Turgasso's Boston Red Sox fan blog

Just what the Sox need headed into a big holiday weekend 4 game series at Yankee Stadium-- a slump! Never was it more odvious that the Sox middle relief is nearly non-existant than during the 7th inning of last night's loss to the Devil Rays when Craig Hansen walked in a run with the bases loaded and nobidy out. Without a doubt the Sox's worst inning of the season saw Delcarmen & Hansen unable to throw a strike or make an out.

The Sox begin a 4 game series at yankee Stadium over the 4th of July weekend; Tonight's game pits Lester 6-3 with a 3.48 ERA against Pettite 9-5 with a 3.98 ERA. Friday afternoon's game pits Darrell Rasner, 4-6, 4.42 against Josh Beckett, 7-5, 3.65; late Saturday afternoon will find Mike Mussina, 10-6, 3.87 pitching against Justin Masterson, 4-2, 3.75. The series wraps up as ESPN's Sunday night game with Joba Chamberlain, 2-2, 2.22 facing the knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, 5-6, 3.72.

Continue reading "A slump headed into Yankee Stadium...."

21st century MLB is all about the setup man...ya know, the pitcher who gets you through the 7th and 8th innings to your star closer in the 9th. With Julian Tavares gone, Mike Timlin on the DL, & Okijima still burnt out from the 2007 season, the Sox enter the 2nd part of the 2008 season with a huge hole in their bullpen.

Inconsistency of Start Justin Masterson was the problem with last night's loss, with reliever Chris smith also contributing--he walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the 7th. The sox staged one of their best 9th inning rallies, but fell short when Julio Lugo grounded out stranding the tying run 90 feet away from home plate.

The Sox ending interleague play 8-7 this year, going 2-1 against both Cincinnati & Philadelphia and 1-2 against the Cardinals & Diamondbacks. Having Big Papi on the DL most likely helped the Sox adjust early to the lack of the DH at their 9 away games.

Continue reading "THe Setup man...where is he???"

THe Sox are the first team in the Majors to reach 50 wins thanks to Dice-K & JD Drew; Dice-K was back for the first time since May 22nd pitching 5 shutout innings of 2 hit, 3 walks & 4 strikeout baseball. As Red Sox nation breathes a huge sigh of relief, JD Drew is showing All Star numbers this with 11 homeruns for the month of June.

THe Sox are 8-5 in interleague play this year, being vexed the mot by the Cardinals last weekend. This coming week proves will prove to be a TV networks dream with 2 red-hot division rivalries agaisnt the Devil Rays and the Yankees-- a combined 7 games on the road. After the fireworks that exploded during the Sox last series against Tampa Bay 8 weeks ago, all eyes will on Tropicana field at 7:05 PM Monday night.

Ellsbury currently has 38 stolen bases, still on track to best the Sox single season stoen base record by a single player-- with only 18 to go and half the season yet to play.

Continue reading "Dice-K Returns!"

Its been 25 days since Dice-K last took the mound, leaving after 4 innings with a right rotator cuff strain. He takes the mound late this afternoon looking to gain back that Fenway momentum after a night of squandered opportunities that resulted in a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals. The Cards send rookie pitcher Mitchell Boggs to the mound making only his 3rd major league start. That name makes me think of only one thing-- the chicken man, Wade Boggs, the Sox 3rd baseman for 10 years.

Wearing Celtic Green jerseys in honor of the new 2008 NBA World Champion Boston Celtics, honored in pre-game ceremonies, the Sox luck ran out last night. Julio Lugo hit a game-tying solo homerun in the bottom of the 6th inning then proceeded to make back-to-back throwing errors in the top of the 7th, allowing the Cards to take the lead. The old 4-6-3 double play returned to haunt Manny Ramirez in the bottom of the 7th as he came to the late with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Continue reading "Dice-K returns!!"

My little brother is in baseball heaven this weekend--he's been a lifelong STL Cardinals fan now doesn't have to pay airfare to STL to see his favorite team. In march the national networks to celebrate the series: FOX TV is airing Saturday's game and Sunday's game will be the TBS game of the week. Like most die hard fans from Red Sox nation, this means muting the TV set and turning on the radio. It should be a good series, Wakefield takes the mound to open the series tonight.

THe Sox are 4-2 in interleague play so far, splitting each series 2-1. With 6 of the remaining 9 games at Fenway, the Sox are assured a decent interleague winning percentage.

All points lead to Curt Shilling's major league pitching career being over, with this AM's announcement of season ending shoulder surgery. He'll be 42 this November, how realistic is it that he can return to the mound pain free? Ya really gotta wonder how he passed the MRI last November, guaranteeing an $8 million base salary?  Since he has a computer gaming company in Massachusetts and resides there, I doubt he'll be pitching anywhere else in 2009.

Continue reading "THe Cards are here!"

Manny helped return normal to Fenway Park this afternoon following the Devil Rays madness & Bartolo Colon's inability to handle the ball Friday night. The Devil Rays are the Sox first AL opponents following 2 weeks of interleague play, beginning Friday night at The Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati.  Manny led off the offensive show with a towering homerun that cleared the Green Monster; JD Drew went 3 for 5 & Coco Crisp 2 for 5 as Wakefield's knuckleball danced in the hot, humid air. After Friday night's lopsided 8-0 loss, this afternoon's scoreboard ended the day with an 11-3 Sox victory.

Continue reading "Manny returns Fenway to normal."

The sox can tie Tampa for the lead in the AL East tonight as Beckett takes the mound, going for his 6th win. Ortiz is on the 15 DL with a torn ECU tendon-- known as the extensor carpi ulnaris to us science geeks. Theo & Francona are in agreement that surgery wont be necessary; we'll wait and see if the Vader-like cast will do the trick. JD Drew was the offensive star of last night's win, going 2 for 3 along with Coco Crisp's off the wall tie breaking double.  Dice-K's replacement Justin Masterson allowed four runs on six hits in six innings-- he's 2-0 with a The Rays are 0-4 at Fenway Park this season; 65-88 since their inaugural season 10 years ago. They'll return for a final 3 game series in September following tomorrow nights game.

Interleague play returns in 9 days as the Sox will face off against Arizona & St Louis at Fenway; Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Houston on the road. Should prove to be interesting matchup's since they'll be facing 2 of the NL's division leaders, the Diamondbacks & Phillies. Given that 8 of the 15 games will be played on the road, Ortiz's DL stint just might get the Sox pre-prepared for winning without the DH.

Continue reading "Beckett goes for #6!!!"

Now that we're off of the Manny 500 watch (many congrats to Manny for becoming the 24th member of the 500 + homerun club-- the night after his 36th birthday!), its time to start contemplating the Red Show at Yankee stadium, which is what the 2008 All Star game is quickly turning into. The defending world champs have 5 players leading their positions: Youkilis, Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Pedroia & Varitek plus the likihood of Dice-K starting the game. It'll be a sea of Red at Yankee Stadium!! Rah....

The DL is ever expanding yet again for the sox as we're reminded that those teams who remain standing by Labor Day are those who weather the injuries the best. Roll Call, as of June 1st: Ortiz with a strained left wrist, Dice-K with rotator strain & JD Drew's on again-off again bouts with vertigo; Drew has been out of the lineup the last 2 nights-- looks like he'll be playing today.

Continue reading "500 & More!!!"

The Sox ended their road trip woes late last night as Jacoby Ellsbury made his major league debut in his hometown city; perhaps the cheers of all of his family & friends helped Bartolo Colon pitch seven innings of one run baseball. Dustin Pedroia ended the Sox offense slump with a 2-out ground rule double in the 8th inning followed by single from both Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell.

The Red Sox now find themselves with the 3rd best record in baseball, trailing behind the Tampa Bay Devil Rays & the Florida Marlins, respectively. Since when did the sunshine state start producing not one but two good baseball teams??

Dice-K goes for a league leading 9th victory tonight against the Mariner's right handed starter Miguel Batista, currently holding a 9.90 ERA at Safeco Field.

Continue reading "End to the road trip skid..."

Lester takes the mound this afternoon, pitching to prevent a sweep in Oakland as the Sox wrap up their final series in McAfee Coliseum.  Duchscherer's no-hit bid late last night was spoiled by an Ortiz single hit to right field, what proved to be the only Sox hit of the night.

Manny watchers had to wait another day for HR #499; given the night off due to as his .189 batting average in his last 23 at-bats, we'll wait and see if this small break breathes new life into bat.

An FYI for 3 more rules to watch the umpires to begin enforcing in an effort to speed up the games are how far a batter can stray outside the batter's box, how long a pitcher can take between pitches and how quickly a reliever enters the game from the bullpen.

Continue reading "Swept in Oakland??"