AHHHH! Please excuse Boston Red Sox starter Julian Tavarez for not having a socially acceptable face.
At least his pitching was attractive today. But first... Detroit returned the favor Tuesday night, from Monday's 7-1 loss, by defeating the Boston Red Sox 7-2.
The Tigers blew up on starter Tim Wakefield for five and jumped on reliever Brenden Donnelly in the 7
th for two more runs.
Wakefield came into the game with a stunning ERA of 1.79.
After Tuesday night’s outing he’s now at 2.41, still pretty low for Wake.
Tiger’s ace Justin Verlander said he had one of his best bullpens before the game and it showed in his performance.
I don’t know what to think of the Tigers.
I’m not sure if I should like them or hate them.
Currently the Sox are in between same day games. Sox starter Julian Tavarez won a goddamn game!! He looked pretty damn good quieting the Tigers pitching seven complete innings, fanned three, and only ONLY gave up one earned. Like clockwork the bullpen went into action in the 8th with Hideki Okajima and closer Jonathan Papelbon retiring six straight. I love a good pitchers dual and today was great in that aspect. I know Boston can score runs so I’m not that concerned they’ve only scored four runs in the past two days. Although only picking up two runs on emergency call up Zach Minor leaves me with a slight bad aftertaste in my mouth.
Starter Josh Beckett will not start on Friday in Boston’s inter-league kick off game for the ’07 season against the Atlanta Braves. The Sox are staying tight lipped about the short term for Beckett and hinted about a possible stint on the DL so it’s not rushed. They are also staying tight lipped about who will be called up from Pawtucket to pitch in his place. My guess is whoever they scratch from a start in any game scheduled for this weekend will get the call up. Devern Hansack maybe? Expect Javier Lopez to get sent back down to bring Hansack up. Hopefully Beckett is able to recover soon, and hopefully Francona doesn’t push him out too fast and it turns into a nagging issue over the season.
In other DL news, set up man Mike Timlin is making progress in his rehab. He’s been throwing on flat ground from 45-60 feet with no signs of his tendonitis flaring up. On to JD Drew. Yikes, I knew this guy was going to get injured it was only a question of when. I’m confident in backups Eric Hinske and (kinda) Wily Mo Pena, but I’d rather have Drew as the day to day and light in the injury department because he is the best right fielder on the team. Looks like it’s wait and see with him for now. Francona said it’s only a lower back contusion, but you never know with Drew.
The second game gets underway at 6:05 central with Curt Schilling up against Chad Durbin. Hopefully Schil can get back the win he probably could have picked up after being pulled in last Saturday’s contest against the Orioles. Schilling was pulled after 5 1/3 after giving up his 4th earned run on the day to make the game a 4-4 tie. Boston went on to win 13-4.
