Kevin Youkilis

ll watch as Jacoby Ellsbury runs the bases, as Dustin Pedroia makes a double play look easy, and as Kevin Youkilis makes digging a ball out of the dirt look easy.  Forget about new menu items like veggie burgers or fruit cups; only popcorn, hot dogs and peanuts will make the experience complete, and every person at the ballpark tonight will look at that child and remember their own first visit to Fenway.  The memories will be so thick, it will seem they could be grasped and seized.  

Continue reading "Fenway Home Opener 2010"

; Players get caught up in the moment, and it’s part of the game.   I’ve seen Kevin Youkilis toss his bat down the first baseline after striking out, and nothing happened to him as far as an ejection is concerned (I blogged about this earlier and said that Youks actions were unacceptable). 

Continue reading "What Is It With All These Ejections??"

he’s back, RSN. 

But in the later innings it was all about Nick Green, JD Drew, and Kevin Youkilis getting some late inning hits that got the Sox back where the needed to be.   However both Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell were hitless the entire game and yet were able to contribute to the rally.  Dustin earned a walk after ten pitches, and Mike Lowell put the boys back on top after a shallow sac-fly to left center. 

Continue reading "“Go Crazy Folks, The Red Sox Win This One!”"

I absolutely love the intensity of Kevin Youkilis.  The fact that he cares so much about the every swing of the bat shows great commitment to the game of baseball.  What a great guy to have on the team.  That being said, I’ve been a little disappointed in Youk lately. 

Continue reading "Disappointed in Youuuuk"

Home plate umpire Jim Joyce gave all of us on the East Coast a start last night after jumping up from behind home plate to issue a warning to both ball clubs in the third.  As it turns out, both clubs were informed before the game even started that the umps would be keeping a close eye on them, according to Lyle Spencer from mlb.com. 

Continue reading "I'll give you a warning..."

As I watched Jacoby Ellsbury steal home against the Yankees Sunday night, I thought to myself: "This pretty much sums it up." An aging Andy Pettitte forgets to deliver from the stretch, letting a youthful Ellsbury elude another future Bingo regular, Jorge Posada's, tag at the plate. Would Justin Masterson have made the same error? The two ballclubs could not be headed in more opposite directions. Every year, the Red Sox seem to call up another hyped prospect, while the Yanks continue to overpay for limited talent, and shun their farm system.

Continue reading "Red Sox continue to steal away Yanks' future"

I tried writing this before yesterday's game but had some computer troubles. I'm going to do my best to combine both games. Let's start off by saying that I know I'm not the only fan who knows the Angels deserved a win Friday night.

Continue reading "Sox and Angels Both Get Wins Despite Some Anxiety"

continued to make Boston glad that he’s back with a solo shot in the 9th.  And how about Kevin Youkilis? Not only was he about 10 feet away from giving us the victory with a homer yesterday, but he also went 3-4 with a walk and 2 runs.  I said in the off season that the next t-shirt I get will be a Youk shirt.  If he keeps up these numbers I might find myself paying a few extra bucks for one.

Continue reading "Rays take their sunshine with them ..."

Dear Readers (all five of you):

I've been active on my other blog at www.fannation.com, under the username JFro, but I continually forget to publish those posts here. That said, the next five posts should be considered my belated MLB preseason predictions -- a preview, of sorts. There's the top five infields, outfields, bullpens, and starting rotations, and of course The Big Kahuna:

Continue reading "Note about forthcoming posts"

The Yankees have gotten their holiday gifts early this year with starting pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. I could rant and rave about how Stienbrennerclaus had to spend oodles of cash in order to bring New York some holiday cheer but the fact remains; the Yanks just hauled in the top two free agent pitchers on the market. Now that the Bronx Bombers aren't using Sidney Ponson as their number three man in the rotation we can expect them to once again be pushing towards playoff glory in the dominate A.L. East. As a Red Sox fan I can't help but be upset in losing both these arms so let's look towards the bright side. 

Continue reading "The Death Star was Rebuilt and so ..."

ll of these recent accomplishments, why should the Red Sox move on? The answer is Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis. With Teixeira available on the free agent market, the Red Sox need to look at

Continue reading "Adios To Mike Lowell"

on.  Hunter popped up a pitch to shallow right field, dropping in under the glove of a sliding Kevin Youkilis for a hit.  Guerrero, who had stalled between first and second to see whether or not the Greek God of Walks would make the catch, then proceeded to round second and head for third, despite the fact that his third base coach had put up the stop sign.  Youkilis came up firing, and Gierrero, running like his cleats were two sizes too small, was out by a mile at third base.  Instead of having runners on first and second with one out and the momentum of catching a lucky break, the Angels were left with one runner on and two out, and the bad taste of a base running error to cope with.

Continue reading "Same as it Ever Was"

The Red Sox entered Friday trailing Major League Baseball's feel good story of the year, the Tampa Bay Rays, by only 1.5 games in the AL East. However, with the Rays winning 11-1 against the Twins, and inching closer to their first postseason berth in franchise history, the Red Sox had the pressure on them to win and keep pace. The pitcher the Red Sox put their hope it to do that for them was Paul Byrd, a midseason acquisition from Cleveland, who has provided the stability in the rotation that they haven't really had since Curt Schilling went down. Byrd faced AJ Burnett of the Blue Jays.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/19"

n.

The game was a pitchers dual until the 6th, when the Red Sox struck first on an RBI sac fly by Kevin Youkilis, scoring Jacoby Ellsbury. Beckett would go until the 7th without surrendering a run, which he did on a solo shot by Carlos Pena. Beckett had another fine night, 8 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned, but because he left with the game tied, he would not factor into the decision and this was still anyone's game.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/16"

After getting seven more in the fourth, including homeruns from Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Varitek, they had a commanding 11-1 lead that they would not give back.

Even a poor performance out of the bullpen by Chris Smith, 4 earned in 2 innings, couldn't stop the Sox who had 6 total homeruns on the night, capped off by a solo shot by Jacoby Ellsbury in the 5th. Matsuzaka finished the night having given up only 3 hits and 1 earned in 5 strong innings, pushing his record to 17-2 and lowering his ERA to 2.93. He is making a strong case and while it will probably be the Indians' Cliff Lee who wins it, Matsuzaka is probably the strongest runner up, despite missing 3 or so weeks with injury and being among with the league leaders in walks.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/15"

The Red Sox however had the advantage. After getting another run in the 8th, as Kevin Youkilis hit a sac fly to drive in David Ortiz who was standing on 3rd after hitting his 1st triple of the season, they lead 4-1. Leading by less than 3 with an inning to go, the Sox handed to ball to their closer, Jonathan Papelbon. Papelbon blew a save earlier this week against Tampa, but also had a perfect 3 out save yesterday against the Jays. This time, the job was shaky, but he had room for error. He did surrender 2 runs to the Jays in the 9th, bringing his ERA up to 2.11, but he got the job done as he got the save for Jon Lester, and the Red Sox won their 88th game on the season.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/14"

The Red Sox got to Edwin Jackson early, scoring 3 in the first off of a David Ortiz RBI double, a Kevin Youkilis RBI single, and a Jason Bay RBI solo homerun out into the sellout crowd. That would literally be all Jon Lester needed. If you were a fan of many runs being scored, you should have just shut the TV off after the first. Lester didn't give up a run in 7 and 2/3 shutout innings. Jackson regrouped after that rough first and didn't give up a run throughout his next 6 innings of work, to finish with a 4.06 ERA. However, the damage had been done. Lester was relieved by Papelbon, who got the 4 out save, his 36th of the year and the Red Sox took game 1 3-0 and moved within a half game of the Rays, with a chance to overtake them tomorrow.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/8"

A 3rd inning 3 run blast off of the bat of Kevin Youkilis, who came back to the Red Sox lineup in a big way today, brought the Sox within 3. Unfortunately, the Red Sox bullpen did them no favors has they gave up 8 runs. The Red Sox scored 4 in the 9th to cut into a 15-4 Rangers lead, but it wasn't enough as the Red Sox lost their first game to the Rangers all season with a final score that you'd expect from the two highest scoring offenses in the league, 15-8 Rangers.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/6"

In the end, it was an 8-1 victory for the Sox.

Kevin Youkilis, however, was not in the lineup for the Red Sox. He sat out once again with back spasms even though many thought that he'd be back today. He is still considered day to day which means we should see him in this series. However, the Red Sox, with a playoff spot almost wrapped up, need to play it safe with Youkilis. He is an important part of their lineup and they can't afford to have him miss time in the playoffs. Mark Kotsay has done a good job at first in Youk's absence.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/5"

MVP Candidate Kevin Youkilis is expected to be back after missing 4 of the last 5 games with combinations of the stomach flu and back spasms. Youkilis has not played since Monday but with the off day today, he should be good to go in Texas. Both JD Drew and possibly Julio Lugo, who has been out since the All-Star break, are expected to be back within a couple of weeks. Bartolo Colon is expected back soon as well to help in either the rotation or the bullpen.

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/4"

past few weeks as the Red Sox were without three of their biggest bats in the lineup, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and JD Drew once again in tonight’s game. Recent acquisition Mark Kotsay filled in for

Continue reading "Red Sox Report 9/3"

eard of (IE legit Major Leaguers) produced and not "purchased" by the Red Sox - Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jonathan Papelbon, Manny Delcarmen, Jon Lester (and you could throw in Jed Lowrie and Justin Masterson) - a list, by the way, that includes two MVP candidates (Youk and Pedroia), the best closer in baseball (sorry Mariano "Skeleton Face" Rivera) and a potential future Cy Young winner (Lester).

Continue reading "The Tables Have Turned"

I was a little worried when I first heard this...until I heard that Youuuuuk is back!  This is great news.  Thanks to Steve Buckley on the Big Show from WEEI for sharing.  It sure made my day a little better. 

Continue reading "WEEI reports that Dustin Pedroia ..."

oia
DH - David Ortiz
LF - Manny Ramirez
3B - Mike Lowell
RF - JD Drew
1B - Kevin Youkilis
C - Jason Varitek
SS - Julio Lugo

Exhibit B: The Red Sox lineup, Friday night

Continue reading "Law and Order"

uld take his Manny show to the left coast, that Jason Varitek would be struggling to hit .220, that Kevin Youkilis would be the team's most feared power hitter, and that David Ortiz would miss the bulk of the first half with an injury - I'd probably have predicted that the Sox would finish fourth in the American League East.

Continue reading "Not Exactly How They Drew It Up - ..."

As the years move on it is quite obvious that 1B Kevin Youkilis is filling that role.

Kevin Millar was a fun guy to watch and same goes with Kevin Youkilis. They each had interesting batting stances, they each led the team, they each performed well and they each helped the team win the World Series.

Continue reading "Kevin Millar (2004) vs. Kevin Youkilis (Present)"

ee hits this series, they have all been for extra bases (two of them homers). 

Then we have Kevin Youkilis, who not only has been red hot, but has given the Red Sox another good reason to get rid of our former cleanup man.  He made up for his 0-4 night on Monday with a 3-5 night yesterday.  Youk scored a run while driving in three, two of which scored on a two-run shot in the 5th. 

Continue reading "Supporting the Team"

It’s been busy trying to find times to update lately, but I’m still trying to stick to my “once a day” posts.  Right now I’m updating from the commuter rail to Boston – and no, I don’t have tickets to the game tonight, but judging by the weather right now, that might be a good thing.  Anyway, let’s talk some baseball:

Continue reading "Sox sweep the Texas Rangers, who ..."

he’s healthy again, but in the mean time I’m happy that we have Sean Casey. 

-Kevin Youkilis:  Does anyone still miss Manny in the clean up spot?  It’s easy not to when

Continue reading "Sox offense continues to heat up!"

d up a few times, but he wasn’t brought in.  Fortunately for the Sox, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis came through in the 8th – and what an eighth inning it was.  After Youkilis hit a three-run shot over the montster, Don Orsillo sounded more excited than ever before.  “You kiddin me?!” he shouted.  It was awesome.  Since I missed the beginning of the game, I wasn’t as into it as I could have been.  But that call by Orsillo really made me feel like I had been watching the whole time.  “You kiddin me?!” 

Continue reading ""You kiddin me?!""

As it turned out, thanks to Kevin Youkilis, it was a 19-16 win that temporarily inched them one-half game closer to the Rays, who were in the process of a minor struggle versus Oakland when the Sox concluded their 4-hour marathon.

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox in an (almost embarrassing) ..."

According to the beauiful Heidi Watney, Youkilis tweaked his shoulder lifting weights.  Francona wanted to give Youkilis the day off so that he can be back in the line up tomorrow.

However,  that's not it. Apparently Lowrie is out of the lineup after he fouled a ball off his foot last Friday night.  It looks like these are bot really small injuries, but with the addition of the Wakefield news, this is all a bit overwhelming to me.  A win today will sure make this stress go away (at least for the time being)

Continue reading "Update on Youk injury/ Lowrie has ..."

the only one hurt:  Apparently Youk's shoulder has been in some pain as well:

"Though Kevin Youkilis was in the original lineup for today's game, he was scratched about 20 minutes ago with soreness in his left shoulder. Apparently it's been bothering him for a few days." - Amalie Benjamin, Boston Globe. 

Continue reading "More bad news"

The biggest key player for the Boston Red Sox has been Kevin Youkilis at first base defensively and offensively.  He is the most underrated player in baseball.  But could he keep his

Continue reading "Good first half. What's next?"

It’s the All-Star Break once again, that mythical halfway point in the season (I say “mythical” because most teams have played 95-96 games, more than the 81 that’s the true midway mark). Traditionally, it’s time for the teams to take a breath, collect themselves and iron out any kinks in their batting stroke or the pitching rotation—several starters made relief appearances or threw out of turn in the past game or two, knowing that three or four days of rest was coming for all of them.

Continue reading "Gimme A Break!"

u expect with a few hints of convenience.

As for the game, we wound up being one at-bat early for Kevin Youkilis' first career grand slam. The Sox, who watched the bullpen once again cough up a couple of late-inning runs, faced a 7-3 deficit in the ninth before rallying, loading the bases with two outs and bringing Youk to the plate as the tying run. Unfortunately, he whiffed.

Continue reading "Nuts and bolts and a day-late granny"

So can we please talk about Jason Giambi's mustache for a second? First the guy admits to wearing a gold thong when he needs to break out of a slump (it's hard to imagine that's all he's "breaking out of" in that kind of attire). And now he goes ahead and grows a full-out, mid-80s, Magnum PI mustache. Add these two nuggets to the fact that he's one of the 3 sweatiest humans on the planet, and that he's a New York Yankee, and you have the grossest person in America. Ever. Period.

Continue reading "Now playing first base for the New ..."

ankees looked like they might escape without further damage, if they could only get one more out.

Kevin Youkilis, his right hand twitching restlessly the way it does when he holds his bat aloft, slammed a deep shot to left field and Damon chased it back, leaping to make the catch at the wall, in what could have been a spectacular play. Instead, he slammed against the unpadded chain-link fence behind him, which jostled the ball loose, leading to one of the odder sights of the day.

Continue reading "More Bad Yankee Luck"

Compared to previous years, fans have performed relatively admirably this year. Kevin Youkilis holds a slim lead over Minnesota’s Justin Morneau, a worthy one-two punch (pun intended) by any pundit’s estimation. Josh Hamilton is securely entrenched as a starter in the uber-competetive American League outfield. Over in the National League, Lance Berkman, Chase Utley, Chipper Jones and Hanley Ramirez set the pace at their respective positions. On the surface, this would appear to be a banner year for the casual voting fan. But ein minuten bitte!  Miscasts still linger in this 2008 All-star pool. Allow me to dissect and explain three glaring cases:

Continue reading "All-Star foppery"

OK, show of hands - who hasn't enjoyed the Kevin-Youkilis-in-goggles era? Manning first behind those fancy specs while sporting a monster shiner, he looks like he's getting ready to play Laser Tag. Since it gives him something of a tough appearance, we don't have to tell anyone it's all because he couldn't handle a warm-up throw. Maybe he can make the goggles a signature thing, like Rip Hamilton of the Pistons and his goofy plastic mask. Hey, if Youk can make the Chia pet goatee work, he can certainly pull off a pair of glasses. It made me start thinking of former players who wore the glasses. Chris Sabo was the first that came to mind. But how about Luis Rivera, former light-hitting shortstop in Beantown, he of the tiny, whispy mustache and glasses complete with that thing that connects around your neck to keep them on. Classic.

Continue reading "Channeling Chris Sabo"

Did you see that thing bubble up on poor Youk's face yesterday? What did it take, like, 15 seconds? He misplayed a throw and - BAM - his cheek blew up like a balloon. I wish I could describe the phenomenon with some sort of medical jargon, but I can't. Instead I found myself starting at the TV, mumbling outloud to nobody, repeatedly - Look at Youk's face! I thought maybe he and Manny had another sparring match between innings. What's perhaps most amusing is that the injury was suffered by our gold-glove first baseman, he of the longest errorless streak ever at the position, during warm-up tosses prior to the top of a frame. The dude handled everything hit and thrown at him for more than a full year - scorching liners and off-target throws alike - and lets one of his teammates tag him during break time. He looked like Rocky Balboa at the end of the first Rocky movie.

Continue reading "Kevin Youkilis is smuggling golf balls in his face"

Little by little, the Red Sox that we saw win the World Series last season are coming back.

Kevin Youkilis is up to batting .375, JD Drew is off to a hot start batting .316 and Coco Crisp is putting up an awfully good fight to hold on to the centerfield job and now Boston seems content to hold onto him until it gets blown away by a trade offer. Manny Ramirez, who has started slowly the last couple of seasons, is also on fire and leading the team in RBI’s and coming through with a big hit almost every time the Red Sox need one, none bigger than his ninth inning home run last night in Cleveland to put the Red Sox ahead 6-4. Dustin Pedroia is also beginning to sting the ball around the field with more authority and sooner or later Mike Lowell will come off the disabled list and David Ortiz will snap out of his funk and the offense will be back to hitting on all cylinders.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

others.”

“The coaches are a huge part of our success,” said Red Sox union rep, Kevin Youkilis. “It’s something as players that we feel strongly about.”

Call me a cynic, and though as a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, I’m quite willing to believe that my team would be as self-sacrificing as the reports would seem to indicate, I have to think that there was more to this than was visible to the ‘naked eye.’

Continue reading "An attack of the 'warm and fuzzies' ..."

up the base paths, any time soon.

His average of .296 is tied with Manny's and a notch above Kevin Youkilis (.288); not bad company at all. On-base percentage (.353) is right between Varitek and Coco; again, not bad company. Can't say much for his slugging percentage, though (.393), which puts him in the company of Alex Cora and Eric Hinske.

Continue reading "Casey at the Bat"