowell looked like, well, Dr. Double with more power, which he’s done in leading the team throughout the second half.
Did the Sox use up their entire quota of clutch hits last night? Will Dice-K be able to overcome the stigma of traveling through international customs in a Teletubby costume? While Manny Ramirez remember that he still plays for the Sox and make a guest cameo, as if he was on a mid-90s sitcom or a new late-night MTV show hosted by Will Smith that’s a direct rip-off of Wild N’ Out?
Did that last question even make any sense? The answer to the last two questions is no. But the answers to the first two are much more significant. Now comes the time where we figure out what they are.
Or, if you’re on the other side of the pond, it’s time to watch Dice in his other role, as LaLa. Either way, enjoy.
Boy, that win took long enough, didn’t it? Why didn’t the Red Sox just think to pitch Josh Beckett earlier?
Kylie Minogue would constitute a nice change from a slump, no? So would a Josh Beckett win, as last night proved.
That, of course, is a joke. Though two more Red Sox losses, and a preemptive Beckett start on short-rest might not have been such a jocular exaggeration. As it stands, however, Boston finally won, the Yankees finally lost, and for a night at least, all was right in the AL East universe.
Really, it was a bit like coming off a long nightlife slump after the end of a long-term relationship. Sometimes it takes a few months before someone can get back on the horse. And the last week of losing made for one tall horse.
Somehow it seems rather appropriate that a cocksure Texan - all puns intended - would be the one to mount the horse, doesn’t it? Beckett’s been known for brash reactions when turned down by women at bars, but his reactions were all confident last night in becoming the bigs’ first 20-game winner. By giving up just a single run through six innings, Beckett dropped his ERA back down below that of fellow top Cy Young contender C.C. Sabathia - Beckett’s is 3.14, Sabathia 3.89 - and almost single-handedly got his team back on the winning track.
OK, single-handedly is quite the exaggeration. A couple bombs from Big Papi didn’t hurt, and neither did another night from Mike Lowell, and two more tremendous hitting performances from youngsters Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.
All-in-all, it made for a huge Florida night for the Red Sox. A huge Florida night for Beckett, who’s known to have a few of those, dating back to his days in a Marlins uni. To think that he’s hitting those marks again now, and that he’ll get a chance to in the postseason again. Well, at least we know the Sox have one thing going for them.
Some interesting conceptual thoughts as we await the inevitable lack of offense now that we know Senor Manuel Ramirez is taking another long holiday …
Josh Beckett may need to dial up his high school heat to mow through another win tonight.
Can you imagine what you would have done if someone told you a month ago that the Yankees would be within two games of the Sox, and that the Sox would need key contributions from Eric Hinske to find a way to beat the Devil Rays? I’ll bet you would have laughed. We would have, too. Now, we want to cry. All part of being a Boston fan, right?
Still, things should be good tonight. Should be. And there have been a lot of disappointing shoulds in the past couple of weeks. With Josh Beckett on the mound looking for win No. 20, the Sox should be dialed in on getting just enough offense at the Trop to get a win. It’ll be interesting to see if the anemic, injury-riddled offense can do that minus Manny, Kevin Youkilis, Coco Crisp and hell, any power outside of Big Papi and the indefatiguable Mike Lowell.
Incidentally, there’s an equally shocking response to another offensive Sox question: What would you have said if told that the two most consistent Sox hitters over the course of the season would be Dustin Pedroia and Lowell? It’s truly amazing, isn’t it? Can Lowell’s role be overemphasized? And can Pedroia’s amazing season be played up enough? I’m not sure it can. The Mighty Mite has gone from being a short-term survivor to an almost sure-fire rookie of the year. And Lowell - worth noting that it’s a monster contract year for him, isn’t it - has been nothing short of spectacular. If he’s not the second best third baseman in the AL, well, whoever’s compiling the list is kidding him or herself.
Still, that just reframes tonight’s question, doesn’t it? Now it reads, “Can Lowell, Pedroia, Papi and maybe Jacoby Ellsbury do enough to get past a suddenly viable Tampa Bay lineup? And Scott Kazmir?”
So we’ll be brief. To be honest, we tried to kick our ass into blogging something last night, but we were too distracted by the latest Terry Francona act of incredible flexibility, stabbing himself in the back with his dinner fork, this time by leaving Eric Gagne in after his control took a late flight back to the states from Toronto.
Hey Tito, wouldn’t this one be easier to slide into your upper scapula?
Seriously, does anyone have any idea how the hell this is happening? And is there any way we can just move past this whole painful collapse thing if all Red Sox fans agree to take five giant punches to the gut at exactly the same time around the world? I’d sign on for that right now without a second thought. We really would.
Tonight the Sox get another shot at redemption … again. And again it falls on the young arm of Clay Buchholz, who’ll be starting for the first time since his no-hitter against the Orioles. In fact, the last time he pitched it was also against the Orioles, and he didn’t give up any runs then, either. Toronto may be a slightly different scene, but the stakes and pressure will be even higher, if anything.
Amazingly, the sight of a rookie on the mound is actually comforting. Buchholz has been one of the few players who looks like he’s thrived in pressure spots in the second half of the season. There have been flashes of clutch Big Papi moments and others when he looks flamed out. Dustin Pedroia has generally looked terrific, Mike Lowell has been outstanding and Jacoby Ellsbury, last night’s game-ending strikeout aside, still looks like the guy you want up with the game on the line. That, of course, doesn’t say much about Monsieur J.D. Drew.
On the mound, Josh Beckett continue to be “the man”, but outside of him, the rotation suddenly looks like a Palestinian mine field. Shockingly, Jon Lester has been the next most consistent option the past two weeks, and despite his earlier struggles of late, Daisuke Matsuzaka’s last outing against the Yankees leaves plenty of optimism about his postseason chances. It was a huge game and he pitched terrificly. It’s not his fault he got stuck with a loss.
Ummmm, anyone think we can get Kason back? We’ll take him.
That, of course, leads us to the bullpen, which is too brutal to even talk about right now. We can’t bring ourselves to do it. So we won’t.
Instead, we’ll get back to looking for that extended BBQ fork. We may not be as flexible as Tito, but it’s hard not to get into the self-mutilating action right about now.
How do you know when you get the short straw after a rough weekend? When your work trip doesn’t just start on Monday, it also starts in another country.
Tim Wakefield was on pace for a near-record year before his last two starts. A return to form would be a huge boon for the Sox.
Uggghhh.
The bigger issue, and one that bears watching for more extended ramifications, revolves around the 42 year-old knuckleballer who’ll take the hill in the bottom of the first coming off two of the rougher outings not only of this year, but also his career.
Let’s face it, Tim Wakefield has been channeling something from a different universe this year. He’s pitched better than he has in any year since his first in a Sox uniform. In fact, he may be pitching better than he has in any year except 1995, when he was the biggest factor behind the Pittsburgh Pirates’ surge to the NLCS. Barry Bonds, a Wakefield teammate on the Buccos, still claims that Pittsburgh would have made the World Series if Wake had thrown Game 7 on no rest. He may be right.
Tonight, Wake will be focusing on bouncing back and proving he can still be a valuable asset in the postseason. Of course, Boston could really use a Wakefield win right about now to make sure they get there. While winning two of three - let alone a sweep, which was eminently possible - from the Yankees over the weekend would have all but wrapped things up, the Sox now have to scramble to take games from a Toronto team that hasn’t cooled off over the last month, and is suddenly slightly healthier and a little closer to being the squad that some analysts thought had the inside track on the AL Wild Card or even the East Division title.
Instead, that crown should rest squarely on the Sox’s heads by the end of the month. What happens from there out depends on a number of disparate factors. Will Manny Ramirez return and be any modicum of his usual oblivious, productive self? Will Big Papi’s knees hold up just enough to make him the masher he’s been over the past half decade? Will Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia, true unknown factors in September and October, continue the torrid pace both have set over much of the summer.
Manny returns would help the Sox down the stretch, too. Not to mention in the playoffs.
But all of those concerns are far down the list from those revolving around the pitching staff, which needs a shot in the arm, hopefully figuratively rather than literally. Tonight, Wakefield could be that shot. Or he could end up taking one. Either way, it’d be hard to be surprised.
There have been plenty of heated TV dilemmas for Boston fans in the past but, perhaps, never one more divisive than tonight’s.
Guess what? He’s baaaack. But so are the Pats. So who you gonna watch?
That’s because both the Red Sox and Patriots find themselves in pivotal games. Both are at home. And both are on national TV. What’s more, the Sox host the one team that can help them pull TV ratings in the ballpark of an NFL team; the Yankees. As if that wasn’t enough, Roger Clemens makes another return to Fenway in pinstripes while Curt Schilling makes a key start for the Sox in what could be one of his final Fenway appearances. Naturally, it’s a matchup that piques interest.
Is anyone else completely torn up about this? What are we supposed to do? On the one hand, it’s absolute sacrilege to not watch a Sox-Yankees showdown. On the other hand, it’s absolute sacrilege to ignore a Patriots game.
One way or the other, New England fans are bound to anger the Boston sports gods. It’s a karma-doomed quicksand trap which just doesn’t seem to have a good exit out.
As frustrated as we were by the confluence of terrific viewing headed our way in about an hour, we felt the need to make a decision, come up with an hour-by-hour game plan for TV viewing and stick to it. Here’s what we’ve got.
8 p.m. - Red Sox first pitch and Pats kick off. Start with the Red Sox first pitch, then switch to the Pats game after Schilling’s first half inning. With any luck, the Pats will be in the middle of their first series, and we can get a solid 5-10 plays before switching back to the Sox game, which should have returned from commercials. It’s essential to get back to the Sox game as quickly as possible after the commercials, because the Raahhhjaaah chants are not to be missed.
9 p.m. - We decided to stick with the Sox game in the early innings to maximize the potential of the Schilling-Clemens matchup. By this point, we should be somewhere around the third or fourth inning, assuming that Clemens or Schilling haven’t been shelled. Naturally, the Clemens shilling is a legitimate possibility. It’s certainly not unprecedented. Now, this is where the plan breaks into two different forks: A) If the Sox have come through and roughed up Rahjah, then all focus can return to the Pats, where it might normally belong. Naturally, the same guideline applies if Schilling has collapsed, but we’re not even going to talk about that. B) If the Sox game is still heated and close, switch main focus to the Pats but go back to the Sox game at each commercial break and stick with baseball until the half inning being viewed completes.
10 p.m. - Entering innings 7 and above, the focus has to shift back to the Sox, regardless of score/affiliation. We know, the Pats will also be in the second half, but when two baseball teams hate each other as much as Boston and New York do, and the conclusions have been as dramatic as they have been in recent years, one cannot ignore the last three innings. Think about how many Big Papi heroics have come in the final two innings against the Yanks? Got the mental picture? Good. Yes, it goes against all TV trends, but frankly it’s necessary. Adding to that intrigue is the Hideki Okajima-Jonathan Papelbon bridge factor. After a season of absolute dominance for both relievers, the dynamic duo struggled Friday. Will they bounce back if they get the chance? Or will Terry Francona actually use that key trade deadline acquisition, Eric Gagne, in the late innings, as Theo Epstein assumed he would? The potential drama is off the charts.
11 p.m. - Here’s where we get into uncharted territory. The baseball game should be wrapping up, or over. The football game should be well into the late third or fourth quarter. Hopefully, the Sox have taken care of business and all legitimate focus can shift to the Pats. But naturally, that’s a big conditional hope. We’re claiming it’s going to happen, and then the focus can shift entirely to Tedy Bruschi and his squad’s attempts to hold down LaDanian Tomlinson, Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates. Naturally, this would also be the perfect time for Tom Brady to nail Randy Moss on a couple of super deep routes if a comeback is needed. Again, we’re trying not to talk about that possibility, but the melodrama would be pretty intense, to put it mildly.
So, that’s what we’ve got. Naturally, this entire operation is going to require a significant amount of flying by the seat of our pants, but it’s worth it for a structure plan of attack with two terrific matchups on the horizon.
A big start from Curt could solve a lot of the viewing dilemmas tonight.
What if things don’t go to plan, you ask? Well, then screw it. And more than that, screw the folks at NBC and ESPN for sticking us with this quandry by doubling up on New England powerhouses. It’s just not fair, even if it does make for a heck of an evening.
Three out of four in Baltimore isn’t bad, right? I mean, when you go on the road, anytime you take three out of four is good, right?
Another strong Josh Beckett start was among the positives the Sox could take away from Maryland.
Normally that’s the case. And to a large extent it’s the case here, too. But with the fiery implosion of Daisuke Matsuzaka Saturday night, taking three out of four in Baltisnore, losing a half game on the lead over the surging Yanks in the process, almost felt like slipping slowly under while treading water.
And anytime you’re holding steady in the best circumstances, falling under in the worst, that’s not a good thing.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of good that came out of the Baltimore bake job. So let’s look at the positives:
1) Josh Beckett had a second-straight start back on the straight and narrow. After a solid outing marred mostly by a single bad pitch, Beckett cruised in Baltimore, getting his 18th win in the process. Not a bad bounce back season, eh?
2) The Jacoby Ellsbury experiment continued to thrive, with the outfielder coming through with a handful of terrific plays in the field, launching a passel of hits and seemingly taking a firm hold of the lead-off spot in the process. Obviously that last claim is apt to be revised depending on Terry Francona’s mental stability and the sensitivity of other Red Sox - because we all know Tito’s big on holding players’ hands - but Ellsbury has been nothing short of a revelation in his first week.
3) Clay Buchholz in relief? Looks like a good fit. We know that he can’t start because of the preseason prescribed 155-inning limit on his pitching work. But if Buchholz can be effective in two and three inning spurts, that’s another weapon in the bullpen, which with the sudden moderate ineffectiveness of Hideki Okajima and the extended injury of Eric Gagne, is a big help.
It wasn’t a no-hitter, but Buchholz’s three innings of relief on Thursday were still dazzling.
4) Big Papi finally looks like Big Papi. He was crushing balls all over Camden Yards, which was a reassuring sight, particularly with the absence of Manny Ramirez. The Sox need the power, and that takes a huge burden off of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, who are finally hitting simultaneously, which makes the lineup turn over a lot better, to say the least.
And now, of course, the Sox get Tampa Bay, which should be patsy No. 2 on the radar. But outside of Tim Wakefield, whose success against the Rays is more than legendary, no other games should be a lock. Carlos Pena is hitting like a machine, the young Tampa pitching staff is finally starting to click a bit, and there’s plenty of reason for the Florida flounders to be optimisitc; they’ve won five of their last six series, after all.
Does that mean that Tampa will hold off the Sox tonight? Hardly. But it does add intrigue to a matchup that’s lacked it for quite some time, doesn’t it?
We certainly think so. And that gives us more than enough reason to tune in.
There are good days and then there are great days. Yesterday was definitely the latter.
The Big Schill was in vintage form last night. More of that is welcome down the stretch, to say the least.
Two wins. Two routs, i.e. no need to use Jonathan Papelbon. A resurgence from the two big men in the middle of the lineup (two dingers from Big Papi anyone?) and a big outing from one-time playoff ace Curt Schilling, which is exactly what the Sox need to see more of coming down the stretch if they want to run off with the divisional title.
In short, the Sox had to be thinking one thing: God bless Chicago.
Of course, the wins were made more significant by New York’s loss a Detroit, a game which boosts the Tigers back into the wild card race while simultaneously dumping the Yankees to 6 1/2 back entering today. Think about that: 6 1/2 games back with 34 games to play. Sure, there are still six head-to-head games with the Sox, but unless the Yankees take nearly all of those, tides would have to turn drastically for them to bridge the gap.
Of course, that’s a comforting thing to be hearing again for a chance. The sense of oncoming apocalypse in the Hub over the past three weeks has been almost unbearable, with Sox fans walking around and carping about the hot Yanks, popping off with prophecies of doom and gloom. Now, that could certainly come again with another New York hot streak, but now such a development is on the Yanks much more than the Sox. And that’s a significant development.
KEEPING ON RUNNING
Tim Wakefield takes the hill this afternoon. Guess what? We’re not even worried this time (here’s the Baseball-Reference preview).
Wake has a chance to join teammate Josh Beckett as only the second 16-game winner in all of baseball. The 42 year-old has been as dominant as his numbers look, age defying as that may be, and he’ll be pitching to a White Sox lineup with a crop of youngsters who haven’t seen him before, a scenario which often makes him even more effective. Catcher Kevin Cash will get his second straight start, after starting the late nightcap yesterday, and will be behind the plate for his second Wakefield start. If you were concerned about Cash catching the knuckler, you can go ahead and take a deep breath. After a three-passed ball first inning last time out, Cash settled in, providing a reliable receiver behind the plate and frustrating the Devil Rays all night with his game calling. Not bad for a 29 year-old career minor league with a sub-.200 batting average.
Manny was hitting in vintage form last night.
So, will the Sox be able to keep running and hiding from the Yanks? Let’s see if Ortiz and ManRam - Not to mention Kevin Youkilis - keep hitting. If the power is flowing, there’s an awful good chance that there’s plenty more hiding to be done, perhaps without the time needed for a good game of Yankees seek to back it up.
There are absolutely no acceptable excuses for sub-par Red Sox stories at this time of year. Think about the tumultuous week just past in Red Sox Nation. There was the ebb and flow of a lead over the Yankees. There was the re-emerging story of Tim Wakefield, suddenly a 15-game winner at 42. There was the injury to Doug Mirabelli and the seamless ascension of AAA stalwart - and sub-.200 hitter - Kevin Cash.
David Ortiz has plenty to smile about, including the pending eBay sale of his Mercedes coupe.
And luckily for all of we who were reading, there was plenty of good writing.
BOSTON GLOBE
New pitch, same story for Papelbon - Nick Cafardo tracks down Jonathan Papelbon in Tampa, getting to the bottom of his success at the back end of the bullpen, complete with a new pitch called - and we’re not making this up - a “slutter”.
Big Papi’s car is a big eBay hit - Andrew Ryan gets on the front end of the spin cycle about Big Papi’s eBay car sale, as strange a story as you’ll see this side of Manny Ramirez selling a grill on - you guessed it - eBay.
Fenway faithful - The Globe’s Bryan Marquand writes about the burgeoning legions of Red Sox fans all across the country.
Right doesn’t make might - Gordon Edes leads a Sox Notebook with the struggles of right fielder J.D. Drew, but may be outdone by the picture of a makeshift sign for centerfielder Coco Crisp.
Debut had the trimmings - Globe summer intern Daniel Malloy nails a piece about new Sox call-up Bobby Kielty, leading with his erstwhile out of control hair.
BOSTON HERALD
Dice cleans up on No. 4 - The Herald’s Rob Bradford weighs in on yet another mystery surrounding Daisuke Matsuzaka: How he dominates great hitters on every team.
Schilling ponders free agent future - Bradford writes about the radio address of Curt Schilling, who was feeling out interest in Tampa, among other places.
