Sox-SatanFish Gamer XVIII

Now that the Sox have secured a berth in the playoffs, the team can focus on getting healthy, aligning the rotation, and locking up the division.  Oh, and they have the best record in the majors, AGAIN, and I met the President of the United States, AGAIN.  I must have drank me about 15 Dr. Peppers.

Fire away.

Boston
J. Ellsbury lf
A. Cora 2b
D. Ortiz dh
M. Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
C. Crisp cf
E. Hinske 1b
D. Mirabelli c
J. Lugo ss

Tampa Bay
A. Iwamura 3b
J. Velandia 2b
C. Pena 1b
B.J. Upton cf
D. Young rf
R. Casanova c
J. Gomes lf
J. Guzman dh
J. Wilson ss

Comments

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Carlos Pena is ridiculous, holy crap- he's been on fire this year.

Bah. Blue Jays give up a run as Wake gives up a single. No fun.

[Rob]

Hopefully we take advantage of another bad starter from TB and move the division magic number down a noth or two.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

uh-oh, Wake's classic 2 run homer just made its first appearance.

[Rob]

Young with a homer to left. Trailing 2-0

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Got out of the inning without major-major damage. Now it's up to the guys to try and scrap a hit off Jackson. Hope they can do it! *eyeroll*

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Jacoby... I heart you.

[Sam-YF]

chances of Rays Bullpen blowing this lead: 100%

[Ed]

cora is just horrible...

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Crap, we can't lose this game against Jackson- he simply sucks too much.

[Atheose]

DudeYoureGettingADelmon keeps punishing Wake, doubling to left.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

This is bad. Another run scores and we're even further behind going into the 5th.

[Rob]

Definately got the B Squad going today.

[Devine]

Yeah, can't be too surprised with this lineup. Still, 1 hit through 5? Pretty pathetic.

[Atheose]

Cora + Hinske + Mirabelli = painful.

By the way, why is Cora batting 2nd? I would rather have Crisp or Lugo ahead of Ortiz.

[Atheose]

Wilson GIDP, erasing a lead-off single. Wakey off the hook.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Wakey on the hook, 4-0 DRays.

[Atheose]

I spoke too soon. Wake walks Iwamura on 4 pitches, and someone named Jorge Velandia knocks him in. 4-0, Rays.

[Rob]

Down 4-0 now. Definately an emotional let down after clinching playoff spot.

[Devine]

Help me, Obi-Wan TorBlueJay, you're my only hope.

[yankeemonkey]

Fear not, Devine. The TB bullpen shall help you!

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

I'm going to vomit when/if Wake gives up a grandslam.

[Devine]

Wake (barely) keeps the team in the game, finally getting the Delmon dude out on a K.

The way they're swinging at Jackson, he might go 8.

[Atheose]

Dude, you're getting a Delmon!

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Seriously. Cy-Edwin today. Top of the 6th and no runs in sight. *sigh*

[Devine]

Don't steal! We need baserunners.

[Devine]

Okay...loaded. What happens now?

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Triple play coming up.

[Rob]

Papi up with a chance at the ole granny.

[rootbeerfloat]

Was that as awkward looking as it sounded?

[Atheose]

Holy crap, I went to make a sandwich and came back and the bases are loaded with zero outs!

Papi singles, scoring Lugo. Bases loaded for Mr. RBI, Lowell.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Lowell with a granny-chance.

[Rob]

We score!

Papi with the IF single.

4-1

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Bah, spoke too soon! Edwin regained his mastery. Now let's hope he loses it against JD.

[rootbeerfloat]

Atheose - please go make another sandwich.

[Rob]

Chance for Drew to be a hero.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Yeah, go make 6 or 7.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Walks in a run!

[Devine]

Nice job, Drew. Very nice.

[Atheose]

Hahahahaha RBF. Hey, Ortiz scored when I came back!

[Atheose]

Drew walks, scoring a run. Yankees also threatening, runners on 1st and 2nd in the 5th.

[Rob]

Drew draws an RBI walk.

[Dionysus]

COCO!

[Rob]

station to station baseball working here.

[Dionysus]

In play, run(s)!

Man.. I want details!

[Atheose]

GOD BLESS COCO! Single scores Cora, and DeMarlo Hale holds Ortiz at 3rd. I would have been pissed if he sent Ortiz on that one.

Jackson threw a 1-hitter through the first 5 innings, but has given up 4 hits and 2 walks this inning. 4-3 Rays, bases still loaded, and we are now in the Tampa Bay bullpen.

[Jackie (SF)]

Pitching change, bases still loaded, one out. Down by one. I like our chances here, except that GIDP machine Hinske is up next.

[Dionysus]

There we go.. its a one run game now. Unfortunatly, the Automatic Out part of the lineup is up... maybe Hinske can launch a sac fly?

[Jackie (SF)]

I hate being right.

[Devine]

Very typical from Hinske. Least we have a decent chance now.

[Rob]

Hinske is a toad.

[Dionysus]

Fraking dammit. KIll Hinske, KILL HIM!

Still.. one run game.

[AndrewYF]

Wow. Thank you Devil Rays, for handing Boston the division. How pathetic.

[Atheose]

Hinske is the wet blanket of the day. Why couldn't he just strikeout instead?

[Dionysus]

Mna.. we need Youk back.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

ugh. When is Youk supposed to be better?

Stupid Yankees hitting him on the wrist... *grumble*

[Atheose]

Julian Tavarez is up! Against the Devil Rays! Maybe we'll see a fight? Too bad Joey Gathright isn't in the lineup.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

Oh woe is me, Yankees winning- Red Sox losing. Another run scores.

[Tyrel SF]

Heads up play there Julio.

[Atheose]

Corey induces a double play, keeping us in the game.

[Atheose]

Back-to-back K's by Dougie and Lugo. Come on Ellsbury!

[Jackie (SF)]

Cora! HR (first pitch?!) to bring us within one. Again.

[Rob]

Cora homers?

[Atheose]

Cora homers. Wow.

[rootbeerfloat]

That Cora homer was me heating up soup... headed back to the kitchen....

[Atheose]

Isn't it amazing how this team has changed? Two months ago the Sox had a perfect bullpen but couldn't score any runs late. Now it seems we score plenty of late runs, but that our bullpen gives up a lot of runs too.

[Jackie (SF)]

Ellsbury looking fantastic in the field.

[Tyrel SF]

"Isn't it amazing how this team has changed?"

Not to mention our LF defense, which seems to have improved markedly...

[Atheose]

Timlin out of trouble. Crisp, Hinske and Mirabelli are up.

[Atheose]

Haha, good point Tyrel. But I think most of us would agree that Manny's bat has been missed.

[yankeemonkey]

"A. Reyes relieved D. Wheeler" <- more terrifying words have never been written.

[Atheose]

Reyes back out there with a 1 run lead. Dejavu.

Anyone think there'll be a pinch-hitter for Dougie?

[Rob]

Out with a whimper.

[Jackie (SF)]

Game over. :( Come on, Toronto!

[Tyrel SF]

Atheose, absolutely, Manny has been missed.

[yankeemonkey]

Wow, Joe breaking the Joba Rules!

[Devine]

Sucks. Double sucks. Aw well, everything sucks.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

I hope breaking the sacred Joba Rules bite the Yanks in the ass. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of their lives. *evil*

Losing SUCKS.

[yankeemonkey]

NSTB: meanie :(

[doug YF]

ntsb: lol u mad~~ ^_^

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

So is Manny back for the last 6 games of the year? The postseason? Spring training? wtf is going on.

"wtf is going on."

Manny being Manny...

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

How about Manny being traded next year. This is ridiculous, we've never needed him more and he's sitting on his thumbs.

[Pete]

Manny is legitimately hurt. And I think they're hiding worse news on Youk. I expect Manny will be back in time while Youk will not.

Meanwhile, they don't need either for the next week. They're already in. Now it's time to get ready for the post-season. I hope they start resting Papi too.

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

I heard the Red Sox doctors cleared him to play and he asked for a second opinion, with his history I don't know who to believe.

[BostonRAW]

Yeah, after next season he has $20m riding on his relationship with the SOX. Makes all the sense in the world for him to dog it.

Get some sleep, son.

[dc]

hey pete and b-raw!
how's it goin'?

pete, i saw you try to bait me again on the other thread, it ain't gonna work buddy, but nice try...and a thanks and a hat tip to tyrel for coming to my defense...

[AndrewYF]

As theatric as Youk is, I don't think his reaction when he got hit was at all an act. He went down INSTANTLY. I don't think it's anything as bad as a fracture, if it were they'd have him in a cast and the MRI would have picked it up. But it's probably a bone bruise...and it probably still hurts like hell. I do expect he'll be back for the playoffs in some fashion though.

And that's absolutely insane about Manny. Can we now question his devotion to the Red Sox/the game?

[Paul SF]

Everyone says this crap about him being cleared to play. Please stop reading every inane thing you hear/read from WEEI and Eric Wilbur. Francona has said repeatedly that Ramirez won't play until he doesn't feel any pain or pressure in what is an incredibly sensitive, difficult injury to recover from. As I understand it, it still hurts Ramirez to run, so unless you want Ramirez to run the risk of re-aggravating an unhealed injury just before the playoffs, stop bitching.

Besides that, you don't think Manny has a vested interest in playing, and playing well, in the next-to-last year of his contract? I just find this kind of speculation absent any form of evidence or even logic to be incredibly frustrating.

And, again, if there were some question about Manny's absence, we would be reading about it in the papers -- witness Edes' hatchet job last year. We haven't seen that this time.

[dc]

sorry guys, manny's just taking his usual late summer vacation...it's the same old song...get rid of him for whatever you can get...couple of beers and a pack of marlboros...get smart and give ells the job...

[Devine]

I think, as of moment, a lot of the Sox' chances at the division (I know some people don't care...I do, if not up to the point of injuring/re-injuring players) rest on how the Yankees do tomorrow. If they are 2 back after tomorrow, I put odds on the Sox to win. If they are 1 back, I think I give the better shot to the Yankees. It'll be fun when it's just six games to go for each team and we're watching every night to see the final result from every game.

[dc]

i agree devine...regardless which of our teams win, it's been fun to see a little pennant chasing these past few days...we are both likely still in the playoffs, with the yanks yet to clinch, but the back and forth with the yanks/sox for the division is adding some unexpected fun...

[no sleep til brooklyn SF]

That would be great if the people in question didn't have histories of either dogging it or covering for it. Manny has a history of pulling up lame and Tito's been known to cover for players foibles, like Pedro skipping out early etc.

Youk is hurt and we know that because he is always hauling ass and playing hard. Manny has ruined his benefit of the doubt with me, there's too much of him wanting to be traded every other off season and sitting when he's suspected to be tweaked at best. I don't trust him, I question his absence.