Beckett gets the win tonight 2-1 on a late 2-run hr by Nixon.

Most interesting part of the game: with a 1 run lead in the 9th and Foulke ready to go, Papelbon came in to get the save. He pitched a perfect 9th with 2 strikeouts.


Trot Nixon on WEEI after the game: "The sky's the limit with Pap."

Foulke wasn't ready to go. He wasn't warmed. He didn't even have his jacket off.

It is surprising though. I figured that Foulke would be closer until he blew it.

I wonder if this is an effort to reinvigorate the closer-by-commitee idea. Papelbon will be the bullpen ace and come in for all the tight spots, and Foulke will mostly pick up the cheap 2 and 3 run saves.

Good call on the Red Sox thread. I need Sox talk, and I'm sure most of the other posters would want me polluting the other threads.

Oh my....look at what I have started.




Oh, and my Royals thread is better. If I can't have the better team..then by God you'd better believe I'll at least have the better thread..lol.

Oh...and BoSox shouldn't go closer by committee. Give Pap the job....Foulke's been shaky for a while now...try and trade him I say..some desperate team will give Boston something worthwhile for him.

Don't worry Koop, we can't challenge your thread.

I have no real idea what Sox intend to do about the closer job on the long term. Personally, I want Papelbon in for the tight spots, and I think that's what we'll see. If Foulke gets his act together, then he can probably get it back...or if a starter gets hurt.

I don't think we'd get much for Foulke. He's still owed like 18 million, pitched like crap last year, lost his job to a second year pitcher with 40 innings major league experience this year, and needs injections to lube up his knees.

yeah...i saw pap as the closer, wats that all about~

if that continues i am picking up papelbon on my team~

Foulke is owed 18 million!??! Is that for one year...or spread out over a few years??

This season and next. About 18 mill.

Edit: I'm looking it up now. There might be an option year or something and I could be way off on how much we owe him.

Edit 2: I think his contract is 26.5/4 and he's colllected around 10 so far. Not sure if the last year is an option year.

Yeah but he was ready to go in general...not injured or something.






Oh don't worry, I know your thread is better. I just figured I should condense all the Red Sox talk into one thread.

Sox could probably get something for Foulke, but I was hoping to see Pap as a starter.

I wonder if we could get Mirabelli back.

I think we will see Paps as a starter. Probably when Wells' back collapses like a jenga column around June.

couldnt agree more koop

this job should be paps 100%

I don't know.. I think depending on how he performs, Paps could earn a spot in the rotation. I think he would make a GREAT #4 guy. This of course all depends on whether or not we get the Foulke of 04 or the Foulke of 05. Foulke could pitch himself out of town by May if he carries over his performance from last season. In that case Paps could make a great closer. If Foulke gets his act together we have even more depth since you can utilize Paps as a bridge man or long reliever. I'd really like to see him get a spot in the rotation though.

I'd like to eventually see him in the rotation also. There's no room for him now.

DIE. Bill Buckner Rules!

I love Boston but still haven't gotten over it.

The most phenomenal post-season in the history of the game.

Signed, Disgruntled Yankees Fan (Remember the days of Mattingly? A-Rod put me on the fence, Damon pushed me over. Goddamn Corporation.)

Um, okay I'm thoroughly confused. You love that the Sox lost in '86, you love Boston, you haven't gotten over something (us beating you in '04?) and XXXXXX was the most phenomenal post-season in the history of the game. 1986?? I would argue very adamantly against that.

I just looked down at the bottom of the page and saw you were on so I knew there had to be a post and voila!

1. I love Boston, the city and its inhabitants (Fenway is the best ballpark EVER)
2. Mookie Wilson
3. 2004 postseason
4. Not over #3 (ie winning the Big One)
5. Manny Ramirez is a douchebag

You're from Brooklyn?!?

POST # 1000 baby!!! Yeeha!

1.Me too
2.Is a douche
3.ruled
4.ah
5.Yeah but he can ****ing hit

6.No I grew up in Boston, moved here after college.

Getting this back on track....

Clement was stunningly good tonight for the first six innings. He looked every bit as good as Schilling and Beckett. He looked like he had confidence. He had usually good control He had movement on his pitches. Most impressive is how bad he made the Orioles hitters look. They were swinging at sliders whipping off the outside corner, sinkers in the dirt, and best, way behind his fastballs. He came apart as he tired, but this is a Matt Clement we haven't seen at least since before his unfortunate head injury.

The offense was devastatingly good tonight. Youkilis was on base five times. Manny started hitting. Trot had another home run, etc...

Seanez sucked. Sucked bad. Sucked like he has been sucking since he put on the Sox uniform again. He's had a few good years in a row, so he can certainly put it together. Unlike last year, we have a number of arms (Delcarmen, Hansen, Van Buren, and eventually Lester) within the organization that can easily replace him. That said, combine him with Riske (not looking so good), Tavarez (headcase), and Timlin (showing signs of old age) and we may have to see these arms sooner than anticipated.

Foulke looked better tonight. He was locating pitches a little better and the contact was much weaker.

Considering that Papelbon was warming in the eighth when the Orioles were threatening to make it close again (after the Sox had an 11-0 lead....wtf?) and that Foulke came in for the ninth up by 6, it's absolutely clear who the relief ace is.

Edit: Youkilis also has a long way to go at first base. I believe that the seventh inning started by Youkilis cutting off a ball that was hit towards second base. No one was able to cover in time. This is not the first time he's done that in this young season.

Yeah Manny had 3 hits too. Not hard to win when your opponent issues like 24 walks.

What a line for Daniel Cabrera, the Orioles starter:

1.1 IP, 3 H, 7 R, 7 ER. 7 BB, 1K

It's a rare occasion when I lose track of how many bases-loaded walks there are in a game. Or an inning.

Someone should look up the record for walks given up in a 9-inning game. I would hope that 14 would be close.

One funny note from the game:

They showed a clip of Millar talking to Ortiz before the game with Millar doing his imitation of Ortiz hitting the home run off Millwood. What nearly escaped my noticed was Millar's shirt. Though the writing was a little funky, it clearly read, "Gangsta ****." No blurring or censoring whatsoever. About midway through the piece, I think Millar became cognizant of the profanity and obscured it with his hand. I'm amazed no one caught it.

Dont forget how good Matt was last year untill he took the batted ball to the head

lol...saw on espn.com that schilling is like completely "addicted" and a longtime player of EverQuest

that was really interesting to no...guess killing monsters online fills up those in between starts~

Another good game tonight. I enjoy the 14-8 style games with a lot of offense, but it's these 2-1 victories that make me optimistic.

Schilling once again pitched very well, going 7 innings, yielding only 3 hits.

Timlin pitched a nigh-flawless 8th and Papelbon friggin' dominated the 9th.

There were a couple questionable baserunning decisions, which ultimately stunted our offensive opportunities. Bruce Chen did his part, pitching very well for the O's, looking much like he did last year. He was eventually worn down by the Sox hitters. After five innings, Chen had only given up one run, walked one, and struck out two, but was already up to 91 pitches.

So the Sox were extremely patient. Except for Wily Mo. Wily Mo looked real bad today. He saw 7 pitches. All fastballs. All on the outside corner to 8 inches outside. He swung at 6 and made contact with none. Though I wanted to see him get a few more plate appearances, I was happy to see Trot Nixon pinch hit for him in the 6th facing a righty with the bases loaded.

Tomorrow should be an interesting game. Rodrigo Lopez always seems to pitch well against the Sox (or when he's on my fantasy team's bench...thankfully he's not nor will ever be on my team ever again. I don't care how talented he is). Also, we get to see how Tim Wakefield and Josh Bard make up for the disaster of last week.

Edit: The "pop-up, strikeout, or double play" game when Kevin Millar comes up is a lot of fun. Way more fun than last year.

Schilling is a beast.

Sox just swept the Orioles.

The umpiring was pretty bad, screwing Rodrigo Lopez out of some strikes and Papelbon later.

Crisp jammed his finger and took the day off. Wakefield was pitching, so Bard was in. For some reason Tito thought it a good time to play Snow also. Fairly scrubby lineup today.

Wakefield was better and Bard wasn't doing too badly. Plenty of balls by him, but none at any crucial moments.

Lowell looked bad at the plate once again.

Foulke on the other hand looked great. His velocity is back to where it was in 2004 and his control was stellar. He pitched a quick and painless eighth.

Papelbon's ninth was a little different, in part due to the aformentioned shoddy officiating. His velocity was down, suggesting to me that maybe he isn't one of these closers that can come back out a few days in a row. His control was also a little off, best evidence by drilling Tejada in the elbow. Still, he managed to escape unscathed with a save, and the Sox with a win.

Nice to see Wake getting his first win. 6 IP, 1 run, unearned. Especially nasty in the 6th inning, started with a double, then a single putting runners on the corners. Then he struck out the side swinging.

All sorts of reports flying around about Coco Crisp. Either:

a.) he jammed his finger and will play on Tuesday

b.) he broke his knuckle and will be out ~4 weeks

c.) he broke his finger and is out 6-8 weeks

Obviously this is a disappointment and like Manny breaking his finger sliding into home a couple years ago, this was completely avoidable.

Assuming he'll be out for a while, this probably means Adam Stern won't be sent down to Pawtucket once his rule V time is up. He'll likely see the bulk of the action, sharing time with Wily Mo and either Dustin Mohr/Willie Harris, though my guess is Mohr.

On the bright side, Stern did look good today and he is the Canadian Babe Ruth after all...

Edit: Willie Harris is not a good idea.

Any definite reports?? I mean..I haven't even heard of this...when/how did it happen? This would definitely be a big blow if he broke his finger and was out for 6 weeks.

Wow that is terrible news, if true. All I heard was that he jammed his finger and was taking the afternoon off.

I would guess Stern would get most of the playing time, since Pena doesn't play CF (as far as I know), and lord knows neither Trot nor Manny could be moved there either.

No definite reports that I know of. It's a bit of a surprise because he didn't even come out of the game after he jammed his finger. He even took fielding practice before the game today.

It happened early in the game on Saturday when he tried stealing third. Bruce Chen saw him take off and threw to third. Coco made this godawful tumble and that's when he did it.

Crisp Has Fracture

Bah. Well, on the bright side, it really doesn't cost us more than a fraction of a win, and taking variance into account, we could be better off without him.

Way to kill the momentum though. Season was going quite smoothly until this crap.

Ortiz Signs Extension





Yessssssssssssssssssssssssss


"I want to finish my career as a Red Sox player." - David Ortiz

Beckett had a rough first but has settled down.

Stern's looking great.

Lowell has two doubles.

Trot Nixon may be hurt.

And the Sox just turned one of the coolest double plays I have ever seen.

Heh...Bronson Arroyo hit another home run. That's 2....about as many pitches as Wily Mo Pena has not swung at this year.

Trot's got a mild groin strain or something. Doesn't seem serious. He wasn't going to be playing tomorrow anyway.

A pitcher who can hit homeruns? Dammit put that guy in left field!!! Ever heard of Babe Ruth?


Nice game for Lowell, 3 for 3 so far in front of the new crowd.


I can't see the games out here in NY, just have radio. Who threw out the first pitch?

My attention was divided at that moment. They brought out living members of the 1946 team, so probably one or all of them.

I tried not to watch the opening ceremonies...between the old people and the kid with cancer there was too much death looming for my tastes.

And how about shortstop. Manny can hit, but Gonzalez...

Put Ortiz at short. He can ****ing hit. Kabooom. Welcome home Mr. Ortiz.

An open letter to Wily Mo Pena:

Dear Wily Mo,

TAKE A ****ING PITCH!

Sincerely,

MDXS

Oh god....Wily Mo just played a fly out into a home run.

He's a little further away that I thought.

How about that Mike Lowell??? He is LOVING Fenway.

I'll bet. Good things happen when you move a righthanded pull hitter from a pitcher's park to a hitter's park with a short fence in left. No doubt in my mind that he can exceed Millar's numbers by a substantial margin.

Heh...Papelbon's so good. 3 pitches and the K to Overbay.

Very nice win. Pap has the job, no question.

"After today’s missed catch, Pena made back-to-back plays on fly balls to end the inning, prompting a mock cheer from the sellout crowd. Pena didn’t get the sarcasm.

“That was incredible,” he said. “It gave like more energy to me. They’re happy here, whatever you do.”

Um, Wily ..." - Eric Wilbur

haha

Well, whatever. As long as he takes it positively....which is the only thing he's taking these days.

Heh...that's really funny though.

I have a feeling Wells is gonna pitch an absolute stinker tonight. Hope I'm wrong.

Well's line tonight.

4.1 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 3 K, 7 ER

Yeah...I'm not confident about this one. He was our best starter last year, but I almost hate to see him back in the rotation.

Hopefully he's either good again, or so bad we take him under the bleachers and shoot him in the back of the head, make Papelbon the fifth starter, and open up a spot in the bullpen for Hansen.

Wells line tonight:

6 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 2 ER

Remember what happened the last time we got into a pitching line prediction contest with Koop?

As such, I refuse to participate.