Thank You Jon Lester.

This could easily end my blog post, because that is all that really needs to be said. Normally, we’d be talking about Roy Halladay’s masterful win in Boston, giving up just 1 run while pitching a complete game. But not tonight, because Jon Lester was just that much better. Tonight he showed us that we don’t need Johan Santana after all. Tonight, he only walked one batter which in my opinion, was the key to the Sox win tonight.

There was one strikeout early on to end the third inning that I feel really set the tone and gave Lester the confidence he needed to match Halladay on the mound tonight. He had two strikes on Greg Zaun and threw one of those oh-too-close corner painting fastballs a bit high and outside and got the called third strike. At this point, with Lester getting that call and gaining confidence, I knew it was ON! If he doesn’t get that call and gives up the 2 out walk to the ninth batter, I think this game could have easily taken a turn for the worst. After all, this is still Jon Lester, the guy who walks way too many people by trying to strike everybody out. Instead, we got the good Jon Lester tonight. Pitching up to his potential but staying in control of the game, taking a cue from the master of controlling games, Halladay himself.

And Halladay looked incredible as well throughout the entire game. He had every pitch working for him with incredible drop on the curveball and late movement on the fastball. He looked like a Cy Young contender tonight while pitching his 4th complete game in a row (This, I find, unbelievable. Even for Halladay.)

But I’m sorry Roy, as good as you performed, your team still lost and tonight was all about Jon Lester. OK, so this is a team game as well and we have to give credit where its due for a great game from Kevin Youkilis as well. After all, he had 2 hits and that all important RBI, and a VERY rare stolen base on a bothced hit and run play. He hasn’t shown speed like that since his little league-style inside the park home run last year. Games like tonight show just how valuable a guy like Youkilis can be. In a game where every pitch counts, his ability to go up there and see several and still get hits off of a dominating hurler on the other team is what baseball is all about. This shows how a solid, patient offense can still win, even in the face of great pitching.

Halladay has his Cy Young awards and complete game streak intact. But Youk gave the Sox the only thing that really matters today, and that my friend, is a much needed win.

Share:

Hide Sites

Last night (Monday April 28) I was a featured guest on the WCVB’s Chonicle in a segment called “It’s all About Timing” revealing some of the ways I always manage to get Red Sox tickets to sold out games at face value.

Luckily, I have a friend who is a video and photography specialist and he was able to record it digitally for me (its hard to put an actual tape on youtube I’m pretty sure).
Of course, you should check out his site as well at Nick Mantia Photography.

So here it is, live on Youtube.

See you at Fenway!

Share:

Hide Sites

Trust me.

Yes, the Sox just got swept by the Devil Rays. (Wait, the Rays. Apparently the now that George Steinbrenner isnt’ conducting Yankees business in Tampa, they had to drop the Devil part of the name.)
Yes, Big Papi has a hurting knee, isn’t playing every day, and is hitting under .200.
Yes, we’ve had 2 call ups make emergency starts and pitch to Kevin Cash.
Yes, Mike Lowell hasn’t played in 2 week.
Yes, we’re in third place.
And yes, not even a Josh Beckett gem yesterday could get the Sox a win.

But it’s April!

Big Papi will be healthy and hitting once the temperature averages more than 50 degrees.
Mike Lowell will be back this week.
The Yankees are having even worse luck than the Red Sox (I’m betting Posada never throws another batter out in his career)
Papi will be back and I’m still banking on 40 HR and 120 RBI.

And did you notice that Jed Lowrie is hitting .353 and Manny Ramirez is tearing the cover off the ball like its 1999?

Most importantly this year is that this guy:

Is looking like a rookie of the year candidate already at .280 with 8 steals and 3 homers.

If nothing else, this gives the Sox plenty of upside potential.

Remember, if we were talking about this very same topic 6 days ago, the Sox would be winners of 5 in a row, not losers, and you’d be singing a different tune.

Total Sox wins so far this year: 15
As of April 28 last year: 15.

And you remember how that ended?

Share:

Hide Sites

Tonight at 7:30, on channel 5 here in Boston, I will be a guest appearing on Chronicle, giving some of my tips that have brought so many of you to this site.

Back in March, I recorded a couple different interviews around Fenway Park revealing some of the tricks and methods I often use to get tickets to Red Sox games last minute. I interviewed in front of Gate C where the people line up before games for day-of tickets, near the Ted Williams statue to highlight the scalp free zone, and revealed some of the times I’ve been most successful getting tickets directly from the Sox online.

Make sure you check it out, tonight at 7:30 on channel 5.

Share:

Hide Sites

How to have a great Patriots Day.

Step 1: Call the Red Sox ticket office on a whim on Sunday morning and ask them if they have Monster tickets for Patriots Day.
Step 2: Jump up and down when the guys says they have 4 seats together in section 1. Proceed to charge $650 on your credit card
Step 3: Think to yourself, “So what if I just paid $160 for a ticket to a baseball game I was going to anyway - its the Green Monster”
Step 4: Bring Camera, watch awesome game, and proceed to write a blog article showing off your pictures.

(click through for the full slide show)



Don’t forget to watch the runners!

Share:

Hide Sites

The Rangers once again have no pitching to speak of, whatsoever. Last year, Texas had the 11th best pitching in the American League, with only the White Sox, Devil Rays and Orioles being worse. This year, they aren’t any better. You probably can’t name all 5 starters, and I’d actually be pretty surprised if you could name more than 2.

Over this weekend, the Red Sox will see 4 of the nameless 5 from Arlington.

Tonight, the Sox will get a look at Luis Mendoza. He gave up 4 runs in 5 innings to the Blue Jays last weekend, though only 1 was earned. Mendoza is a rookie who started 3 games last year, and has been injured already this year. He also walked 4 and hit 2 batters in his last start, showing a bit of a wild side. This guy is a decent prospect at only 25 years old, but is probably rushed to the majors to be starting games for the Rangers in April. Still, however, they mystery aspect is still there since nobody on the Sox has hit against him before and historically, rookie pitchers have had success against the Sox. But then again, if he’s erratic, he probably won’t make it out of the 5th inning again. The Sox will be well served to stay patient, put runners on base and get to the bullpen early setting up the rest of the series.

Tomorrow, we’ll get a crack as Jason Jennings. He’s been a mediocre pitcher since 2001, playing most of his time in Colorado and last year in Houston. He pitched only 98 innings last year and had some injury problems. He has a career ERA right around 5 and has been completely ineffective thus far this year, going 0-3 and only getting through the 5th inning once. He’s walked 10 to only 7 strikeouts and has been hit around pretty regularly. Jennings just might be the least scary pitcher in the American League today.

Sunday, the Sox get Kevin Millwood. If this were 3 years ago, this would be a tough match up. Millwood won the ERA title while pitching his only season in Cleveland in 2005, posting a 2.45 ERA over 192 innings. He then moved on to Texas, where he has been incredibly average. He’s already walked 10 guys this year, which is way above his average and though his ERA only comes in at 2.42, hitters are still hitting .277 against him. He did start opening day, and is probably the closest thing the Rangers have to an Ace pitcher, but he is certainly not the same guy he was when his career began 10 years ago. If Millwood can throw strikes and stay ahead of pitchers, he could easily turn in a good performance. He did go 8 innings against the Angels once this year, though got hit around by the same team in his last start. If I were a gambler, this would probably be the only time I wouldn’t be betting on the Red Sox.

And last but not least is Kason Gabbard who will get the start in the morning on Patriots Day. The man we traded for a 6.75 ERA in 20 games in Eric Gagne will return to Fenway. Gabbard is not exactly a top of the rotation guy, but you can be rest assured he is planning some payback for being shipped out in a trade. David Murphy will probably decide to help him out as well, as he’s been hitting quite well. Let’s hope we’re not blogging about how ex-Sox killed us Tuesday morning. Gabbard is 1-0 with a 2.41 ERA thus far this year and is looking like the best pitcher on the team (though that isn’t saying much). Why can’t we get guys like this?

Overall however, the Rangers don’t have much to offer. Their bullpen is pretty poor with the exception of their closer, CJ Wilson, who took over at the end of last year. With a last place team coming in for the weekend, I’m looking for 3 out of 4. Let’s see if it happens.

Share:

Hide Sites

Yes, including Patriots Day. At the time of this writing (8:50 Friday morning) you can get tickets for every game on the upcoming homestand from today to next week. Including bleachers, grandstand, pavilion, etc.

Go to the Red Sox Schedule and get your tickets!

Share:

Hide Sites

Though perhaps this should really say “Umpires Blow the Game.” There were 2 particular calls/no-calls that really infuriated me last night and in my opinion, swung the outcome of this game in the favor of the Yankees.

First, in the third inning, Manny Ramirez thought he had walked even though the pitch looked good, and started running down to first. The umpire waited until he was at least 3 or 4 steps down the line before making the call, and I’m pretty sure this is what upset Manny much more than the call itself. It was a borderline pitch, but probably good enough to be a strike. It seemed to me that the ump initially thought ball, but realized he’d be wrong and decided and made the call late. Fine, at least he got the call right. This isn’t so much a questionable call as it is an umpire struggling a bit.

But then, during the 4th inning, the bad calls started. Moeller was up with 2 outs and men at the corners. Buchholtz was throwing him junk pitch after junk pitch, setting up the hitter beautifully. He threw pretty much all curves and changeups until the count was 2-2. Then, he threw an inside fastball, placed perfectly over the inside corner which froze Moeller in his shoes. Inning over, I thought, way to pitch your way out. But no, with yet another borderline pitch coming over the plate, the umpire doesn’t correct himself and make a late call. After all, this kid is a rookie so he isn’t getting any calls even though a guy with no friends in America (according to SI) does.

But the Red Sox recovered from that inning to take a 9-7 lead. Amazing! And here comes Tavarez, fresh (or tired) off a bail out win in Cleveland a couple days earlier to try to do it again. Things got a little dicey and the bases were loaded after the Yankees had tied the game, but Tavarez was kept in the game to try to induce the gound ball. And he did just that. Grounder to Casey, and he makes a perfect throw to Lugo, taking him well off the bag to avoid the runner and turn the DP, but then Chad Moeller slid nearly into centerfield, staying about 4 feet away from second base, to take Lugo out. He wasn’t expecting it and threw the ball away and the inning continued with the Yankees ending up back on top.

Notice how you can’t even see second base in this Globe picture:

Now I’m not necessarily saying they should have won, but the game would have been much different if the runs following the bad calls didn’t ever happen. The Yankees got 5 bonus runs as far as I can tell and we did still lose by 6. But nonetheless, this really shows how baseball is indeed a game of inches, luck, and calls going one way or the other.

But all that being said, the umpires have to treat each team equally, stay consistent with balls and strikes, and when a guy slides into centerfield, call him out.

Share:

Hide Sites

Oh, what a debut for the kid. Jed Lowrie got his first 3 RBI as a pro, and of course, the all important first hit (and no errors). Playing outside of his natural shortstop position, Lowrie look somewhat over matched at the plate, but was still able to put the ball in play to get the runs in when it counted.

Yes, Varitek coming in on his day off and hitting a home run with 2 strikes was an amazing moment during this game, but the real story has to be Lowrie, the rookie. Watch out Julio Lugo! Though it seems like playing next to his eventual replacement served as somewhat of a wake up call with Lugo getting 3 hits (though the bunt hit was pretty weak and more just luck) and helping the team win.

Read more about Lowrie on SoxProspects.com He’s actually a player very much like Dustin Pedroia in that he is on the small side (6′ 0″ - 185, aka my size), doesn’t hit many home runs, but still has quite a bit of line drive power in his bat. Watching Lowrie swing made it clear he does still have a ways to go and needs to avoid committing too early to swinging (a couple swings were downright awful). But he can run a bit and is just the right age to start playing. Once this guy is starting at SS in ‘09 or ‘10, he’ll be right in the prime of his hitting career.

How would you like to have Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie all win consecutive Rookie of the Year Awards? It could happen…

Share:

Hide Sites

If only every game was this great. Jon Lester looked mediocre as always, throwing 97 pitches without getting out of the 5th inning. He walked 5 while striking out only 3 and was saved by the Sox bullpen and timely hitting, and of course, Joe Borowski sucking.

(Thanks to the Globe for this picture)

Julian Tavarez once again proved he is an invaluable piece of this Red Sox team, coming in in the 5th and getting 8 outs to keep the Sox in the game and bridge the gap between the starting pitcher and the bullpen outstandingly. His ERA on the year is still high at 4.26, but he did strike out 3 guys last night which is a good sign. Add in the fact that Kyle Snyder was waived and I think its safe to say that Tavarez is here for the year. Remember, he was a big question mark coming in to this year with Buchholtz making the rotation and a fairly full bullpen. Everyone was pointing to last year when he was left off the post-season roster, expecting him to be traded or otherwise released, but once again, Julian has showed that he is an important part of this team.

Yes, I along with everyone else who tried to run him out of town in 2006 am now eating my words. He stepped up at the end of that year making starts down the stretch after struggling in relief through much of the season, and was impressive last year starting 23 games and even though he did tire down the stretch, still gave 134 innings (his most since Florida in 2002 when he made 27 starts). All is mostly forgivable when you are getting this many starts out of a guy who was supposed to be nothing more than a 50 inning bullpen guy.

The rest we all know - Manny is awesome, especially against the Indians (who have apparently stopped throwing quarters at him after he left for more money in 2001), Ortiz hit .400 in this game showing that his slump is hopefully over (in spite of striking by missing 3 straight Betancourt pitches) and Papelbon mowed them down like we’ve all come to take for granted.

Yes, that is all true but the real hero of last night was Julian Tavarez. In a game that was looking like it could be a blow out, the Sox end up winning rather convincingly. Now for the 2 game sweep tonight!

Share:

Hide Sites