Return of the Jedi

When the Red Sox play the Yankees, it is fun to win, and it is even more fun to make a statement while you do it. Yesterday, our spokesperson for that statement was Jonathan Papelbon. What an inspiring performance! Two runners on base, two outs, one run lead, eight inning, Alex Rodriguez coming to the plate, Francona bringing in ace closer Papelbon to face him. Power versus power. Yankees' best hitter against the Sox' best fireball closer. It was so dramatic, God himself hit pause on the game by throwing lightning bolts over Boston, so he could reload on snacks. When God hit play again (over two hours later!) , Papelbon came out charged with that very lightning, striking out A-Rod on three straight pitches! For regular readers, you know I have been intrigued by Papelbon working on a new and improved slider this spring. He threw it on the second pitch and got A-Rod to whiff at it. And look at those three pitches, 97 mph fastball (fouled off), 90 mph slider (swing and miss), wrapped up with a 98 mph fastball (swing and miss).

Paps came back out to wrap up the game in the ninth getting Giambi and Posada to both strike out swinging, and then survived a drawn-out battle against Robinson Cano (the guy I called most fearless in the Yankee lineup) who forced Papelbon to throw 10 pitches in a terrific showdown until he finally put one in play, grounding out to second.

Pitching wins ballgames, and Josh Beckett looked great until he began tiring in the 6th and 7th. Francona obviously wanted to avoid bringing out the middle relief and stretched Beckett as far as he could. Beckett will need a few more starts to build back his strength with the delay he had in spring training from the strained back. Manny Delcarmen and Okajima did their jobs holding the Yankees at bay for Papelbon's drama to commence.

As I indicated yesterday, I expected Manny Ramirez to surely hit against Mike Mussina, and he did, with a home run and a double driving in 3 of the Sox' four runs. I love to point out and examine strategy here and there. The situation...runners on second and third for the Sox with one out and David Ortiz coming up with Manny on deck. First base is open, and we have seen managers in the past walk Big Papi intentionally only to get burned by Manny. But, with Big Papi struggling right now, new Yankees' manager, Joe Girardi, makes a prudent decision to pitch to Ortiz. Ortiz struck out, making that move look good. Now, he's got 2 outs, and first base is still open. Do you pitch to Manny, who already clobbered a home run against Mussina earlier in the game, or do you put Manny on first and go after Youkilis? This time he opted to pitch to Manny, who stroked the first pitch for a game turning double. Oops.

The 18 game series against the Yankees is all tied up at one game a piece. Next up, Dice-K Matsuzaka will try to continue his hot start against the Yankees' promising rookie, Phil Hughes. Hughes had an iffy outing, only lasting three innings against the Royals in his last start because he had trouble spotting his fastball. That is a correctable problem. So, no guarantee he will pitch poorly tonight. I can't imagine Papi going hitless again - so look out fans in right field! Dice-K has really looked good - I think he is more confident in the strike zone that MLB umps are giving him, and working well with Varitek to exploit that zone using his tremendous arsenal of pitches. If his location is good, with a favorable ump, we could see another pitching gem tonight!

Captain to the Rescue

You've probably heard it before - it's all about pitching and defense. Last night's game was a perfect example of that. Matsuzaka had a terrific game! Great to see him so sharp, only allowing 1 run and 2 hits in 6 2/3 innings. Add to those numbers 9 strikeouts and no walks, and you are looking at a nice night. With a guy having such a nice night in such a close game, I thought it was a tough decision for Francona to pull him with 2 outs in the 7th. My guess is that Francona planned on pulling him after 7 no matter what, so it was only one batter different. And that one batter was Cust, who had hit a home run off a good pitch in the second inning, and is a lefty - all adding up to having Okajima face him. That plan kind of backfired when Okajima walked Cust, but he got the next batter on a pop-up, so no harm done.

If you are a regular reader, you recall prior to game one I said Ellsbury batting 8th would not last long - only until his bat started getting warmer. Last night he was back at the top of the order doing some nice damage. I also surmised that Papelbon's less than stellar performance against the Dodgers was likely due to him trying some new things in a meaningless game - like a new slider he's been developing. Last night, he threw nothing but fastballs and was his old dominating self. Great to see, although I hope the slider does improve, having more weapons is a good thing.

Defense was very sharp - no signs of fatigue after the day off. Crisp was diving all over center field, Lugo was a vacuum at short, and Youkilis tied ex-Dodger Steve Garvey's major league record of 193 consecutive errorless games games at first base. That is good company to be in.

The offense for the Sox was quiet, unfortunately. Youk scored from 2nd in the 6th with 2 outs on an extremely close play at home. The ump probably could have called it either way, but it think he got the call right - looked like the tag from A's catcher Suzuki just missed. The only other run also involved a close call against the Sox as Varitek's 2 out smash in the 6th appeared to barely clear the yellow line in right center for a home run, but the umps saw it as a double. Luckily Youk scored on the hit, and thanks to great pitching, the lost run was a non-factor.

While the Sox looked sharp, other than on offense, the A's, again, were a bit mistake-prone. Not a good thing against a team like the Red Sox. Suzuki got picked off stealing at a somewhat questionable moment in the 3rd - but I think they were trying to be aggressive. The Captain turned that threat back. In the 8th inning, with a runner on first and no outs, Jack Hannahan lays down an awful bunt right into Mike Lowell's hands allowing Lowell to easily throw out Bobby Crosby at second. Had the bunt gone towards first base, the sacrifice would have worked easily. In the 4th, first baseman Daric Bartman simply dropped an easy foul pop-up by Mike Lowell, but escaped damage when Lowell went on to strike out.

This afternoon, I'm not sure, with it being so early in the season, if Francona will go back to Okajima or Papelbon. So, we're going to need either a lot of offense, or a solid night from Lester and the rest of the bullpen. JD Drew will be back in the lineup, so I expect we'll see Ellsbury sit this one out. As much as we love him, he's the 4th outfielder as long as Crisp plays well.

Funny sight of the night...

Late in the game, the NESN cameras showed an A's fan happily holding up a nice big sign overhead proclaiming that they still believe! Unfortunately, the sign was upside down and created a very comic moment. Maybe when he looked up it looked right side up to him? Glad he's on their side!

Memorial Coliseum Wrapup

I managed to stay awake long enough to watch about half the game. Here are my thoughts...

To open the game, they had the most boring flyover I ever saw. Three helicopters slowly passed overhead. Not Blackhawks or anything, just three basic helicopters like news copters.

It was a testament to how ridiculous the field dimensions were when the Dodgers took the field with NO left fielder. The left fielder played behind second base, and the shortstop took a step or two back to cover left field. Very entertaining. In the first inning, a Dodger player laced a shot down the left field line and off the wall in the corner, and Lugo fielded the ball off the wall. Very strange, but fun to watch. Big Papi, in his first at bat, toyed with the short left field wall going that way foul twice, and then changing strategy and ripping a single to right field. After Japan, it was good to see Papi have a good at bat. Another odd moment took place when Jacoby Ellsbury stole second base and the left fielder (Andruw Jones) fielded the throw from the catcher. I wonder if they worked on that one in practice.

Cash and Youk both took advantage of the short field dimensions and earned the Sox 5 runs with their two homers. Somewhat surprisingly, Wakefield kept the Dodgers in the park and did a nice job going 5 innings allowing only one run on 5 hits, two strikeouts, and a walk.

The worst news for Sox fans (other than Ellsbury actually being thrown out stealing) was that Papelbon again looked very human. He allowed 3 hits and 2 runs (thanks to a Dewitt home run with two outs) in the ninth inning. Not good. But, this is still spring training. Well sort of. Hopefully, Paps can bring out the good stuff Tuesday night.

Red Sox Pitching Progress

You've heard it a million times now - pitching wins championships. The point being that solid pitching is the foundation a team needs to start from. So, how does the pitching situation look for the Red Sox so far? Very promising!

Bad news - Schilling is out for a significant period of time. A healthy Schilling eats up innings, provides a solid veteran presence, can handle pressure, and is a proven post-season star. He will be missed, but that is nearly all the bad news!

Positives:

It was very confusing last year why Dice-K looked so good earlier in games, and earlier in the season. For a while, hitters were incredibly off balance, than later they were not. Well, according to pitching coach John Farrell, they discovered Dice-K was tipping his change-up. Not a good thing. The change-up is a fairly easy pitch to hit - IF you know it is coming. The change-up is a stealth pitch. To the batter, the pitcher looks like he is throwing a fast ball. However, due to a different way of gripping the ball, the pitch comes in roughly 10 miles per hour slower. It will either confuse the batter long enough to force him to take the pitch, or get him swinging too early. Anyway (you know all that already), if the batter knows it is coming, watch out! So, they've worked with Dice-K on perfecting the change-up and early indications are that the adjustments are working! This can make a huge difference!

Bartolo Colon looks like a steal so far. Throwing very well, mechanics are solid, and arm strength is great! If he keeps this up, don't be surprised he works his way into the #3 spot in the rotation! But, coming off of injuries the past two years, my concern is whether the elbow will last an entire season, or get sore again?

Tim Wakefield seems to be over his back issues and throwing well. Beckett is in better shape than last year and looks poised to dominate again! John Lester looked good in his last outing, and got some important post season experience last year.

As of today, my starting 5 for the Sox:
1) Josh Beckett (obviously)
2) Daisuke Matsuzaka (look for at least as good of a year as last year)
3) Bartolo Colon (presuming the elbow stays strong - may start in AAA for the first game or two)
4) Tim Wakefield (an effective knuckler keeps batters uncomfortable)
5) John Lester (nice to have a left starter)

Bullpen:
Julian Tavarez - long relief - spot starter
Karl Snyder - long relief - spot starter
Mike Timlin - middle relief - occasional setup man - spot closer
Manny Delcarmen - middle relief
Javier Lopez - need a lefty in the 'pen
Hideki Okajima - setup man - occasional closer
Jonathan Papelbon - Closer

Buchholz or Hansack may start the season with Boston if Colon is not ready. They'll probably spend most of their time in Pawtucket, and get called up as needed. If there is a significant injury, or they simply shine, they may stick longer. Gronkiewicz, Corey, Tejera and Masterson are all potential call ups as needed, but expect them to play mostly in the minors. They would be available to replace Tavarez, Snyder or Lopez if they aren't getting the job done.

That leaves Craig Hansen. So far, he still looks disappointing. He hit the Sox with such promise, but has shown very little since then. He throw very well, has a strong arm, but just can't get guys out. Not sure if it is mental, or perhaps predictability. Hopefully he can turn it around this year and start moving up!