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Game Story: Indians 8, Red Sox 4

BOSTON — For the first time this week, the Boston Red Sox didn’t receive a sterling effort from a starting pitcher. Yet, at this point of the season, that doesn’t seem to matter very much.

The Red Sox have the final day of May off to rest, play golf or pick up their children from school. They also have reason to celebrate with a whopping 11½-game lead in the American League East in their back pockets. The two months of work spent accumulating that advantage gives the Sox room to dismiss a very shaky outing like the one Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in last night in a 8-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians.

Dice-K didn’t resemble the rookie flash that’s baffled several opponents with a vast array of offerings so far this season. He was rocked for 12 hits and six runs over just 52/3 innings, easily his shakiest outing of the season. The Indians did most of their damage in the fifth and sixth innings when they hit up Matsuzaka for six runs on eight hits with several of his pitches being scalded.

Instead of keeping the Indians guessing as to which pitch he’d throw next, Matsuzaka seemed to rely on his fastball a bit too much and left too many off-speed pitches — like the fat slider Grady Sizemore crushed over the bullpen wall in right for a 2-run homer in the sixth — out over the plate.

Boston’s bullpen wasn’t much better. Cleveland pounded out a season-high 18 hits and showed why they’ll be a factor all season long in the A.L. Central.

Now the Red Sox have a chance to begin the third month of the season by supplying another deadly blow to their arch-enemies from New York. The Yankees come to town for a weekend series that some are billing as a potential burial for the boys from Gotham. Indeed, it could be.

The Yanks snapped a five-game nosedive with a 10-5 win last night in Toronto that cut their deficit in the A.L. East to 13½ games. A Red Sox sweep this weekend would bury the Yanks in a 16½-game hole. The flip side is a Yankee sweep would cut the lead to 10½ and give Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and the newest addition to the pitching staff, Roger Clemens, reason to hope over the next few months.

New York also has today off and will come to Fenway Park with their its three top pitchers — Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte — ready to throw. Boston counters with Tim Wakefield, Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett, who are a combined 18-7.

However the weekend ends up, the Red Sox clearly have reason to hold all the confidence in the world. Despite Matsuzaka’s shaky outing last night, the team’s starting pitching has been excellent. The deep and talented lineup has racked up the third-most runs in the American League, even with big bopper Manny Ramirez off to a less-than-stellar start. The bullpen has been better than solid, too, with Jonathan Papelbon throwing well and lefty setup man Hideki Okajima emerging as one of the biggest surprises in baseball.

Boston has dominated series against the three teams with the next-best records in the American League (Angels, Indians and Tigers) by a combined 8-2 record.
But lost amid all the glee over the fast start and the fat lead over the Yankees is the fact that the Red Sox’ goal is not to beat New York and win the A.L. East title for the first time since 1995. It’s to win the World Series.

Cruising to a 10-game division win over the Yankees would be a great achievement but it means nothing if the Sox lose to Cleveland in the A.L. Division Series. Boston is off to an historic start over the season’s first two months and the 14½ game lead over the Yankees was accumulated so quickly, and stunningly, that fans certainly have grown giddy.

Now it’s time to see if the next few months can come off just as sweet.

--KEVIN McNAMARA

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 11:16 PM | Permalink

Game Story: Clippers 8, PawSox 4

PAWTUCKET -- Briefly climbing out of the IL North cellar with last week’s victories over Syracuse, only to have the Chiefs send them right back down with two wins in the second half of that series, the Pawtucket Red Sox haven’t done much to help their cause in their current series against Columbus either.

Seemingly flirting with a no-hitter through 3 2/3 innings, lefty Kason Gabbard watched a strong start fall apart, as the PawSox dropped its second straight to the Clippers with an 8-4 setback, last night at McCoy Stadium.

Pawtucket - which drops to 20-29 and has not been above .500 since an April 13 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre made them 5-4 - took a 1-0 lead in the second when Clippers right-hander Tim Redding gave up three straight singles to Bobby Scales, Michael Tucker and Ed Rogers, then a sacrifice fly to left to George Kottaras.

But that’s the only run Redding, the eventual winner, would allow over his 7.1-inning stint, and the PawSox’ slim lead soon evaporated when Gabbard ran into some control problems.

After retiring 11 of the first 12 batters he faced and starting off the fourth by fanning Bernie Castro and Darnell McDonald, the southpaw walked three of the next five Clippers and gave up his first two hits to the other two.

Walking Kory Casto and DAngelo Jimenez, Gabbard then gave up an infield single to Michael Restovich that loaded the bases.

Issuing another walk to Abraham Nunez that plated Casto, Gabbard then surrendered a two-run single to right to Brandon Harper that put Columbus up, 3-1.

Gabbard was lifted in the sixth after Restovich belted one of his offerings off the concession stand wall in center field for a solo home run.

``He got two outs, two strikes and then we’ve seen it in baseball before, he just got out of rhythm,’’ PawSox manager Ron Johnson said of Gabbard (4-2). ``His curveball and his changeup were really outstanding pitches for him tonight. Got a little bit off with the command of the fastball, but all in all, 5 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs. That was the one inning where he walked those guys. That was it. You can’t really look at that and go, `He struggled.’ Well, did he? Four hits. This was a pretty good hitting ball club, as we saw late in the game.’’

PawSox reliever Mike Burns, on the otherhand, did struggle mightily, lasting just 1 1/3 innings after giving up four more runs on five hits - including a three-run blast into the right-field picnic area to Casto and an RBI double to Nunez, both in the seventh inning. (It didn’t help that third baseman Chad Spann overthrew first on a sac bunt by Castro on the second play of that inning, which allowed Brandon Watson to advance to third and Castro to make it to second.)

Although the gap proved too large for Pawtucket to close, Johnson was pleased to see his team rally for three runs in the eighth, when the PawSox batted around the order and capitalized on back-to-back doubles by Kottaras and Spann, three walks and an error.

``These guys are playing hard,’’ said Johnson. ``They play hard every night. They hustle every night. They bust their butt. It’s a game of patience. It’s a game of discipline. We battled back. We scratched for some. I’m really proud of the club to get them on the board late. We’re just lacking that one little thing right there, and that’s the gapper. That’s what we’ve been missing, where somebody could get (a hit)into a gap. So back to the drawing board (tonight).’’

--CAROLYN THORNTON

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 10:54 PM to PawSox | Permalink

FINAL: CLEVELAND 8, BOSTON 4

BOSTON _ For one of the few times all season, Red Sox pitching was pounded last night, more than hard enough to put an end to the team’s winning streak.

Cleveland pounded Daisuke Matsuzaka for 12 hits, six for extra bases, in 5 2/3 innings on the way to a 8-4 triumph over the Sox.

The 12 hits mark the first time Matsuzaka has given up double-figures in that department. It also equals the most given up by any Red Sox pitcher all season. Curt Schilling also was tagged for 12 hits against the Yankees last week. In all Cleveland pounded 18 hits, equaling the most Boston has allowed.

The Sox led 2-0 after four, thanks for single runs in the second and fourth. Mike Lowell’s double set up an unearned run in the second off Cleveland starter Paul Byrd. It was the 22nd straight Fenway game in which Lowell has had a hit.

Kevin Youkilis extended his overall hitting streak to 22 games with a single in the third. Doubles by Manny Ramirez and Jason Varitek accounted for the run that put Boston up 2-0 in the fourth.

After that, the Indians were the team with the doubles. They had five off Matsuzaka. The Tribe also received a two-run homer from Grady Sizemore into the Cleveland bullpen in the sixth, the blow that knocked Matsuzaka out of the game.

Boston loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh but did not score. David Ortiz lined out to end it, one pitch after pulling a potential grand slam about 10 feet foul in right. Lowell hit a two-run homer, his 10th, into the Monster seats in the eighth. Kelly Shoppach had four of Cleveland’s 18 hits, including his second home run of the season.

The result ended Boston’s winning streak at five games.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 10:35 PM | Permalink

Now, about the hot dogs. . .

So what does a Major League manager do when he gets a rare day off?

In Terry Francona’s case, he plans to sample the hot dogs at McCoy Stadium tonight.

The Red Sox manager said he and pitching coach John Farrell plan to head to Pawtucket tonight. It is not for purely for pleasure. They want to check on Mike Timlin, Jon Lester and the other Pawtucket players. Timlin is still in Pawtucket. He struggled in one inning of work Tuesday coming back from a battle with tendonitis in his pitching shoulder.

``Kind of the reason he was going back was to repeat his delivery and be a little more consistent,’’ Francona said. ``I think last night showed he’s not quite there. I think he feels healthy. He feels like he’s got pretty good arm strength, but as far as repeating his pitches in his delivery, that’s why he’s there doing it.
``I don’t want to speak for him. I think he’s frustrated, but I think he understands,’’
Francona said.

The report on Lester’s outing Tuesday was all positive. The manager said he exchanged text messages with Lester and that Lester will be allowed to throw more pitches in his next start than the 84 he threw Tuesday. Francona said he and Farrell plan to scout the food at McCoy, too.

`We’ll go down there and watch some of the guys, get a chance to watch a game from a different view,’’ he said. ``We’ll see if they have any good hot dogs.’’
`

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 5:30 PM | Permalink

They came to praise Farrell

When a team enjoys as much success as the Red Sox are this season, plenty of people deserve credit. In the past week, John Farrell has jumped high on that list.

The first-year pitching coach has had his name thrown around several days in a row now and all of it has been good. Manager Terry Francona was the latest to heap praise on Farrell. He did it this afternoon in his pre-game session with the media.

``He’s been phenomenal,’’ Francona said of Farrell. ``That’s why we hired him.’’

The 44-year-old Farrell pitched in the majors for eight years with Cleveland, California and Detroit, compiling a 36-46 record and 4.56 in 116 games 109 starts. He spent five years at Oklahoma State, his alma mater, as assistant coach/pitching coach/recruiting coordinator before becoming Cleveland’s director of player development in 2001.

Boston seemed to be taking a bit of a gamble in hiring him since he had no Major League experience as a pitching coach.

``I think we needed to have the ability, if everybody could, to look past maybe a lack of experience at this level because of how special a person he is,’’ Francona said. ``I think he’s proven that and will continue to. He’s developed relationships. The young guys, the veteran guys, they’re all running to him. Those relationships will do nothing but grow. There’s a big trust factor there that he’s already accomplished. I think it's phenomenal.’’

After his strong outing Monday night, Curt Schilling spoke about how Farrell recommended that Schiling move his fingers three inches on the grip for his splitter. Schilling then went out and had the best splitter he has had in some time, to the point where he threw the splitter more than 30 times.

Tuesday, Josh Beckett made a hugely successful return from the disabled list, then related how he had received much help in returning for the avulsion on the middle finger of his pitching hand. He singled out Farrell for spending so much time with him, including working with him at the park at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The Boston pitchers have a 3.62 ERA, second best in the league. They have walked only 154, third best in the AL and struck out 360, tied for third in that department. They have allowed only 38 home runs, second to Seattle’s 32.

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 5:05 PM | Permalink

LUGO GETS SOME REST

In continuing with his familiar pattern, Terry Francona is giving another of his regulars some time off tonight. This time it is Julio Lugo.

The Red Sox lineup will feature Coco Crisp in Lugo’s usual leadoff spot and Alex Cora playing shortstop and hitting eighth.

``He’s fine,’’ Francona said of Lugo. The shortstop is being given the night off in part because of the schedule, which has a day off for the Sox tomorrow.

``Sometimes back-to-back we think is good, sometimes we don’t think it’s good,’’ Francona said. ``We think it will be really good for him.’’ Lugo has played in 48 of the 51 games thus far.

The Indians also have a regular on the bench, catcher Victor Martinez. That gives Red Sox product Kelly Shoppach chance to start in Fenway.

Here are the lineups:
CLEVELAND
Sizemore CF
Blake 3b
Hafner DH
Garko 1b
Nixon RF
Peralta ss
Dellucci lf
Barfield cf
Shoppach C
Byrd P

BOSTON
Crisp CF
Youkilis 1b
Ortiz DH
Ramirez lf
Drew rf
Lowell 3b
Varitek C
Cora ss
Pedroia 2b
Matsuzaka P

Posted by Paul Kenyon  at 4:29 PM | Permalink

Sox Streakers for May 30

From the team's official game notes:

Who's Hot
-Kevin Youkilis, 21-game hitting streak, going 41 for 93 (.441) during the stretch
-Mike Lowell, 21-game Fenway hitting streak, going 32 for 78 (.410) during last 21 home games
-Dustin Pedroia, nine-game hitting streak, going 13 for 29 (.448) during the stretch

Who's Not
-Alex Cora, 1 for his last 13 and 4 for his last 29 (.138)

Red Sox vs. Paul Byrd
-Coco Crisp, 5 for 9 (.556)
-Mike Lowell, 7 for 17 (.412), 1 HR
-Jason Varitek, 5 for 15 (.333), 1 HR
-Alex Cora, 2 for 6 (.333)
-David Ortiz, 7 for 23 (.304), 2 HR
-J.D. Drew, 2 for 7 (.286)
-Manny Ramirez, 1 for 11 (.091), 1 HR
-Kevin Youkilis, 0 for 6

More Stuff
-At 36-15, the Red Sox have tied their second-best record in franchise history after 51 games. The best ever was 41-10 in 1946.
-The Red Sox have led the division for 45 straight days, the longest such streak for the club since 2002.
-Daisuke Matsuzaka's six-game winning streak is the longest by a Red Sox rookie pitcher since Aaron Sele won six straight in 1993.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 4:20 PM to Projo Sox Streakers | Permalink

Happy birthday Manny Ramirez

Manny Ramirez turns 35 today. Happy birthday Manny.

Of all players born in 1972, Ramirez has the most home runs in his career (478, 64 more than second-place Carlos Delgado), the most games played (1,867, one more than second-place Shawn Green), the most runs scored (1,284, 63 more than second-place Chipper Jones), the most hits (2,117, 11 more than second-place Garret Anderson), the most doubles (447, seven more than second-place Anderson), and the most RBI (1,547, 228 more than second-place Delgado).

Of all players in major league history born on May 30, only one other man -- Amos Rusie, "The Hoosier Thunderbolt," who pitched for the New York Giants in the late 19th century -- is in the Hall of Fame. Manny will make it two some day.

In today's notes column by Paul Kenyon and Kevin McNamara, Terry Francona describees the rationale for putting Manny Ramirez at designated hitter in David Ortiz's absence, while putting the defensively challenged Wily Mo Pena in left. Francona sees it as a way to rest Ramirez -- who has played in 49 games, more than any other Red Sox player -- while keeping his dangerous bat in the lineup at the same time.

"It's the perfect chance," Francona says. "We actually told him he could do that in Texas on Sunday, but he wanted to play left field. Anytime we can keep his bat, that can only help us in the long run. Anytime you can keep the bat and keep his legs refreshed, that's good."

Francona has gone with Ramirez at DH and Pena in left for both of the games in the Cleveland series so far. On Sunday in Texas, Ramirez stayed in left while Eric Hinske served as designated hitter. Ortiz is expected back in the lineup tonight.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 1:52 PM to Projo Mannybeingmanny | Permalink

Projo Sox Talk on the farm: Craig Hansen has forearm injury

Joe McDonald, who has been at McCoy Stadium covering the Pawtucket Red Sox, is today's guest on Projo SoxTalk with Art Martone. Click here to liste to the audio file. McDonald breaks a bit of news: that relief pitcher Craig Hansen, whom the Sox would like to bring back up to Boston at some point, left last night's game with soreness in his forearm. McDonald also has lots of praise for Jon Lester's effort last night, and some discouraging reports about Mike Timlin's attempts to get back to Fenway.

Following are some excerpts from the conversation.

On Hansen last night: "When Craig Hansen came in to pitch, he did not look good at all, and then all of a sudden [PawSox manager] Ron Johnson went out to the mound and took him out. And RJ said afterwards that [Hansen had] experienced cramping in his high forearm, near the elbow. So it's going to be interesting to see what happens with that today -- if Hansen's fine, or if he can pitch tonight."

On Lester: "Last night he threw 79 pitches -- he was scheduled for 80, but he threw 79 pitches -- he went five full innings, scoreless innings again, and once he's able to get up to 95-100 pitches, Boston should call this guy up. ...
Last night his curveball was probably the best I've ever seen, including when he was with Boston last year."

On Timlin's shaky appearance last night: "You could tell he struggled. He said that he felt good; he said that he felt that he had his legs under him. But it's been two appearances in a row where he hasn't looked that sharp. He's scheduled to pitch for Pawtucket again on Thursday, so we'll see what happens."

McDonald says an extended rehab might be in Timlin's future if the Red Sox don't see improvement.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 12:19 PM | Permalink

Youkilis is the Sox' latest blogger

Kevin Youkilis, taking a cue from teammate Curt Schilling, yesterday unveiled his new blog on MLB's Web site. Youkilis started things off with a smackdown of all those people who said he didn't run well -- after all, he was posting on the day after a stand-up, inside-the-park home run. And yes, it did seem like Youk was running well. By the way, the name of the first baseman's blog: "Yooooouuuuukkkkk." At least for now; he's asking Red Sox fans to weigh in and help him pick a name.

"It’s a good time to be a player on the Red Sox right now," Youkilis wrote. "Winning makes everything a lot more fun as a player. Everybody gets along great when you’re winning. There are a lot of positive things happening with our club at this point."

So far, blogging has not slowed down the Sox' hottest player, who smacked a double and a home run to extend his hit streak to 21 games on the night after his first musing.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 10:08 AM | Permalink

Baseball Today: Wednesday, May 30

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL: The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley notes ''there are teams and there are seasons when the games are endlessly joyful, one victory bleeding into the next, the good times rolling on.'' To this point, anyway, that team is the Red Sox and that season is 2007.

Any fears about Josh Beckett (right, Journal photo by Mary Murphy) and his ability to come back from the avulsion of his right middle finger disappeared pretty quickly last night, as did any drama about Kevin Youkilis extending his hitting streak to 21 games. Youkilis, showing an amazing ability to hit any pitch and hit it hard, even extended a secondary streak: Most consecutive multi-hit games (9, the largest such streak since Jim Rice did it in his MVP season of 1978). Last night's 4-2 victory didn't extend the Sox' first-place lead -- it remains at 11 1/2 games in lieu of Baltimore's win over Kansas City -- but, hey, no night's perfect. (All stories projo.com) But who's complaining? As Dan Shaughnessy says in the Globe: ''We suddenly have a San Diego weather mass over our region. The tunnels are open again and you can get where you are going in no time. The Patriots have a chance to go 16-0 and it feels like we all might win the lottery. Next thing you know, some dietician will discover that hot fudge sundaes cause you to lose weight. You'll be able to drink water from the Charles, all college tuition will be free, and the Celtics will experience good luck.''

Such is life in New England when the Red Sox are winning. And winning. And winning.

AND FURTHERMORE . . . The Herald's Rob Bradford points out that Mike Lowell has a 21-game hitting streak, too -- at Fenway Park. Bradford also had a conversation with Curt Schilling in which Schilling expanded on Monday's postgame comments about the work he did with pitching coach John Farrell that gave him a vastly improved splitter.

'RIGHT WHERE I NEED TO BE': Jon Lester's rehab took another forward step last night in Pawtucket. Jacoby Ellsbury, meanwhile, sat out last night's game because of back stiffness. (Both stories projo.com)

HELLO, THEO? HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU! The Dallas Morning News' Tim Cowlishaw thinks the Rangers should trade Mark Teixeira, and Boston is one of the places he proposes trading him to.

ONE MAN'S CEILING IS ANOTHER MAN'S FLOOR: Folks hereabouts would still be enjoying life even if the Yankees weren't unraveling like a cheap suit. But the fact that they are, well . . .

The Yanks may just have hit rock bottom last night. As the New York Post's George King reports, they took infield practice for the first time all season and then Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez made errors that led to runs; they were shut down offensively by Shaun Marcum, one night after being shut down offensively by Dustin McGowan; and Andy Pettitte fell asleep on the mound and allowed Aaron Hill to steal home in a 3-2 loss at Toronto. "It's tough to keep positive, to tell you the truth," Jorge Posada said as the Yanks fell 14 1/2 games back.

WE HAVE A DATE: Roger Clemens will return to the Yankees next Monday in Chicago. (New York Daily News) It means Clemens won't pitch against the Red Sox at Fenway Park this weekend, but, as Joe Torre said, ''I don't think that series needs any more hype than it gets every time we play it, whether it's at Fenway or at the Stadium.''

AREN'T YOU LISTENING??? For at least the third time this season -- or at least the third time I'm aware of -- Clemens' old foe Dave Stewart trashes the Rocket on his blog.

Dave: You don't like him. You never have. We get it. Okay?

MRS. ROCKET: Debbie Clemens talked to the New York Post about her husband. Nothing earth-shattering, but some interesting tidbits about Clemens' work habits and his ability to teach baseball to people at every age level.

STOP IT. STOP IT! The Post's Joel Sherman says the Yankees can no longer go for ''instant gratification with no concern for the future, kind of like driving a Hummer today with no concern that will some day lead to your grandchildren clearing the polar icecaps from their back yards.''. In other words, stop trying to trade for Todd Helton or Richie Sexson, admit 2007 is a lost cause, retrench and regroup. ''That is the reason why they are in this horrible state: Their unquenchable habit of meeting every crisis by going to players who are famous, expensive and almost certainly have already played the best baseball of their careers.''

Hmm. Does the name Clemens ring a bell?

MYTH VS. REALITY: Peter Abraham tackles the topic, Yankee-style, on the LoHud Yankees Blog.

LUCK, THY NAME ISN'T YANKEES: Baseball Musing's David Pinto has studied the issue and concluded ''They're not a bad team, they've just gone through an unlucky stretch. It may be bad enough that they don't make the playoffs, but that happens. It may be tough for fans and Steinbrenner to accept, but sometimes a season like this isn't really anyone's fault.''.

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING: It certainly stinks to be Jason Giambi these days. (New York Post)

WATCH WHAT I DO, NOT WHAT I SAY: Despite George Steinbrenner's public statements that seemed to indicate Joe Torre's job was safe, SI.com's Jon Heyman thinks Torre is more likely to be fired than general manager Brian Cashman. Heyman also lists other managers on the hot seat (and, no, Terry Francona's not one of them).

I'M OKAY: John Smoltz had to leave last night's 5-4 loss in Milwaukee because of pain in his finger and his shoulder, says he won't have to miss a start. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

HERE'S SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY: The Giants had a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 12th, until Armando Benitez balked twice to allow the tying run to score, then surrendered a two-out, walkoff home run to Carlos Delgado in a 5-4 loss to the Mets. (New York Daily News)

NOW YOU START WORRYING ABOUT THIS? A.J. Pierzynski fears his toxic reputation could prompt the White Sox to get rid of him. (Chicago Sun-Times)

I'M SORRY: The Devil Rays' Elijah Dukes, accused of threatening to murder his wife, apolgized to his ''family, teammates, the fans and the organization for the distraction that this situation has caused.'' (Tampa Tribune)

OLD FRIENDS: Tom Gordon has been hurt far more than he's let on (Philadelphia Daily News) . . . Rocco Baldelli says he's getting better (Tampa Tribune).

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:04 AM | Permalink