Royals - 100 020 230 - 8 13 1Dice again walked a small army of batters (5.2-6-2-6-7, 118), but wriggled out of several jams and stranded eight Royals over five innings.
Red Sox - 041 006 00x - 11 14 0
J.D. Drew hit a grand slam to left in the second (after three straight singles to start the inning) and Mike Lowell did the same in the sixth (after Manny Ramirez was walked intentionally).
It was the first time two Red Sox hitters hit salami dongs since May 2, 1995 (John Valentin and Mo Vaughn, in consecutive innings, at New York).
Craig Hansen and David Aardsma pitched poorly in the seventh and eighth and Kansas City -- down 11-3 after six innings -- actually brought the tying run to the plate against Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.
But Boston held on and finished up a perfect 7-0 homestand. The Red Sox are now a major-league best 31-19 - no other team has more than 28 victories.
On to Oakland ...
***
Brian Bannister (4.29, 99 ERA+) / Daisuke Matsuzaka (2.15, 199 ERA+)
The Red Sox -- with the best record in baseball -- will try to finish up a 7-0 homestand. They are 20-5 at Fenway so far this season.
***
Rob Neyer and Jonah Keri look at five teams -- the Tigers, Rockies, Padres, Mariners and Yankees -- and discuss their chances of contending. ... Michael Salfino, SNY.tv: "[I]t's alarmingly easy to envision a scenario where this 2008 Yankees team is analogous to the 1964 club that ended a 15-year dynasty."
Manny's mouthguard ... Mel Parnell recalls his 1956 no-hitter ...
Three new Red Sox wines: Captain's Cabernet, Vintage Papi and Sauvignyoouuk Blanc. ... The Mindy McCready documentary (due out in July) will include "her side of the Roger Clemens story".
197 comments:
WEEI:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
David Ortiz, DH
Manny Ramirez, LF
Mike Lowell, 3B
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
J.D. Drew, RF
Kevin Cash, C
Julio Lugo, SS
Possibility of scattered showers.
Any word on why Tek's getting two days off?
Possibility of dongs being let outside, too.
Possibility of seven in a row!
Sweep. Sweep!
I work with a Royals fan who has been giving me a huge silent treatment all week, so it's no fun even giving him a hard time.
Which begs the question: How can you possibly be a Royals fan and not have any sense of humour about the Royals? I don't get it.
Anyone have any hard numbers on this (still young) season's streaks versus last year's? It feels like we've had longer winning and losing streaks in a third the time as last year. (I'm pretty sure we never had a six-game winning streak, for instance.)
we have. at least one streak on both sides of 3-4-5 games, i think.
royals feed on EI (so much for the home team gets the feed), but rogers sportsnet has nesn!
!!!llab yalP
ish in the mirror?
It took me like, 3 minutes to write play ball backwards.
Man, if Matsusaka could keep his current form and Beckett could return to 2007 form....
It took me nearly as long to read it. :)
don says HH making a rehab start in paw on sunday
So, I was able to figure out how to adjust the vertical size of my TV, and be able to move it from side to side. I went through every serviceman option and none of it could help out with the horizontal side, or the crookedness. Also have problems with the picture being a bit trapezoidal.
So, I'm not sure there's anything else I can do. Except live with it or switch to my old TV.
"Man, if Matsusaka could keep his current form and Beckett could return to 2007 form...."
It's entirely possible that will happen.
don says HH making a rehab start in paw on sunday
Brandon Moss is on a "rehab assignment" as well in Pawtucket. Though, I don't see him coming back up here very soon.
Cash isn't used to catching balls at more than 75 mph.
Shit.
Lester will be on ESPN's "Sunday Conversation" this week.
maybe squeezed a tad on ball 4 to teahen, but jesus fuck dice - strikes!!
Dice: Home plate is that way.
That's better.
34 pitches, though.
did nesn join that kid's lineup at drew/7th?
i hope not.
I remember the last time they did the kids reading the lineups, there was a late change to the Red Sox lineup, so they weren't able to play the tape. But... they did anyway.
Is Pedroia having an epic twenty-pitch at-bat? I'm at work, where GDGD doesn't load, so I'm watching on fangraphs.com which only updates after the outcome is complete.
And there it is. 8 pitches.
Nibbling.
throwing balls to these hackers is highly annoying.
walksuzaka.
Last year, Dice had a 1.32 WHIP to go with a 4.40 ERA. He started today with a 1.23 WHIP to go with a 2.15 ERA. Last year's batting average against him was .246; today he started at .183.
One way to look at it is that walks are his only problem. Another is that, overall, he's been lucky so far.
Runs, please.
Dice BABIP
2007 - .301
2008 - .217
A bit of luck and some Houdini moves have helped his ERA.
infield hit for being!
Hey, Manny got a hit. I miss those.
quarter dong for mikey
(i just posted that on the wrong blog and had to delete it and repost it here)
I like me some full sacs.
just looked at threadsox for last night -- after my first post, 9 more. slow night!!!
Blogger ish said...
Possibility of dongs being let outside, too.
Thu May 22, 12:46:00 PM
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ON FIRE!!!
GRAND ON FIRE!!!!
ON FIRE -- ALWAYS ON FIRE
Did Drew just drive ball three for a Dongus Maximus?
Holy shit.
I really need to pay more attention to the game. Took me until NOW to realize that was a grand slam.
lyndon will show slugo how to do it
Bases stealing showdown. Lugo, Ellsbury. Who ya got?
Ooops. Game over before it began. And Lugo doesn't help his own cause by getting caught.
Surprised Lyndon hasn't gone yet.
Damn! Right when Ellsbury DOES go, and has the base stolen no doubt... Pedroia grounds out.
The pitch count evens up between Matsuzaka and Bannister at 49.
The pitch count evens up between Matsuzaka and Bannister at 49.
For entirely different reasons...
At this rate, Dice would be lucky to make it through 5 innings.
i'm a little shocked remy doesn't sell pajamas on his website.
i'm a little shocked remy doesn't sell pajamas on his website.
Give him a week.
I'm wondering whether Dice-K as escape artist is just a phenonmeon we need to accept.
K/BB ratio:
Japanese career: 2.70
US career (incl. through 3IP today): 2.15
2008 (also incl. today): 1.35
Conclusion? I have no idea. We can definitely say he's been lucky this year in every way. Although we can't count on his luck holding, I still think there's hope his control will improve.
Dr. Doubles strikes again.
----------------------------------->
RYI!
(Run Youked In)
RYI!
(Run Youked In)
Some good wood is being swung by Mr. On Fire.
It'll be crazy if we get a shorter outing from Matsusaka than Colon.
Maybe "crazy" is the wrong word. "Disappointing"?
That RBI ties Youk for 4th in the AL.
I wonder if Cash has anything to do with these 5 walks.
Well, I saw Dice walk 8 in Detroit with Tek, so maybe $ is actually keeping the total down!
He walks people with Tek behind the plate too. It's what he does.
Gload's one of the few folks with a lower ISOP than Lugo.
What he said. Phil saving me the typing.
I am wasted. We were out late-ish last night. These days I am just destroyed the next day.
Joey Gathright, Red Sox killer?
^^^ re "what he said", that was on dice-k's walks, not gload.
Can't be agreeing with me too much. That'd be unseemly.
in light of what remy was saying about scoring on hits from second at fenway, i suggest that the phrase "scoring position" be retired forever.
What was he saying?
i will try not to seem unseemly.
who's boy is that? :)
mentioned gathright trying to steal third, because often at fenway, being on second ("scoring position") doesn't guarantee you can score on a single, esp. one to left, because manny plays shallow, the ball might hit the jut, etc.
i hate the term "scoring position" since it can apply to any base or the at-bat guy, and it would confuse new fans when the guy does not score ...
so since there is so many times that a guy in "scoring position" does not score, the empty phrase should be abolished.
A double steal here would be hilarious but probably tragic.
- LaTroy Hawkins gets a 3-game suspension for throwing at Luke Scott's head...
- Eric Gagne is being shutdown for shoulder tightness...
- MLB might test out instant-replay in the Arizona Fall League this year.
...and this just in: Lugo sucks at baserunning.
Manny time?
Umpire Brian Knight needs a new pair of shorts.
Guess not.
Dice-BB
ISOP = ?
Wild pitches...one way to let the other team's runners get closer to scoring position.
ISOP = ISO = SLG-AVG
Dice-BB's last season in Japan... He issued only 34 walks all season.
He might exceed that this game.
Well, he'll get pulled with a high pitch count, but almost.
pen is getting active only now??? come on.
aaaaardsma
Dice-BB is making me want to go to sleep.
Aardsma's warming quickly.
Maybe Tavarez bequeathed him his stash of crack before heading down I95.
ISO is Isolated Power. Extra-bases per at-bat, the "true power of a hitter". Invented by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth in the 1950s.
106 pitches through five.
Feels like the Red Sox are losing.
With Dice-K not at his best and back out in the sixth, I'm hoping that feeling doesn't become any more concrete.
Why is he still pitching?
Current headline on Royals.com:
"Gordon, Guillen strike Dice-K repeatedly at Fenway"
Why is he still pitching?
Tito wants him to set a new club record for most BB by a Sox starter?
Clearly someone's also been striking Tito repeatedly in the head.
Organic brain damage is sad.
Hey guess who's the 1st base coach for the Royals...
Rusty Kuntz.
tito trying to squeeze a few more outs out of dice (who would like to throw more pitches anyway) to set up his pen better for the 7-8-9.
speaking of BBs, LOWGY in.
Lopez has only allowed one inherited runner (out of 17) to score.
Wow.
Rusty was a pretty shitty player too.
sorry javy. LOKGY!!
Dice comes within one out of the most labored quality starts ever.
Well, I know the expression "giving the team a chance to win" is woefully overused, but, here we are. Despite the walks, he did keep us in the game.
$!
££££££££££££££££££££££££
101 = me!
Does that count double posts and deleted comments, etc?
Heh. 101.
Just heard this commercial on the radio...
"Wise. The official potato chip and cheese doodle of the Boston Red Sox."
nah, 101s are worthless (as are 301s, etc.)
official cheese doodle!
bannister: 12 hits, 1 BB = 13
matsuzaka: 6 hits, 6 B = 12
i guess gobble was not an innings eater.
More runs, please.
Maybe Ellsbury could steal from first to third with Cash standing on second.
FY banging it off the "30" wins on the standings!!
FY!
Yes, runs like those.
Jacoby didn't score from first?
Time for the Dr. to go all Rx on these a-holes.
DOCTOR SLAM!!!
BAD MEDICINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Manny IBBed? Don't they know how he's playing at the moment?
Ah, it looks like for the first time the Sox will win 7 in a row since, I don't know
Dr. double grand dong!!!
when's the last time we saw two gs in one game?
Heh. It hit off of the 498 sign.
Doctor Dong.
Now here we go: last time there were two Granny Dongs in a game?
Youk is crazy. Gets insanely pissed when he strikes out with an 8 run lead.
Hilarious. Fangraphs gives us a 100% win expectancy in the 6th inning. I don't think I've ever seen it above 99% for a game in progress.
We let the dongs outside like no others.
the pro hit 2 himself in one game, right?
re 2 gs in one game, i wasn't really asking. i was just saying "wow".
****
youk o'neill
GDGD has aaaarsdma in, but it's hansen
100% -- gotta be a typo.
there IS a chance the sox can lose, so it's maybe 99.7% or something
Mueller (7/29/03)
Nomah (5/10/1999)
Still looking for multiples across players.
No team in history has ever hit 3 grand slams in one game, by the way.
Happened in 1995 at least.
Still looking for multiples across players. Try 1995
Cloninger almost had a shot, though, and he was the pitcher.
Delino DeShields
Jason Tyner
Nick Markakis
Alberto Callaspo
...What do these four players have in common?
Hi all. We are on the Cape, and it took about 4 hours with Comcast to get our Internet going. Argghh.
I turned on the game, the score was 11-3, went to get the laptop and the score was 11-5. WTF?
How did Dice do?
I wonder what Fangraphs said the chances of the Sox winning the 2004 ALCS was at one point. Must have been 1% or less.
How did we score all those runs? I see lots of discussion of grand slams?
How did Dice do?
I'm calling him Dice-BB now.
How did we score all those runs? I see lots of discussion of grand slams?
Two grand slams: One by Drew in the 2nd, and one by Lowell in the 6th.
2-grandslam Sox games:
05-13-1934, 07-04-1939, 07-27-1946, 05-10-1960, 06-10-1987, 05-02-1995, 05-10-1999, 07-29-2003.
WOW, thanks, Ish. That's amazing.
So Dice's control was bad....seems to be a continuing problem. Lucky for him he gets lots of run support.
Now I am really mad that Comcast was so incompetent.
Interesting pitch speeds by Yabuta...
1: 75
2: 88
3: 77
4: 93
And all of Yabuta's pitches look pretty straight.
...What do these four players have in common?
Small packages?
Probably, but I cannot confirm that.
Mark Grudzielanek was the league's best hitter... until he arrived in Boston.
Since then, he's been 0 for 16. That's why he's being pinch-hit for, I'm sure.
so what do they have in common?
(small packages? first-hand knowledge?)
german actually replaced him in the field last inning.
cora in for slugo, btw
Cora showing his defensive prowess right there.
lugo could of done that.
german actually replaced him in the field last inning.
gotcha.
so what do they have in common?
Final batters in the last four Red Sox no-hitters.
DeShields (Nomo)
Tyner (Lowe)
Markakis (Buchholz
Callaspo (Lester)
...What do these four players have in common?
Who are four people who have never been in my kitchen?
So what you're saying is they didn't sack up and break up the no-hitters?
Small packages.
Ooops. Save situation now.
Sheesh. Can't we just finish this game easily?
fucking middle relief! you'd think we'd have no problem holding an 8-run lead. but no.
fangraphs still at 100%?
Just think, Shannon Stewart (Schilling) almost joined that shameful bunch.
Um...don't look now but we are back to a save situation kind of situation.
Nah, it went back down in the 7th. It's at 97% currently.
Need another grand slam to keep Papelbon from having to come in.
THIS is why Sexy Lips thought it was a good percentage play to go down to Pawtucket rather than hook up with another team. The middle relief has gor to stabilize or something has to be done. Giving 8 runs to KC is ridiculous.
Ridiculous, but also not the norm. We haven't been doing this game after game. Although our middle relief needs shoring up.
bot.
also ococ in CF and lbj now in LF
okay so we don't have a perfect team.
but we have the best record in MLB and today's win will be #31. no other team has more than 28.
lips also could have said no to FA because a trade is pending or he wanted the sox contract over what another team would pay him.
Hey look, the tying run's at the plate.
Hey look, the tying run's at the plate.
Yep, and it is the guy during all the games that have caused problems.
c'mon bot!!!
the water has been very dirty lately. much fun.
Well, thank goodness. I saw this go from 11-3 to 11-8 in no time. So bizarre.
The water is dirty.
A very dirty homestand!
hey look, the water is dirty.
yet again.
7-0 homestand.
dirty!!!
Water!!!
Also happy daughter, brought her home a ball from batting practice last night :). For once dad is a hero!!!
a perfect home stand!
now a stupid west coast swing, causing me to miss most of the games. see you all soon.
Bizarre game.
I will gladly take the W, though. Here's the MFY failing to get any traction this evening.
Water. Someone tossed a live toaster in it, but it's water.
"Well, thank goodness. I saw this go from 11-3 to 11-8 in no time. So bizarre."
it also went from 5-3 to 11-3 on our side even faster!
s1c, good job on the batting practice ball! my only ML baseball is from BP too.
L-girl, thanks, its good to be a hero in the daughters eyes once in a while :)
From Joe Posnanski's blog:
Banny Log: Reader’s Digest Version
2nd inning:
Manny Ramirez: Soft infield single up the middle.*
Mike Lowell: Soft singled in the hole between short and third.*
Kevin Youkilis: Hard single between short and third.
J.D. Drew: Grand slam.
*Both of these might have been fielded by shortstop Tony Pena. Unfortunately, shortstop Tony Pena is hitting .162 and was replaced in the lineup by Alberto Callaspo, who can hit better but has the range of the Pesky Pole. Let’s be honest, it ain’t easy putting together the Kansas City Royals lineup every day.
Fun Fenway fact: Did you know that there is not a Citgo station within 12 miles of the famous Citgo Sign behind the Green Monster?
Fun Fenway fact II: J.D. Drew’s home run did not hit the Citgo sign.
Pena's OBP - .185
OPS+ - 7
7!
He makes Lugo look like Honus Wagner.
He makes Lugo look like Honus Wagner
Am glad I am not a Royals fan!!!
Off to the do(n)g run with the do(n)gs.
Redsock: I was being facetious about Taveras's motives for staying, but if he isn't traded, he may yet prove useful at some point. I cannot remember the Sox ever having so much pitching depth in the minors---amazing. It will be even more amazing if they can't find a solid middle relief corps with so many good arms.
Again I say: the fact the Sox are this much better than the league even with the problems they've had shows me that the team will absolute wow us before the season is over.
Your reason maybe valid. He may really like the Sox, know he could fit later in the summer, and prefer that -- as opposed to toiling for a loser. Just saying that there are other reasons too.
Jones single and Bynum triple, with one out.
BAL - 001
MFY - 00
Saw two grand dongs today at Fenway. Sweeeeet.
1-1 O's/LPYs after 5.
1-1 in the 7th. Chocolate Rain warming.
That 1995 Valentin-Vaughn dongathon was also Vaughn Eshelman's major league debut!
The Sox are great at Fenway.....But need to pick it up on the road....Need to win at least 4 on the West Coast.....
I just paid $90.00 to fill up my Mini-Van , My friggin Mini-Van...I know pay more for gas a month then my car payment....I thought that would help to get that off my chest..It didn't.....
Incidentally, I don't get that quote about the 1964 Yankees at ALL. The Yanks went to the World Series in 1964. They fell apart in 1965. 2008 will be like '64 in their dreams....
Yeah, the 1964 MFYs won 99 games. Somehow I'm just not feeling it this year.
In 1965, they went 77-85. That's a little more like it.
Yeah--I didn't even click the link, but that didn't seem right to me, either, just because the Yanks "current" dynasty ended seven years ago.
So, does anyone know this, but I'm just guessing that Dice-K is probably leading MLB in walks allowed.
Yes, he is.
Matsuzaka-BOS 38
Bonderman-DET 35
Carmona-CLE 35
Gorzelanny-PIT 35
Cain-SFG 32
Batista-SEA 31
Jimenez-COL 31
Lester-BOS 31
Sanchez-SFG 30
Volquez-CIN 30
Young-SDP 30
Some interesting names on that list. Carmona, Volquez (without having seen him pitch a full game, he reminds me a lot of a young Pedro Martinez), and Young. Remember last year when Chris Young absolutely baffled the Red Sox in San Diego? He was so tall, and threw his pitches so straight, and they weren't even at 90 mph, and he was still dominant. I hadn't heard too much about him this year, until he took a ball to the nose off the bat of Albert Pujols. He ended up taking out Young and his catcher Josh Bard in the same inning.
I wonder if there's ever been a player who's caused a trip to the DL for a pitcher and his catcher in the same inning.
In that game in San Diego, here was Young's line:
7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 11 K in 110/74 pitches.
I blame that loss in San Diego last year on Wakefield not on the Padres pitching.
Post a Comment