June 3, 2009

G53: Red Sox 10, Tigers 5

Red Sox - 200 020 060 - 10 13  3
Tigers - 000 000 050 - 5 3 1
On the 91st anniversary of Dutch Leonard's no-hitter against the Tigers in Detroit, Josh Beckett was well on his way to duplicating Leonard's 1918 feat.

He was seven outs away when Curtis Granderson lined a clean single to right field. Beckett finished the inning with a strike out ... and then things got a wee bit crazy.

A total of 11 runs were scored in the eighth inning. David Ortiz and Jason Varitek banged consecutive two-run doubles in the top half, then Boston committed three infield errors so all five of Detroit's runs -- three of which scored on a Granderson triple off Daniel Bard -- were unearned.

An injury to Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell's ejection meant the Sox went into the bottom of the ninth with an infield of Nick Green at 3B, Julio Lugo at SS, Dustin Pedroia at 2B and Mark Kotsay at 1B. Takashi Saito loaded the bases in the ninth, but escaped without allowing a run.

The Rangers beat the Yankees 4-2, so Boston and New York are once again tied for first place at 31-22.

***
Josh Beckett (4.60, 105 ERA+) / Armando Galarraga (5.50, 84 ERA+)

Josh Beckett made five starts in May:
34 innings, 28 hits, 12 walks, 28 strikeouts
2.38 ERA, Opponents hit .222/.293/.341
I would like to see that continue.

Jacoby Ellsbury, on his low walk totals:
Everybody talks about you need to walk more, but in order to walk more, they have to throw you balls. A lot of these teams, when you're fast, they don't want to throw you balls. They're going to pound the zone before they're going to try to nibble at the corners. ...

As a fast player, as a leadoff guy, they're not going to pitch around me. It makes it tough to walk. If you go up trying to walk you get down in the count. If the pitch is there you have to be swinging at it. You can't be taking (good) pitches just to walk.
Do fast guys draw fewer walks? I have no idea, but SoSHer SoxScout notes:
Going down the SB leaderboard, it takes to #37, Cesar Izturis, to find a worse walk rate than Ells' 4%.
While some of what Ellsbury says makes me absolutely cringe -- "You can't be taking (good) pitches just to walk" -- as if batters go to the plate planning to walk -- he does make a bit of sense.

He knows he doesn't have a lot of power, so most pitchers will not nibble. They are likely to challenge him with fastballs -- and he has seen fastballs almost 70% of the time this year. If he slugged more, pitchers might be willing to concede a walk rather than a double or a dong. Ellsbury, though, will have to earn any walk he gets.

His current OBP of .342 is only a tad below his career mark of .345 -- in close to 1,000 plate appearances. This may be the player he is -- and the criticism of him may come from unrealistic expectations after his amazing finish in 2007.

Here are his 2009 splits:
          PA    AVG   OBP   SLG   SB  CS
vs RHP 158 .338 .373 .426 17 2
vs LHP 74 .232 .274 .261 5 4
Sheesh, even his running game suffers against lefties. Rocco Baldelli has played only two games in center field this season, usually filling in for J.D. Drew in right. If Baldy's knee is feeling okay, it would be nice to see him in center field against lefties -- like, say, Dontrelle Willis on Thursday afternoon.

Also: Hideki Okajima has the longest scoreless-innings streak on the team this season. It is currently at 15.2, two outs better than Ramon Ramirez's run of 15 earlier this year.

319 comments:

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Pepe Lepew said...

Yayyy! Tek! I'm having fun tonight!

s1c said...

Well, the changing of the line up has so far scored runs.

Amy said...

I don't think Beckett has to worry about not getting a W tonight.

Unknown said...

Papi and Tek back-to-back rbi doubles?

Do my eyes deceive me?

Amy said...

Love seeing those hits.

Unknown said...

Lyndon: FUCK BBs

Rob said...

Damn! Ellsbury shoulda walked!

Jere said...

10-0. (The Lowe no-hitter score.)

Pepe Lepew said...

Kiddo just sent me an e-mail from the Northern Arizona University student union saying, "We're winning!"

Amy said...

Boy, the Tigers can't get out of the inning.

Unknown said...

Another run!

Pepe Lepew said...

She sent it on *my* I-Phone!

Rob said...

Don: "Jason Varitek in the back door..."

Heidi probably shifted in her seat.

Jere said...

"sent from your iphone"

Amy said...

Oh, Ish, you sound like Andy!

Pepe Lepew said...

Bronx cheer from the Tiger fans!

Jere said...

Yanks down 4-1 after 6

Rob said...

Good thing her mic wasn't on.

s1c said...

Wow, the braves released Glavine. Way to keep your fans happy Atlanta.

Jere said...

The ump called a near perfect pitch a ball there.

Jere said...

Finally a pitcher warming. It was a 10-0 lead Tito, why is Beckett even in right now?

Amy said...

So did Beckett want a CG? Or is Francona just resting the bullpen?

s1c said...

Wow, how surprising.

Amy said...

OK, time for Beckett to get a rest.

Rob said...

HAHAHA. Don: And getting hit is Laird.

Eck: Interesting!

Looked like he was going for the man region on that one!

s1c said...

Amy, Probably beckett and tito wanted a cg.

Jere said...

Will the Tigers realize we're even now, or will their guy just plunk someone for the hell of it?

Jere said...

Guy's thrown a hundred pitches, had a long wait, it's 10-0, we have the best bullpen in the league... if he gets hurt Tito is Bill O'Reilly to Josh's Tiller. Blood on his hands.

Benjamin said...

Bleh.

Amy said...

And there goes the shut out.

Unknown said...

And we STILL have not shut out an opponent.

Pepe Lepew said...

Wow, the braves released Glavine. Way to keep your fans happy Atlanta.

Any reason for the Red Sox not to gobble him up?

Jere said...

Posada with a leadoff dong in the 7th. 4-2 now.

Benjamin said...

Any reason for the Red Sox not to gobble him up?

No space on the 25-man roster? They probably wouldn't get the chance, since priority is by win/loss record.

Rob said...

Did anyone see the video of Melky Cabrera being "interviewed" shirtless in a hotel room by a porn star Marey Carey? He's standing around with his shirt off eating peanuts and she's being goofy asking him questions. Look for it on youtube. I can't provide a direct link or my computer will explode.

Unknown said...

"Any reason for the Red Sox not to gobble him up?"

Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson, Smoltz, Tazawa...

Pepe Lepew said...

I have not seen Bard yet.

Jere said...

Milk

laura k said...

Hi all. Can't thread because my hands are dead from taking notes all day. Looong day, but glad to see the score when I got home! Bye now. :)

Jere said...

Guess it was from last year or earlier since she says his number is 28.

Jere said...

hahaha, Eck talking about the "shit" incident.

Rob said...

Eck: "I'm never looking at Youkilis when he's angry every again."

Jere said...

this is just bizarre. Is Youk retarded?

Amy said...

So why is Youk so pissed? Is he hurt? Or just mad?

Eck has no clue. Don has no clue.

Unknown said...

Alright Green enough with the shitty fielding.

Hope Youk is good for tomorrow, we need him in that lineup every day.

Rob said...

Thanks for the link, Jere.

Baldelli's in the game as well. That's a good sign from hurting his knee the other day.

Red Sox defense... Not so much.

Amy said...

OK, so we are ahead eight runs, but can we STOP MAKING ERRORS??

Rob said...

Youk seems like one of those people who gets wickedly pissed when he gets hurt.

Ow! GOD DAMMIT SON OF A BITCH TITS ALEX RODRIGUEZ LINDSAY LOHAN FRECKLES MELKY CABRERA STUPID ASS PEANUT EATING HOTEL DWELLING BITCH!!! THAT HURT!!

s1c said...

Youk was spiked, not anger it was pain from being stepped on.

Key reason for no Glavine - 43 (his age).

allan said...

espn shows the first base replay 3 times, but EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME THEIR CRAWL COVERS UP THE FEET OF THE PLAYERS SO IT IS USELESS

Rob said...

43 is also his latest fastball temperature.

Benjamin said...

Uhhh, guys.

Jere said...

"Youk was spiked, not anger it was pain from being stepped on."

YOu'd think...but the replays made it look like he barely got touched by a toe if at all.

10-5.

Amy said...

Uchh, wtf?

Unknown said...

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT

Rob said...

About time Bard got lit up. Part of the development.

allan said...

oh wtf is ithis shit?

s1c said...

Lit up, but they are all unearned

Amy said...

FINALLY. Damn.

Jere said...

I'm glad it's only 1 ER for Josh.

Unknown said...

ABOUT FUCKING TIME

allan said...

would someone

PLEASEEEEEEEEEE

kick sut in the nuts?

s1c said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Benjamin said...

I'm glad it's only 1 ER for Josh.

And zero for Bard.

Zenslinger said...

So I come in from yoga, see the 10-1 score, note Beckett's had a great day, Yanks are behind, all is well.

Then the errors begin and I'm reminded of all the discussion I was reading today about trying to shore up the left side of the infield defensively.

I did not see Green and Lowell's errors, but, especially in Lowell's case, people are saying, "It's the hip, it's the hip!" Well, I was looking at his UZR, which purports to be an all-around defensive rating including range. Over the off season, Mike's gone from being a plus defender to a poop defender.

Therefore the idea of trading for a 1B, Youk to 3B, Lowell and Papi DH platoon.

As for Green, wait for Jed to come back, hope he looks good.

Jere said...

I meant in such a great performance, it woulda stunk if Josh's line was 3 ER in 7+

Jere said...

okay, TEX up 2, 4 outs to go. Us up 5, 3 outs to go.

If both teams hold on, it's a tie for first.

Rob said...

Blogger comments being weird. a 400+ page but we're only in the 260s.

Jere said...

Lowell ejected. Rangers three outs away.

Unknown said...

Oh, great, make the defense even shittier.

Rob said...

Zen what do you think of Yoga?


Heh. Lowell was ejected. I so called it.

I said to my dad, "Watch. We'll come back from commercial and Lowell will have been ejected." Snap.

allan said...

doc looked seriously pissed.

Zenslinger said...

Ish, I'm doing Bikram ("hot") yoga. It is very challenging and very beneficial.

s1c said...

The Sox bullpen is so deep.

Rob said...

They had been jawing at each other the whole AB too.

Zenslinger said...

What the fuck is going on in the game?

Rob said...

Zen I'm trying to figure out what the fuck is hot yoga. Haha. I want to learn yoga but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I'd like to be able to pay for classes first.

Zenslinger said...

Didn't mean that to sound rude. Mike ejected? GDGD is completely confused.

andy said...

Motherfucker jacoby will be on top tomorrow.

Pepe Lepew said...

Yup, it's all Hugo Chavez's fault Ordonez sucks/

Unknown said...

Oh, that's a great way to start the inning...

allan said...

lyndon leading off against a lefty (willis)? i'll fuckin' lose it!!!

.274 OBP v LHP -- i say he sits.

Rob said...

Wow. 105 degrees to do yoga? I can see how it would be very rewarding. Imagine doing yoga in a sauna. But 40% humidity... That's still pretty humid. 76 degree dewpoint.

allan said...

THIS IS GOING WELL

Unknown said...

Um...enough with the late-inning drama.

allan said...

Ram and Jeemer up

Jere said...

Here's what's going on--this ump has stopped calling strikes. Only pitches swung at can be strikes.

Amy said...

I thought this game would be over by 10 when it was 9:15.

Rob said...

Hey at least Dice isn't pitching against Dontrelle. I'm not sure I'd even watch. Probably go 5 hours.

Unknown said...

".274 OBP v LHP -- i say he sits."

I agree.

Unknown said...

one out

Jere said...

Texas gets leadoff man on, and he gets picked off. We go bottom 9, 4-2 Rangers....stick around after our game ends if you wanna see us get back into first place! If Texas doesn't give them four walks or infield singles or errors or front row HRs as they've been doing...

Unknown said...

Sit

allan said...

PINE!

Zenslinger said...

Your sweating situation is about like you had entered a lake or pool, then stood in the sun drying off for a few minutes. My hair is completely wet, my bathing suit-like "costume" is dripping.

allan said...

saito rockin and rollin now

allan said...

end it!

Rob said...

Zen, I bet Youk would flood the place.

Benjamin said...

How about we not turn this onto one of those games.

allan said...

jesus fuck

Unknown said...

Meh

Save situation

Rob said...

This has been a strange game.

Jere said...

Tex 2 outs away

allan said...

saito's rock and roll is dead

allan said...

DIRTY WATER IN THE MOTOR CITY!!

Benjamin said...

Water

Jere said...

we win. Yanks one out from losing

s1c said...

dirty

Unknown said...

Water...finally

Rob said...

Finally the water is dirty.

Now to watch Top Gear Australia.

Amy said...

Well, those last two innings were not fun. But

WE WIN!

Dirty water in what we used to call Motown. What will it be now? Bankruptcytown?

s1c said...

Yanks lose

Pepe Lepew said...

I was getting pretty tired of the ESPN announcers pronouncing "this game's in coubt."

Jere said...

TIED FOR FIRST!

Pepe Lepew said...

or "in doubt"

Jere said...

"Finally the water is dirty.

Now to watch Top Gear Australia."

You mean, time to see if the Rangers can get the last out putting us into 1st place. Which they just did. NOW you watch Top Gear Australia:)

Benjamin said...

MFYs lose 4-2. First place.

Amy said...

Yanks lose, we win. Sounds like a good night, though a no hitter would have been so nice...

SoSock said...

Watched the last 3 innings at the bar after being rained out halfway thru practice.
Looking like a cakewalk, but somehow we make it seem nerve-wracking.
Tito pacing, me going JEEZ loud enough to make the people nearby turn, and all with a 5-run lead and 1 out to go. oh well, a win is a win.

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