Saturday, July 24, 2010

Sox on mend, rebound after break

Ty Hampton
Sox Swagger

BOSTON – Well they're a bit bruised, a bit beat up, but they aint broken. The Sox made it to the All-Star break with 9 players on the disabled list and Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Beltre nursing minor injuries but playing – a scary condition for a team to be in regardless of whether you're only a few games back of the Yankees in the pennant race or not.

David "Big Papi" Ortiz had a nice all-star break, running away with the home run derby title on his 3rd try -- again silencing the critics who said he was washed up at April's end.

But other than that the Sox got back to biz as usual after the break, banged up and battling. Things got a little worse before they could get better with a pair of tough series with the red-hot AL-West leading Rangers and the mildly streaky A's getting the best of the Sox, dropping them to as bad as 7.5 games back in the AL East headed into a 4-game set in Seattle kicking off Thursday night.

We saw the Sox really bare down and fight Thursday, after the M's tied the game with 2 homers in the 9th inning off Delcarmen and Papelbon, the bullpen had to string together a couple crucial innings for for a 13th inning 8-6 win. Okajima got the win for his 12th and 13th inning holds he put on the Mariners lineup.

Then Friday night everybody was tuning in to see how Josh Beckett perform in his first start since nearly 2 months of recovery. Beck really looked to be in top form, striking out 5 and walking 3 over 5-2/3 innings in a 2-1 victory. Pap got the save (22) to cap off a great night put together by the pen.

Josh threw 98 pitches, 62 for strikes -- and that's a sigh of relief to the Sox organization. Beck has something to prove now and some work to do with his 1-1 6.66 ERA in 2010, but as history has proven, this dude is clutch down the stretch and that's why he's their ace.

Even better the Sox got back Clay Bucholz this week as well. He had a rocky start in Oakland, but he's been carrying the team as of late and the hamstring injury shouldn't affect his game in the oh-so crucial months of July and August.

Other news on injuries is that Victor Martinez might be back in the lineup after recovering from his foot injury as soon as Monday and outfielder Jeremy Hermida will most likely see time with the Sox next week as well. There is still no timetable for Ellsbury's return to the bigs, still recovering from his mid-April collision with Beltre that brokes several ribs.

Pedroia is feeling antsy to come back and get in the action, but has only just begun walking through light drills without the boot so he will most likely be a mid-August return.

With the Sox needing a sweep in this Seattle series, 7 games back in the East, they put the prolific 11-4, 2.81 ERA Jon Lester on the mound against the Mariners' David Pauley.

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Monday, July 5, 2010

Sox take 2 from O’s, head to Tampa

Ty Hampton
Sox Swagger

BOSTON – After taking 2-of-3 from the Orioles at Fenway this weekend, the Sox head to Tampa Bay tonight with a ½ game lead over the Rays and 1-1/2 games back of the AL East-leading Yankees.

It may only be the midway point of the season but every game against the Rays counts big time and don’t think twice about the Sox wanting to glide into the All-Star break next weekend either in 1st or 2nd place in the East standings. By the same virtue, every game counts right now, even if it’s the Orioles. Matter of fact, especially if it’s the Orioles – they’re by far the worst team in baseball right now and there’s no excuse for the Sox’s 6-1 home loss on Independence Day.

On Saturday the Sox took care of business, Jon Lester (10-3, 2.76 ERA) continuing to post a perfect 12-0 record against the boys from Baltimore. The hot lefty – who just got his first All-Star team nod – threw a solid 7 innings and increased his flawless experience with the Orioles by improving his ERA to 2.00 over his 15 career starts against them.

The Sox jumped on Jeremy Guthrie early and often in the 9-3 victory, putting 4 runs up on the board in the 1st inning alone off of doubles from Youkilis, J.D. Drew and Daniel Nava. Ortiz also later doubled and Youk put 2 more on the board with a 2-run blast to left over the Green Monster.

Sunday’s game lacked all the energy and momentum the Sox seemed to be filled to the brim with the day before, as John Lackey again had one of those days where he runs into a middle inning breakdown, giving up 5 runs in the 4th inning. The Sox never could get the bats going against Baltimore’s Matusz who had a good day on the mound. Youkilis went deep for a solo that would be Boston’s only run of the night.

Tonight’s Matchup:
I hope my boys from Boston were just saving up their juice for Tampa, because this is a pivotal series coming up tonight. Some may say ‘Ty, but it’s only July, it’s the all-star break for crimeny’ – I say ‘nay!’ The shape in which a team goes into and comes out of the break is a factor (even more so in the AL East), and anyone who doesn’t think so is delusional.

Dice-K (5-3, 4.5 ERA) will be looking for a bit of redemption tonight against the Rays, facing off against their ace Matt Garza (9-5, 4.08 ERA).

The Sox also will have to go through the Rays series and their finale with the Jays before the break without Clay Bucholz (10-4, 2.45 ERA), who team officials are being cautious with his sore hamstring – doing all you can do for the injury…and that’s give it rest.

AL East
New York 50-31 --
Boston 49-33 1.5
Tampa Bay 48-33 2.0

Kevin Youkilis Shaves Off His Goatee

Nooooooooooo....just like you dont mess with Samson's hair in the Bible, in the same fashion you do NOT touch the viking lord's goatee!!!

I hope that was for charity Youk, cuz you just lost 1/2 your strength!

Check out this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEji3x_mjk8
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How can this guy not be an All-Star?

Kevin Youkilis the philosopher as guest on tv show "Narrow World of Sports"

Check out this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY_xEjuLMAk
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Saturday, July 3, 2010

Boston bruised up but fighting entering July

Sox backups picking up slack in big way

Ty Hampton
Sox Swagger

BOSTON -- Well the past week has been nothing short of hellacious for the Red Sox in the way of injuries. That said, the Sox are playing with mostly their B-squad and have pulled within a half-game of the Yankees for the AL East lead through Friday.

How is this possible? It appears that the boys from Boston are destined to face more than their fair share of adversity this season, but is there really a better team than the Red Sox who are more battle-tested and apt to overcome such hurdles? Me thinks not.

The Sox had seen their share of troubles with injuries this season with Josh Beckett, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeremy Hermida and Mike Lowell paying extensive visits on the DL before the BoSox pulled into SanFran last Saturday afternoon. Then all hell broke lose.

A night after Dustin Pedroia – the team's unquestionable fire and leader these days – blasted 3 homers to best the Rockies in Denver, the power-hitting little man fouled a ball off himself in his first at-bat in San Francisco, fracturing his foot and placing him on the DL for up to 6 weeks.

The next night in SanFran young Sox ace Clay Bucholz got his first major league hit and of course went down on the base paths attempting to reach second base. First diagnosed as a hyper-extended knee, the injury was later called a pulled hamstring. Luckily it appears the hammy shouldn't keep Clay out too long.

Lightning evidently strikes not just twice, but 3 times when in SanFran, as the last game of the series Victor Martinez went down with, what else, but a fracture foot after a batter fouled a tipped pitch off his foot while behind the dish. Despite this, the Sox beat-up Timmy Lincecum that night and took their 2nd win of the 3 game series – banged up, but still winning.

Then the Sox headed back home for a 2-game set with their wild-card rival, those pesky Rays. The Boston Bombers split the series, with Big Papi and company rocking pitcher James Shields in the first outing. But the bad news didn't stay in the San Francisco bay, but followed them all the way back to the Boston harbor. On Thursday the Sox got news that Jason Varitek had also, indeed, broken his foot and would be placed on the DL long term.

Luckily former Boston back-up catcher Kevin Cash was not being utilized in the Astros system and available to be dealt to the Sox for next to nothing. This move made Thursday night was ever-so-key, as a veteran catcher behind the plate who knows the Sox pitching staff will increase Boston's rotations' chances of staying on track and continuing to propel the entire program towards the dominant breed of baseball they've been playing over the past 2 months.

In June, the Sox went 18-9 and hurled themselves right back into the race for first, something their critics had all but counted them out of after a horrific April. The way they've done it is perhaps the scariest, playing great defense with impressive top-shelf pitching and more hitting than they ever counted on – all this of course while the team has been missing pieces due to injuries from the get-go. If they ever get a healthy lineup together by October – that prospect is perhaps the scariest idea of all.

For the meantime though, the Sox are going to have to really hunker down and battle through July with several players missing a majority of, if not the entire, month. There are currently 9 players on the DL, 5 put their in the past week (3 of which were starters).

Here are some of the recently activated players that you may not have heard of that will have their names on the roster undoubtedly through much of July:
- Robert Manuel, 26, righty in pen to replace injured Manny Delcarmen
- Dustin Richardson, 26, lefty in pen taking Wake's spot as he's now a starter again
- Gustavo Molina, 28, Venezuelan backstop to back-up Kevin Cash
- Eric Patterson, 27, 2B/outfielder
- Niuman Romero, 25, Venezuelan 2B vying for Pedie's back-up job

Now players like Darnell McDonald, Bill Hall and Daniel Nava have been activated for some time now as back-ups who have seen plenty of playing time with the pre-existing injuries prior to last week's black plague. Their roles will be ever more important now.

The 30-year-old Hall is a true utility player having spent time in the infield and outfield at both Seattle and Milwaukie before landing in Boston this season. He has filled in nicely for Pedroia at second but now may be spending time in the outfield if Cameron also can't stay healthy (was scratched from lineup before Friday night's game with the same nagging abdominal strain that has bothered him all season).

Daniel Nava came up big Friday night against the O's, coming in to pinch-hit for Eric Patterson in the 8th inning in a 2-2 ballgame. The youngster drove in the winning run on a bloop single that brought in Scoots from 2nd – Nava's first ever major league pinch-hit at-bat…not bad, not bad.

Nava's game-winning clutch RBI helped the Sox get a necessary home win against the terrible Orioles to pull within a 1/2 –game of the Yankees, but it was only the winner because of J.D. Drew's 2 big solo homers hit in the 2nd and 5th innings.

Tim Wakefield got a much-needed 1st home win of the year Friday, moving to 3-6 with a 4.96 ERA. Wake threw for 7 hits and 2 runs over 8 innings, a solid outing from the aging knuckler.

J.D. has been a godsend to this lineup as of late. Commonly criticized for his paycheck in comparison to the portion of time he has spent on the DL almost every season – Drew has been consistently healthy in 2010. He has hit 3 homers in his last 4 starts, and is batting .353 with 5 dingers over the last 13 games.

Saturday night Jon Lester (9-3) will be handed the ball, attempting to go 12-0 lifetime against the Orioles in a showdown with Jeremy Guthrie (3-9). If he accomplishes this feat, it will also make the Sox 12-4 over the past 16 games – a hot streak if I've ever heard of one.

AL Wild Card Race:
Yankees 48-31 -- Red Sox 48-32 ½
Rays 46-33 2

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