Lester Struggles...No Big Hit in Red Sox Loss

The Red Sox winning streak has ended at one. Jon Lester looked OK until the 5th when the wheels came off. He walked Kapler to start then inning and then gave up a single. A bunt scored a run. Lester looked like he would get out of the inning until Pena hit a deep homer to center making it 5-1. The Sox had trouble getting anything going against Kazmir but loaded the bases against the Rays pen in the 8th. Balfour came in to face Lowrie with the bases juiced. Jed struck out to end the rally and the Sox then went quietly in the 9th. On a side note, Youk's errorless streak for '09 came to an end with a throwing error.

The Good: Youk. Went 3-4 in the game.
The Bad: Lester. 8 hits, 5 earned runs in the game
The Ugly: Lopez. 4 hits and 1 run in 1 inning

Red Sox lose 7-2 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rays	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	1	1	7	13	0
Red Sox	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	8	1

Read more...

Quick! I Need a Rays Shirt & a Mohawk Wig!

I thought I'd be a loser for Halloween.

No, really, though, a tip of the wig, er, hat to the Rays for their great run. Now, if it wasn't for a little problem of three missing runs in the 9th inning of game #7 of the ALCS, it might have, it just might have been Sox in 4 over the Phillies. Y'think?

Be safe Halloween night!

Read more...

Pre-Game Thoughts

Will Don Zimmer charge Jon Lester tonight?
Do the Rays have their "Least of the East" shirts ready?
Are hairdressers in Florida ready for the onslaught of customers looking to get their 'hawks shaved?
Are drummers and percussionists ready to snap up all those cowbells that'll be on craigslist and e-bay tomorrow?

Read more...

SOX v. TBY Statistics: Sox got nuthin' to worry 'bout

The Sox and the Rays have played 18 games this season, the Rays winning 10 and the Sox 8, but lets take a closer look at one statistic in particular: runs scored. The Sox outscored the Rays by a total of 87 to 67 runs, for an average of 4.8 to 3.7 per game. Each team blanked the other 1 time. The Sox scored in double digits twice, and the Rays, once. In the games that the Rays won, they outscored the Sox by a mere 4.6 to 2.6 average runs per game, but in the games that the Sox won, the average number of runs per game was 7.6 for the Sox and 2.6 for the Rays.

Significant difference.

Read more...

Time to go Fishin'!

Bring on the Rays!!!!

Read more...

Beckett didn't bring is best stuff today, but...

Sox were down 4-2 going into the 7th inning. Beckett threw 105 pitches in 6 innings, struck out 6, but allowed 4 ER's and 7 hits. He only walked 1 batter, but hit 2 others. Not looking good getting deep into the 9th inning, down 4-3, 2 outs. But wait! There's more! Youk singles! Bay doubles! SOAB! Lowrie strikes out swinging to kill the rally.

This post ain't over yet. Tampa Bay beat the O's 4-2. (Kevin Millar popped out to end their rally, as well as not hitting that last HR at Yankee Stadium like he said he was going to do.)

SOAB is right. Sox are now 2.5 games behind the Ray's (I thought they were supposed to go belly up in September?) On the brighter side, Masterson and Okajima pitched 2.2 innings: no hits, no runs, no walks, 3 strikeouts.

Lookin' like it might be Sox and Halo's in the ALDS. Let's hope Tito has a few cards up his sleeve for that series.

Sox lose 4-3 BOX SCORE

Read more...

More on Tasergate

Apparently there is more to the story.
From tampabay.com:

Sciesinski, 33, pleaded no contest to the charge Thursday morning. He also admitted to chanting "Let's go, Red Sox!" in the back of the police van.
The judge found him guilty. He was sentenced to the night he had already spent in jail and fined $375 and court costs.
The Sarasota DJ tells a different story. He wasn't drunk, he said, just "buzzed" after his third rum and Coke. He said he cursed in front of some kids but apologized. He said it was Rays fans who were being rowdy. He was just "heckling."
He said he went limp when he got tackled and that he was threatened with the Taser after he had surrendered. And he said "they beat me up pretty bad."
But Sciesinski said he won't file a complaint.
"If he would have Tased me, yeah, I would," he said. "But there's no need for ill feelings."

Read more...

Instant Replay Used for the 1st Time

A-Rod just hit a long fly ball in top of the 9th that was very difficult to determine if it was fair or foul. The ESPN replays could not decisively declare fair or foul. It was reviewed by the umpires and ruled a HR giving the Yanks an 8-3 lead. The chief umpire took 2 minutes and 15 seconds to review the play and rule it a HR, the 1st time the technology has been used under the new rules.

John Kruk on ESPN's 'Baseball Tonight' opined that it was perfectly fitting that it was a ball hit by of all players, A-Rod to be the first player to be involved in the 1st implementation of the controversial new rule.

Read more...

Watch Out Boaters...Big Papi's At Bat

The worst stadium in baseball may be gone by as early as 2012. Think how many times you have looked at the schedule on NESN and dreaded the upcoming game at the Trop. Watching a game played in a stadium half full of fans and seeing balls hitting different parts of the roof causing umpires to huddle to determine if it is fair or foul is beyond painful. But all this may change with plans for a brand new ballpark in Tampa. The stadium will not have a roof but will have some type of moving "sail like material" to protect from the rain. The park will be on the water and could feature splash hits like AT&T park in San Francisco. This actually sounds pretty cool. That has to be the first time anyone has had anything positive to say about Tampa Bay baseball. The Rays are becoming a better team and with a new stadium they may no longer live in the dark basement of the American League East. It might even be worth a road trip.

Read more...