No One Serves Coffee, No One Wakes Up: Sox-Rangers Gamer IV

I'm from the city that never sleeps and wakes up very late. Boston is the opposite. Ergo, this very early game, which happens every year. What a tradition. Comment here on all the action.

Comments

[stuck working]

Man alive, has it been (relatively) quiet on this site so far this season...

[Atheose]

Thanks for the gamer, Nick.

Gabbard apparently out with an injury now (from his foot problem last inning?), time to destroy the Rangers bullpen.

Nicky is our hero :p

[Atheose]

Ellsbury walked! Let the base-stealing begin.

Yeah stuck, it's been quiet in the gamers lately. Not sure why, I guess people are just genuinely busy. I'm a lab technician and our work has been slow lately, so I'm lucky I guess.

[Atheose]

Well that was fast--Ellsbury steals on the first pitch.

[Atheose]

Pedroia singles! How the hell didn't Ellsbury score on that? It must have looked like it might have been caught or something. Watching baseball from Gameday alone sucks.

[TJ]

UGH!

[Devine]

Boooooooooo.

[Atheose]

Wait, what? First Ellsbury doesn't score from 2nd on Pedroia's single, then he gets thrown out at home on a sac-fly? I thought he was INVINCIBLE!

he went back to third Pedroia was between 1st and second so whenm they went after him Ellsbury tried going home and got in a run down.

[TJ]

that was me.

[Devine]

Buchholz has the potential to be such a good pitcher. Great fastball, great curveball, good slider. Even if he has a lot of trouble this season, it's pretty cool to see him pitch at the major league level.

[Atheose]

Ahhh, thanks for the info TJ. Was confused by the Gameday.

The good news is that we've got 6 more innings of Rangers bullpen to play against. I'm very confident about our chances.

[Atheose]

Agreed, Devine. I'm sad that this game is so early because I LOVE watching Buchholz pitch. His curveball and changeup are a pleasure to watch.

[Atheose]

Buchholz is at 74 pitches through 4. He needs a quick 5th if he wants to go 6+.

[Devine]

On the board, B! And still nobody out.

[Atheose]

Drew walked again. Pitching around him, or just poor location? He's arguably the 2nd toughest bat in the lineup right now, so I don't blame them for wanting to get to the Lowrie-Lugo-Cash-Thurston clown-team part of our lineup.

WOOHOO, small-ball moves Drew over AND gets Lowrie on base. Lugo knocks him in, 1-0 Sox with runners at the corners.

[stuck working]

Ah, finally, some scoring! Though with Cash and Thurston coming up, it may be all they get this inning.

[Atheose]

I'd like to see Lugo steal 2nd to get us out of the double-play.

[Devine]

All right, I wasn't watching that...can someone explain what happened there with Cash's line-out?

[Atheose]

Kevin Cash "in play, run(s)"?!?!?! Hooray Rangers errors! 2-0 Sox, still only one out.

[Atheose]

I'm assuming he threw it away after catching it, trying to double-off Lugo at first. I'm just guessing though.

[Micah-SF]

The first thing I see when I wake up is runs - hooray! I love crappy defense by the other team. Even Julio Lugo couldn't screw THAT up.

[Atheose]

Ellsbury with the infield single!

[rootbeerfloat]

Just tuning in - what happened to Gabbard?

[Devine]

Groundball singles are the sh*t. Shame run wasn't plated...let's go Ellsbury. Wear him out!

[Atheose]

Micah, can you tell us what happened? We only have Gameday, sadly.

[Atheose]

Gabbard's cleats got caught in the dirt during one of his pitches and it hurt his back. He left an inning later.

[Atheose]

Wooooooooot, Ellsbury steals 2nd.

[rootbeerfloat]

Elf!!!

[Atheose]

PEDROIA!!!!!!!!!1111oneoneone

[Polf]

cash bloop'd to the 2nd baseman, he tried to throw Lugo out at first and throw to low for the man on 1b, and it got past him

[Atheose]

Hey, they don't give out Sophomore of the Year awards do they?

[Devine]

Straight-up awesomeness. This is just great.

[Micah-SF]

What Polf said - and I basically got that information from the SoSH game thread (I tend to keep gameday open, the SoSH game thread open, and the YFSF game thread open when I follow games).

Sadly, I do not actually get to watch the games on TV most of the time since I live and work in Los Angeles and have neither MLB Extra Innings or MLB.tv.

[Atheose]

Ortiz rocks my socks.

[Polf]

the rangers a fielding like keystone cops today

[Micah-SF]

Also, PEDROIA AND PAPI FTW! God, this game is fun already.

[Devine]

Thank you, Polf.

[Atheose]

Get mlb.tv, Micah. I can't live without it. Though sadly I can't use it at work.

One thing that has pleased me with this team so far is their ability to hit with 2 outs. Granted a lot of this may be due to luck, but it's a nice trend.

[rootbeerfloat]

Ath- the radio commentators are sayingthe same thing - that even Sean Casey was impressed with how no one wastes an at-bat.

[Devine]

Among the many great new things about Gameday this year is their new "instant highlight" thing where you can play a highlight video very soon after the play (like I just did for Pedroia's gapper to right-center).

[Micah-SF]

That's my problem, Atheose - I can't either, and I'm at work until usually 6:30 - 7 PM pacific time, so by the time I get home the game's over or close to it. Otherwise I'd have one of them, preferably Extra Innings (I have a big HDTV). It's frustrating.

If I was a Rangers fan I think my head would have exploded because of this inning, but it's hilarious as a Sox fan.

[Devine]

Second walk for Drew...in the inning. Third of the game.

[Polf]

Is it me or would Drew prefer to walk than actually hit the ball

[Atheose]

Nothing wrong with a high OBP, Polf. I'd rather he walk than pop-up on the first pitch like he seemed to do in every at-bat last year.

[stuck working]

Sorry to start the thread off on such a negative tone and then disappear for stretches of the game -- kinda rude of me. Apologies. The computer and the TV are in different rooms at the moment, so I'm bouncing between.

As for the baseball: how many times have the bases already been loaded in this game? And none of the scoring has come then, either, I don't think.

[Devine]

Well...Drew's hitting .316 with 13 RBI. His OBP is over .400. His OPS is over .900. So far, I am just fine with Drew doing this. He had a good April last year, too, though, so I'm reserving judgment.

[Atheose]

Ahhh, that's a shame Micah. Poor timing on your part, unless there's a west-coast game.

Devine, I LOVE the instant-highlight. It gets through my work's firewall, whereas mlb.tv does not.

[Atheose]

Drew's OBP is now .510, taking into account his three walks today. Very nice.

He did have a nice April last year Devine, but it was also due to a lot of swinging at the first pitch. Pitchers adjusted and stopped throwing first-pitch strikes, and he struggled. This year he's a lot more patient at the plate, and it's paying off.

[Atheose]

Correction, .526 OBP.

[Polf]

I don't get to see many Sox games during the week living in England ,they usually start about 1am, so its good for me to able to watch them today.

[Devine]

Thanks for the updates, Atheose. Buchholz in line to go six after a clean 5th. Sweeeeeeeet.

[Atheose]

Three up, three down. Buchholz settling in nicely with his lead.

[Atheose]

Lugo has looked really good at the plate this year too. He's not hitting amazingly, but he's been solid. Big improvement over the way he was "lost" last year.

[Atheose]

Wow, Cash singles sending Lugo to 3rd. This game is going to get ugly.

[Polf]

Lugo's fielding has take a step backwards this year though

[Devine]

Lift the ball, Jacoby!

[Atheose]

Before this game, Ellsbury was batting .256 with an OBP of .431. 12 BB's to only 4 K's. Great for a leadoff hitter.

[Atheose]

Ellsbury singles in another run. Too bad Cash is on 2nd or he could notch another steal.

[Devine]

Woo!

They're taking out Nippert. The poor bastard.

[Polf]

I thinks its do with them pitching inside to him now, he may not be able to hit the pitch yet constantly, but he seems to know if its a ball or a strike

[Dionysus]

Ive been commentign over at SOSH today, but how steals is Jacoby on pace for? Between his massive amount of walks, his BABIP supressed battign average and his speed.. christ... he's having a good April.

[Atheose]

Lugo has sucked in the field, that's for sure Polf. But his offensive improvement far outweighs that, I would say. Plus he's usually above average, so I think we can assume he'll regress to his usual amount of fielding errors, as opposed to averaging ~56 like he's on-par for right now.

Awww, Pedroia flies out.

[Dionysus]

PAPI!

[Atheose]

Dio, Jacoby is on par for 50+ steals. Keep in mind though that he's been sharing time with Coco, so a full season by himself in Center would net him around 75. I expect him to get more aggressive the longer he's on the team though.

[Polf]

If it wasn't for Manny and Papi this would have to be the quickest team in the majors, as Elsbury scores from first

[Atheose]

Can we officially say Ortiz is slump-free?

Wow, the first three Sox batters are 6 for 11 with 6 RBI's today.

[Hudson]

Nice to see the "kids" (JEll, DPed and JLow, plus CBuc) piling on in such Patriot-ic fashion.

Now, if only Thurston would get some licks in...

Oh, and Papi? It appears the slump is all but officially over.

[Atheose]

Can you imagine if we had both Coco AND Ellsbury in the outfield? We'd have both of them and Lugo stealing bases left and right.

[Hudson]

Has Ellsbury *ever* been caught stealing in the majors?

[Polf]

Whats the odds Drew walks again to load the bases

[Devine]

I hope they put Buchholz in despite the long layoff. It's still a week till everyone gets a day off.

Ortiz hits his second double of the season. His first one came in his last AB (I think). Warming up...

[Hudson]

Let's score another two runs so that this becomes an official laugher and Tito can put all the rookies in to get some playing time... Oh, wait, they're already in!

[Devine]

Hudson...not yet (Ellsbury).

[Hudson]

Bah. Drew flies out, eliminating the possibility that the umps might invoke the Mercy Rule.

[Micah-SF]

Lugo's offense honestly hasn't improved all that much, Atheose - his average is up, but he's tied for second in the league in GIDPs, and it's a pretty 'empty' .294 he's hitting - even going 2 for 2 with a double and a walk so far, his OPS is only .672, and then of course there's the six errors. He's been a pretty awful all-around ballplayer this year, I'm afraid to say.

I really like Papi coming out of it - a real double this time rather than a fly ball that Bradley lost in the sun and fell on his ass for this time.

Aww, Drew didn't walk again. This game is hilarious. I like blowouts. Let's have more of them.

[Polf]

cya later guys,

[Hudson]

Devine -- Thanks for the info. Wow.

No one seems able to throw him out even when they know he's running (cf. Roberts, Dave). I mean, at this point, in what situation wouldn't you send him?

[TJ]

ESPN has only updated through his 1st steal but that one put him on pace for 59 steals

[Devine]

Hee hee, Micah. That's awesome (I didn't know the first double was a cheapy). Like Ortiz went, "Oh yeah, getting two bases...I thought I was only allowed one or four...I'm gonna try that next time."

[Hudson]

Solid DP combo there, though, with Lugo/Pedroia.

[Devine]

Nice outing, Buchholz!

[Dionysus]

K and Buchholz's game. 6 IP, 5 hits, 0 runs, 2 BB, 6 Ks. Excellent excellent outing

[Micah-SF]

Devine - yeah, apparently Ortiz hits a fly to the warning track in left, Bradley totally lost the ball in the sun, fell on his ass, and cowered in the hopes that the ball wouldn't hit him in the head when it landed (it landed a few feet away). Counted as a double because he never touched the ball.

I love Clay's stuff - he can dial it up to 95-96 with that curveball? Wow. Great six innings, kid.

[Devine]

Y'think Lugo sweats every time Lowrie has a good AB?

[Devine]

Lugo: I can hit, I swear! *singles*

[Micah-SF]

Here's the pitcher's spot!

[Devine]

Three popouts and a strikeout for Thurston...wow.

[Micah-SF]

Wow, bases loaded and nobody out and we don't score.

Eh, whatever. It's 8-0.

[stuck working]

Again the bases loaded without scoring! For the third (?) times this game! Good thing they're winning and it's too nice out to be frustrated.

[Devine]

It's stupid, so, so stupid to walk anybody with an 8-run lead.

[Paul SF]

I do apologize for not getting the gamer up and the overall quiet nature of the blog. I've never been this busy with work, and I'm not sure when it will end. I know SF and YF are much the same way. It's just the cycles of life, and we seem to be in a protracted one right now...

Also, Drew's April last year wasn't nearly as good as this one. He basically had a hot first two weeks and dropped off. This year, he's well past that point -- and much hotter than he was last year, to boot.

[Micah-SF]

And Lopez gets out of the inning after giving up an entirely predictable run-scoring double to Hamilton.

Do we give Oki an inning tonight just to get him some work?

[Polf]

There saying Oki may still have a stiff neck, so he may not pitch again tonight

[rootbeerfloat]

Paul, does this game make you feel better about the winning :)?

[Polf]

Lugo 4 for 4 tonight

[Micah-SF]

Right, so, last year we had the Mother's Day Miracle.

This year we have The Day Julio Lugo Went 4-4 With A Walk.

[Devine]

Thurston: 1 K, 4 pop-outs. I hope your career goes better, mang.

[soxgirl]

Finally got to a computer to see the boys are on fire - but where is Manny???