Schadenfreude 83 (A Continuing Series)

Darren Everson, Wall Street Journal:

Since [the new Yankee Stadium] opened in April, scads of empty seats in prime locations have compelled the team to cut prices. Tickets to a recent Boston Red Sox game, usually a hot item, were selling for $8 on StubHub ...

What if this $1.5 billion ballpark doesn't help the team? Is it possible that this magnificent facility could fail? ...

The new Yankee Stadium has seemed cursed from the beginning, as if Babe Ruth disapproved of the abandonment of the house he built. That it opened during a recession, with a major-league-high $72.97 average price for a nonpremium ticket (up 76% over 2008, according to Team Marketing Report) has created contempt among fans who otherwise love the team. ...

"They've made almost every mistake you can make," says Roger Noll, a professor of economics emeritus at Stanford. "There's nothing that's been as unpopular as this."

The Yankees may set a new record for consecutive non-sellouts.

A WSJ comment from Paul Cenzoprano (who named "Jetter" among the team's great players):

I am standing up today, while the team is suffering to say a the Stadium is great, a tribute to baseball, and a national treasure; furthermore the Yankees are, as I write this, scraping the season back together and will be successful this season. The team owes it to those who dedicated years of effort poured into this new great stadium. Built with heart and soul, the new Yankee Stadium deserves nothing less then ever ounce of this teams heart and soul poured back into it and into this season.

Is this parody? I fear it is not.

Last night at the National Treasure, the Yankees went wild celebrating the fact that they are one game over .500:

G36: Mariners 5, Red Sox 4

Red Sox  - 112 000 000 - 4  8  0
Mariners - 000 014 00x - 5 11  2

Lester was hurt by the long ball again -- Ichiro Suzuki hit dongs in consecutive innings -- and the Red Sox bats came up empty against the Seattle pen, including last night's closer, David Aardsma.

In 47 innings this season, Lester has given up 10 home runs. He allowed only 14 in 210.1 innings last year.

Bright spots: Jacoby Ellsbury and J.D. Drew both went 3-for-5. Lyndon doubled, tripled and singled in the first four innings. Daniel Bard pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, getting out of a self-made jam in the seventh; he did not record a strikeout.

***

Jon Lester (6.31, 79 ERA+) / Chris Jakubauskas (7.67, 60 ERA+)

After a nice game against the Yankees, Lester was pummeled in his last start, allowing eight runs and 10 hits to Tampa Bay in 4.1 innings.

Jakubauskas suffered similar abuse from the Twins in his last outing (4.1-8-9-3-0, 103). (It's a shame we can't hear Jerry Remy attempt to pronounce the rookie right-hander's name tonight.) Seattle has lost nine of its last 10 games.

As noted earlier, David Ortiz has the night off.

The Seattle area could be called Red Sox West:

Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.), Jeff Bailey (Longview, Wash.), Jon Lester (Tacoma, Wash.), and Jacoby Ellsbury (Madras, Ore.) all hail from the Pacific Northwest. Jed Lowrie (Salem, Ore.) would be on the list, but he's back in Boston rehabbing his left wrist.

Bailey lived in Seattle for a few offseaons, and Bay lives there now in the offseason; his wife is from Seattle.

Surprise! Javier Lopez cleared waivers and was sent to Pawtucket. I would have thought one team would take him.

Thanks to Center Field for this bit on Daniel Bard's ardent admirers.

***

Also: Manny Ramirez had no traces of hCG in his system, but he is not in the clear (no pun intended) by any means. ... Jim Leyritz, awaiting trial on DUI manslaughter charges, reportedly threatened suicide and voluntarily checked himself into a psychiatric ward.

"Big Donkey" Mystery Solved!

You may recall that I have been stumped in trying to find out where we got the nickname "The Big Donkey" for Justin Masterson. No one here made it up, so it must have come from one of the Red Sox players last year.

A web search turned up absolutely nothing (except for my question about it during spring training) and my only use of the word "donkey" at this blog was in a political post from May 2004. One reader thought Tim Wakefield had used it during last year's ALDS against the Angels. So I decided to go through comments from last year's playoffs.

During ALDS 3:

redsock, 10:58 PM: "every day masterson. big donkey time."

ish, 11:01 PM: "BIG DONKEY > BIG DUMMY"

Going back to ALDS 2:

redsock, 12:27 AM: "Hunter gonna be hella angry after the Big Donkey takes care of him."

I was clearly on the trail, but then there was nothing in ALCS 1 or in any previews. So I started going back through the regular season (really hoping I would not have to keep going to early August or something).

Then, on September 24, 2008, in the first post to G158 -- the game after we qualified for the playoffs -- I put up that night's lineup with this:

Sayeth Justin "The Big Donkey" Masterson: "Youkilis is a pansy."

I clicked the link -- it's a video and it still works -- and there it is:

Sean Casey, in the clubhouse, with Masterson:

We're here in the clubhouse after clinching the wild card, and we got The Big Donkey here, Justin Masterson, look how big this guy is.

It was the Mayor! Mystery solved!

Listen To Me

I will be a (brief) guest tomorrow morning on "The Baseball Show". The three-hour program airs each Saturday morning (9AM-Noon) on both Comcast Sportsnet and WEEI.

As part of its "Web Sox Nation" segment, TBS has been inviting three Red Sox bloggers to talk about a topic being discussed at their sites. The segment airs at 9:55 AM and each blogger will be on for a minute or so. If you can't listen, I'll have a link to the audio later.

Facing The Unknown

Back in September 2004, I asked:

Do other teams' bats go ice-cold more often than they logically should and make bad/unknown pitchers like Gil Meche and Bobby Madritsch look like Cy Young Jr.?

A few days earlier, Madritsch, in only his 7th career start, had thrown eight shutout innings against Boston. (His career would last only five more games.)

On Wednesday night in Anaheim, 30-year-old rookie Matt Palmer overcame some initial trouble to methodically mow down the Red Sox, pitching a complete game and retiring 22 of his last 23 batters. It was his 7th major league appearance.

We haven't heard it much in recent years, but it used to be a fairly common refrain: Any time the Red Sox faced some unknown pitcher, their bats would go limp. It seemed like it always happened.

But did it?

Thanks to Baseball Reference's amazing Play Index, we can definitively answer that question.

I searched for every Red Sox game since 1995 in which the opposing pitcher had fewer than 15 career appearances (relief or starts), pitched at least seven innings against Boston and allowed two or fewer runs.

It has happened 27 times against Boston in those 15 years, and 11 times since 2000. There is a mix of the now well-known (Scott Kazmir, Cliff Lee, Tim Hudson), the never-becames (Jason Stanford, Delvin James, Madritsch) and some in between guys (Rolando Arrojo!). In one instance, it happened twice in the same series: Stanford and Lee in September 2003. But Boston won both games, each by a 2-0 score!

(This was an arbitrary benchmark -- after all, Palmer went nine and allowed four. In case you are wondering, here are two more lists: 6 IP/3 R outings (68 since 1995 and 32 since 2000; not really the kind of shutdown outing we used to shake our heads at) and 7 IP/3 R games (32 since 1995 and 13 since 2000).)

The perception that this annoying phenominon has abated in recent years is backed up by the evidence. In the last three full seasons (2006-08), it happened only once. But this April, it happened twice in a span of four games (Oakland's Brett Anderson and Baltimore's Koji Uehara)!

So the next question is: how often does this happen to other teams? I looked at the AL East and then picked some random teams:

         >15 GMS; 7 IP; 2 or Fewer RA
                1995-09   2000-09
  
Red Sox            27        11
Yankees            19        11
Blue Jays          36        22
Orioles            32        21
(Devil) Rays       24        22
  
White Sox          32        20
Rangers            33        20
Angels             33        20
Cubs               39        21
Cardinals          33        20
Expos/Nationals    40        21
Astros             39        22
Rockies            31        20

Notes: The Devil Rays began play in 1998. ... It happened to the Yankees three times in a two-week stretch in 2006. The only Red Sox pitcher on New York's list? Brian Rose. ... The Expos/Nationals list has four pitchers appearing twice: A.J. Burnett, Anibal Sanchez, Horacio Ramirez and Sean Burnett.

So, despite the obvious frustration at being shut down by a pitcher you may never have heard of before, this clearly has not happened more often to the Red Sox. In fact, it happens far less.

Here is a list of pitchers (in their first 15 games) who started against the Red Sox and did not last more than three innings. That outcome is more common.

Ortiz Will Get Tonight Off

David Ortiz, after yesterday's game:

I'm sorry guys, I don't feel like talking now. Just put down, "Papi stinks."

At the plate:

 1st: K, man on second, 2nd out
 3rd: L9, man on second, 1st out
 4th: K, bases loaded, 3rd out
 6th: K, man on second, 3rd out
 8th: F7, men on first/third, 3rd out
10th: 3U, man on second, 3rd out
12th: 2-3, bases loaded, 3rd out

It was Ortiz's worst day in a Red Sox uniform. One hard-hit ball in seven trips to the plate, 12 men left on base (tying a franchise record for futility), an inning-ending out in each of his last five at-bats. When the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out in the 12th, I wished we could skip Flo's spot in the order and have Bay bat after Pedroia. I never thought I'd say that, but he looked defeated even before he stepped into the batters box.

Ortiz (.208/.318/.300) will get the night off as Boston plays in Seattle; his only other day off this year was on May 7. But then what? In addition to any troubles with his swing or pitch recognition, Ortiz's emotional state is also shot. Even if the Red Sox decide to DL him -- he did get hit on the wrist the other day -- that is simply another pause button to postpone dealing with this problem.

Ortiz showed some signs of live in a nine-game stretch in late April, when he hit .316 (but with zero walks). And while he is walking more in May, his batting and slugging averages are worse this month than in April. No matter how much regular playing time the Red Sox decide to give him to get back on track, he cannot continue to hit #3.

Say the Red Sox move him to #5 in the order (where he spent most of his time in 2003), and nothing changes for another month? I cannot see them releasing or trading him. Do they go with a platoon at DH, giving Youkilis, Drew, Kotsay, Lowell, etc. an occasional day-off -- and use a roster spot for a part-time, DH-only player? Do they give some DH time to Carter and Bailey? Do they look for a bat outside the organization?

The best solution would be if Ortiz can start hitting again -- even a repeat of 2008 would be welcome -- but judging from both his performance and body language over the past few days, he's got a long way to go.

I guess we'll take this one game at a time. And David Ortiz will watch tonight's contest from the bench.

G35: Angels 5, Red Sox 4 (12)

Red Sox - 011 100 010 000 - 4 15  0
Angels  - 102 000 100 001 - 5 11  0

17 LOB. 3-for-22 with RISP.

Opposites:

Julio Lugo: 5-for-6
David Ortiz: 0-for-7, 12 LOB

***

Brad Penny (6.90, 72 ERA+) / Ervin Santana (2008: 3.49, 127 ERA+)

Instead of facing Joe Saunders, we get Santana, who will make his 2009 debut.

Santana was sidelined by a collateral ligament sprain in his right elbow during spring training. David Ortiz is 5-for-9 against Santana: .556/.636/1.111. It's time to get that big bat going.

***

When Daniel Bard (the bringer of cheese) came out of the pen for his major league debut last night, the Angels had runners men on second and third:

"To be honest with you, I thought there was just a guy on second until the third pitch I threw. Then I looked over and saw Hunter on third. I hope Farrell doesn't see this.

G34: Angels 8, Red Sox 4

Red Sox - 220 000 000 - 4  5  0
Angels  - 005 111 00x - 8 14  0

The night started well. Nine pitches into the game, Boston had a 2-0 lead, thanks to Jason Bay's 10th home run of the year. In the second, after Palmer issued two full-count walks and Nick Green doubled and Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out, the Red Sox led 4-0.

After that, only one Boston hitter reached base. Bay singled with one out in the third and was immediately erased on a double play. Palmer (9-5-4-2-8, 109) retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced, striking out five of the final seven. (It's been awhile since we complained about a relative unknown pitcher shutting down the Sox.)

The Angels sent ten men to the plate against Wakefield (4.2-11-7-3-2, 91) in the third. The first five reached base and scored, with Mike Napoli's three-run dong being the big blow.

Daniel Bard (#60) made his major league debut in the sixth inning, relieving Hunter Jones with runners at second and third and no outs. He struck out Napoli on three high fastballs (96, 96, 98), gave up a sacrifice fly, then got a grounder to end the inning. In the seventh, he was touched for a single and walk, but showed poise and pitched out of trouble. His line: 2-2-0-1-1, 38 (charts).

He looked great. All of his pitches were around the plate -- in the seventh inning, he had the Angels left-handed hitters Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins swinging defensively and fouling balls off to the third base side -- and it was amazing to see 98 mph heaters come out of such a smooth and easy delivery.

***

Tim Wakefield (2.92, 170 ERA+) / Matt Palmer (3.06, 157 ERA+)

Palmer has made six major league starts, three with the Giants last season (8.53 ERA in 12.2 innings) and three so far in 2009 with the Angels.

MLB.com says that Palmer continues "to baffle hitters with the movement on his cut fastball and sinker while mixing in off-speed stuff. ... he feels he has found a new approach by improving his mechanics and getting a more direct path to home plate."

How often does David Ortiz think about having hit no home runs in 146 plate appearances?

Every day. Every day. Sleeping. Eating. Having breakfast. It's bad. You've got guys around the league that don't even have home run swings and they're hitting home runs like crazy. You think about it. You think, whoa, what's up?

Also: Yankees/Blue Jays at 7.

Lou Merloni's Steroid Accusations

I assume everyone has heard this by now.

Last Saturday morning, May 9, Lou Merloni said the following on Comcast SportsNet's The Baseball Show (first reported at Dirt Dogs):

I'm in spring training, and I got an 8:30-9:00 meeting in the morning. I walk into that office, and this happened while I was with the Boston Red Sox before this last regime, I'm sitting in the meeting. There's a doctor up there and he's talking about steroids, and everyone was like "here we go, we're gonna sit here and get the whole thing -- they're bad for you." No. He spins it and says "you know what, if you take steroids and sit on the couch all winter long, you can actually get stronger than someone who works out clean, if you're going to take steroids, one cycle won't hurt you, abusing steroids it will." He sat there for one hour and told us how to properly use steroids while I'm with the Boston Red Sox, sitting there with the rest of the organization, and after this I said "what the heck was that?" And everybody on the team was like "what was that?" And the response we got was "well, we know guys are taking it, so we want to make sure they're taking it the right way" ... Where did that come from? That didn't come from the Player's Association.

The following evening, the Globe's Nick Cafardo noted that Merloni

did not remember who the doctor was who spoke to the team [though he says it was not Dr. Arthur Pappas] ... [and] couldn't remember whether the meeting took place in 2001 or whether it was in his first stint with the Red Sox in 1996-1997.

Cafardo also spoke with former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette:

It's totally unfounded. Who was the doctor? Tell me who the doctor is? If there was such a doctor he wasn't in the employ of the Red Sox. We brought in doctors to educate the players on the major league drug policy at the time at the recommendation of major league baseball. This is so ridiculous I hate to even respond to it.

Troy O'Leary, who played for the Red Sox from 1995-2001:

Don't really remember anything like that. I remember the normal union meetings in spring training where they'd talk about drugs and steroids, and I remember doctors talking negatively about them, but I don't remember ever hearing anything like OK, this is the right way to do steroids. If that happened I missed that one.

Merloni and Duquette also appeared on WEEI (partial transcript).

Duke says the club never encouraged players to take steroids, but

We had people come in and educate players about the risks of utilizing steroids. Yes we did. I thought that was very important. A lot of guys that started using steroids and didn't have medical access to them, there was a lot of health risks ... I thought the most important part of any program that a team could have was educating the players, educating players to the choices they were making, so that they could make an educated choice and avert the health risk. The comment made on Saturday implied that the club was encouraging steroid use or steroid abuse. That wasn't the case.

And Merloni replies:

That's the way some people took it. They took it as someone was up there showing you where to put the needle. That wasn't the case ... I explained it with the analogy of trying to teach your teenage daughter about safe sex. You're not happy that she's having sex, but at the same point, you're going to educate her how to have safe sex. ... you're acknowledging the fact that, you know what, I'm not happy about it, but it's going on.

Absent a video or audio recording of this meeting, any resolution seems highly unlikely. The comments directly above do not sound all that different. Educating players to avoid health risks regarding steroids certainly could be perceived by those players as tacit approval from the club.

SoSher behindthepen:

Mitchell did not find evidence of or allegations of players getting guidance from the teams. But if you read the section starting on pg 77, it's pretty clear that the MLBPA and some people within MLB were pretty supportive of the idea of using PED's, with presentations saying that there is no known health risk, etc. Given that, to me it's not a stretch to believe what Merloni said actually happened. (Mitchell report)

To my knowledge, MLB has not requested a meeting with Merloni -- or made a comment of any kind regarding these accusations.

Another Impressive Outing For Buchholz

Pawtucket managed only one hit in ten innings today (10:30 AM start) and lost to Toledo 1-0, but Clay Buchholz turned in yet another impressive performance.

Buchholz pitched eight innings, allowing four hits, no walks, and no runs. He struck out 11. He threw 93 pitches (71 strikes/22 balls). In his six PawSox starts this year, he has a 1.03 ERA -- and has now pitched 21.1 consecutive scoreless innings.

Scrolling through SoSH's game thread, HH threw only seven balls through the first four innings, racking up eight strikeouts with a fastball that topped out at 96. Also, from SoxScout:

Toledo radio went over and asked PawSox radio if it was a screwball because Buch's changeup has been so crazy.... which is weird, he usually throw a straight change.

Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Nothing

Roger Clemens is back in the news -- appearing on ESPN radio yesterday morning and denying (yet again) every single drug accusation against him.

Clemens is fighting back against the information in the just-published "American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime", a book written by a quartet of Daily News reporters. (The book has already won an Associated Press Sports Editors award for Best Investigative Reporting.)

Mike Lupica, Daily News:

To the end, Roger Clemens wants you to believe his version of things as much as he believes it himself.

Clemens took a whole year off from telling his story but was back at it Tuesday on the "Mike and Mike" show on ESPN Radio. The story hasn't changed very much ... referring to "American Icon," Clemens said, "I've seen excerpts from the book and they're completely false."

He didn't say which false excerpts he'd read. But then once you get Clemens off his talking points, almost everything becomes a brain buster.

Gene Grabowski, Billy's latest PR man (his third since the Mitchell Report was released), told ESPN radio that he knew Clemens was not lying because he "looked him in the eye".

There's not much to report from the radio interview. It's the same as before: everyone else everywhere is lying, but Roger is telling the truth. I did love Billy's comment that he'd never use drugs because "our family has a history of heart conditions. ... My stepdad died of a heart attack".

I have not seen it quoted anywhere, but a SoSHer said he heard Clemens say he had his son watch one of his MLB drug tests so the boy could see how "evasive" it was. I assume Clemens meant "invasive".

Ortiz Says Wrist Is Fine

David Ortiz was hit on the left wrist with a pitch in the eighth inning last night -- in the same location where he was injured last year.

I'm all right. A little sore, but it's OK. ... After a little while I was feeling a little bit of tingling, but after a little while it was fine.

He expects to play tonight.

Ortiz also talked about his struggles at the plate, as well as Manny Ramirez's suspension:

This situation [and confused] shocked me. ... This news here, he needs to speak out and let people know what's up, so people understand, because that's another thing that gets people confused. He hasn't said anything.

The Red Sox finally put Kevin Youkilis (bruised and tight left oblique) on the disabled list, retroactive to May 5. He will be eligible to play next Wednesday. Gil Velazquez was called up.

G33: Red Sox 4, Angels 3

Red Sox - 010 000 021 - 4  8  2
Angels  - 100 100 100 - 3  6  0

The night owls were rewarded with a win (at 1:27 AM) as the Red Sox tied the game in the eighth and Jason Varitek doubled home J.D. Drew in the top of the ninth for what turned out to be the winning run.

Boston trailed 3-1 after seven innings (the one run was a Drew dong to center). Facing Jose Arredondo, Varitek popped to shortstop, but Nick Green and Jacoby Ellsbury singled and Julio Lugo walked. Bases loaded. Exit Arredondo, enter Darren Oliver. David Ortiz fell behind 1-2, then was hit on the left wrist, forcing home a run. Oliver turned things over to Scot Shields and Jason Bay tied the game with a grounder to second.

In the Los Angeles eighth, Ramon Ramirez (aka Pedro) was forced to deal with a base runner thanks to an inning-opening fielding error by Lugo, but Ram-Ram left the runner on second.

In the ninth, Drew singled to left-center off Shields (on an 0-2 pitch). After Jeff Bailey lined out to center (Torii Hunter's 8th putout of the night), Varitek doubled to the gap in right-center, giving Boston its first lead of the game. Jonathan Papelbon walked Bobby Abreu with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but then fanned Hunter to save the win.

Earlier: Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees 5-1, so New York drops to 6.5 GB, while Boston remains 1 GB.

Before the game, Kevin Youkilis was put on the disabled list, retroactive to May 5. Gil Velazquez was called up.

***

Justin Masterson (5.28, 94 ERA+) / Jered Weaver (2.66, 181 ERA+)

After playing on 17 consecutive days (and going 11-6), the Red Sox rested in Anaheim on Monday before beginning their second (and last) west coast trip of the regular season tonight. This weekend's series against the Mariners is their only visit to Seattle.

Kevin Youkilis may return to the lineup tonight; he last played on Monday, May 4. Dustin Pedroia (strained groin) will likely not play.

MLB.com:

Weaver is coming off his first career complete game last Thursday, when he limited the explosive Blue Jays to one run and three hits while striking out eight. Weaver faced just three batters over the minimum, tying up hitters with a slider he said was as good as he's ever had during the course of a game. ... Weaver beat the Red Sox in his season debut at home on April 10, holding them to one unearned run in 6.2 innings while striking out eight and walking two.

In his last 8.2 innings of work, Hideki Okajima has allowed only three hits and no runs (six appearances), with 10 strikeouts. Terry Francona:

He's locating the fastball, both sides of the plate, to both types of hitters. [Sunday] he threw a great split. He's real confident in his command right now. If he falls behind he still throws the ball to the location he wants to - that 87 or 88 looks a lot harder. It's a lot of swings and misses.

AAA: Pawtucket collected 20 hits and beat Columbus 9-1. Michael Bowden allowed one earned run in 7.1 inning -- and his ERA went up, to 1.06. ... On Sunday, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched four shutout innings (58 pitches), allowing four hits and two walks; he had no strikeouts.

***

The first-place Blue Jays host the Yankees at 7 PM: Burnett/Halladay. ...
If you watched YES, you would have no idea that Alex Rodriguez was mixed up with that silly steroids nonsense and would naturally assume that every single baseball fan -- even those on the road -- is cheering his return. P.S. Michael Kay is still loathsome.

UPI: Pedro Pitching In Red Sox Bullpen

United Press International insists that he raised his 2009 record to 3-0 by getting credit for Boston's last victory -- Sunday's 4-3 win over Tampa Bay.

As I post this, UPI has had that story up for more than 33 hours.

Schadenfreude 82 (A Continuing Series)

Watch it while you can!

In Sunday's game, Aubrey Huff mashed a three-run tater off Joba Chamberlain and then mocked JtC's fist pump not once (0:11), but twice (0:25)!

[Video no longer available]

Get your own personal copy here (flv file).

Offday Outtakes - Joni Mitchell

Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns (Demos)

01. Harry's House
02. Edith and the Kingpin
03. In France They Kiss on Main Street
04. Sweet Bird 
05. Shades of Scarlett Conquering
06. Shadows and Light
07. Dreamland
08. Boho Dance
09. Hunter (The Good Samaritan)

These songs were recorded in the spring of 1975.

***

Fans of The Jam should check out what TUBE has uploaded in the past few weeks. ... And click here for a session featuring Burt "Boy Wonder" Ward and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention from 1966.

G32: Red Sox 4, Rays 3

Rays    - 100 011 000 - 3  7  0
Red Sox - 010 200 01x - 4  9  2

Jonathan Papelbon got himself into a bit of a jam in the top of the ninth, walking Akinori Iwamura, committing an error on a pick-off attempt and allowing a single to shallow center to Jason Bartlett.

Bot struck out pinch-hitter Carlos Pena (cbbbs) and Bartlett stole second on strike three without a throw. Second and third, one out, one-run lead. Papelbon (sfb) fanned B.J. Upton on an inside fastball at 95, then he got Carl Crawford (bsbs) swinging at a 97 mph heater.

David Ortiz got the game-winning rally going in the eighth when he doubled off the left field wall off Brian Shouse. Dan Wheeler came in and gave up a double to Jason Bay (who doubled and scored Boston's first run in the second). The two fourth inning runs were on doubles by Jeff Bailey and Jason Varitek (and a fielding error on a popup by Iwamura). Five of Boston's seven hits were doubles.

Dustin Pedroia left the game in the fourth inning with a strained groin, something that has been bothering him for about a week.

The Red Sox flew to Anaheim after the game. A six-game road trip against the Angels and Mariners starts Tuesday night.

***

To make room for Daniel Bard on the roster, Javier Lopez was designated for assignment. It's time to dance!

***

Matt Garza (3.51, 137 ERA+) / Josh Beckett (6.75, 74 ERA+)

Rocco Baldelli, on former teammate Garza:

When he's on, he's throwing a 97 mile-an-hour two-seamer, which is tough on everyone -- lefties and righties, it really doesn't matter. When he's throwing his breaking ball for strikes, whether it be his slider or his curveball, he's tough. ... You just hope you maybe catch him on an off day.

In two starts so far this season, Boston is batting .102 against Garza. Only Jacoby Ellsbury (.421) has a career batting average above .200 (stats).

Kevin Youkilis will make it an even week on the bench by sitting out tonight, and using the off-day Monday to get ready to return on Tuesday in Anaheim. He also doesn't mind if Jason Bay takes his #4 spot in the order:

If he's going to hit the way he is, he can stay there. I'll hit anywhere in the lineup except for leadoff. I don't mind. I'll hit sixth, I don't mind. I've hit there before. I don't think it bothers any of these guys here. It's such a good lineup. I'll hit sixth, seventh -- I don't care. It's actually better to hit sixth or seventh, you get more RBIs [in this lineup].

Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his second rehab start for Pawtucket today, in Columbus, Ohio. ... Baldelli's home run on Saturday was only the second dong hit by a Rhode Island native as a member of the Red Sox; Lefty LeFebvre homered in his first major league plate appearance on June 10, 1938.

NYY/BAL at 1:30 and TOR/OAK at 4.

Daniel Bard Called Up

Hot damn!

Joe McDonald, Projo:

It appears the Daniel Bard Era is about to begin.

The Red Sox have not made an official announcement, but Bard is expected to be at Fenway Park Sunday night for the series finale against the Rays.

The 23-year-old right-hander was original selected as the Sox' second pick of the first round (28th overall) in the 2006 draft.

This highly-touted prospect has been outstanding for the PawSox this season. He's 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 6 saves in 11 games. He has struck out 29 batters in 16 innings and can easily reach 100 MPH on the radar gun. He's been the closer for Pawtucket.

The Red Sox will not only have to take someone off the 25-man roster in Boston to make room for Bard, but they'll also have to make a move to put Bard on the 40-man roster.

This is interesting because on Thursday afternoon SoSHer j44thor wrote that:

Theo was on the CSN Baseball show over the weekend and said that Bard is still weeks to months from being moved up. He said that Bard could get out MLB batters with just his fastball right now but they want to see him work on his slider as they feel it can also be a wipeout pitch at the next level. ...

I wouldn't be surprised to see Bard up sooner than Theo hinted but at the same time he is on a very structured pitching program and has yet to face adversity in AAA something the FO typically likes to see them handle before promotion.

Bard's AAA stats.

Schadenfreude 81 (A Continuing Series)

Mike Vaccaro, Post:

It was a tough night. It was a lousy night. It was a grisly night. ... Phil Hughes was brutal, throwing BP during his brief stint and refusing to compete. The bullpen was just as bad, the lack of toughness throughout the batting order apparent.

It was 8-0 after an eight-run second inning, and then 9-0, and then 11-1 ...

And, oh yes: A-Rod went 0-for-3 with a walk, meaning he's now 0-for-6 after that feel-good blast, which is far less an indictment of Rodriguez -- you want to see what a really hideous start to a season looks like, have a gander at Mark Teixeira's numbers -- than it is another unwanted cue that having him back in the fold makes the Yankees better, but doesn't make them good.

George A. King III, Post:

... in two starts since he debuted with six scoreless innings against the Tigers, Hughes is 0-2 with a 17.49 ERA. In 5.2 innings over those two starts, he has allowed 15 hits, six walks and plunked a batter. ...

[Girardi said] "The talent is in there."

But it's hidden very deep at this point.

John Harper, Daily News:

Maybe these Yankees just aren't very good.

At the very least, the season has an ominous feel to it. They are already reeling from injuries, the latest being Ian Kennedy's aneurysm in his pitching arm that could finish him for the season at a time when he had been dominating hitters at Triple-A.

And now Joe Girardi isn't sure what to expect today from Joba Chamberlain, who popped a blood vessel in the thumb of his pitching hand while tossing a ball in from the outfield during batting practice Saturday night.

Yikes. Is this an era destined to be remembered someday as The Curse of Joe Torre?

Meanwhile, the Mets are in first place!

G31: Rays 14, Red Sox 5

Rays    - 200 065 100 - 14 17  2
Red Sox - 010 022 000 -  5 10  1

Work pulled me away from this one in the third inning, so I missed all of the fun. Toronto beat Oakland 6-4. We are 1 GB.

***

Scott Kazmir (6.00, 80 ERA+) / Jon Lester (5.11, 98 ERA+)

Terry Francona, on Friday's game:

All of a sudden, we get a couple of baserunners, and there's Jason Bay again.

Bay's last three home runs, and four of his last five, have been three-run dongs. All nine of his home runs this season have come in the sixth inning or later. He has driven in 12 runs in the last five games. Over his last 15 games, dating back to April 24, he is hitting .385/.508/.788.

Bay:

I don't like to look at my numbers. I don't jump on the Internet every morning or tear through the stats pages. It's a long season. It would be counterproductive to focus on today.

Kevin Youkilis and Bay and 1-2 in the American League in OBP, OPS and Offensive Winning Pct.; they are 2-3 in slugging. Bay is 1st in Runs Created and 2nd in both RBI and walks.

He is comfortable in Boston:

It was nice to go into Spring Training and just be another guy. I wasn't the novelty. I was just a regular left fielder of the Red Sox. I relish that. I really like blending in with the team and being another guy on this team rather than the standout news story.

John Tomase, Herald:

Jason Bay's 2-year-old daughter Addison recently added a new phrase to her vocabulary, and it couldn't have come at a better time: "Home run, da da."

"She says it about 50 times a day when the game's on," Bay joked. "She's bound to be right sometimes."

Sometimes? Red Sox fans would agree it feels like she's right all the time.

Also last night, Pawtucket's Clay Buchholz allowed only one hit over seven innings and struck out eight. He has allowed only three hits in his last 12.1 innings of work. Overall, in five starts (27 innings), Buchholz has a 1.33 ERA.

I got a hold of a couple of things that I didn't have a grasp of last year. I'm not really sure what it will take to get back to the Majors. I feel like I'm really in my prime right now.

Dom DiMaggio (1917-2009): Globe obit and photos -- Pesky talks -- Video from Fenway -- Times obit.

***

Most Red Sox Wins By Manager

                  Wins     Seasons
Joe Cronin       1,071     1935-47
Mike Higgins       560     1955-59; 60-62
Terry Francona     489     2004-present
Bill Carrigan      489     1913-16; 27-29

If the Red Sox win another 72 games this year, which would give them 91 victories, Tito will move past Pinky Hggins into second place.