On a night that saw two golden oldies go head to head, Tim Wakefield got the better of the big unit Randy Johnson. With the sox and D-backs tied at 1-1 in the three game series, Boston needed a big outing from Wake on Wednesday, and that's exactly what they got. The Floridian born knuckle baller proved decisive, going 7 innings, giving up no earned runs, 2 hits, 1 walk and striking out 6. The sox bats were consistent through out the game, Brandon Moss had 2 RBIs, and the biggest surprise of the night was catcher Kevin Cash, only in the game to catch wakes knuckle balls, going 1-3 with a run and a 3 run homer that crashed into the green monster. The last homer Cash hit was also off Randy Johnson at Yankee Stadium some 128 at-bats ago. Cash's main job is to catch Wakefield, and that arrangement has been working rather well of late. In Wakefield's last six starts, he is 2-2 with a 2.09 ERA. With a combined age of 86 years and 252 days, Wakefield and Johnson took part in the oldest match up in any Red Sox game since Sept. 25, 1965, when Bill Monbouquette faced off against Satchel Paige. And according to Elias Sports Bureau, it was the oldest combined age of starting pitchers in the history of Fenway Park.
Cincinnati native Kevin Youkillis will ruturn home for the first time since the Red Sox drafted the All-American out of the University of Cincinnati in the eighth round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft, after the team down Vine Street overlooked him. Youkilis has already taken in some of his hometown food favorites, including Skyline Chili in downtown Cincinnati, before Friday's game. With Friday's loss, the Red Sox fell to 14-21 on the road. They are also now 3-1 against the Reds in Interleague Play, having swept them at Fenway Park in 2005. Tonight sees Wakefield take on cincy ace, Edinson Volquez, who currently leads the major's in both strikeouts (96) and ERA (1.56).
Manny Ramirez will not play Saturday after tweaking his sore right hamstring in Friday's 3-1 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park. Manny left the game in the middle of the seventh after telling manager Terry Francona that his hamstring was bothering him.
To go completely off the topic of baseball, Early this afternoon, NBC broke the news that Tim Russert, member of the NBC family, had collapsed and died. Serving 16½ years as moderator, Tim was the longest serving host of NBC's Meet the Press. Russert was one of the country's most respected and influential political journalists, and in 2008, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Tim had just returned home to Washington, following a family vacation in Italy, where he went to celebrate his son's recent graduation from Boston College. I think the whole country's sympathy will go out to his wife Maureen and son Luke.
David Ortiz, one of the finest sluggers in the long and storied history of the Boston Red Sox, is now an American citizen. Dominican born Ortiz, affectionately known throughout Major League Baseball as Big Papi, got sworn in on Wednesday along with 226 other immigrants at the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Mass. Papi told reporters, "I'm proud to be an American, and it's great to part of the American family." When reporters asked him why he chose to become an American citizen, he replied, " well, my whole family, pretty much my kids and everybody have been born here." Ortiz held an American flag in one hand as he recited the Pledge of Allegiance with the other new citizens.
If there was an area that had been performing above all others for the Red Sox over the last couple of weeks, it was the bullpen, which had become increasingly consistent. However that trend halted on Tuesday night, when Hideki Okajima, brought on to hold Josh Beckett's two-run lead in the seventh, couldn't get the job done leaving pitches in the meaty part of the strike zone. Okaji continues to struggle against Baltimore, the lefty's ERA is 13.50 against the Orioles, and 0.40 vs everyone else. With Ortiz missing in the lineup, due to suffering a partial tear of the ECU tendon sheath in his left wrist, J.D Drew continues to be Boston's hottest bat, In a game that the Red Sox struggled offensively, J.D unloaded for a two-run homer deep into the bleachers in right. In the next at bat Manny followed Drew's blast with a solo shot, No 505, that soared over the Green Monster. Just like that, Ramirez passed Eddie Murray and moved into sole possession of 23rd place on the all-time list. After the game Pedroia told reporters, "We had that lead and didn't hold it, kind of came apart there at the end. I think we're still playing good baseball. We've just get to let this one go and come out tomorrow and try to win."
It seems that Boston is going Celtics crazy at the minute. The Red Sox announced on Monday that its Tuesday and Thursday tilts with the Baltimore Orioles have been shifted to begin one hour earlier than scheduled, both beginning at 6:05pmET. The Celtics head out to LA, for the first of 3 games on Tuesday, both Tuesday's and Thursday's games start at 9:00pmET, giving both Red Sox fans, And players enough time to get home from the ball park for opening tip off. It sure is a great time to be a Boston sports fan at the minute, with the Red Sox topping the AL east, a whole 7 games in front of those damn Yankees, and the Celtics winning both opening home games against the Lakers (The Lakers have never won all 3 games at home in an NBA finals series) Boston sports fans have every reason to be happy.
This had to be one of the strangest games of baseball I have ever seen. The Sox welcomed Tampa Bay on Tuesday for a 3 game series. Game 1 passed off quietly with the Sox taking it 7-4, but it was Wednesdays game 2 when things started to get interesting, with coco intentionally sliding hard into Rays second baseman AkinoriIwamura. A heated argument with Joe Maddon followed as Crisp took his seat in the dugout. Things soon cooled and the Sox took game 2, 5-1. Thursday arrives and its game 3. Shields is on the mound for the Rays, and it seems that Crisps slide into 2ND base is fresh in his mind. Coco comes to the plate for his first at bat of the game, Shields, Seeking revenge for his team mate, throws a fastball that hits Crisp on his right thigh. Coco turns as if to head for first base, and then out of nowhere charges the mound, Shield's tried to throw the first Punch, but didnt connect, due to Coco's matrix like moves. Then the benches empty, with the bullpens closely following. For a few minutes it was a slug fest, with some Tampa Players trying to get a few low blows while Coco was on the floor. At the end up nobody was really hurt, and Francona took Coco to the side to calm him down. Crisp, Shields and Rays designated hitter JonnyGomes were all ejected from the game. Emotions certainly were expressed throughout the contest, with Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis exchanging words in the dugout following the bottom of the fourth. The two were separated by teammates before Youkilis took his position on the field and Ramirez walked toward the back hallway of the dugout. Terry Francona said after the game that the exchange was the product of having, "a lot of testosterone going." Crisp's replacement in the batting order was recent Triple-A Pawtucketcall up Chris Carter, who entered the game in the second in left field. Carter recorded two singles in his first two at-bats. Carter's performance was a real bright spot, from a game that was marred by many other things. Eight players were suspended a total of 38 games in the aftermath of the incident, with Crisp receiving the greatest suspension of 7 games. Jon Lester also picked up a 5 game suspension, a decision i don't understand at all. Sean Casey also picked up a 3 game suspension.
So two and a half months into the Mlb season, and what a year it has been so far. We have had everything you could wish for. We started the season on the road. We went to Tokyo for the opener against the A's, winning the first game, and losing the second. We then traveled to LA for a 3 game series against the Dodgers. From La we traveled to Oakland and from Oakland we went to Toronto were we got swept in Toronto's home opener. Our home opener at Fenway finally arrived, it seemed like forever since we set off for Tokyo. There was the usual celebrations at Fenway, once again as part of the second Opening Day World Series celebration in four years at Fenway Park. The club's uniformed and clubhouse personnel received their 2007 World Series rings from principal owner John Henry, and like in 2005, 88-year-old Johnny Pesky led the '08 team to raise the World Series banner up the center-field flag pole.There was a flyover of four F-16 fighter jets and a parade of flags representing 62 countries of Red Sox Nation fans worldwide. And then the dropping of every Red Sox World Series banner, including the seventh and most recent one, the 2007 flag, over the Green Monster. Now it was time to welcome a strongly tipped Detroit Tigers to Fenway. We took 2 of the 3 games, losing the second game. We stayed at Fenway and welcomed the old enemy, the Yankees for a 3 game series. Again in front of a packed Fenway, We took 2 of 3 games, not too bad. So far this year, the Sox are really showing that we can go all the way again. There have been some real highlights, we have had Jon Lester's no hitter, we all know what Jon has been through in recent times, and that made it a real tear jerking moment for Red Sox fans everywhere. We have had Manny going deep for the 500Th time, we have seen the young blood step up and show that we were right not to trade for Santana. Jacoby has showed us that he is a real gem, he has the whole package, speed, power, great glove and a real understanding for the game. Pedroia continues to show us why he has his name carved into 2Nd base, after winning the AL rookie of the year, he continues to make great infield plays, get key hits, and if you cut this guy open, he would bleed red sox. On top of this we have great young pitching, as well as Beckett and Dice K, we have Lester and Clay Buchholz, who as we all remember, also had a no hitter at Fenway. Justin Masterson continues to show that he is a real prospect for next years rotation, if not sooner. Captain Tek continues to be a rock at home plate, is it a coincidence that on both Lester, and Clays no hitter, Tek was the guy putting down the signs? I think not. And with Manny and Papi, Continuing the 3-4 punch, we will always score runs, no matter how good the opposing pitcher is, they can not go through this Boston lineup without giving up runs. I have created this blog 2 months into the season, but from now on i will be chronicling what i think will be a memorable year in Red Sox history. By doing this i feel like i am contributing to Red Sox nation, as i am from the Ireland, I am not fortunate enough to go to Fenway and watch the games in person, so for me, this is the next best thing.
