First match up against Yankees

The first match up of the spring with the Evil Empire is finally here. The Red Sox go into Tampa today to take on the Yankees. This will be the first of many match ups between Bobby Valentine and Joe Girardi. Girardi is already making comments about the game.  The line ups for this game have been out of a couple of days but I've been busy planning for my trip to Fort Myers so here they are. Also keep your eye on the blog for updates from Fort Myers coming later this week.

Lineups vs Yankees 3/13

Aviles SS

Pedroia 2B
Ellsbury DH
Salty C
Middlebrooks 3B
Anderson 1B
Linares CF
Kroeger RF
Hassan LF

Pitching: 

Doubront SP

Bowden

Padilla 

Tazawa

Duckworth

Inman

Week Two American League Standings

It breaks my heart to do this but as a journalist I must present to you with the week 2 American League standings where the Red Sox are in the basement.

BecKKKKKKKKKKett is back!!!!

Wow! That is all I have to say about Josh Beckett’s performance last night against the Yankees. That is the best pitching I have saw out of Beckett in at least the last two seasons to lead the Red Sox to a 4-0 win.

Coming into this game people was doubting him and wondering if he would ever be worth his $68 Million dollar contract. But Beckett come out mixing his pitches better than I have saw him do ever and was throwing the flame as he fanned 10 batters and only allowed two men on base and those only came in the first three innings of the game. His two strongest pitches of the night was his two-seamer that had great movement and he was throwing his curveball perfect as well as for strike. It was just amazing to witness.

The one thing that is different between this start and Beckett’s last? Jason Varitek. Varitek has a special bond with Beckett as he can call an amazing game for him. Varitek is the genius catcher that has caught four no-hitters he knows how to call a game. I believe after this start he will be Beckett’s full time catcher from here on out.

While Beckett was pitching amazing he had some help from Dustin Pedroia’s defense. Pedroia showed why he is one of the top defensive second basemen in the game. Throwing guys out on plays most couldn’t get to. He brought his bat to this series as well. Pedroia went 9-for-13 and 3-for-4 last night against the Yankees. It showed all Pedroia needed was to get back to Fenway in front of the home town crowd to get it going on the season.

The was some bad last night though for offense the bats was moving for singles but it was like no one could hit once men was on base. Last night the guys went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position. There were only two guys to hit for double all game and that was David Ortiz and Marco Scutaro. Scutaro’s second double of the game come at the perfect time with bases loaded to give the Sox a 3-0 lead.

Another great was Jonathan Papelbon, though he came in the ninth it wasn’t for a save but he sure pitched like it was. Papelbon struck out a hot Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira and forced Derek Jeter to ground out to Pedroia.

This was an important win for the Red Sox with a struggling Tampa Bay team coming in today and this could be the confidence they need to get this season off and running.

Yankees 0|2|0

Red Sox 4|12|0

Box

UPDATED! Red Sox Line Up Against Yankees 4/10/2011

Beckett finally gets his binky in today's game against the Yankees. Jason Varitek will be catching for Josh Beckett today. Beckett's last start was in Cleveland when he got the loss with a 5.40 ERA. Becket went five innings while giving up three runs on five hits with four walks and fanning four. Beckett hopes to have a better start today against the Yankees. He will be going up against the Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia who holds a 1.38 ERA in his first start.

The Lineups

Red Sox (1-7)

LF Crawford
2B Pedroia
1B Gonzalez
3B Youkilis
DH Ortiz
CF Cameron
RF Drew
C Varitek
SS Scutaro

Yankees (5-3)

LF Garner
SS Jeter
1B Teixeira
2B Cano
CF Granderson
RF Swisher
DH Posada
3B Chavez
C Martin

Red Sox Line Up Against Yankees 4/9/2011

The Red Sox are hoping to start a win streak with Clay Buchholtz on the mound. His last start wasn't a pretty one he got took yard 5 times for the first time in his career. Buchholtz will go up against Yankee newcomer Ivan Nova. Nova holds a record of 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA.

Todays Lineups Against the Yankees:

Red Sox

LF Crawford

2B Pedroia

1B Gonzalez

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

RF Drew

SS Lowrie

C Saltalamacchia

CF Ellsbury

Yankees

LF Gardner

SS Jeter

1B Teixeira

3B Rodriguez

2B Cano

RF Swisher

CF Granderson

DH Chavez

C Martin

Week One American League Standings

Home is Where the Red Sox Heart is: Red Sox Get First Win

BOX

Today was opening day at Fenway Park and the Evil Empire New York Yankees are in town. With their rival in town what better time to pick up the first win of the year. Well it happened the Red Sox defeated the Yankees 9-6.

Coming into the game today fans was restless and some even starting to panic wondering when the first win would happen. I think the management even was thinking like that to because GM Theo Epstein held a closed-door meet with the team ready to play and it worked. Red Sox set up man Daniel Bard “On a scale of 1 to awesome, it was awesome. It was like Rudy, except there was no prayer at the end.” If it takes pep talks like this all season I say get in their everyday Theo and do work.

Today’s game was like a boxing match that was split up into nine rounds because both teams came out swinging early. The first inning the Yankees put up two runs in the first inning thanks to Robinson Cano knocking in a pair of runs in. The Red Sox could not allow them to steal the show at the home opener so Dustin Pedroia gets up to bat and starts his 2011 Laser Show by knocking a home run into the monster seats.

The top of the second Brett Gardner hit a double to score a run making it 3-1 at the middle of the second. This is when the Red Sox bats decided to go nuts as they would score 5 runs off of Yankee right hander Phil Hughes. All nine Red Sox batters saw action in this inning as Hughes gave up six hits, a fielder’s choice and a walk. After all that action it would be the end of Hughes day.

So with the offense being in full sync you would assume pitching would be as well. Well you know what happens when you assume it makes an ass out of you and me. Most people would think after Jon Lester went seven innings of shut-out ball Thursday that John Lackey would follow with a similar performance not at all. Lackey pitched so poorly that he gave up at least one run in all five innings of work. Lackey was charged with six runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out a pair and giving up a home run to A-Rod.

Following the Lackey disaster Jarrod Saltalamacchia gets an RBI to give the sox a 7-6 lead and gives Lackey the undeserved win. The seventh inning was another big one for the Sox as they put two more runs on the board. The Seventh started with Adrian Gonzalez hitting a leadoff single followed by Big Papi hitting a green monster double for his third hit of the day. J.D. Drew comes up to the plate and blast a base hit that would allow both Gonzalez and Ortiz to score.

The Red Sox bullpen looked amazing today with the newly addition Alfredo Aceves pitching the sixth, Bobby Jenks in the seventh, Daniel Bard in the eighth and Jonathon Papelbon getting the Save. The four of these guys combined for one hit and five strike outs and most important no runs.

The Red Sox are finally getting in gear for the season getting their bats going, now if pitching can get in gear the Sox are going to be a force to be recon with. Getting home was just what the doctors ordered.

Red Sox Line Up Against Yankees 4/8/2011

John Lackey will be on the mound today for the home opener at Fenway against the Yankees. After his last start of with a 22.09 ERA and giving up nine runs. The Red Sox hope to get more out of Lackey and that 2:05 at Fenway Park is Awesome O'Clock at least we can only hope. Lackey will be matched on the mound by Phil Hughes who also has had a rough start to the season with a 11.25 ERA.

Red Sox Lineup

LF Crawford

2B Pedroia

1B Gonzales

3B Youkilis

DH Ortiz

RF Drew

C Saltalamacchia

CF Ellsbury

SS Scutaro

Yankees Lineup

LF Gardner

SS Jeter

1B Teixeira

3B Rodriguez

2B Cano

RF Swisher

DH Posada

CF Granderson

C Martin

Carl Yastrzemski to throw out ceremonial first pitch.

After Long Day Sox Sign Gonzalez

December 5, 2010 may go down as one of the most stressful but exciting days for fans of the Boston Red Sox. This is the day that the biggest trade in recent history went down sending first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox by trade but it almost didn’t happen.

All trade talks began on Saturday saying that Gonzalez had been traded from the San Diego Padres for three of Boston’s top minor league prospects, which included Casey Kelly a right-handed pitcher and was considered there top prospect. It was said the only way the deal would go through was if Gonzalez, who is coming into his final year of his contract, was willing to sign a contract extension allowing him to skip free agency and become of a long term member of the team.

The two sides began to negotiate a long term contract with a 2pm ET deadline on Sunday to get a deal complete. Both sides worked long into the night and Red Sox Nation began to worry if a deal would get done. It was said that Gonzalez camp was requesting a six year deal worth $150 million and the Red Sox are not known for signing players over five year deal due to injury or age.

Well the 2pm deadline comes and goes, the fans are nervously waiting to see if a deal had been agreed upon between the two camps.

When a tweet from SI.com’s Jon Heyman came out saying that the “Gonzalez trade had feel thru”. Peter Gammons also added that Gonzalez was leaving Boston on a 4:30 flight and had left a hundred million dollar deal on the table.

At this point the hearts of all Boston fans was broken as some fans were calling for the firing of General Manager Theo Epstein and saying that John W. Henry should sell the team if he wasn’t willing to spend money on winning players. This would be the second time they was unable to finish a deal as they lost in the bidding two years before on first baseman Mark Teixeira to the New York Yankees.

Later in the day as hearts of broken fans sit around to hear from the team sources come out to say what had happened. Rumors began to surface that the two sides was still working on a deal past the deadline deal. This began to bring hope back.
Then at around the 9 pm ET, out of nowhere Heyman sends out a tweet saying that a deal had been completed sending Gonzalez to the Red Sox. This was not the deal Boston had originally wanted and the deal was done without contract extension that they had hoped for.

With all the speculations over of will he or won’t he play in Boston, Monday morning the deal became official in a press conference. Gonzalez said that as a boy his favorite American League team growing up was the Boston Red Sox.
“I’m very excited,” Gonzalez said. “I’ve had five incredible years in San Diego. When I grew up, my whole dream as a kid was to play in the major leagues and be a Padre. My second dream was to be a Red Sox. So, I’m very excited. God has been very, very good to me, and I’m just very excited to start this new phase. I look forward to a lot of world championships.”

Boston fans couldn’t have said it better than that; he is being brought in as a bat that has been missing in the lineup since the trade of Manny Ramirez in 2008.

Since a deal is not in place as of yet he is currently under contract his original contract for one year for a bargain of $5.5 million. It is said that the Red Sox and Gonzalez have common ground and they feel that a deal can be done at a later date. Some believe that a deal will not come from the Red Sox until after Opening Day so to avoid any luxury taxes on the 2011 pay roll.

So now that it is all said and done Gonzalez will take the field on April1, 2011 as the starting first baseman for the Red Sox, the fans can now be excited for the future of the team and no longer be calling for Epstein’s head because of his success.

Closers Blow It But the Yankees Still Win

The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees meet up for an interesting extra inning matchup. In a game where both closers receive blown saves but the Red Sox fall short 4-3.

It looked to be a great night for the Red Sox as they came into the game with a chance to go for the sweep. The Red Sox came out in the third inning with an early one run lead with a Victor Martinez RBI to right field which allowed Bill Hall to run home.

Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka came out with one of his best outcomes of the season. He pitched 8.0 innings giving up four hits, seven strike outs, one walk and a two run homer to Alex Rodriguez in the seventh inning. To give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

While the Yankees give Phil Hughes the start in a game in which he was going to be skipped. Hughes had a decent game with 6.0 innings pitched, three hits, four walks and one earned run.

The Red Sox forced the Yankees to bring out there closer Mariano Rivera to come in the eighth inning for a quick out, but the ninth wasn’t a normal outing for Rivera as he allowed four key walks. Two walks to Kalish and Two walks for Hall, both of which would lead to two runs scored to give the Sox a one run lead going in to the bottom of the ninth and his fifth blown save.

With a one run lead the Red Sox bring out Jonathan Papelbon to come in and get the save and give Matsuzaka his 10th win of the season but he would blow it for his eighth blown save. He would give up a run to Eduardo Nunez on a Robinson Cano RBI.
With the game being tied 3 all going in to the bottom of the tenth inning, Sox bring Hideki Okajima who would give up a bases loaded walk-off walk to Marcus Thames which would lead to a Juan Miranda run for a 4-3 victory.

Winning pitcher for the Yankees is Logan (2-0) and Okajima (4-4) would receive the L.

Remembering Nine Years Later

I feel today is a day to take a break from sports talk and talk about the importance of today. Take time to remember and honor those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks that happened 9 years ago today. As many we remember where we were on that day, I will never forget. I was seating in my high school freshman English class on the front row, I was supposed to reading the book To Kill a Mocking Bird but I had dozed off when my teacher gets off the phone and runs to put the television on and screams the World Trade Center has been hit by a plane. I can remember being confused about what was happening and scared of what this would bring for our future as a country. I can remember being glued to the television and seeing the rest of the horrible acts that happened throughout the rest of the day including the attacks on the pentagon and the bravery of flight 93. To this day I still think about it daily as we see our troops fighting the war against terrorism and how it has affected our country and still does daily.

I remember how as a country we joined together and united for the common good of our country, that we wasn’t republicans or democrats but that we was Americans. This was an important scene to show our enemy that no matter what they do to us we will remain strong and join together. An important image I can remember is when former President George W. Bush went to visit ground zero and spoke with the volunteers that were helping find survivors it was an important image for our country. He spoke through a bull horn so everyone could hear this image will always stick with me as well as this one line he said.

“I can hear you! I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people—and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”

All important events were put on hold including sports in fear of another attack to our citizens but we found out that sports are important to hold us together. An important day to our country was on Sept. 18, 2001 one week after the attacks on America, the New York Yankees took the field against the Chicago White Sox. The people was excited to be getting back to normal why the players had no idea why they was about to take the field.

“When we started playing, I didn’t see the sense of it.” New York Yankee Bernie Williams said. “We were playing games and resuming our season, and it seemed ridiculous to me”

“It started making sense when I saw the faces of people who lost loved ones, people who needed something to take them away for a few minutes and see something else,” he added. “We helped bring some sense of normalcy to the whole thing.”

The people of this country needed something to be excited about even if it is sports, it gives us something to look forward to and it was something to heal the city of New York. When the Yankees took the field that night they wasn’t representing the team the was representing the city and they didn’t wear their traditional NY hat they had on NYPD and NYFD hats in honor of the men and women who gave their lives to help and those who was still working to find survivors at ground zero. I recall watching this game not thinking the Yankees are killing the Red Sox in the division, I was thinking of the pride this meant for the city of New York to rise about this day but not forget about what happened to show that you can blow up one of our building but you cannot kill our spirit. We as Americans needed a distraction that sports were able to give us. We used sports to not only help us think about something other than the loss of our countrymen but as a way of honoring the people who died and saying that they did not die in vain.

The acts of 9/11 will always be a sad day in American history that we will feel the effects of this day for years to come but as we will never forget the images of that day. I’ll close with a quote from President Bush.

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last calls, the funerals of the children.”

We will never forget!