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What Next? Tigers-Yanks Gamer II

The Detroit 1-4 hitters killed the Yankees last night, with Curtis Granderson scoring three runs while Phil Hughes exited early, requiring the Yankee pen to carry the game for five and a third. They did so admirably, especially Russ Ohlendorf who struck out five and walked one while allowing only one hit and pitching out of an inherited jam in the fourth.

Meanwhile, Alex Rodriguez joined Jorge Posada on the disabled list, leaving the Yankees looking for answers as to how they will replace such important cogs in their offense and on the field. Giriardi: “He’s (Alex is) a hard guy to replace. We have to find a way to get it done.” In an unrelated development, Chipper and Joe Mauer are now traveling with personal security details.

Jeremy Bonderman is on the mound tonight and is winless in his last three starts though the Tigers did win two of those games. Andy Pettitte looks to bounce back from a rough outing in Cleveland. Here's hoping for a safe, efficient game. And safe. Lineups follow. Safen up and comment away.

Offensive Offenses: Jays-Sox Gamer V

Maybe I am late to the game, but ESPN now features as part of their previews a graphic indicating a projection for each contest to be played.  Tonight a mysterious organization called "Accuscore" gives the Red Sox a 58% chance of emerging victorious, based on some fancy logarithmic calculation involving Manny Ramirez' career OPS against Dustin McGowan, the wind speed at the top of the Green Monster, Daisuke Matsuzaka's gametime body temperature, and David Eckstein's level on the Grit-O-Meter™.  We're not sure whether to take much solace in a "58% chance of winning" (wow, the Sox have an 8% better chance than either winning or losing in equal likelihood!), but it's gotta better than the reverse, right?  Interestingly, Accuscore predicts that Eckstein will have 4.6 at-bats tonight.  (Or were they discussing his height?)  It also predicts that the Sox will hit 1.04 homers, which as far as I can tell is more likely to be a better measure of the cumulative distance of all of Julio Lugo's batted balls than an actual number of round-trippers.  For some reason the simulator kept conking out everytime "Virtual Tito" brought in Javy Lopez to face a lefty, an error message indicating "ERROR CODE 22555222- REVERSE SPLIT".

We don't care much for simulators, at least not when we can watch the real thing.  So use this as your thread for late afternoon baseball discussions and tonight's Sox-Jays contest. Lineups (Sox fans avert your eyes from the #6 - #9 spots, ugh) after the jump.

Not Easy Bein' a Callup (or a Newspaper)

A great story in the Globe today from the soon-to-be-departing Gordon Edes about Bryan Corey, who's up-again, down-again season has been something of a trial for him and his family:

It can't be as bad as the last time, when he had to explain to 4 1/2-year-old Brooke that she wouldn't be coming to Fenway Park anymore to see Wally, or her friends that gathered nightly in the Sox family room.

It won't be like the first time it happened with the Red Sox, either, when he'd just made arrangements to have his car shipped up to Boston from Texas and discovered he wouldn't be here when it arrived.

The apartment in Braintree, the one he leased, gave up, then took back before his 30 days were up, at least it won't be like last week, when he slept on the floor without a stick of furniture in the place.

And Christine? She'll offer a comforting word - his wife always has - but he's seen the light dim in eyes that once shined with excitement but now try to mask the disappointment.

Along with being a terrific look at the behind-the-scenes life of a player whose future is not secure (Corey's no Ortiz or Ramirez, let alone a Casey or a Cora), this story is a reminder of how much the Globe's sports section will lose when Edes bolts to Yahoo!, leaving Amelie Benjamin as the lone baseball writer worth reading at the broadsheet.

Benjamin and the Herald's Rob Bradford will soon be the cream of the crop among Boston's baseball writers, and the Herald -- with Massarotti, Silverman and Buckley -- will clearly have the edge over the Globe as a staff, especially with Jackie MacMullan taking the Globe's buyout offer. Losing Edes and MacMullan is another big blow for a sports staff that used to be phenomenal, and today's story on Bryan Corey is a poignant reminder of what the Globe will be losing.

History x 2

It's truly been amazing to see the three terrific pitching performances turned in by the Red Sox this week. Clay Buchholz, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester each recorded a game score of at least 75 -- an impressive feat tempered only by the fact that none was able to receive a win for his efforts.

That's historic in two ways. First, no set of Sox starters since Fergie Jenkins, Rick Wise and Luis Tiant in June 1977 has recorded game scores that high in three consecutive starts. Second, no two Sox starters have ever in the Retrosheet era received losses in back-to-back games with game scores of 75 or greater.

Think about that. In the last 52 years, Red Sox pitchers have recorded a game score of 75+ 792 times [Update: link added]. Only five times now have three of them come consecutively -- and, until this week, none since the advent of modern bullpen usage (the other four: June 1977, July 1972, July 1966 and Sept. 1958).

The flip side: In those 792 games, the starters received a loss only 36 times and a no-decision 40 times -- never consecutively until Clay Buchholz was hung with the L on Monday and again as Lester received the no-decision Tuesday. In all, the Sox have lost a game in which their starter provided such an effort just 59 times in 792 starts (a tidy .925 winning percentage) -- again, never consecutively until this week.

So congratulations to the Sox starters for their impressive streak. And sympathies to the Sox starters for their equally impressive -- though unfortunate -- streak.

Help Is On the Way

A month or so into the season, I thought it might be interesting to see how some of the Yankee prospects are coming along down on the farm. Standouts thus far include the pitchers Darrell Rasner and Dan Giese (who?) at Scranton (AAA), 2b Kevin Russo and pitcher Daniel McCutcheon at Trenton (AA), pitcher Eric Hacker at Tampa (A), and catcher Jesus Montero, 3b Brad Suttle, and pitcher Zachary McAllister at Charleston (A). The data:

Triple-A Scranton
Brett Gardner, cf: .299/.376/.494 (Waiting for a break)
Eric Duncan, 1b: .279/.384/.508 (Too late?)
Juan Miranda, 1b: .267/.389/.367 (Where's the beef?)
Darrell Rasner: 4-0, 0.87, 31 ip, 18 h, 6 bb, 27k (Next!)
Kei Igawa: 2-3, 3.56, 32.2, 28, 8, 32 (But can he handle the bigs?)
Dan Giese: 2-0, 1.35, 26.2, 20, 6, 23 (Who???)
Jeff Marquez: 1-4, 7.01, 25.2, 28, 8, 16 (Yikes)

Keep It Going: Tigers-Yanks Gamer I

Detroit comes to town with the worst record in their division but had won four straight before dropping two of three hosting the Halos. Curtis Granderson is on fire, but Kenny Rogers has been struggling. He faces Phil Hughes tonight in the Bronx as the Bomber return on a high note taking their last two games at Cleveland. Sorry for the brief post, crunchy day.

Comment away...

Rain, Rain, Come and Stay: Jays-Sox Gamer IV

The Sox need a win if they are to keep their hold on first and stay ahead of the Yankees (not as important right now as if it were Sept. 29, but good for the soul nonetheless), but let's just say the matchip tonight doesn't make us optimistic about snapping the five-game losing streak, off day or no off day.

Roy Halladay takes the mound for Toronto. He's no slouch, having gone fewer than eight innings just once this season -- though he wasn't that impressive against Boston and got slapped around by the Rays his last time out. Unfortunately, taking the mound for Boston is Jon Lester, who hasn't even made seven full innings yet this season (Halladay's done it every time) and thrown just one quality start. His walks have skyrocketed, his strikeouts have plummeted -- and he's allowing more hits, as well.

Maybe he puts it together in this start. The Blue Jays have certainly made things easier for him and all other AL East pitchers by releasing Frank Thomas. Still, color us pessimistic. Jon Lester v. Roy Halladay? That doesnt give one much hope.

Comment away!

Pieces of April

A year ago today, the Red Sox were playing their 24th and final game of April. Today will be the 27th and penultimate game of the March/April combo month. When it's all said and done, the Sox will have played five more games by May 1 than last season. No wonder they're tired!

After the games of April 29, 2007, the Sox were 16-8, actually not that much better than the possible 17-12 the Sox could rack up (though much better than 15-14) by tomorrow. Let's take a look at some more comparisons between Aprils.

Coneheads

There hasn't been much to cheer about for us Yankee fans this year; we're scudding along around the .500 mark, and the constant injuries, most seriously to Jorge Posada, have cast a downer on the early season. Of the "Big Three," only Chamberlain has pitched with consistency. Robi Cano has regressed. Joe Girardi, while fairly progressive in the dugout, has so far been defensive and irritable after losses, and in some cases less than forthcoming with the press corps. That's been a shock to the beat writers, so used to the steady, open Torre.

But as the .500ish record would suggest, things haven't been all bad. The beauty of Mariano Rivera's delivery has been matched by his results—as good as ever. Chien-Ming Wang, 5-0, has been his brilliant, maddening self. Matsui and Abreu are hitting. Melky Cabrera has been, arguably, the team's best position player all month.

For my money, however, these things have all been overshadowed by the emergence of David Cone in the broadcast booth. Yes, his voice is thin and his face a bit sallow. He both sounds and looks like someone's kid brother. But the Yanks have never had a more perceptive analyst. The intelligence he demonstrated on the mound has translated directly to the air. Listening to him deconstruct a pitcher's delivery or a batter's weakness has been fascinating; his eye for the telling detail is spot-on, and he's never been self-serving about his own accomplishments, though he's given ample opportunity in that regard. He's shown himself well aware and open-minded about sabermetric thinking. So, yes, he's got analytical skills. But what sets him apart from other broadcasters is his engaging, quirky, oddly charismatic personality. Over the first month of the season, he's exhibited the same presence on-air that Yankee fans remember from his days playing with the club: honest but positive, authoritative but slyly humorous.

Bad Moose On The Rise: Yanks-Tribe Gamer IV

The Yankees will go home late tonight to face the Tigers tomorrow, with last night's fantastic performance by Wang and the relief staff timed perfectly to preempt an excellent outing by C.C. Sabathia, only to be pre-preempted by Posada's shoulder injury. In the mean time, the sans-Posada Yanks look to earn a split in Cleveland. Mike Mussina ignored Hank's suggestion about being moyer like Moyer and turned in his best outing of the season last time on the bump. Tonight, he looks to continue his resurgence while the Tribe sends rookie (just slid under the bar with 49.3 innings in the bigs last year) Aaron Laffey to the mound at chilly, dreary Progressively Jakey Progressive Field.

Lineups follow, comment away.