Texas Four Step

The Sox managed to go 10-2 during a stretch where I might have been happy with 8-4 or 7-5 since I posted last. Mike Lowell is still on the DL, David Ortiz is still batting like shit (but batted .281 in the last 7 games) and Josh Beckett will miss yet another start tonight.

After sweeping AL West cellar dweller Texas Rangers, the Sox will meet the antithesis of the Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels. The young David Pauley will get the start tonight in the stead of the ailing Beckett against the struggling Jered Weaver. Pauley has been called up from Triple-A Pawtucket and filled in not so nicely last year on a couple occasions when Shilling when down. He gave up 14 runs on 31 hits in only 16 innings, however he has started off nicely for the PawSox with a 1.17 ERA.

What did I miss? Well, I didn't miss much but I didn't post on here while the Sox quietly ripped off nine wins out of their last ten. They went 4-and-2 against the Yankees, swept the struggling Indians on a couple of comeback victories and swept the Rangers. Not bad for a team who's ace was not doing so hot and who's slugger was (is) slumping.

Tough Week Ahead

After getting swept out of the Rogers Centere like an expansion team last weekend, the Sox managed to take two of three from the struggling Tigers. The bad news is that World Series MVP Mike Lowell was placed on the 15-day disabled list in the face of one of the toughest weeks in the first half of the season. Coming up tonight is the Yankees, then in a strange twist of scheduling they Sox travel to Cleveland Monday for two games and then back east to the Bronx for two more games with their rivals Wednesday and Thursday.

If the Sox make it to a week from now below .500 I don't think I'll be surprised. The schedule this first month isn't quite as favorable as it was last year at this time. Ortiz continues to struggle (.083 average at the plate and a .434 OPS) as does Manny. Ramirez did drive in a couple runs yesterday, but in a 12 run game, you should be.

Kevin Youkilis and JD Drew continue to keep the team chugging along with a fairly stout performance yesterday and over the course of the first ten games. Drew has caught fire especially in the past series with Detroit after sitting out most of the first series with Oakland.

So here we go with the Yankees and Sox. I won't be able to watch any games until Sunday. This no cable/no MLB Extra Innings is fucking torture.

.500

Well, it ain't going to be the same start we had last year. I'm not sure which factors are leading me to this probably premature conclusion, all I know is that this team seems like they could be in for a bit of a bumpy beginning to the season. Today, however, was a day to celebrate, pass out World Series rings and welcome back the one and only Bill Buckner. That's how happy Red Sox Nation is these days. Hands Across America indeed.

Dusting off a former pariah and shipping him to Boston from exile in Idaho is a big step in a direction most long time Sox die hards didn't think would ever happen. The villain from '86 was back throwing out the first pitch after the current roster had, ironically enough, celebrated their second Series victory in four years.

I missed the entire Toronto series due to the fact I was stuck in house without cable painting all damn weekend. Good thing it was my house, or I probably wouldn't have been there in the first place. I did get to listen to classic rock and Royals games while they boys in blue were in Minneapolis, and while not the best substitute, I did my best to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

Boston pulled themselves out of the American League East cellar today with a 5-0 win over the seemingly hapless Tigers into a third place tie with New York. The Yanks dropped a game against the buzzsaw (I laughed when I typed that) that is the Royals, who are currently in a first place tie in the Central (with Chicago no less!) while Detroit sits five games back in dead last. I still think I'm going to wake up and it's going to be last Monday. Speaking of waking up, someone please tell the Kansas City roster that they need to look down and read their jersey's and that they say "Royals" across the front.

As much as I would like to see my hometown team do well, I'm digressing from the team I actually follow like a religious monk. Briefly, Dice-K had another solid outing subbing for Josh Beckett as the team's ace. He did his typical Dice-K thing giving up five hits over 6 and 2/3rds while striking out seven. Ortiz and Manny continue to struggle for the most part, making me wonder how the rock solid core of this team will be able to hold on. Hopefully they can find a respectable groove in the next few weeks, or days before the Yanks come to town this weekend. While I move. Goddamnit.

One last thing. I hate the fact that the Sox have some of the dumbest celebrities around.

Steven Tyler - Grade A Douchebag; frontman to a band that hasn't been cool since 1978

Dice-KKKKKKKKK

Now that the fiasco that was purchasing my new home is complete, I can resume my normal duties with posting in this blog with some more consistency. Last night I took the liberty of staying up to watch Boston take a 2-1 lead in their series with the Oakland Athletics. That victory was mostly on the back of solid pitching from Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K went six and two thirds of an inning giving up only one run and striking out nine. The rest of the pitching might was flexed by the primary set up man and closer in Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon, who actually came in at the end of the eighth inning.

David Ortiz continued his hitless streak of going 0-for-11 this season. Hopefully his search for his first hit can end tonight. After coming back from an injury you would hope this wouldn’t be the start of some confidence issues for Big Papi. Although I’m sure most people are must making a mountain out of a mole hill with this one. As far as the actual run production went, Jacoby Ellsbury drove in Kevin Youkilis in the fifth and Jason Varitek doubled in the go ahead run (Youkilis again) in the sixth to give the Sox the lead for good.

Notes
-Speaking of Youk, he extended his errorless streak into a tie with Steve Garvey for the Major League record. Youkilis has played in 193 games without a charged error. He also won his first Gold Glove in 2007.

-Last postseason’s most clutch pitcher Josh Becket is expected to start Sunday in Toronto against the Blue Jays. In his final rehab start in Fort Myers he went five innings, allowing one run on only two hits and no walks.

-The line up has already seen a few changes with JD Drew already showing signs of being an injury issue. Drew should be back in the lineup by the end of the week after recovering from a lower back strain.

-World Series Game Four difference maker Bobby Kielty has decided to stay with the Sox and will more than likely end up in AAA Pawtucket. After he found out that he wouldn’t make the major league roster, he was informed by his handlers that there were no other opportunities for him to play at that level. Big shock.