Dice was rolling tonight (7-5-1-3-8, 108; box), handing Toronto its 8th straight loss.After Alex Rios singled in the first (he finished the night 4-for-4 with a walk), Matsuzaka kept the ball in the infield for the next 13 batters. Along the way he struck out four consecutive batters, including the side in the second. His only blemish was Lyle Overbay's solo home run off the right field pole with two outs in the sixth.
Matsuzaka had no "trouble" inning. Toronto had two men on base in an inning only twice in his seven innings. In the first, Rios singled and (with two outs) Thomas walked. With two outs in the fifth, Rios doubled and Lind walked. ... Dice went to a three-ball count on only six of 29 batters. ... We're going to see a lot of starts like this from Matsuzaka.
For the second night in a row, the Red Sox hit four home runs: Lugo, Ortiz, Manny and Lowell did the trotting this time. Tizzle's was a line drive to right, Manny's a bomb to dead center -- it's great jumping up to cheer a no-doubt Ramirez HR seemingly as the ball is just soaring out of the infield.
Ortiz was 4-for-5, including a double to left; Lowell was 3-for-4 with a walk; and Pedroia had two more hits (and a couple of great fielding plays). ... In addition to scoring nine runs, the Red Sox left the bases loaded in the first and fifth innings.
When Lugo and Crisp batted in the sixth, their OBPs were .299 and .279, respectively. Why are these guys batting 1-2?
Dear Bats: Can we get nine runs for Wakefield, too? Please???
(Also, we met longtime Red Sox fan and JoS commenter woti-woti, who is in town for all three games.)
***
Daisuke Matsuzaka (5.45, 80 ERA+) / Tomo Ohka (5.50, 81 ERA+)
Tonight is the fourth time in major league history that two Japan-born pitchers face each other. The others:
May 7, 1999: Hideki Irabu (Yankees) beat Mac Suzuki (Mariners) 10-1.
July 2, 2000: Hideo Nomo (Tigers) beat Suzuki (Royals) 2-0.
June 19, 2002: Ohka (Expos) beat Suzuki (Royals) 6-3.
Matsuzaka had a long side session in the hopes of breaking his habit of rushing his delivery when in the stretch, which causes him to lose command of the strike zone. Francona: "He's trying to make pitches happen, instead of allowing them to happen. I do think there have been times with runners on base, he's tried to be too quick and got ahead of himself."
Fifteen of the 23 runs Dice has allowed this season have come in six individual innings.
Kevin Youkilis is tired of getting hit by pitches. Last night, Casey Janssen drilled him in the left quadriceps -- six inches above where he was hit last Sunday in Minnesota. Several observers, including Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy, believed it was intentional. Yook, who was 3-for-3 at the time:
I don't know if it was intentional, unintentional ... It gets old after a while, getting hit, but what are you going to do? I can understand if some pitches, you're diving, but I wasn't diving there.Both teams were warned after the HBP. Youkilis may sit out tonight's game.
Which may give Jays fans more chances to boo Eric Hinske -- which they do to a ridiculous degree. What's the deal with that? He was traded to Boston, right? Did I miss something? Did he tell all the fans to @&*% his #$^% while he *&%#@-ed their mothers? I don't get it.
28 comments:
re: hinske
this is basically it - toronto fans dont know any better. oh wait, i trailed off there trying to explain leaf fans!
seriously, they're complete idiots...they probably saw what happened with Damon, and decided to emulate Red Sox fans. even though their clearly two completely different situations, jays fans are sheep....people just assume things, and we all know when you assume you make an ass...im not even gonna finish the sentence.
If there is someone booing nearby tonight that doesn't seem like a complete and utter tool, I'll ask.
that doesn't seem like a complete and utter tool
Good luck with that.
I've been utterly mystified by the reaction to Hinske. It's not as if the guy signed with the archrivals for an extra million! I was wondering if he said something like... I'm glad to be out of that stupid city, and play for a real baseball town.
If he didn't say anything, if nothing happened other than he was traded, these are the dumbest baseball "fans" I've ever seen.
Hinske's been getting booed in Toronto since his production level fell off a cliff in 2004. I don't know if it's lasted this long because so many people thought he was going to be a superstar after his rookie year or what, but the booing definitely started while he was still with the Jays.
Am not for sure why the booing, but didn't he say something during last season about not getting any playing time and wasn't he also one of those who said it was a sinking ship?
Still its silly, here is a former ROY who got traded being booed. I just hope he goes like 5 for 5 tonight in answer.
No meltdown yet, keep it up Kaibutsu.
Well, hot damn, 4th inning done. Keep it rolling, brother.
re: hinske
Nick Cafardo at the globe extra bases has the answer: "Speaking to some of the reporters here Hinske wasn't a favorite since he didn't do much after winning rookie of the year. He also got booed for complaining about his role before he was traded to Boston."
but didn't he say something during last season about not getting any playing time and wasn't he also one of those who said it was a sinking ship?
I don't think that was Hinske. Are you thinking of Shea Hillenbrand? (There's another old nickname: Seabiscuit!)
Keep it rolling, brother.
Brother, eh? I hope my brother never trashes me the way you did Dice-K.
You mean SheaAAA (or was it SheAAA?)!
I gotta check the rosters at Retrosheet. I know we're forgetting a lot of nicknames.
ok, your obsession is kinda getting scary now, l-girl. Every other post I make has you making a snarky comment. Relax.
What a great time that game was....all the homers...
Piniero tossed me a bag of sunflower seeds and Mirabelli got my buddy ejected from Skydome :P
More to come tomorrow, ill post while at work...im so tired right now. tomorrows game will be a good time as well.
ok, your obsession is kinda getting scary now, l-girl.
Give it a rest, Sean. Everyone else here is able to talk to each other here without saying shit like this.
I'm sure I'm not the only JoS commenter who was hoping Dice-K would do well just to shut you up.
Piniero tossed me a bag of sunflower seeds and Mirabelli got my buddy ejected from Skydome :P
Details! We want details!
Terrible headline at the team site: "Dice-K gets by with a little help from his friends." Why use that for a game in which he needed no help? And then you click that to see a picture with the caption, "Manny Ramirez is greet at the plate..."
Sometimes I wonder about those sites. Maybe all the smart people are on blogs...
When I got there (mid 3rd), okie, piniero, donnelly were sitting in the pen…people were yelling, as usual and they were ignoring it, as usual…hansack was there as well…paps showed up later, and they ignored my request to bring sexy lips over so I could pet him…then I called piniero by his first name – “Hey joel – you aren’t gonna eat all that food are ya?” he looks up, “ya want some?” and tosses me a bag of sunflower seeds…then a group of drunken hooligans shows up, constantly yelling at everyone, giving Donnelly props and yelling “Chop Chop” at okaji. Donnelly tosses them a bag of peanuts or something before they get tossed for being wasted…
Then dougie comes and sits down and this girl sits next to me and wants mirabelli to sign a ball, so we’re all asking him and he completely ignores us…so my buddy decides to return a large handful of sunflower seeds…mirabelli calls security then him and my buddy start jawin at each other – conversation basically went
“all she wanted was a ball signed”
“we cant sign during the game”
“well why couldn’t you have just said that- you didn’t have to be a jerkoff about it”
Mirabelli requests that security throw him out again…I think doug also told my buddy that he was getting security to boot him, because the next part of the conversation was awesome.
Buddy: “whatever man, the games over”
Doug: “it was over before it even started”
So security comes, and they give us an official warning and say that if a player requests that someone get kicked out, they kick them out. (which clearly is what happened, but we didn’t say anything)
So security leaves for a second, and mirabelli has to tell security again that he wants him out. At this point he pointed up to us, and I had to clarify that it wasn’t me that was getting the boot. Lowell homered and it was 9-1 at that point, so I just left with him.
All in all, it was good fun. And mirabelli was being kind of a jerk about the whole ball signing thing. But really, how many people can say they’ve been told off/personally kicked out of a game by dougie.
oh also from original post:
it's great jumping up to cheer a no-doubt Ramirez HR seemingly as the ball is just soaring out of the infield.
i love how in that dome every ball hit in the air is cheered as if its going to be a homer. its like a popup to 2nd and people are like "OHHHHHH!"
but sitting in the outfield they were all no doubt...especially manny's, he ripped that.
Tim-
It doesn't make any sense in a place like Skydome for people to think any flyball is going to be a homer. At a place like Wrigley or Fenway though, people in the grandstands genuinely can't see how well a ball's hit, since the roof will block a majority of solid shots.
In the skydome, no real excuse.
Tim, if you're gonna mess with players, why the hell are you doing it to your OWN team? I'm so confused. You seem really proud to have fought with and got ejected by a Red Sox player, who most of us, I think, kinda like. Yet you're a Red Sox fan. I don't get it.
Thanks for the details, Tim. Remind me not to ever sit near you! :)
i love how in that dome every ball hit in the air is cheered as if its going to be a homer. its like a popup to 2nd and people are like "OHHHHHH!"
Oh yeah, the Jays "fans" are astute baseball observers. They've also never seen a man with dreadlocks before.
Good stuff. I've seen enough stories to tell that Mirabelli is apparent quite an a-hole. But ... Dougie's Goin' Deep tonight!!!
We were down by first base during Sox BP and Sexy Lips walked by. Some kids yelled at him and he said he'd come back and sign: "I promise." Someone asked for his hat (I think) and he replied in this exaggerated whine: "Nooooo!"
Anyway, he was hanging out by second base during BP, but after the Sox left the field and the grounds crew went to work -- this was maybe 30 minutes before the game began -- Tavarez came over and sat sideways on the low fence and signed for at least 20 minutes.
I didn't go back down, but I did see him pose for a lot of pictures with fans and sign pretty much everything.
I really wanted to yell out "Hey, Sexy Lips!" when he initially walked by, but knowing he might think I was nuttier than he is for saying such a thing, I opted against it (though I'd be happy to explain it to him).
...
Re: idiot Jays fans going nuts for a pop-up to short center -- the Red Sox had a radio announcer that did that for, what?, 16 years?
Whether Doug's an A-hole or not, read this again:
"Then dougie comes and sits down and this girl sits next to me and wants mirabelli to sign a ball, so we’re all asking him and he completely ignores us…so my buddy decides to return a large handful of sunflower seeds"
This guy is doing this to a player in game, while the guy is doing his job, and when ignored, throws shit at him. And he's a Sox fan! I'd have had the guy ejected, too.
God damn right, Jere. I wouldn't throw shit at Barry Bonds.
About perception of the ball's movement through the air: I was at the Giants game Tuesday night when the Mets opened the game with three straight doubles. From the upper deck behind home plate, each of them seemed to float lazily out into the outfield, just happening the hit the right spot.
Later in the game we were brought into the club level by our friend who works for the team; such a different perception.
Definitely a big "problem" at any park--people thinking every ball in the air by the home team is a homer right away. What I do is immediately look at the fielders. It's just like on TV--you see the outfielders, not the ball, yet you know exactly where the ball is going. And when the cameraperson does show just the ball, inevitably it fools the viewer. (Like Youk's game-ending fly out to left a while back.)
I've seen things like the dude in front of me in the bleachers at Fenway stand up and yell "Oh yeah!" on a ball we all watched float back over the roof between third and home. Patience, people. Watch the fielders. (And stop being so drunk...)
"...Lyle Overbay's solo home run off the right field pole..."
Allan, thank you for not referring to it as the 'foul pole'. As anyone who grew up listening to Bob Prince broadcast the Pirates can tell you, it should be called a 'fair pole' because a batted ball that strikes the pole is a...fair ball.
And don't even get me started on why a batted ball that strikes the field of play and then bounces into the stands should be called a 'book rule double' and not a 'ground rule double'....
What I do is immediately look at the fielders.
Good advice. That was about the first thing I learned about going to games.
I was ragging on Jays fans for that because they are so annoying. (How many times can you yell "Get a haircut!" in one game? Why yell it at all?) But you guys are right, it's not a fair complaint.
"As anyone who grew up listening to Bob Prince broadcast the Pirates can tell you, it should be called a 'fair pole' because a batted ball that strikes the pole is a...fair ball."
For those who grew up in the NY-area, replace "Bob Prince broadcast the Pirates" with "Warner Wolf do the sports on the channel 2 news".
For those who grew up in the NY-area, replace "Bob Prince broadcast the Pirates" with "Warner Wolf do the sports on the channel 2 news".
Let's go to the videotape...
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