Boston Red Sox - 2006

[Thrasha]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

It's kind of sad Lester has been out-pitching Beckett since he's been called up.

This "I'll just gas it by them" bullsh*t approach by JB is the most close minded way of pitching I've seen in quite a while. It's amazing he hasn't realized it by now. Texas sized hard-headed ******.

[Dispatch]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

The one thing I don't understand about Beckett is how come he can't slow down his change-up. I mean come on it's as fast as most peoples fastball. Can't he just throw it a little slower? Going from a mid to upper 90's fastball to a low 90's change-up isn't as big of a difference as it should be. If he could throw a change-up thats in the mid 80's he could probably be great.

[Dispatch]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Another thing. How long does it take for Francona to put Pena behind Manny??

1.Youk
2.Loretta
3.Ortiz
4.Manny
5.Pena
6.Lowell
7.Crisp
8.Lopez/Mirabelli(terrible...)
9.Gonzalez

That 3,4,5 would be devastating. And in a situation like tonight I would rather have Willy Mo swinging for the fences and striking out then Mirabelli fouling out.

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

The one thing I don't understand about Beckett is how come he can't slow down his change-up. I mean come on it's as fast as most peoples fastball. Can't he just throw it a little slower? Going from a mid to upper 90's fastball to a low 90's change-up isn't as big of a difference as it should be. If he could throw a change-up thats in the mid 80's he could probably be great.

The change-up is one of the hardest pitches to master. I'm sure the coaching staff will work with him on it next spring but August isn't the time to start fooling around with new pitches.

The funny thing is, his change-up was working pretty well early in this game even though it was 90-91 mph and guys were fouling it off or missing it. And then he just abandoned it after a few innings. Maybe Huckaby wasn't calling for it but I was sitting there waiting for the meltdown after about the 4th inning when I noticed he was throwing 90% fastballs (most of them belt high) and the few curves he was throwing were missing in the same spot (down and way in on lefties).

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/

Lopez deal is done. He was traded for a PTBNL, believed to be either Adam Stern or Alejandro Machado. The Red Sox also received around 1.7 million from the Orioles. The Devil Rays may try to block the Sox from sending Machado or Stern though because they have a grudge against the Sox, though such a block does not un-do the deal. Lopez will be in uniform tonight.

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

With the addition of cowbell night, Tampa Bay is now the undisputed most annoying venue in all of baseball.


And in other news, Schilling serves up a lead-off gopher ball...

[Psyblast]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

With the addition of cowbell night, Tampa Bay is now the undisputed most annoying venue in all of baseball.

The Tigers had to put up with those cowbells for the past four nights.

[GBrushTWood]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Oh ****s, Mirabelli got injured, almost identically to how Varitek did, and now Lopez is thrust into the game. Cora now the emergency catcher. Things have really not been going well since last Satuday, eh?

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Vintage Schilling there in the 6th, bases loaded, one out, and he just gases Upton and Perez with 97mph. Someone tell Beckett to pay attention to this outing.

[Dispatch]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Ortiz with his 2nd homer of the game!!! Camera guys didn't trick us on this one!!

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Solid win for the Sox. Schilling didn't have much going for him tonight outside of his fastball but he made it work for 7 innings just giving up the two solo shots. Ortiz and the bullpen did the rest.

[Thrasha]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

For some reason I thought yesterday was off day/travel day so didn't even get to see the game.

Fortunately we won. Looks like Papi came through yet again, and Schilling had another solid outing.

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Hopefully Wells can build upon his first outing tonight and locate his fastball better. The stuff looked good but the results didn't against Cleveland, it would be nice to see that change (for the better). I won't be able to watch the game though as I'll be in Pawtucket watching Keith Foulke attempt his come-back.

[Misfit]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Yuck. Josh Paul and Greg Norton (who?!) were a combined 6 for 8 with 5 runs batted in and 4 runs scored in tonight's 8-5 Tampa Bay win. An error but Ortiz opened the door for a big 4th that saw Wells give up 4 runs, none earned, after not allowing a hit for the first 3 innings. After the Sox made it close, Hansen self-destructed in the 8th and now has a 5.47 ERA, it might be time to send him back to Triple A and bring someone up to strengthen the bench. The Sox still managed to bring the go ahead run to the plate in the 9th in Javy Lopez who (after I made the accurate prediction to my dad) grounded into a game ending double play. He's 0 for 9 and has grounded into 2 double plays as a member of the Red Sox. It seems a little odd to say the Sox should have won a game they trailed for most of, but that was a very winnable game. They're just 3-6 at the Trop this year. I listened to most of the game on the radio and did not see Wells pitch so I don't know how his stuff looked today vs earlier in the week against Cleveland.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I attended the Pawsox game today (they were shutout by the Skychiefs 3-0, Alvarez took the loss, Machado, Pedroia, and Stern all had hits) and saw Keith Foulke pitch. He started the game and went two innings allowing on hit (a 2-out double in the first), one walk, and I think he struck out 2. His fastball was between 85-88 (with about 4 out of 5 being 88) and his change-up looked particularly nasty. The last hitter he faced he was a lefty that he struck out with a change-up down and away at 73 mph. From my vantage poing behind homeplate it looked just like a screwball with a really exaggerrated break. Most of the change-ups he threw were at 75mph. He was throwing a third pitch that was between 81-84 that I believe was his slider. He threw a fair amount of them and the catcher was having a hard time handling them (I'm guessing he was crossed up more than once). Its possible that some of those low 80's pitches were his splitter which he was considering bringing back this season but from where I was sitting I couldn't really notice much break on these pitches. The good news is that most of the hitters were late on his fastball and he was getting swings and misses so if there was one positive tonight its that Keith Foulke looks like he may contribute down the stretch.

[CWood2]

Re: Boston Red Sox - 2006

Speaking of Abe Alvarez, Howell's fastball makes him look like Nolan freakin' Ryan...

If the offense doesn't get going today, I might have to take a little break.