May 27, 2007

G49: Red Sox 6, Rangers 5

The Red Sox complete their first three-game series sweep of the Rangers in Texas since August 20-22, 1973.

Baltimore also won, so our lead remains at 11.5 games. New York was swept by the Angels and is 12.5 games off the pace -- and only one game ahead of the cellar-dwelling Devil Rays.

***

Julian Tavarez (5.27, 84 ERA+) / Kameron Loe (6.38, 71 ERA+)

Lineup (with EQA and EQA rank on team):
Lugo, SS       .236   9th
Crisp, CF .231 11th
Youkilis, 1B .323 2nd
Ramirez, LF .270 5th
Drew, RF .238 10th
Lowell, 3B .309 3rd
Varitek, C .274 4th
Hinske, DH .227 12th
Pedroia, 2B .253 7th
Ortiz -- out today with "barking" hamstrings and the lingering effects of a cold -- is 1st at .332.

Sexy Lips's last two starts (against the Tigers and Yankees) have produced these totals: 12.2 IP, 7 hits, 3 runs, 8 walks and 5 strikeouts. Very nice, except for the walks. He has lowered his season ERA by almost 2.5 runs since the end of April.

Loe gave up one run on two hits in .1 IP out to Boston (16 pitches) back on April 7.

Meanwhile, way back somewhere in our dust cloud: The fourth-place Yankees (a mere 1.5 GA of the cellar) try to avoid the Angels' broom at 1 PM (Lackey/Mussina).

The second-place Blue Jays visit the Twins (Burnett/Silva) at 2 PM.

77 comments:

allan said...

Tim: I was checking our your blog and I agree 100% with your recent comment about Manny in LF:

"He knows the person is going to get a double regardless of whether he hustles to the ball or jogs over, it just looks worse because he's not giving it all. ... His accuracy is incredible when he throws it in, and when he has to hustle he does - and makes some pretty good catches. But I really don't see what the point of him hustling to the ball is when it doesn't make a difference in the end result of the play."

He definitely was hustling last night -- that triple was great, complete with a Pete Rose flying head-first slide!!

allan said...

Torre the Genius has Milk Dud leading off today: .218/.279/.306

Abreu has been dropped to 7th.

allan said...

Every day, Baseball Prospectus simulates the rest of the season 1,000,000 times.

Average Wins: 100.6 (winning East by 18 games)
Win East: 89.9%
Win WC: 4.9%
Playoffs: 94.8%

tim said...

Tim: I was checking our your blog and I agree 100% with your recent comment about Manny in LF

Yeah, that was a failed project...I started posting here and my posts were really longwinded, so I decided to make a blog for myself. Also, I was ostracized for mentioning the Patriots so I wanted a place to vent/opine about them as well...and I threw in the Bruins for the sake of it. And designed a crude logo with my amateur photoshop skills. And that was that.

I saw that triple, great slide. And I really think he's capable of winning a gold glove.

tim said...

Every day, Baseball Prospectus simulates the rest of the season 1,000,000 times.

Wow, and I thought my Stats class with 2 months of simulation was completely useless.

allan said...

No Flo today. Tito: "His hammys are barking." Also has had a cold for a few days.

SS Julio Lugo
CF Coco Crisp
1B Kevin Youkilis
LF Manny Ramirez
RF J.D. Drew
3B Mike Lowell
C Jason Varitek
DH Eric Hinske
2B Dustin Pedroia
SP Julian Tavarez

CF Kenny Lofton
SS Michael Young
1B Mark Teixeira
RF Sammy Sosa
DH Frank Catalanotto
LF Marlon Byrd
2B Ian Kinsler
C Gerald Laird
3B Ramon Vazquez
SP Kameron Loe

allan said...

McAdam, Projo:
"David Ortiz had his 20th double of the season Friday night. Last year, he didn't collect his 20th double until Aug. 11. Ortiz, however, has now gone 15 straight games without a homer, his longest homerless drought since joining the Sox."

allan said...

Papelbot not available today.

laura k said...

Also, I was ostracized for mentioning the Patriots

Do you mean criticized?

Or maybe you were ostracized somewhere else, in another football-free zone. :)

allan said...

MFY not having fun.

laura k said...

Hey Tim, in case you missed it.

allan said...

In case you didn't see it: the back page of the Daily News is at the end of today's entry.

Jim said...

Two nuggets from today's Kay/Singleton homeristic broadcast of Yank game:

-Yankee 'officials' are going to meet with MLB 'officials' next week to discuss the recent spate of umpiring calls that have gone 'against' the Yankees

-the 'similarities' to the 1978 season are being actively dredged. Note to all sane fans: Record, then check the history books.

laura k said...

Woti, I can hear it perfectly in my mind.

Oh yes, their 11.5 game deficit is due to bad umpiring calls. Allan, remind me of this next time I say Red Sox fans are whiners. (Which they are!)

Benjamin said...

Lackey's already given up 2 RBI (on two hits) to Nieves, he of the .037 batting average coming into the game.

allan said...

Damn, just got buried with work. No chance of following along for the first few innings anyway.

Jere said...

Angels get one back. 2-1 Yanks.

tim said...

Hey Tim, in case you missed it.

It is a stupid phrase, but I was just going with the lingo of the game...I wasn't upset or anything, hahaha

Anyway time to go get some more free hamburgers from Harveys before the start of this game...

Sean O said...

What the *fuck* is with MLB showing commercials when I've paid $120 to them? That is ridiculous.

If I didn't pay any money to them, fine, but $120 to see commercials before I can watch anything? Ridiculous.

Jere said...

That is a ridiculous thing about mlb.tv. They should have pre- and post. Why don't they? Makes no sense.

Angels up 4-2 in the ninth.

tim said...

What the *fuck* is with MLB showing commercials when I've paid $120 to them? That is ridiculous.

If I didn't pay any money to them, fine, but $120 to see commercials before I can watch anything? Ridiculous.


Yup, pure BS.

I'm tuning in for the bottom of the 9th in NY, want to see the lead stretch to 12. One good thing to come out of my subscription to MLBTV.

Sean O said...

DREW GOT A HIT!

Jere said...

There may be something wrong with my picture. Drew appears to have gotten a hit.

Jere said...

So Tim, you also heard Kay say "a crowd of 53,000 roaring their approval for Posaa pinch hitting." When he clearly should've said "a crowd of 23,000 cheering slightly louder than normal."

Jere said...

Nice! Tek!

laura k said...

Yeah!! 3 runs.

***

So shouldn't we not see commercials on the Extra Innings package? We pay a lot for that, too.

Sean O said...

What mlb.tv does is show a 30 second commercial prior to everything you load. So, if you load up the Yankees game, you see a 30 second commercial before it takes you to the game. If you then switch to the Indians game, another 30 second commercial. If you load up a condensed game from 2 weeks ago, 30 second commercial.

If they show it during the commercial span, fine, but this is insanity.

tim said...

So Tim, you also heard Kay say "a crowd of 53,000 roaring their approval for Posaa pinch hitting." When he clearly should've said "a crowd of 23,000 cheering slightly louder than normal."

Yes: it's glorious.

(pun that!)

Jere said...

Jeter up, 2 outs, tying run at third, 9th inning. Let's see him end it, the good way.

Jere said...

Michael Kay's going for the Emmy on this at bat. Too bad nobody's watching.

tim said...

Michael Kay's going for the Emmy on this at bat. Too bad nobody's watching.

hahahaha, this is obscene.

wooooo!!!! 12 GA!!!!!

laura k said...

WTF? Was Lips bowling?? (Wasn't that The Napkin who was the bowler?)

Did you hear Remy groan?! "Oh my gawd..."

Sean O said...

he rolled it, amazing.

THEEEEEE YANKS LOSE

Jere said...

A DOZEN BACK! Kay: "Neither man wants to lose...." He milked that at bat--oh, he just called it an "epic at bat." Pathetic.

laura k said...

That's weird. We don't get any commercials on MLB.TV. We just got a pseudo Pac Man game.

tim said...

lmfao, what was that!?!1!!!!!!! Sexy Lips Bocce!

Jere said...

This is so disgusting--they're really actung like this game was Game 7 of the World Series, and both teams gave their all in an epic struggle. It was simply the Yanks losing a game to fall 12 out of first. That's all it was, guys. The headlines tomorrow aren't gonna read "Yanks Almost Win Epic Battle of Wills." More like "Yanks Continue To Shit Bed."

laura k said...

Bocce, you're right Tim, even better than bowling.

Jere said...

A-Rod now hitting below .300. Come on, A-Rod, it's not October yet!

laura k said...

Too bad Allan is buried in work. He loves when Don & Jerry get silly like this. "Has his own name on the door - Horse Head..."

tim said...

Too bad Allan is buried in work. He loves when Don & Jerry get silly like this. "Has his own name on the door - Horse Head..."

lmao...wow, Remy. Wow.

"Could you imagine being santa at a mall...people sit on your lap, you dont know who they are!"

Jere said...

The horse talk is some funny stuff... you know it's good when it's carried over from the day before.

Sean O said...

God dammit.

Sean O said...

well, shit.

mattymatty said...

Just when I start to wonder if Tavarez can really be taken out of the rotation when he's pitching like this, he implodes.

Jackie said...

aw, I'm not getting NESN today... but I did just learn that one of the TX announcers just welcomed his first grandchild into the world.

Sean O said...

jackie, he's the one with the lisp, right?

laura k said...

you know it's good when it's carried over from the day before

I love when they allude to something from a game weeks earlier and start cracking up all over again.

OK, now for another come-from-behind win...

Jackie said...

sean - no lisp, just a bit of a drawl. But more to the point, nowhere near as funny as D&J are. :(

Sean O said...

The number of line drives in this game is beyond the pale. It's like that Orioles game where everything was smoked right at someone.

Grrrr.

allan said...

Taking a 10-second break. 4-3. Hold it together, pen.

Sounds like you guys are having fun. :<# ... It's the condensed game for me later/tomorrow, I guess. What half-innings were the silliness in?

Mr. 27 strikes again! Angels SWEEP!!!

laura k said...

Coco!! Another web gem.

Jackie said...

oh, Coco... you make catches like that and I almost don't care that you're not hitting at all.

laura k said...

What half-innings were the silliness in?

Aw geez, I don't know. But I'll be able to tell from the linescore and who was at bat.

laura k said...

Man is Yook hot!

Let's get some more insurnance for The Jeemer.

laura k said...

Now why did I think Hinske would get a hit? Silly me.

Jackie said...

That was an amazing AB by Pedroia just now... and got the only acceptable outcome.

laura k said...

How about that Pedroia at-bat??

laura k said...

SWEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!

I must go gaze upon the standings.

Jackie said...

Sweep! And, y'know, 12.5. I enjoy this team very much.

laura k said...

TWELVE AND A HALF!!!!

What fun!

Bartman said...

Pedroia's BA is higher than Damon's. Tee-hee.

Jim said...

Jeez, losing 2 of 3 to the Yanks really put the Sox in a tailspin. Yeehaw!

Jere said...

And our 3B is hitting better than the Yanks'. (But only by 26 points.)

That Pedroia at bat was the one Michael Kay seemed to be announcing earlier...

I love the Red Sox:))))))))))

laura k said...

Oops, I'm ahead of myself. Apparently our lead is "only" 11 and the Yankees are "only" 12 GB. Details.

That Pedroia at bat was the one Michael Kay seemed to be announcing earlier...

Jere, I swear I was going to write that, but I saved it for you. :-)

I love this team.

Jere said...

Ha, thanks. But you were right about the Yanks. They are 12.5 back of us. It went to 12 after their loss, 12.5 after our win....

Rick said...

And I think you're right about the 11.5 game lead, too. Unbelievable - 11.5 GA on May 28. When's the last time the Red Sox had an 11.5 game lead?

Rick said...

By the way, LOOOONG time lurker, first time poster here. Love the blog. Live in the SF area, and am planning to catch a game on 6/5 or 6/6 in OAK. Probably 6/5 assuming the rotation holds, so I can see Dice-K in person.

Jere said...

frenkie: As Joy mentioned a while back, we were something like 8 ahead toward the end of '95. When I read that, I looked back at that season to see that we actually had a 16 game lead that August. I remember that being an awesome summer, but I didn't remember we were that far up.

laura k said...

16 games? Wow.

1995, I believe that was the year Allan began his unexpected hiatus from the present-day Red Sox, in favour of the 1918 club.

Little did we know, that's how we would manage to get through the late 90s together.

Pokerwolf said...

Just because.

allan said...

AP:

"Before the Yankees batted in the bottom of the first, an inspirational scene from the movie "Rudy" was shown on the scoreboard. That clip is usually saved for the late innings, when they need a rally."

BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAA!!!!!!!

Sean O said...

Rudy, for the Yankees. Rudy, undersized, Eckstein-like little dwarf. Yankees, giant, bloated behemoth.

These things have nothing to do with each other. Also, laaaame.

tim said...

Probably 6/5 assuming the rotation holds, so I can see Dice-K in person.

you're in for a treat - i saw his 3rd start in MLB (in toronto) and he was awesome. had the meltdown inning (only 2 ER though), but i sat right behind the plate and watched his pitches and it was phenomenal. it sucked that they lost 2-1, but i didnt feel down after that game cause it was a great time and one hell of an experience.

Jere said...

Kind of fitting, the Yanks fleeing the country after getting swept this weekend.

laura k said...

the Yanks fleeing the country

Hey, watch it. ;-)

laura k said...

I can't wait to see the D-Rays ahead of the Yankees in the standings. That's got to be the ultimate embarrassment.