Winless In Seattle

The Mariners beat the Red Sox yesterday, 2-1 in 11 innings. Diasuke pitched so well. I'd be willing to say its the best he pitched all year. 8 innings of 1 run ball striking out eight. In the third, Mariner catcher Jamie Burke hit a fly ball to left center. Coco Crisp was shading him to right and was no where to be found, but somehow closed in on the ball and dove for the ball. Instead of giving us his daily Web Gem, the ball fell inches to his right and got passed him, allowing Burke to get a double. If Manny hadn't been backing him up, it would have been a triple. Ichiro came up next and got a cheap bloop single that scored Burke from second. Other than that, Diasuke was unhittable.

The lineup just couldn't score. There were plenty of opportunities. Big Papi struck out with the bases loaded and two outs early in the game. The Sox left 11 runners on base. They just didn't capitalize. Therefore, they were swept for the first time all year.

Alas! The lead in the AL is down to 9 games. That's right. Your Toronto Blue Jays are within single digits.

Speaking of the Blue Jays and Red Sox, now seems like a good team to look at both teams former Ace, the Rocket Man. The Yankees web page claims he's now their ace. He lost again yesterday and for the first time in 200 games, didn't strike anyone out. He's now 1-3 (0-3 against teams who aren't the Pirates) with a 5.32 ERA. The Evil Empire is in 3rd place, 3 games under .500, has lost 4 in a row and seven of their last 8. Glorious!

Coco Crisp/80s night

Last time I mentioned Crisp was to point out how much he sucks and yet he's not even one of the top two problems in the Red Sox lineup. Ever since then he's been going on a tear. His last 8 games, he's 15 for 27 with three homeruns. Plus, it seems like every night he makes a stupendous diving catch. His average has sored to .258. Coco Crisp, I solute you!

Diasuke took the mound last night against Greg Maddux, both teams in their throwback 80s uniforms. Yes, the Red Sox had a different uniform in the 80s. The BOSTON on the away jerseys were blue. And there was a HUGE space between the S and the T. Every time a Red Sox got up, the Padres messed around with their pictures to make them like 80s heavy metal guitar heroes, with long hair and nose rings and make up and whatnot. Except for Big Papi. He looked like Mr. T.

Speaking of T, I still can't believe the space was that big.
"BOS TON".

Anyway, Diasuke got in trouble early. In the bottom of the first, he walked the bases loaded with no one out, and somehow, some way managed to get out of the jam only allowing one run. The Red Sox got two in the fourth, on a two strike single by Youkilis (vote for Youk!) and a RBI single by Varitek. Maddux thought he had strike three to Youk, but the umpire didn't give it to him. The announcers brought up the fact that the home plate ump was a minor league guy who sometimes fills in for vacationing Major League Umps. Probably a good thing for Maddux, because he was screaming at him and would have been tossed by a Major League guy. Though Maddux always gets those calls a foot off the plate, so the Major League guy would have probably rung Youk up. Anyway, Maddux hit in the bottom of the fourth and struck out looking. When he heard strike three called I thought he was gonna explode.


Diasuke pitched six, giving way to Lopez and Delcarmen in the eight. Manny Delcarmen was called up recently since Donnally went on the DL and though he hasn't really pitched in many jams, he's been pretty good. That's a good thing. The future of the Red Sox bullpen depends heavily on Delcarmen and Craig Hanson.

Okajima came out for the eight and was his usual 1-2-3 self, striking out two in the process before yielding to Jonathan Papelbon who struck out 2 to earn the save.

Complete Game

Diasuke pitched a complete game, allowing only 1 run in the series opener against the defending American League Champs. The best part was his reaction afterwards. He showed little to no emotion or excitement or anything. Just went to shake Varitek's hand. I mean, everyone else in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was pumped, but it just seemed like another day in the office for Matsuzaka. He expects to pitch that well everytime out.

It kind of reminded me of Pedro. I'm not saying Diasuke was as dominant as Pedro, cause he wasn't. But Pedro would pitch a complete game shut out, striking out 16, and only give up 1 hit and shrug it off like it were nothing. He was always cool and collective afterwards. "Yeah. So what? I'm Pedro Martinez. I'm suppose to pitch that well. In fact, I'm kinda mad about that one hit I allowed. Maybe next game I'll bean that guy..."

I like the confidence.

The game was actually really close. It was 3-1 going into the eighth, but the Sox broke it wide open in the home half. Julio Lugo hit a triple with the bases loaded and Youkilous followed with a base hit to knock Lugo in.

So yeah, all around a good night. Beat the defending Champs, got the first complete game of the year, offense put the game out of reach in the ninth. Plus, the Sox chased Robertson early. He only pitched till the fifth. The Sox bullpen's well rested for the remainder of the series. Can't say the same about Detriot.

Can't wait for game two.

First Post From Boston

So I'm back in Boston right now. It's pretty much the greatest city in history.

Anyway, first, about Diasuke. I saw the top of the first and two Royal batters in the bottom of the first. I was not impressed. He looked extremely shaky. He allowed a lead off base hit and got a fielders choice before really slowing down the pace and taking forever between pitches. He looked a bit out of place. However, after my class I raced back to my room, turned on the TV and it was 2-1 Sox with Diasuke pitching in the 6th. And he was going strong too. He was making Kansas City hitters look foolish. I believe the line was 7 innings, 10 K's, 1 earned run, a win, and the right to have John stop writing Dice-K and start writing Diasuke (which pronounced Dice-K in case you were wondering...). Plus, in the post game show, former two time Red Sox pitcher and current Hall Of Famer Dennis Eckersly was gushing over him. I'm pretty sure the Eck is in love. He went on and on about Diasuke's command, his breaking ball, his setting up the fast ball with the breaking ball, his average fastball looking stupendous as a result of the breaking ball, the seven or so different types pitches he threw during the game, the 15 or so different types of pitches he hasn't thrown yet. So, the fact he impressed the Eck says something.

So anyway, Diasuke passes the first test. I'm still not 100% sold. Let's see him do it against the Yankees before we get carried away.

I didn't catch today's game at all, which again started at 2Pm. This is ridiculous. Friday games should start at 7 PM East Coast Time. However, I hear the Sox blew a pretty good Wakefield outing. Tim, the only person on the current team left from the '95 squad that finished ahead of the Yankees in the regular season, pitched 6 innings, let up 3 hits and only surrendered 1 run, and lost. With a line up that consists of Manny Rameriz, David Ortiz, and J.D. Drew (a combined 2-11 on the day...). Robinson Tejada went seven shut out innings for the Rangers. It's kind of dispicable.

However, there is hope!

JULIAN TAVAREZ STARTS SATURDAY against Kevin Millwood. I'm predicting Tavarez goes six, lets up three runs and gets the victory.

I'm also gonna start referring to days Tavarez starts as "automatic win day." This is probably the most serious line I've ever put in this blog as well as the most serious line I ever plan to put.

Also, I'd like to point out that if the Red Sox continue with the season as they have, they'll win the next two games and take the series. Then if they keep it up, they'll go 104-58. That's 10 games better than I predicted.