Ortiz Update

According to Terry Francona (via the Globe), David Ortiz will play three games with Pawtucket July 17-19, take a day off, then play three more with Portland on July 21-23.

If all goes well, Flo could be back in the Red Sox lineup for the July 25 game against the Yankees. Tito:

That's not etched in stone but that's what we're looking at.

G96: Red Sox 12, Orioles 1

Orioles - 001 000 000 -  1  3  0
Red Sox - 207 100 02x - 12 15  0

Wakefield (7-2-1-1-6, 98) was stupendous yet again and a grand slam from the Sultan of Sweat (Kevin Youkilis) in the third put the game out of reach.

Tampa's 8-4 loss in Cleveland means the Red Sox are only .5 GB in the East.

Only four Baltimore batters reached base: Kevin Millar's two-out single in the second, Ramon Hernandez's solo home run to begin the third, Adam Jones's two-out walk in the third, and Nick Markakis's double in the ninth. At one point, Red Sox pitchers retired 18 Orioles in a row.

Liz had nothing. After retiring the first two batters in the first, J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez hit home runs on consecutive pitches. With one out in the third, Dustin Pedroia singled, Drew walked, Manny was HBP, Mike Lowell walked to force in a run, Yook went deep for a four-spot, Sean Casey walked, Lance Cormier relieved Liz, Jed Lowrie flew out to right, Kevin Cash singled, Jacoby Ellsbury singled and Pedroia doubled in two runs. 9-1.

Yook finished the night with six RBI. Drew reached base four times, and he and Manny both scored three times.

***

Radhames Liz (5.94, 71 ERA+) / Tim Wakefield (3.75, 115 ERA+)

Liz has pitched against the Red Sox only once, a start on August 31, 2007 (3-4-2-3-3, 72). No Boston batter has faced Liz more than twice.

Here is how the current Orioles have done against Wakefield. Cabin likes him (26 PA, .458/.500/.958).

Also: Yankees/Blue Jays at 1 PM and Rays/Spiders at 7 PM

Out!

Julio Lugo was called out on this second-inning play. Nice call, Doug Eddings!

So instead of Boston trailing 3-2 with one out and runners on first and second, with the top of the order coming up, the Red Sox had a runner on second and two outs. Ellsbury then made the third out.

While it blunted a rally, it's hard to say the call led to the Sox's loss. At that point they trailed by one run and had seven innings in which to hit.

Lugo "Felt Something Pop" In His Quad

Herald, 11:28 PM:

Julio Lugo limped out of the Red Sox clubhouse just minutes ago, clearly worried about the status of the left quad he injured while running to first base in the ninth inning of his team's 7-3 loss to the Orioles.

"I felt something pop in my quad. We'll see tomorrow when we take an MRI," he said. "I felt something pop in there. I'm really worried because I know it wasn't something where you just pull a muscle. I felt something pop, and I'm worried."

I assume Jed Lowrie's bags are already packed.

G95: Orioles 7, Red Sox 3

Orioles - 200 020 021 - 7  7  1
Red Sox - 020 100 000 - 3  8  1

After two were out in the bottom of the ninth, Boston loaded the bases, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Youkilis fanned.

Buchholz (5-5-4-5-6, 107) had a rough first (single, double, three walks) and a rough fifth (single, triple, two walks), but looked great in the middle. He struck out the side in the third, then fanned two of the three batters he faced in a perfect fourth.

Pedroia went 0-for-3 with two walks, ending a 17-game hitting streak. Ramirez and Moss both had two hits. Lugo had two RBI, the third time this season he has driven in more than one run in as game.

Tampa lost 5-0 -- New York lost 5-0.

***

Brian Burres (5.07, 83 ERA+) / Clay Buchholz (5.53, 78 ERA+)

With the Red Sox only 1.5 GB, Buchholz returns to the Red Sox rotation.

Double H was put on the disabled list in mid-May with a torn fingernail on his right hand and while in AAA, he worked on altering his delivery. In nine starts (log), he posted a 2.47 ERA.

Also: Justin Masterson threw a perfect inning of relief for the PawSox on Thursday night against Norfolk, retiring the side in the sixth inning on 16 pitches (F7, 5-3, K).

AL East: Tampa is in Cleveland, while the Yankees (3rd, 6.5 GB) visit the Blue Jays. The Rays, Cubs, Angels and Red Sox all have a MLB-best 55 wins.

BR Play Index Free Thru July 19

Woot:

Baseball-Reference.com Play Index Free Through July 19

In honor of the All-Star Game, the Play Index is free through July 19th. Kick the tires a bit (maybe you'll want to subscribe) and enjoy.

Something Else #12: The Clash

Wiki:

"The Clash then [1979] recorded London Calling ... the double album was a mix of punk rock, rockabilly, reggae, rock and roll, ska and other elements that recalled the band's earlier days, but also had greater maturity and production polish, and is regarded as one of the greatest rock & roll albums ever recorded. ...

The Clash planned to record and release a single every month in 1980. Their record label, CBS, balked at this idea, and these efforts resulted in the album Sandinista! [released December 1980]. Containing elements of rock, punk, reggae (including extended dubs), ska, jazz, and disco, unified by a heavily echoed sound, this 3-LP, 36-song album was their most controversial to date, both politically and musically."

In late May and early June 1981, the Clash played a series of 17 shows at Bond's Casino in New York's Times Square.

The opening acts during their three-week residency were as eclectic as the band's repertoire: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Bad Brains, the Slits, Lee Perry, the Fall and the Dead Kennedys. All of the shows circulate; the June 9 was professionally recorded/broadcast.

G94: Red Sox 18, Twins 5

Twins   - 300 002 000 -  5 14  1
Red Sox - 004 021 73x - 18 23  2

Steamroll!

2 GB!

***

Livan Hernandez (5.18, 76 ERA+) / Josh Beckett (3.70, 116 ERA+)

Beckett has pitched at least six innings in all but two of his 16 starts this season. In his last seven starts (53 IP), he has a 2.72 ERA; in his last four starts (28 IP), 2.12.

More day baseball: Rays/Yankees, 1 PM

Lowell: Cell Phone Thief

[Under orders from MLB, YouTube has pulled the two clips. MLB remains dead set against allowing fans to enjoy various clips of games they most likely have not seen. And MLB clearly does not want any possible new fans enjoying parts of game online. New fans? Can't have that!

I did not save these clips to my hard drive. If anyone has them and can email them to me (or upload them somewhere), I will host them myself.]

During last night's game, reader Mike M. sent me a Youtube video that shows Mike Lowell, after chasing a foul ball towards the stands late in Monday's game, pocketing a fan's cellphone. (Another video of the theft is here.)

A commenter on that second video notes that Lowell "took the guys cellphone as a prank. The phone was given back to the fan. NBC 7 reported on this during their 10pm news cast."

Anyone else remember a Red Sox player (Nixon, maybe?) grabbing a handful of a fan's popcorn during a game?

***

Red Sox Birth Control Watch: First this, now this.

G93: Red Sox 6, Twins 5

Twins   - 000 300 110 - 5 11  0
Red Sox - 100 000 14x - 6 11  1

Another eighth-inning comeback!

Trailing 5-2, Ellsbury began the inning with an opposite field double off Reyes, a fly ball that landed close to the line and hopped into the corner. Guerrier came in to pitch and allowed a single to Pedroia (his 2nd hit, 16-game streak), a flair into shallow right field. Down by three, Lyndon wisely was held at third. Drew (who doubled home the team's first run back in the opening frame) grounded out to second, scoring Ellsbury and moving Pedroia to second.

Manny then whacked Guerrier's first pitch over the Wall and into the Monster Seats for a game-tying home run. 5-5! Lowell struck out on three pitches, but Youkilis cranked a double to left-center that Gomez dove for but could not snare. (Yook also singled in the fifth and tripled and scored in the seventh.) Yook took third on a wild pitch and scored the go-ahead run on Moss's single up the middle.

In the ninth, Punto doubled to lead off and was bunted to third, but Papelbon struck out pinch-hitter Kubel and got Casilla to ground to second.

The Yankees blanked the Rays 5-0 in the Bronx, so we are now 3 GB and the MFY are 7.5 GB.

***

Nick Blackburn (3.78, 104 ERA+) / Jon Lester (3.21, 133 ERA+)

Varitek gets the night off.

Since May 17:

Varitek .174/.267/.280
Cash    .114/.188/.227

Sigh.

Also: Rays at Yankees (Kazmir/Pettitte), 7 PM

Game Thread Silliness

During last night's game, NESN showed video footage of a visit Jerry Remy and Heidi Watley made to sick kids in a hospital. Remy said some kid was so happy he started crying. I posted:

the kid at the hospital was crying because he wanted to talk to heidi, but remy showed up

Jere:

I'd want Castig to come to my hospital and call the operation. "And his eyesight returns, can you believe it?"

Then two at the same time:

Joe Grav:

I wouldn't want troop.
"IT'S A GREAT SURGERY SO FAR! AMAZING! BEAUTIFUL! FAST... oh, he screws it up and the patient is dead."

redsock:

better castig than trupe:
"THERE'S THE OPERATION --- OH MY GOD, JERE'S HEARTBEAT IS LOW, WAY LOW, HE IS DEA .... oh no he's perfectly fine"

I thought it was great that we both went for "truping the operation" and that Joe went alive-dead and I went dead-alive. There were others:

redsock:

Kay: "There's a scalpel."

ish:

"He is high, he is far, he isssss dead!"

redsock:

Don: "This is Dr. Smith's 7th hip transplant operation for Dr. Smith. The first one was back on April 16, 1994, a Tuesday, at 10 AM. It lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes and .................."

Jere:

Staats: "And the surgery's successful. Must've been a Red Sox or Yankees fan."

redsock:

McCarver: "After he performed the sur-gery, the doctor told him "Sure, Jere (ri)!"

Buck: "..."

phil:

Hawk Harrelson on vasectomies: "Sacks packed with ... hegone."

Jere:

Rizzuto in dental surgery: "Gotta get across the bridge-work."

redsock:

Berman: "It looks like the patient has a pinched nerve in his back, back, back, back ..."

ish:

McCarver: "You know, this surgeon reminds me a lot of Derek Jeter. He's not as good as Jeter is yet, but he has a lot of potential. Jeter is so good and he has so much range. This surgeon here has the intangibles like Derek Jeter has."

redsock:

"Very clutch. That's a type of surgical technique you can't teach in medical school. Also, he makes the little stiches, the ones that don't show up on the post-op report."

Jere:

Morgan: "You can see he's going to the medical bag, I'd guess he's gonna break out the toothbrush for this operation."

redsock:

"That reminds me of a visit to the doctor I had when I was with the 1975 Reds."

redsock:

Vin Scully: "And I cannot believe what I just removed."

Jere:

Scully: "we take time out from this unassisted triple bypass to tell you about Armor hot dogs..."

ish:

Bob Uecker: "I must be in the front rooooowwwwww... of the observation deck."

Any others?

Ortiz Feeling Great After Fenway BP

David Ortiz took 36 batting practice swings yesterday, belted six balls out of the park, and said he was pleased with how he felt and believes he could come back with his left wrist at 95%.

Tiz: "It feels like I'm going back to normal. ... I'm trying to be patient. I don't want to be stupid about coming back. ... When I come back, I want to be ready to play and help this ballclub."

Ortiz says will have a better idea when he'll be back at the end of the week.

There has been a ton of talk about the possibility of signing Barry Bonds if Ortiz was not able to play this season -- having him DH makes logical sense from a "winning baseball games" perspective (though other considerations do exist, apparently) -- but after Flo's promising BP session, Theo Epstein told the Globe there was nothing to any Bonds rumours.

Clay Buchholz will start against Baltimore on Friday. Jeff Horrigan says Buchholz "reworked his delivery and focused on moving his hand farther away from his head on fastballs, which led to more pitch movement." Tito: "His offspeed, changeup, breaking ball can be devastating, but when his fastball wandered back over the plate, he was getting hit pretty hard."

Justin Masterson is scheduled to pitch in relief for Pawtucket on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. ... Last night's victory was the Red Sox's MLB-best 10th shutout. ... Dustin Pedroia's hitting streak is now at 15 games (.485, 32-for-66). ... SoSH: "When Does Jed Lowrie Get A Shot?"

Are you curious what Alex Rodriguez did the night of the July 2004 Vartiek brawl game?

Defenders Of The Game

I've been thinking for 10 minutes what to type here -- and I'm completely stumped.

Ken Tremendous, FJM:

This is just amazing.

Several of you wrote in about this after seeing it on Joe Posnanski's blog. It's a series of cartoons they play at the Trop now, apparently, in which Joe Maddon and some of the Rays players are superheros who are fighting an evil mastermind named...

...get ready...

...prepare yourselves...

"Dr. Stat."

The evil villain is named:

Dr. Stat.

This is truly a low point for our culture. Not baseball culture, mind you. The entirety of Western Culture.

And yet: Joe Maddon was my first choice for Red Sox manager before the 2004. He is a modern, progressive manager. In fact, Maddon is such a stathead that, this past March, FJM referred to him as "a 2.4 gigahertz Linksys router".

Upside Down

G92: Red Sox 1, Twins 0

Twins   - 000 000 000 - 0  6  0
Red Sox - 000 000 01x - 1  7  0

Dice: 7.1-6-0-3-5, 108. His ERA dropped to 2.84.

Matsuzaka threw strikes -- with a good cut fastball -- and turned in his longest outing of the season. He allowed only six baserunners over the first six innings (and half of those came in the first inning). His pitch counts by inning: 25-9-10 14-12-13 13-12 = 108.

The Red Sox blew a scoring chance in the fourth. Singles from Drew and Ramirez gave Boston runners at the corners and no one out. Lowell struck out, but Youkilis walked to load the bases. However, Crisp popped to third and Varitek flied to center. (Lowell's strikeout was his only batting blemish; he walked twice and doubled.)

In the eighth, Pedroia doubled high off the Wall and took third on Drew's groundout. Manny's single to right field (his second hit of the night) brought home the only run of the game.

The Royals beat the Rays 7-4 in 10 innings, so Tampa's lead was cut to four games.

***

Scott Baker (3.65, 107 ERA+) / Daisuke Matsuzaka (3.12, 137 ERA+)

Boston comes home after a 3-7 road trip (giving the team a 21-29 record away from Fenway Park). The Red Sox play three games against each of the Twins and Orioles before the break.

The AL East standings looks like this

             W   L   GB
Tampa Bay   55  32   --
Boston      52  39    5
New York    47  42    9 
Baltimore   44  43   11 
Toronto     42  47   14

so it looks like we've got ourselves a .... Wild Card Battle!

             W   L   GB
Boston      52  39   --
Minnesota   50  38     .5
Oakland     47  41    3.5 
New York    47  42    4
Texas       46  43    5

Woo-hoo!

Only one other AL East game: Royals at Rays, 12:40 PM

Remember we were talking about how Rogers now runs short car commercials in between at-bats during Blue Jays game? Drunk Jays Fans is (quite rightly) fed up.

Masterson Sent To AAA, Pen

Rob Bradford, Herald:

Terry Francona just announced Justin Masterson will be headed to the bullpen, starting with a stint in Pawtucket.

Judging from his splits, I assume the Sox are looking at Masterson as more of a specialist against RHB.

         PA   AVG   OBP   SLG
v LHB   132  .236  .379  .453  
V RHB    98  .170  .255  .261

I like this move. The bullpen obviously needs help, it's always nice to have possible solutions in-house (while Masterson is clearly learning inning-by-inning, he has not seemed overwhelmed in the slightest) and Clay Buchholz is better suited to the rotation this year.

(SoSH discussion)

Gumball Bailey is taking Masterson's place on the roster.

Wimbledon Request

ESPN Classic is rerunning the Nadal-Federer final tomorrow (Monday) night (8 PM ET). If someone was able to record and burn it to a DVD, I'd be thrilled. ... I have lots of live music to trade. Email me: Joyofsox.

G91: Yankees 5, Red Sox 4 (10)

Red Sox - 000 030 100 0 - 4  7  1
Yankees - 010 001 200 1 - 5  8  1

This contest evolved from a game I thought the Red Sox had pretty well in hand to a toss-up to a loss. Boston is now 5 GB the white-hot Rays.

Wakefield was fantastic (again!) for 5.1 innings, allowing only two baserunners to the first 18 New York hitters: Kabbalah McBluelips's home run leading off the second and a walk to Giambi to begin the fifth.

Boston struck for three runs off Joba in the top of the fifth: Youkilis and Casey singled and Crisp walked. Ball four to Ococ was a wild pitch that scored Yook (who slid into JtC's right leg and then had a pitch thrown behind his ass his next time up). After Lugo and Cash struck out, Ellsbury walked and Pedroia singled in two more runs. 3-1 Sox.

With one out in the sixth, Wakefield allowed a single to Gardner, who stole second and scored on Jeter's RBI single. CI took second on an errant pick-off throw, but was doubled off when Lugo leapt skyward to haul in Abreu's line drive.

Lugo again got the best of Jetes a few minutes later when, in the top of the seventh, he got credit for an infield single up the middle and took second on an error by the Yankee captain, who (uncharacteristically) ranged far to his left to snare the grounder. Cash followed with a line drive double into the left field corner and Boston led 4-2.

A-Rod singled to open the seventh against Wakefield and after Timmeh retired HGH on a flyball, Tito went wisely to the pen. But Lopez was not sharp. After Posada singled, Cano tripled in both runners to tie the game. After a fielder's choice nailed Cano at the plate, Delcarmen came in to fan Molina.

In the top of the ninth, facing Rivera, Casey singled and went to second on Crisp's bunt. Varitek was sent up to hit for Lugo (why?) and he shattered his bat on the first pitch, tapping weakly back to the mound. Casey went to third, but he died there as Manny, hitting for Cash, stood stock still and looked at three straight strikes to end the inning.

MDC pitched a perfect eighth, Okajima matched him in the ninth, and Papelbon came on for the 10th. Cano grounded an 0-2 pitch into center field for a leadoff single. Milk Dud bunted him to second and Bot blew Betemit away with pure heat. Gardner fell behind 0-2 but fouled off two pitches, took two balls, then fouled off another heater. On the 8th pitch of the at-bat, he grounded a ball up the middle. Cora dove to his left, deflecting the ball into short center, but neither Pedroia nor Crisp could make a play as Cano scored the winning run.

Tampa topped the Royals 9-2 and lead the East (and Red Sox) by a whopping five games. New York remains 9 GB.

***

Tim Wakefield (3.72, 115 ERA+) / Joba Chamberlain (2.22, 182 ERA+)

Wakefield has pitched at least seven innings in each of his last seven starts (dating back to May 28). He has allowed a grand total of 11 runs (1.98 ERA).

***

David Ortiz may take BP on Monday and "might be able to begin a rehab stint in the minors after the All-Star break". ... Bartolo Colon long-tossed from 120 feet and may throw off a mound this week.

Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 13 games (with nine multi-hit games (log)). Tony Massarotti, Herald:

The author of a 13-game hitting streak, Pedroia has raised his average from .260 to .313. During that stretch, in 57 at-bats, Pedroia had an absurd 30 hits, a batting average of .526.

That isn't a streak. It's an avalanche. ...

Since May 1, 2007, among major leaguers with at least 700 plate appearances, Pedroia's .324 average ranks behind only Magglio Ordonez, Ichiro Suzuki and Placido Polanco in the AL.

Gordon Edes reports that Javier Lopez

has allowed just one earned run in his last 15 outings (15.2 innings). You can go back even further - in his last 28 appearances, he has allowed just three earned runs in 25 innings, an ERA of 1.08. His ERA of 2.10 ranks in the top five among AL relievers with 30 innings or more.

Lopez still has too many walks - 14 in 34.1 innings - but many of those came early. He's walked just three in his last 11 appearances.

Joe McDonald, Journal:

On this current three-city road trip, the Red Sox have produced 13 bases-loaded situations. However, Boston is 1-for-11 with only three runs scored, including a sacrifice fly. In fact, the Sox are 0-for-their-last-9 with the bases juiced.

Overall, they are 1-for-19 with one walk, four sacrifice flies, and eight strikeouts and have grounded into two double plays in their last 24 bases-loaded situations.

Also: Doing the Red Sox's laundry.

Never forget -- I love you all!

Joba And Off-The-Chart ERA+s

Joba Chamberlain's ERA+ last season was 1192! That's ridiculous!

Are you wondering what the highest season ERA+ is for a pitcher with a minimum number of innings? Me, too. Let's visit our friend, BR.

First, though, an explanation: ERA+ is the ratio of the league's ERA, adjusted to the pitcher's ballpark, to that of the pitcher. 100 is league average. Top-shelf starters will finish their seasons with ERA+s around 140. Random career ERA+s as of right now: Brandon Webb 142, Johan Santana 141, Roy Oswalt 137, Greg Maddux 133, Jake Peavy 121, Barry Zito 117, Josh Beckett 116.

Joba threw 24 innings in 2007 (facing 91 batters), and if we use that as a cut-off, Chamberlain is the clear winner. (Anyone else find the heading of the first column amusing with regard to JtC?).

For pitchers with a full season, Dennis Eckersley's 1990 season is tops (606 ERA+ in 73.1 IP). Jonathan Papelbon's 2006 season (515 ERA+) is 10th-best all-time.

Almost all of the pitchers on the list are relievers, which makes sense, but check out the #2 guy: Buck O'Brien. He posted a 866 ERA+ as a 29-year-old rookie for the 1911 Red Sox. He pitched in six games -- five of them starts. In 47.2 innings, he allowed 30 hits and 21 walks, but had an ERA of only 0.38. How is that possible? Of the nine runs he allowed (a 1.70 RA), only two of them were earned.

Obligatory Pedro Note When Mentioning ERA+: Among pitchers who qualified for the ERA title, Pedro's unprecedented 2000 (291 ERA+ in 217 innings) reigns supreme. Pedro also has the 8th-, 17th-, 25th-, and 30th-best season all-time. Note to media: Sandy Koufax's first appearance on the list is at #50. Stop comparing these two guys. Koufax was amazing, but Pedro was God.

Manny Gets HBP Three Times

Manny Ramirez hits Mike Mussina pretty well -- 28-for-100, with nine HRs and a .630 slugging percentage. Since the start of the 2005 season, Manny has battered the Moose to the tune of 13-for-26 (.500).

But it's doubtful Mussina had any thoughts of retaliation on his mind when he hit Manny with a pitch in the first inning this afternoon, then hit him again when he led off the fourth. Ramirez struck out looking against Mussina in the sixth, but was hit again by Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning.

Since 1956, there have been 17 instances of a player getting plunked three times in one game. But Manny is one of only five players to get hit three times in four or fewer plate appearances:

Sherm Lollar  June 8, 1956     4 PA  3 HBP/Single
Bill Freehan  August 16, 1968  4 PA  3 HBP/F7
Jonny Gomes   August 15, 2005  4 PA  3 HBP/HR
Manny Ramirez July 5, 2008     4 PA  3 HBP/K
  
Reed Johnson  April 9, 2006    3 PA  3 HBP

Of those 17 three-HBP games, Johnson accounts for three of them! He was hit by three pitches on April 16, 2005, April 9, 2006 and April 29, 2006.

There is no record of a player getting hit four times in one game.

(Frank Chance was hit five times during a doubleheader on May 30, 1904.)