Marathon Morning: Red Sox Sweep The Orioles With A Twelve Run Rout

Its a good morning when you have a baseball game at 11 and you have nothing to do. Its even better when you get to see a young guy pull off a show-stopping performance on Patriots Day of all days. All while thousands of people ran in the 113th Boston Marathon.

Justin Masterson, usually the long reliever/eighth inning/all around lights out pitcher from the bull pen, got his first start of 2009. In 5 innings he struck out three, walked two, and allowed one earned run on four hits, all singles. Not a bad outing, considering he did all that on just 84 pitches. And thanks to the Red Sox very strong bull pen, that one run was the only one allowed all game.

The bats got going in the first, when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double. A single from Dustin Pedroia scored the speedy Ellsbury, and a ground out from Baldelli brought in Dustin, putting the Sox up by two.

In the second, Jason Varitek continued with his seemingly rejuvenated swing (its only a few weeks into the season, but I remain optimistic) and launched a solo shot into the monster seats, where fans were alternating between watching the game, and watching the marathon runners make their way through Kenmore Square.

The Orioles scored in the third, and it remained close until the bottom of the sixth. Another RBI single for Pedroia and a triple from David Ortiz made it 6-1, Red Sox.

The bull pen held the Orioles to a scoreless top half of the seventh, and then the Red Sox really got started. The Orioles faced 12 Red Sox batters, Mike Lowell had an RBI double and an RBI single in the inning. Also with RBI singles in the seventh were Ellsbury, Pedroia, and Youkilis.

The best part of today? With the exception of Ortiz, who's average is up to .196, the rest of the team is now hitting above .220. Pedroia got moving, so did Ellsbury, and Ortiz had a good day with two hits, two RBI, and a run scored.

Lefty pitcher Hunter Jones made his major league debut, and pitched a scoreless 9th for the Red Sox, while Rocco Baldelli left the game in the fourth with a mild hamstring strain, and Orioles third-basemen Ryan Freel left the game in the third after being hit by a pick-off attempt from Masterson. He went to the hospital as a precaution, but there is no news yet on when he will return to the Orioles line up.

The Sox now have a five game winning streak, are back over .500, and have now won their 66th Patriot's Day game, which started with a 21-gun salute from the Minutemen, and ended with a 12-run salute from the Red Sox.

The Beasts of the East: Who Wins Baseball's Best Divisions?

It seems like everyone is making their picks for who wins the AL East, I'm going to take it one step further and look at both the AL and NL East, arguably baseball's best divisions.

Lets start in the National League. The East is a powerful division, will the defending World Champion Phillies again take the top spot? Will the Mets suffer another late-season collapse? Can the Marlins overtake them both? Will the Nats actually look good this year? Barring major injuries and some fluky miracle season, here are my picks for the NL East:

1. New York Mets (2008: 89-73, 3 GB) Here's why: K-Rod and JJ Putz should ease the Mets' bullpen woes, somewhat. It will at least keep them from hemorrhaging so much at the end of games. They have a good offense anchored by Wright, Reyes, and Beltran, the Mets should be able to make the playoffs this year. If they don't, I give up, they must be cursed.
2. Philadelphia Phillies (2008: 92-10, WS Champs) They kept most of their World Series winning team together, backed by a great offense with players like Utley, Howard, Victorino, and Rollins. However, the injury bug tends to bite hard the year after winning it all (look at the Red Sox from last year: same team, new injuries). Look for the Wildcard to come from the East this year.
   
3. Florida Marlins (2008: 84-77, 7 1/2 GB) The Marlin's are a good young team on a tight budget, and could surprise everyone and take over the East this season. With Hanley Ramirez and excellent pitching, the Marlins are a force to be reckoned with. Look for them to hang around and make life miserable for the Mets and Phillies.
   
4. Atlanta Braves (2008: 72-90, 20 GB) Atlanta made some good moves in the off-season, with good pitching additions, but a weak offense will have them trailing the Mets, Phils, and Marlins this year. They are young, so look for the Braves to start contending more in a year or so.
   
5. Washington Nationals (2008: 59-102, 32 1/2 GB) The Nats are young. I wouldn't look for them to be great this year, but I would expect a better season than 2008. They'll still come in at the bottom of the NL East, but with a much better record.

Now on to baseball's toughest division. The AL East has appeared in the World Series 54 times out of 104 series. Of those 54 appearances, they have won the World Series 38 times. That's a pretty impressive division, and its only getting tougher. Here are my (mostly) unbiased picks.

1. Boston Red Sox (2008: 95-67, 2 GB, Wildcard) Boston made a few little moves in the offseason that will have a very big impact. "Bargain" additions of Smoltz, Penny, Saito, and Tazawa make a descent bull pen and good pitching staff into a phenomenal pitching staff with a lights-out 'pen. They have a few young guys to watch, both on the field and on the mound, and have several key players returning from injury in Lowell, Ortiz, and Beckett. This team came within one game of the World Series last year when they were hurt, now that everyone's back, look for them to retake the East.
2. Tampa Bay Rays (2008: 97-65, AL Champions) Everyone is still waiting to see if the Rays are "for real". They are. The addition of Pat Burrell certainly helped the Rays, but they may have the same issue as the Phillies: health. In order for the Rays to compete, Troy Percival needs to stay healthy, and the pitching staff is a little lacking in depth. The key cog in the Ray's wheel is David Price. He came in and pitched well late in the season, but once there's a legitimate scouting report out on him, major league hitters will figure him out. He has to stand up to the pressure and eat up good innings. If not, the Yankees may take back the second spot, and with it the AL Wildcard spot.
3. New York Yankees (2008: 89-73, 8 GB) Why, if they spend $400 million dollars on stellar players this off-season, are the Yankees in third? Because they spent millions of dollars on a very small number of players and neglected to give themselves some depth. CC Sabathia ate up a lot of innings last year, many times on short rest. It takes longer than a few months to recover from that and puts you at risk for injury. Burnett should do okay, and the addition of Teixeira will definitely help the Yanks, but without much of a bullpen and with starters who don't always eat up innings, the Yanks may find themselves losing games late. Mariano Rivera, great closer that he is, is also approaching 40, and will start to decline.The Yanks will keep things interesting, and be competitive, making things tough for the Rays and Red Sox.
   
4. Toronto Blue Jays (2008: 86-76, 11 GB) The Jays, in any other division, would be a playoff team every year. The loss of Burnett could hurt them, but they still have Halladay and a great pitching staff. They are looking for some players to return to form and some young guys to give them a lift, but probably not enough to compete for a playoff spot because their division is so tough.
5. Baltimore Orioles (2008: 68-93, 28 1/2 GB) Though the Orioles have a young, good offense, their lack of pitching means they will again be in last place in the division. Look for them to do a little better than last year, but with a division this tough, where they have to face the Rays, Red Sox, Yankees, and Jays in 72 games this season, its going to be a difficult year.
   

News from the Weekend:

The Red Sox locked up LHP Jon Lester for 5 years, and ended talks (temporarily) with OF Jason Bay. Because of his free agent status at the end of the 2009 season and the down economy, Bay decided to wait and see what the market does. He would like to stay in Boston, but not at a cut rate when he could get more elsewhere.

Dustin Pedroia has a minor abdominal strain and will need a few days of rest before resuming baseball activities. The injury is minor and should not effect his opening day status.

The shortstop debate is over for the Red Sox, at least temporarily. Julio Lugo will have arthroscopic surgery on his knee tomorrow and will be out of opening day. Jed Lowrie will (most likely) start the season as the Red Sox shortstop.

Manny Ramirez started his spring training by being pulled from a game due to a hamstring injury. After trying to cut off a double in left field, he felt tightness in his hamstring and was pinch hit for in the bottom of the 4th inning.

Take A Deep Breath...And Let It Out

I have some staggering stats for you following last night's down-to-the-wire game.

455. Fenway has sold out 455 consecutive times. Tying the Indians record for most consecutive sell-outs. When they return home after the brief trip to Texas, they will break the record.

.621: That's Dustin Pedroia's batting average over the past 7 days.

3.79: that's the ERA for the starting pitchers. Not bad when your team has average 5.3 runs a game. Look for the ERA to get lower as we roll into September and October. (Especially if Beckett returns to his dominance, and Lester gets his power under control.)

97. That's how fast Lester threw one pitch against the Orioles. He claims to have never gone higher than 96 in his career. If he can get a fastball that fast under control, he will be the ace of the AL.

44: Stolen bases for Jacoby Ellsbury, who has struggled to get on base all year. Imagine how much larger that number would be if he could get on base more often...

110 and 191. That's how many times Dustin Pedroia has scored and how many hits he has this season. Those are both Major Leage Leading Stats.

2. That's how many players the Red Sox have who are in the running for MVP, some might even say that they are the front-runners.

and finally...


3. That's the games back we are on Tampa Bay, who still have one more night with the Yankees, who have now won 6 straight road games. We still lead the Wild Card, but I would love to retake the East just in time for the playoffs.


Now, back to the game.

Dice-K did well, not one of his stronger outings, but not bad either. We just could not get any offense going.

Except for Dustin, who looks like he could get a hit in his sleep. The bottom half of the order produced too, at least, a little.

Youk was again out, and Jason Bay had the day off, so already the bats are just a little bit weaker.

The Sox started to come back, then stalled, leaving the score at 4-2 Orioles.

Then Papi got a free pass. Dustin got a double, and Kotsay hit a wall-bouncing triple to score them both, tying the game in the bottom of the 8th.

The Sox held the Orioles, who threatened with two men on in the 9th, but could not deliver, and then the bottom of the order came up. Cora singled, then Crisp singled on a wack-a-doodle bunt that 99% of the time rolls foul, but didn't, then Jacoby, who popped out in the 7th with the bases loaded and 2 outs, stepped up and bunted. Cora dived into third, the ball was overthrown, so he got up and scored, meeting his teammates at home, ecstatic to have come back and finished the sweep, something that had been unable to do against the White Sox and against the Yankees.

Yay. And Crisp was running his heart out, not realizing that Cora was the winning run and the game was over.

That might be the weirdest walk-off win I have ever seen, on a sac-bunt and a throwing error.

We have the night off. Good. I'm tired and I need to watch the season opener for FOOTBALL!!!! Yay.

Holy Dying Birds, Bat-Men!

14-2 is just depressing. If you're the Orioles, that is. Clearly, the Sox have Liz's number. They killed him last time, and they really killed him this time. The Red Sox brought the bats to bear again, and again, and again, finishing the game with 20 hits, even with the "JV" team in and Cash pinch-hitting to basically bring up his average in a game that was over in the 4th, pretty much.

Lester made a strong start for the month of September, allowing only 1 run on 6 hits in 5 innings. While he usually goes longer, with the Sox ahead 11-1, no reason to tire him out.

The only dark side of the night was I almost had to cheer for the Yankees. As much as it pains me to say that...nope. screw it. I won't cheer for the Evil Empire, I will cheer for a Tampa Bay Rays loss. Which actually happened, so yay for the Sox!

One more game for the Sox-Os series, at 135 tomorrow. Dice-K vs. ? (no, seriously, it says TBD)

Hopefully Youk won't have to scratch this game (please let the back spasms be something small and fleeting!) but does he get the number 4 spot back from Dustin? That is, of course, up to Tito, but Dustin hits well no matter where he is in the line-up. The offense looked much tighter tonight as opposed to last night, as the Sox battered Liz for 9 runs, then went to work on the bull pen for 5 more.

In other news, Youk has been nominated to receive the Roberto Clemente Award, which awards players who are great sports, with great community involvement, where their individual accomplishments are geared towards aiding the team, and who best exemplifies the game of baseball. Youk's charity, Kevin Youkilis Hits for Kids, as well as his constant work for the Jimmy Fund, have already earned him awards from the organization itself.

See you tomorrow, Sox fans!

The AL East, The All-Stars and the Rays, Oh My!

Sorry for the long hiatus...I was on vacay during the all-star break, but I'm back with notes and ready to go.

O's game first. We lost. Moving on. O's again, but this time, we weren't planning on losing. Wake pitched great, and Youk, fresh from the last strikeout to lose the game Friday, was angry. When is Youk not angry? He is always fired up. Anyway, its the 3rd inning, bases loaded, here comes Youkilis. I was sitting on the couch with my neighbors dog (I live with people who think its okay to have a cookout when the Sox are on TV. eh) and I looked at the dog and I said "I think Youk's gonna hit one hard." Sure enough, Grand Slam for Kevin. Yay.

Manny and J.D. hit solos....that was just a really bad inning for the O's. I remember thinking towards the end there: wait a minute. Pedroia and Ellsbury have already hit this inning...like I said, bad inning for the O's. And because it's an AL East game, they keep updating us on the Rays scores.

Speaking of the Rays, they've lost seven in a row going into the break. Seven. Now, for older teams, that doesn't worry me too much. But for the Rays...well, they're pitching will keep them in it, maybe, but it all depends on whether or not they let this slump affect them, shatter their confidence. They were on top for three weeks or so, and they couldn't hold it. Whether that's over confidence on their part, bad luck, or just some nerves, I don't know. I don't see the Sox giving the East up any time soon, and I don't think the Rays are going to go on a tear again, because as good as they are at home, they are that bad on the road. Unless the Jekyll and Hyde thing can be sorted out, they may fall out of the Wild Card race. Notice, I said "may". Its baseball, anything can happen.

Okay, so the O's fell to the Sox 12-1. I just think they had Liz's number.

On to the next game. The nail biter. I mean, not really, but really. Dice-K threw an enormous number of pitches (scary) walked five (really scary) and four hits (really, really scary) yet somehow, it was scoreless. Paps looked a little sloppy on the save, but thanks to a diving catch by Pedroia and a few other good plays, he notched his 100th save. Nice. And with this win and the Rays loss, the Sox pull a half game ahead of the Rays just in time for the All-Star break.



So, the All-Stars. Okay, in Paps defense, he really didn't mean that he thought he should close instead of Mariano Rivera. That was not what he said. What he said is exactly what every back-up was thinking: "I don't care if [name] is the best [position] in baseball, I want to start at [position]." Duh, people. And New York fans, you can hurl all the insults you want at the boys, they expect it, but leave the pregnant ladies alone, okay. That's just wrong. I wouldn't say a bad word to a pregnant woman that would seem threatening, even if she was covered in Yankees gear. So heckle the players, heckle the other fans, but leave the future mommies alone.

Now on to the All-Star game. There were a ton of Sox playing, which is wonderful, and I gotta say, listening to an interview by Tek, I understand so much more why he is so respected by EVERYBODY. (Except maybe A-Rod. They may still have some beef) That is the most humble, intelligent player ever. He was so honored to be there, and I don't care how bad he hits, you can not ask for a better captain or catcher. The oh-so-classy NY fans booed Tito and the other Sox. Surprised? I think Yaz and Fisk should have been on that field for the opening ceremony, but its the Yanks, what do you expect. This is what made me happy to watch the final All-Star game in Yankee Stadium:

Count 'em: 16. Yep. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!

Now really, onto the game. I think Tito did a good job, they all played, they looked like they were having a good time, and hey, the AL won. Again. After 15 innings. And in almost every one, either side had a chance to put the game away for good. It was a weird game. I was in bed, watching it, thinking, I can drift off to sleep to the post-game, it'll be here soon. (That was in the 11th inning)

You gotta love JD Drew in this game. He comes in, gets on base 4 out of 5 times, one of those was the game-tying 2-run homer. Combine that with good defense, he was an obvious choice for MVP. I mean, really, who else would you pick? Longoria? Its not even close. So congrats to JD.

In other news, Che-Hsuan Lin, a previously-unknown defensive replacement in the All-Star Futures game from Class A Greenville, was the MVP of that game. The Sox signed him, and are hopeful that with some work, the slugger and stellar defensive player will work his way up onto the Fenway roster, which is all that Lin wants to do. He wants to play for the Sox. I love a guy like that. So, the Sox come in with the most All-Stars for the AL, they get the MVP, and then the farm system gets the Futures MVP. Yep. That's exactly the way I wanted Yankee stadium to be sent off. Actually, had it been Drew instead of Young who hit the game-winner, that would have been great.


I should not go on hiatus, the blogs get really long. Well, here's to a strong second half.

In final, closing, seriously, the last bit of news...

I'm trying to be Governor of VA for Red Sox Nation. Its truly my passion, and I would love to do it, so anyone interested, you can endorse me, Sara Hannon, at RedSox.com, my email is: hannonse@gmail.com.

Thanks. See you in the second half! :)