August 27, 2009

G127: White Sox 9, Red Sox 5

White Sox - 044 100 000 - 9 14  0
Red Sox - 000 020 021 - 5 9 1
A comeback seemed possible all night, but the real excitement, as it turned out, began after NESN showed Nick Green warming up in the bullpen as the Red Sox came up in the bottom of the seventh.

Green ended up pitching the final two innings, walking three but allowing no hits and no runs. Twenty-two of his 35 pitches were balls. The Fenway crowd was completely behind him, cheering like crazy as he ended the eighth inning. Even as the Red Sox cut the lead to 9-4, Terry Francona stayed with Green (although it looked like Hideki Okajima would have pitched the ninth had the Sox scored a couple more runs).

Green hit 90 with his four-seam fastball and had a consistent release point. He may not have won the #3 starter spot in the playoffs with tonight's performance, but he's got to be part of the discussion. Dude was painting with easy cheese!

J.D. Drew and Alex Gonzalez hit back-to-back homers in the fifth; Drew hit a second dong to began the bottom of the ninth. A two-out rally in the eighth -- a Kevin Youkilis walk and doubles from David Ortiz and Jason Bay -- accounted for the other Boston runs.

After an easy first inning, Tazawa (4-10-9-1-2, 85) was hit hard for the rest of his time on the hill. He could not keep his fastballs down in the zone and his curve had no bite.

Jacoby Ellsbury sustained a mild left ankle sprain on a play at the plate in the fifth inning. He was replaced by Rocco Baldelli.
Example
John Danks (3.85, 122 ERA+) / Junichi Tazawa (3.57, 133 ERA+)

Tazawa has been allowing a lot of base traffic (26 hits, seven walks and two HBP in 17.2 innings), but has been able to houdini his way out of trouble. Opposing batters are hitting .091 (2-for-22) with runners in scoring position.

Here is an odd fact: In his last start, Tazawa "became the first Red Sox pitcher since 1988 to log six or more scoreless innings while allowing at least one hit in every frame". ... Also, on 1-0, 2-0 and 3-0 counts this season, opposing batters are 9-for-10 against Tazawa.

Billy Wagner will be in the pen tonight. He last pitched on Monday, so he should be available. [UPDATE: Wagner said this afternoon that he will throw a bullpen session before tonight's game. That may mean he's unavailable. Or not.]
Example
But first: Rangers/Yankees at 1 PM.

290 comments:

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Zenslinger said...

David Brown, Morning Juice on Yahoo!:

Kennedy's grandfather christened Fenway by throwing its first ceremonial pitch 97 years ago, Wakefield's rookie season.

A Conformer said...

Happy no-Penny day, I guess. No-Smoltz day turned out well for us. Anybody else thinking that the Cardinals will pick up Penny, too?

Rob said...

I heard the Rockies are very interested in Penny.

allan said...

TEX - 000 30
MFY - 100 10

TEX has only 1 hit - a dong by Kinsler after 2 BB from AJ.

nick said...

Hi Everyone of you! I'm back on the east coast. I spent most of my time out in Washington state with my only computer being my iphone. It worked pretty well for most tasks, but I couldn't game thread. caught bits and pieces of a few games--People who know who they are rock! (uh..that makes no sense.)

Club Helsinki where I've worked for a decade is closing this weekend and fairly suddenly. Quite sad, really.

I might get to actually hang out and do some gamethreading tonight. see ya later!

nick said...

crud. bad link. Club Helsinki fer reals.

allan said...

Nice.

TEX - 000 300 3
MFY - 100 100

Zenslinger said...

Hey, Nick. I tried to thread on an iPhone a couple of weekends ago. It was rough.

The god damn Yankees can't even win when you want them to. 'Nother 3-run HR given up by Burnett and it's 6-2 in favor of Texas.

allan said...

7-2! Another Kinsler dong.

allan said...

TEX - 000 300 310
MFY - 100 100 00

allan said...

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Victor Martinez, C
4. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. Jason Bay, LF
7. Mike Lowell, 3B
8. J.D. Drew, RF
9. Alex Gonzalez, SS

1. Scott Podsednik, CF
2. Gordon Beckham, 3B
3. A.J. Pierzynski, C
4. Paul Konerko, 1B
5. Jim Thome, DH
6. Carlos Quentin, LF
7. Mark Kotsay, RF
8. Alexei Ramirez, SS
9. Jayson Nix, 2B

Wagner press conf. news here. Seabass switched to #3 so Wagner gets #13. The bigger question: Will he use "Enter Sandman" as his entrance music?

Benjamin said...

As I said last night, I still think he should've switched to #63 for all those 6-3s he's fielding.

allan said...

TEX - 000 300 310 - 7 6 0
MFY - 100 100 000 - 2 6 0

Down to 5.5!

allan said...

Taz is 63.

allan said...

Wagner: "I can be the water boy, towel boy, lefty specialist, I don't care."

He is throwing a bullpen session before tonight's game, so he's probably unavailable.

9casey said...

Seabass switched




I always thought that was a Dumb and Dumber reference until I read the glossary...

allan said...

I approve of tonight's lineup.

Patrick said...

Ortiz blast at MLB

I was watching this and noticed that the moment Ortiz lands on home, Youkilis lands a punch to Tiz's backside.

Doubt that felt good.

s1c said...

Well, no threading for me tonight or until (likely Saturdays game). It is all hands on deck as we get ready to send b-fly to school (move in time is 10:30 a.m.) Saturday, saturday . . .

And like RS - I approve of this line up!!!

Rob said...

Me too!

Patrick said...

I'm guessing that Lowrie isn't going to be our SS next year. I wouldn't mind more Seabass and his unexpected dong flashing.

Rob said...

LMAO Fun choice of words there.

His "unexpected dong" He drops his pants and WHOOOOOAAA!!! HE HAS ONE!

allan said...

The wrist twinge did not sound serious in the ProJo, but it might be smarter to tell him to rest until March. I cannot see S-Bass as our SS next year.

Zenslinger said...

Youkilis lands a punch to Tiz's backside.

Youk, nothing! Several teammates seem to be beating the shit out of him.

Patrick said...

Several teammates seem to be beating the shit out of him.

My naivete knows no bounds.

andy said...

people, what are your thoughts about the Penny signing?

ultimately a success? utter failure?
somewhere in between?

Is Penny legitimate ammo for the Theo bashers?

Zenslinger said...

My naivete knows no bounds.

Well, instead of the usual jumping and slapping, it seems to me that pileup reveals some kind of running joke about actually throwing punches during the melee. You can see Pedroia giving Papi left-right uppercuts to the body, and there's some laughing about it afterward which makes me think it's a ongoing goof. I didn't mean to, y'know, correct you or anything.

I have to say that noticing the jokes among teammates is one of the fun sideshows in baseball. You can't depend on your heroes to be super articulate, or to agree with you on politics, but the gags and digs they make at each other are fun.

laura k said...

Good luck s1c, have fun!

laura k said...

Club Helsinki where I've worked for a decade is closing this weekend and fairly suddenly. Quite sad, really.

Boo. Very sad when something like that happens.

nick said...

His "unexpected dong" He drops his pants and WHOOOOOAAA!!! HE HAS ONE!

link

9casey said...

truly good design said...


Is Penny legitimate ammo for the Theo bashers?





Does a group like that exist?

laura k said...

Do Theo bashers exist? Sure! Every once in a while one of them shows up here. Remember "Theo hasn't made a deal worth doing since 2004"?

Rob said...

Heidi: "...and Manager Terry Francona told us earlier that the Red Sox have been impressed with Tazawa since Day One."

Tito: "We've been impressed with him since Day One."

Patrick said...

Arghh, I forgot about the telethon. Nothing against the jimmy fund, just shameless begging.

Patrick said...

omg! Joe Castiglione song! So funny.

9casey said...

Tito on WEEI this afternoon was hot at the guy who reported all that Bot stuff....Tito said he called Bot in his office and railed on him for a while, and then writer came back the next day and told Tito he messed it up....

Writing sports for a newspapaper seems a lot like parenting, any idiot can get the job , but how many actuallly do it well...

nick said...

They do that a lot, ish, and not just them. Happens a lot on NPR, various TV stations, etc. irks me every time.

It's a failure of a proper quote set up.

Iridescence said...

Penny was decent for a few months for a while he looked like an ok 5th starter. It didn't work out in the end but I wouldn't call it "utter failure" by any stretch.

Great lineup
SWEEP the bleached Sox!

9casey said...

Patrick said...
Arghh, I forgot about the telethon. Nothing against the jimmy fund, just shameless begging.



it's a great charity and it needs money, I believe all this shameless begging will cure cancer one day, maybe I am naive, but I believe that...

laura k said...

OTT!

Patrick said...

I'm a fan of the T-dawg. OTT

Iridescence said...

Nice start for Taz!

Unknown said...

Definitely not an utter failure, that would be Gagne in 2007 or Smoltz this season. Penny at least gave us a chance in maybe half of his starts. The fact that he was able to stay uninjured and at least keep the rotation from totally falling to pieces in July makes it an acceptable signing, but ultimately not a successful one.

Nice OTT for Taz.

laura k said...

LBJ!

charity begging > for-profit commercials

Unknown said...

Leadoff batter on, good start.

Patrick said...

charity begging > for-profit commercials

No doubt.

Unknown said...

No runs...

andy said...

9casey: "
Does a group like that exist?
"

I am jealous at your ignorance in this matter.

Theo-bashers, Tito-bashers, whoever-is-slumping-bashers...are in the very least the vocal minority of fans in boston - if not the outright majority of fans. it sucks.

Iridescence said...

"whoever-is-slumping-bashers...are in the very least the vocal minority of fans in boston"

Sports fans everywhere I think.

laura k said...

Truly Good, it does suck. This blog is a safe haven from that bullshit.

Unknown said...

Ugh

Need a K here

Iridescence said...

shit come one Taz

Zenslinger said...

Houdini, do your stuff.

allan said...

wasn't casey being sarcastic?

laura k said...

Come on harry...

Unknown said...

Crap

Come on Taz, get your shit together

laura k said...

If 9C was being sarcastic, at least I wasn't the only person to miss it!

Rob said...

The charity-begging worked on me... Looks like their logo was shiny enough to work for me. :)

Iridescence said...

this is getting ugly fast

Rob said...

RUT ROH. Lenny Clarke and Denis Leary in NESN booth.

Unknown said...

All right, not what I wanted, but it'll do

Now get the DP

Iridescence said...

Good catch by Bay

Zenslinger said...

Sac fly? Could be worse.

laura k said...

God I hate these idiots in the booth. Not funny.

Unknown said...

One more out

laura k said...

ugh

Rob said...

I can smell the smoke coming out of Allan and Laura's ears now. :)

Unknown said...

Not Good

Looks like the bats are going to have to win this game for us

Iridescence said...

damn

Unknown said...

Shit

Zenslinger said...

Nix has been hurting us.

laura k said...

more ugh

laura k said...

I can smell the smoke coming out of Allan and Laura's ears now. :)

What, booth dumbos? I'm trying to ignore them. Altho it's tough.

Rob said...

Well that combined with the, you know, 4 runs.

Unknown said...

Finally

Not a good inning

Not at all

Unknown said...

Score runs

laura k said...

No smoke coming out of my ears for those runs. Just got to get them all back.

allan said...

Flow will start it off.

Rob said...

Flow will ALMOST start it off...

Iridescence said...

damn truped good there

laura k said...

oh yeah, total trupe

allan said...

waulk

laura k said...

Don, let's not say Gagne and Wagner in the same sentence, ok?

laura k said...

I think that's spelled walque.

allan said...

best record since august 10!
suck on that, nyy!!!

Rob said...

ZOMG OMG Some emotion from DREW! Hot damn!

Rob said...

We're saved!!!!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Ugh

Unknown said...

I'm not liking where this game seems to be going

Rob said...

GROSS.

laura k said...

oh fuck

Unknown said...

FUCK

Rob said...

Well it's about time Tazawa got lit up, I guess.

Iridescence said...

I still love you Tazawa but...

Unknown said...

I really hope he can at least eat some innings and protect the pen here.

laura k said...

I have to make a phone call at 8:30, I was annoyed to have to miss the game. But now, not so much.

I hope when I come back the game is tied.

laura k said...

Holy shit, they can't even get the guy in a rundown??? No one ever survives a rundown.

I guess that's not true.

allan said...

mdc up - in the 3rd!

nick said...

I don't think I survived that rundown. urg.

Iridescence said...

Well if freaking Baltimore can come back from a 9-1 deficit the Red Sox can too.

Unknown said...

Hm

The quest to find an adequate fifth starter continues...

allan said...

we came back on balt down 7-0 on the 2nd -- we can beat these clowns too

allan said...

but we gotta start now

Iridescence said...

I'm not giving up on Taz after one bad start.

Unknown said...

Can't really blame Tazawa for having a bad outing, he's done well until now, and he really wasn't supposed to be pitching at this level this season

allan said...

one good thing i learned from the leary/clarke visit is that don uses at least 2 different coloured pens to keep score.

allan said...

winning 3 of 4 would be good for this series, but the chokers lost today, so i'd really like to win again tonight.

Anonymous said...

This game is O-V-E-R

allan said...

you're just saying that to get a rise out of me, right? well, it won't work. :>)

Rob said...

Jon Heyman tweeted: "jimmy rollins is amazing. and a winner. worth much more than just his stats."

How... Jeterian of him!

allan said...

remy says beckham caught that at the "apex of his leap". don says he's impressed with the use of the word "apex".

remy: "that came to me as i was staring at a wall a month ago"

allan said...

yeah, it's not like stats tell you anything about what he does ON THE FIELD DURING GAMES TO HELP HIS TEAM WIN.

Iridescence said...

"Jon Heyman tweeted: "jimmy rollins is amazing. and a winner. worth much more than just his stats."

Perhaps an appearance of the mythical black scrappy/gritty player?

allan said...

4-10-9-1-2, 85.

allan said...

FIRE!

here we come

Unknown said...

FIRE!!!

Iridescence said...

Drew leading the dong train tonight!

Rob said...

A small fire has started.

Rob said...

UNEXPECTED DONG!!

allan said...

BASS O FUCKIN' MATIC!!!!!

Iridescence said...

Fishy dong!

efd said...

Only eight more HRs to go!

nick said...

Has anyone mentioned A-Gon's ability to pull a dong out of his ass?

score!

Unknown said...

And Sea Bass!

And an LBJ single!

allan said...

Has anyone mentioned A-Gon's ability to pull a dong out of his ass?

No.

Iridescence said...

Getting an audience of baserunners before you show your dongs would help, guys :)

allan said...

NOW we need a big blue light dong

Iridescence said...

like now for instance

Rob said...

Need to flash as many people as you can. With your dong.

Unknown said...

So, we're going with the one-out rally tonight instead of the two-out rally?

Fine by me

nick said...

August is the month of the dong.

nick said...

No.

good. then I won't either.

allan said...

2 out - you know what to do

nick said...

2-out...sweet sweet sweat. yes. please.

Rob said...

Don: "Finds himself in a hole, nothing and two."

A hole just large enough for a sweaty dong?

allan said...

fuck

fuckin' fy - shoulda stayed put

Iridescence said...

damn

Rob said...

That was STUPID. But one of those two were going to be out in that situation. At least Ellsbury tried hard to bail out Pedey.

Unknown said...

Shit

Overly aggressive on the bases...

nick said...

what the hell? listening to the radio and didn't catch all of that. ah.. GDGD. rundown and then throw to home?

Iridescence said...

Yeah Dustin's fault, should have stayed put considering the score.

allan said...

LBJ out of game!

allan said...

remy thought lyndon might have turned an ankle.

A Conformer said...

Just joining in. Oy.

allan said...

it's gettin' late, boys.

... run(s).

A Conformer said...

I'm watching on the MLB Network. They're not bad.

allan said...

a poem:

that girl is cute
but gba = mute

A Conformer said...

Oh, apparently, one of the guys in the booth is Jim Kaat. So that makes some sense. He was talking about how he did the Lester-Halladay matchup in July.

allan said...

NICK GREEN up in pen???????

Rob said...

Nick Green no longer up in the pen.

A Conformer said...

Tito is taking Green's supersub status too seriously. Left field is cool, but bullpen duty?

allan said...

i think he is warmed up.

he pitches the 8th
we score 10
and he gets the win

Unknown said...

"NICK GREEN up in pen???????"

Seriously?

SS, 3B, 2B, LF, P

So I guess this means the next item on his list of utility player positions would be catcher?

Amy said...

I am here and not happy with the score. I leave you people in charge for one night and THIS happens?

A Conformer said...

So I guess this means the next item on his list of utility player positions would be catcher?

Wouldn't catcher come before pitcher in the logical evolution of things?

allan said...

we saved the comeback until you came by.

***

rogers commercial: "it's an AL east battle when the blue jays visit fenway ..."

yeah!

Unknown said...

Wouldn't catcher come before pitcher in the logical evolution of things?

Since when does logic matter in things such as these?

GDGD says he's coming in!

A Conformer said...

Go Green Go!

Amy said...

Why is Nick Green pitching?? Did we use everyone else up?

Amy said...

He threw a strike!

allan said...

5th starter, baby!

efd said...

Lusty cheers from the crowd

Amy said...

He is SO cute! HE can pitch to me ANY time!

A Conformer said...

I'd say this is an extension of playoff assassin Tito. Or maybe his bizarro version.

Iridescence said...

"Why is Nick Green pitching?? Did we use everyone else up?"

Tito's waved the white flag on this game apparently. I don't really agree with the move.

Unknown said...

90 mph fastball, not bad

And he gets the leadoff batter out!

Amy said...

But seriously....why is he pitching?

allan said...

i sense a standing ovation.

A Conformer said...

He is SO cute! HE can pitch to me ANY time!

I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole (-;

efd said...

Green with an 0:2 ground-out to fly-out ratio

Amy said...

So Tito concedes the game? Weird move.

Amy said...

Of course, so far it looks brilliant. First two get out.

Amy said...

HE can touch me with a ten foot pole anytime...

A Conformer said...

Man, he's got some nice movement on his pitches. What was that 80mph pitch?

allan said...

remy: "you may have the 9th, don, you better get down and loosen up"

Unknown said...

Anybody know the last time the Sox used two position players as pitchers in a single season?

Unknown said...

"What was that 80mph pitch?"

GDGD says slider

allan said...

i'll donate 100 bux to the telethon if orsillo pitches the 9th!

Amy said...

So did Green pitch in college? High school? Little League?

A Conformer said...

Does he come out for the 9th?

allan said...

thought it might have been curve.

Unknown said...

Scoreless inning!

Let's get him a win!

A Conformer said...

GDGD says slider

Yeah, it kinda looked like a slider, I guess. Impressive.

allan said...

bot in the 9th for the save - after we get 10 here.

Unknown said...

"thought it might have been curve."

Considering how notoriously unreliable GDGD is at determining pitches, you are probably correct.

allan said...

is he on a pitch count?

he's at 14.

Unknown said...

If Green can pitch that makes his .300 OBP seem acceptable.

Rob said...

Mild left ankle sprain for LBJ.

allan said...

mild left ankle sprain for lbj

A Conformer said...

bot in the 9th for the save - after we get 10 here.

I'll settle for 8. Even 7.

allan said...

green: "mccarty can't carry my jock"

allan said...

okay - we may need the 9th

A Conformer said...

Nick Green= designated pitcher.

allan said...

pen is quiet

A Conformer said...

6 to go.

Unknown said...

Half-dong!

Amy said...

Good to see Papi hitting with power!

efd said...

Here we come!

allan said...

douuble.

9casey said...

These games with the white sox have gone pretty fast.....was I being sarcastic, yes and no, I sometimes assume the people who ask those questions are the bashers, I shouldn't assume......its just really hard to bash the GM with 2 rings and multiple playoff apperances......

I want Nick Green to be a Red Sox forever...

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