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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:

  1. David Brown, Morning Juice on Yahoo!:

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

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  2. 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?

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  3. I heard the Rockies are very interested in Penny.

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  4. TEX - 000 30
    MFY - 100 10

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

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  5. 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!

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  6. Nice.

    TEX - 000 300 3
    MFY - 100 100

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  7. 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.

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  8. TEX - 000 300 310
    MFY - 100 100 00

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  9. 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?

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

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

    Down to 5.5!

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  12. 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.

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  13. Seabass switched




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

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  14. I approve of tonight's lineup.

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  15. 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.

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  16. 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!!!

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  17. 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.

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  18. LMAO Fun choice of words there.

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

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  19. 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.

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  20. Youkilis lands a punch to Tiz's backside.

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

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

    My naivete knows no bounds.

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  22. 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?

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  23. 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.

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  24. 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.

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

    link

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  26. truly good design said...


    Is Penny legitimate ammo for the Theo bashers?





    Does a group like that exist?

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  27. 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"?

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  28. 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."

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

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  30. omg! Joe Castiglione song! So funny.

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  31. 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...

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  32. 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.

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  33. 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!

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  34. 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...

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  35. 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.

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  36. LBJ!

    charity begging > for-profit commercials

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  37. charity begging > for-profit commercials

    No doubt.

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  38. 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.

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

    Sports fans everywhere I think.

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

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  41. Crap

    Come on Taz, get your shit together

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

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

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

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

    Now get the DP

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

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

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  48. Not Good

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

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  49. 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.

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

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  51. Finally

    Not a good inning

    Not at all

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

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  53. Flow will ALMOST start it off...

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

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

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  56. ZOMG OMG Some emotion from DREW! Hot damn!

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

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

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

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  60. 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.

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

    I guess that's not true.

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

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

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  64. Hm

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

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

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

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  67. 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

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

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

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  70. This game is O-V-E-R

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

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

    How... Jeterian of him!

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  73. 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"

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

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  75. "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?

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  76. Drew leading the dong train tonight!

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

    score!

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  78. And Sea Bass!

    And an LBJ single!

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

    No.

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

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  81. NOW we need a big blue light dong

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

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

    Fine by me

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  84. August is the month of the dong.

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  85. No.

    good. then I won't either.

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  86. 2-out...sweet sweet sweat. yes. please.

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

    A hole just large enough for a sweaty dong?

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  88. fuck

    fuckin' fy - shoulda stayed put

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  89. 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.

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  90. Shit

    Overly aggressive on the bases...

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

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

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  93. remy thought lyndon might have turned an ankle.

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  94. it's gettin' late, boys.

    ... run(s).

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

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  96. a poem:

    that girl is cute
    but gba = mute

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  97. 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.

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  98. Nick Green no longer up in the pen.

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

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  100. i think he is warmed up.

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

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  101. "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?

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

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  103. 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?

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  104. we saved the comeback until you came by.

    ***

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

    yeah!

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  105. 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!

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

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

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

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  109. "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.

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  110. 90 mph fastball, not bad

    And he gets the leadoff batter out!

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  111. But seriously....why is he pitching?

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

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

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

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  114. So Tito concedes the game? Weird move.

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

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

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

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

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

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  120. "What was that 80mph pitch?"

    GDGD says slider

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

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

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  123. thought it might have been curve.

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  124. Scoreless inning!

    Let's get him a win!

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  125. GDGD says slider

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

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

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  127. "thought it might have been curve."

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

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  128. is he on a pitch count?

    he's at 14.

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

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  130. Mild left ankle sprain for LBJ.

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  131. mild left ankle sprain for lbj

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

    I'll settle for 8. Even 7.

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  133. green: "mccarty can't carry my jock"

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  134. Good to see Papi hitting with power!

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  135. 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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