Game 19/162, Adrian Gonzalez Helps the Sox Win in 11

Red Sox 4, Angels 2

Red Sox - 000 002 000 02 - 4 8 0

Angels   - 000 000 200 00 - 2 4 0

The Red Sox won in extras on Thursday against the Angels. They didn't hit very well but they got the one hit that mattered. Josh Beckkkkket pitched his third great start. In his last three starts, he has a 1.08 ERA in 23 IP. He pitched a season high 125 pitches which was enough for 8IP. He let up two runs on a mistake pitch to Torii Hunter which tied the score, 2-2. The Red Sox couldn't cash in on many opportunities. The only one being Ellsbury's two run single in the 6th. Boston wasted several scoring chances throughout the game:

1st: 1st/2nd, 1 out - Kevin Youkilis 6U-3/DP

2nd: Man on 3rd, 1 out - Carl Crawford 3U, Jason Varitek K

3rd: 1st/2nd, 2 outs - Marco Scutaro F8

4th: 1st/2nd, 2 outs - Ellsbury F7

7th: 1st/2nd, 0 outs - Gonzalez P5, Scutaro K, David Ortiz K

8th: Bases loaded, 1 out - J.D. Drew K, Dustin Pedroia P4

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In the 11th, Gonzalez won it for the Sox with a go- ahead double, probably his biggest hit in a Red Sox uniform. Then in the bottom of the 11th, the Birthday Boy closed it out for the save.

Interesting quote by Peter Gammons:

"I think one of the things that's killed [the Red Sox] is that Jacoby Ellsbury has forgotten what his job is in baseball, which is to get on base and run. His four home runs, to me, are one of the worst things that's happened to this team early in the season, because I think it's encouraged him to get wider and wider with his swing. ... They need him to get on base 37 percent of the time or 38 percent of the time. I think he's kind of gotten away from that. ... The guy who's supposed to hit lead-off isn't getting on base."

With the win, the Red Sox improve to 7-11 on the season, and they are 4 games behind the 1st place Yankees and 1.5 games behind the 2nd place Rays.

100 Year Anniversary Plans for Fenway Revealed

This past Wednesday, 99 years ago, the Red Sox beat the Yankees (then known as the Highlanders) in Fenway's first professional baseball game. They won in 11 innings 7-6. The game was delayed two days earlier due to rain. The first game at Fenway was on April 11th during a snowstorm in which the Red Sox beat Harvard University. 24,000 people were at the first game and since then, Fenway has gotten some big upgrades and a lot more visitors.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox announced some of their plans for the anniversary. Fans can go to Fenway Park 100 to see year by year photos and watch more than 30 videos of historic monuments at Fenway for instance the Green Monster, Pesky's Pole and the lone red seat.

Game 17/162, Red Sox Win by Way of the Long Ball

Red Sox 5, Athletics 3

Red Sox  - 010 102 100 - 5 10 0

Athletics - 100 000 011 - 3 12 1

The Red Sox played a nice game today to make their record 6-11 to start the season. Today the Red Sox snapped two streaks, both bad ones. One, the Red Sox were 0-7 on the road so far this season and two, the Red Sox were scoreless on the road for their last twenty innings. Clay Buchholz pitched well, 5 and 1/3 innings pitched giving up 1 ER on the homer to Coco Crisp (doesn't that name sound familiar). Then in the sixth, after Buchholz loaded the bases, Bard was brought in to put out the flame which he did successfully. 

            "I think he owes me a dinner," Bard joked after saving the game.

Papelbon worked out of two jams to earn his 3rd save of the season. In the last four innings, the Athletics left 9 men on base. Crawford got the Red Sox on the scoreboard by scoring Youkilis on his RBI single to left. In the fourth, Youkilis homered to lead off and in the sixth, Jed Lowrie, whose been incredibly good to start the season, hit a two run homer which was his third of the season. JD Drew hit his first homer of the season in the seventh.

Notable Players:

Jed Lowrie, 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and a homer

Kevin Youkilis, 2 for 4 with an RBI and a homer

Game 17/162, Crawford Looks to Get Out of Slump, Help the Red Sox Win

Today, Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz will pitch up against Gio Gonzalez of the Athletics. This game will start 3:35 PM ET in Oakland. Buchholz has struggled to start the season going 0-2 with a 6.60 ERA. Last year, Buchholz pitched very well and was almost good enough to win the Cy Young award. Gio Gonzalez has had an incredible start to the season, going 2-0 with a 0.47 ERA. 

Carl Crawford, who has the most at-bats out of anyone on the Red Sox, is only hitting .143 to start the season. He does have 2 doubles but only 9 hits to start the season. This is what Crawford said about his struggles:

"I want to end with saying something to Red Sox Nation," it read. "Everybody has been telling me to relax, so I guess I can say that. Just know that everything is the worst it can be right now. There is only one way to go now, it's up. I haven't talked to that many fans yet here in Boston. I've been kind of secluded right now. I won't even stop and get gas. But that's all I can say, things are at their worst right now and I think we can only go up from here."

        After Jed Lowrie's recent hot streak, Manager Terry Francona is not afraid about using bench players. He wants to put in whoever he thinks will give them a better chance to win. 

 "Well, if we had one or two lineups, that meant everything was going right," Francona said Sunday. "I don't know that makes sense right now. I've talked a lot about trying to be consistent. I don't know, we're trying to do whatever we can to play as well as we can and put guys in the best position, so we'll see. I do know as we get into the season, things normally settle down."

Since the Yankees (great game) and the Red Sox lost last night, the Red Sox remain 4.5 games behind first place and 2 games behind second place in the AL East.

Game 15/162, Dice-K, 'nough said

This game will have an early start, 11:00 AM and Dice-K will be pitching against a relatively good pitcher, Ricky Romero. Dice-K hasn't been pitching well as he has had a few years ago. Since his last win, Dice-K has a 9.36 ERA. Last game, he gave up 7 ERs and 8 hits in 2+ innings. I thought it look like he was throwing batting practice to the Rays. This is what Tito said about is last start:

"[W]hen we got into the second, everything went to the middle of the plate. ... seven balls hit right on the barrel. We love when guys throw strikes, but there were some balls that were middle-middle for the first seven hitters."

After his 2+ terrible innings pitched, Dice-K was probably the most hated man in Boston. As he waked back to the dugout, he was loudly booed.

"Nobody really wants to be booed by the fans. The only way I can change this is to show good results in front of them. ... I watched a video after the game and I noticed a clear difference between when I pitch well and bad. There's something to fix."

I think if I were Epstein, I'd give him this start and if he did well give him another game. But if he does badly, I would trade him for a couple Minor Leaguers and make Felix Doubront the fifth starter.

For the Blue Jays, they have ace, Ricky Romero who has a 1.66 ERA and hasn't given up more that 2 ERs per game this season.

       

Game 13/162, Red Sox Win Third Game of Season and Hope to Get Something Started

Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 1

Red Sox   - 220 000 00x - 4 9 1

Blue Jays - 010 000 000 - 1 4 0 

The Red Sox played very well Saturday after barely losing on Friday. They definitely needed this win and got it. At the beginning of the game, Adrian Gonzalez had an RBI single with Youkilis later having an RBI single. Then with Ellsbury on, driving the Blue Jays crazy with his speed, Jed Lowrie hit a homer over the Monster after the pitcher was paying too much attention to Ellsbury on first. Lowrie is now hitting .500 after a good game today going 3 for 5. Lowrie is now on a roll and it is a day before his 27th birthday. Beckett pitched extremely well today, as he has pitched in his last two starts. Over his last two starts, he has given up 1 run in 15 innings with 19 K's. Overall, the Red Sox were happy to get the win and are hoping that they can make this into the turning point of the season and start playing to their capability. But it was very cold during the game as even Hall of Famer Jim Rice was wearing a Red Sox Snuggy during the cold and windy game in Boston.

This is what Beckett said about today's start:

          "I felt good today," said Beckett. "I definitely felt better today and I think I preformed a good notch better than what I did last year."

Notable Players:

Jed Lowrie, 3 for 5 with a homer and two RBIs

Josh Beckett, 7 innings pitched, 3 hits, 1 ER, 9 Ks