Wells had excellent command of all of his pitches (7-9-1-1-4, 98) and the 7-run third inning was more than enough. Wells is never flashy, but when he's on, he's more than solid. I feel confident he'll be very important over the next two months. ... Kyle Snyder finished up and fooled several Orioles with his 12-to-6 curveball (Jay Gibbons and Kevin Millar both struck out looking at it).
Wily E. Pena ended the top of the fourth by throwing out Jeff Conine at the plate. Conine tried to score from second on Millar's single, but Pena unleashed a missle that Javy Lopez caught head-high on the fly and tagged Lopez out by 5-10 feet.
In New York, Cory Lidle lasted only 79 pitches (4-4-3-2-3) as the Angels beat the Yankees 7-4. Derek Jeter made the final out of the game, fouling out with a man on base and reducing New York's lead to two games.
***
8:30 PM -- The Red Sox scored 7 runs in the third inning and lead 8-0.
Mike Lowell has been a veritable highlight reel. After being drilled squarely on the left side of the helmet in the first inning, he has tumbled completely into the third base stands while making a fantastic catch on a popup, singled home a run in the third and stolen third base.
Alex Gonzalez tripled into the left field corner. Yup, the left field corner. ... Manny Ramirez is already 2-for-3 and has hit in 26 straight games. ... David Wells struck out the first two Orioles on only six pitches and looks very good.
***
Adam Loewen (5.72) / David Wells (8.05), 7 PM
God damn it all to fucking hell!
Lineups:
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, TITO? Coco leading off? Pena 7th? Don't you fucking get it at all?Roberts, 2B Crisp, CF
Mora, 3B Loretta, 2B
Tejada, SS Ortiz, DH
Conine, LF Ramirez, LF
Hernandez, C Youkilis, 1B
Tatis, DH Lowell, 3B
Patterson, CF Pena, RF
Millar, 1B Lopez, C
Markakis, RF Gonzalez, SS
Youkilis's Leadoff OBP of .395 is way fucking better than Crisp's Leadoff OBP of .285! This is not golf -- getting a lower score is not preferred.
Can someone affiliated with the Red Sox please tell me why this is allowed to continue? Can one of the Red Sox beat writers get an answer from Francona? Tito's "stretch out the lineup" bullshit doesn't wash with me. The Red Sox should strive to have as many baserunners on base when Ortiz and Manny come up to bat. Simple as that. And it is especially crucial at a time when they are the only ones hitting with any consistency.
Youkilis is the team's best choice for the top of the order. Crisp has a .375/.408/.486 in 76 PA in the #7 spot. That's really good! So what's wrong?
Terry, don't do anything radical. Just write: Youkilis, Loretta, Ortiz, Ramirez, Pena, Lowell, Crisp, Gonzalez, Lopez (or Mirabelli). Boom. You're done!
Arrrggggggggggg.....
***
The Red Sox begin an 11-game homestand tonight. They have a 35-17 record at home (and are 31-30 on the road). They have won 8 of 9 games against Baltimore so far this season.
Last Saturday, Adam Loewen allowed just 1 hit on 6.1 innings and struck out eight against the Yankees. But he has walked at least five batters in each of his last three starts.
Wells allowed one earned run over six innings against Tampa, scattering eight hits. ... Miguel Tejada is 15-for-44 (.341) with five home runs and 10 RBIs against Wells.
In New York, Corey Lidle faces the Angels and Joe Saunders. ... The White Sox begin a series against the Tigers (who hold a 8.5 game lead in the Central) and the Twins host the Blue Jays.
East
New York 67 44 -- v LAA
Boston 65 48 3 v Bal
WC
Chicago 67 46 -- v Det
Minnesota 67 47 .5 v Tor
Boston 65 48 2 v Bal
Re lineups: my impression - which could be based on out-of-date info - is that some believe lineup order doesn't matter much. Here's an article which looked at all possible lineups over a ten year span, and found no difference (more than a couple %) between lineups. It seems from the results that the 1 and 5 spots are especially interchangeable. So maybe the OBP differential betwewn Cocoa and Youkilis doesn't really matter, and decisions are made on more specific factors (R-L, etc)? Just a guess.
ReplyDeleteI've said I probably make too much of it, and I've read studies that say order has little effect over a season (Ruane is very good), but it annoys the hell out of me anyway.
ReplyDeletePlus, the Sox had Yook at the top for months and put Crisp down at 7 or so, and it was working.
Putting high-OBP guys in front of Ortiz and Manny seems like the most common of sense.
Yeah, I agree. I personally prefer stability, but my guess is the front office isn't as bugged by it as we fans are. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...time to enjoy an all-around convincing win.
I printed out that story to read later (20 pages!), but it did say that the top OBP/SLG guys should be 3-4-5 -- and that would include Yook.
ReplyDeleteEarlier in the year, I wrote that Crisp and Yook as 1-2 (or flipped) would be great. Why not do that and move Loretter down to 7 or 8?
let me get this right...Pena can bat, run, and now THROW? (and I don't think I'm seen a Mannyesque drop by him recently, either)
ReplyDeleteCrisp had better watch out for his job...
And I agree with your thoughts about Boomer. I knew he was going to get better, location AND movement wise, with each start. And to see him every 5 days will be a joy, most of the time. Joy! A nice word. I always check you guys out at baseballnooz.com. For those of you who haven't checked it out, it's a great place. Click on Boston Red Sox, and you see a great collection of Sox blogs, and you can subscibe to get them on your feed. And Joy Of Sox and my blog are the only 2 Red Sox blogs listed on the most subscribed blog lists. Select company! An honor.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you go with intuition despite what studies prove or don't prove. Your best hitters should be at the top of the lineup because the more the lineup turns over, and the more games they play, the more at-bats your best hitters will get. Coco is not one of the Sox best hitters right now. And doesn't Tito want to see Papi, Ortiz and Wily Mo all standing in the on-deck area, tinkering with their bats, sizing up a relief pitcher warming in the late innings? Talk about fear factor. Does Tito honestly think he'd be putting more pressure on Wily Mo by batting him fifth and leaving him in RF than the jerking around he's putting him through now? Wily Mo has to think that any failure means riding the pine, and that ain't right.
ReplyDelete(and I don't think I'm seen a Mannyesque drop by him recently, either)
ReplyDeleteGratutious Manny-bash Alert
Papi's karate moves at 2nd base last night? OMFG HILARIOUS.
ReplyDeleteRedsock and I were emailing during the game and we both said the same thing. That was priceless Papi.
How about Don and Jerry laughing too hard to speak for a full half-inning?!