Keep It Rolling: Sox-Tigers Gamer V

Nothing makes a team look so good as winning. So it's no surprise the Red Sox look very good right now. David Ortiz was a late scratch Sunday, and the Sox get power-plus from the guy who replaces him in the batting order. Daisuke Matsuzaka was historically wild yesterday, but he still got the win, and it never really even seemed in doubt either.

Tonight Tim Wakefield looks to keep it up. He's been his usual self -- strangely consistent in his inconsistent way. His game scores in 2008: 49-55-50-53-42-49. His last seven starts, including one at the end of last year, he's had an average game score of exactly 50. His last five starts against Detroit? Average game score of 48.

The way the Sox have been hitting -- and the way Nate Robertson has been pitching -- a 50 game score may be all Boston needs to make it five wins in a row for the second time this season. Let's go Sox, and comment away!

Boston Red Sox

1. Coco Crisp, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. Mike Lowell, 3B
6. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
7. J.D. Drew, RF
8. Kevin Cash, C
9. Julio Lugo, SS

Tim Wakefield, P

Detroit Tigers

1. Curtis Granderson, CF
2. Placido Polanco, 2B
3. Carlos Guillen, DH
4. Magglio Ordonez, RF
5. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
6. Gary Sheffield, LF
7. Edgar Renteria, SS
8. Ivan Rodriguez, C
9. Brandon Inge, 3B

Nate Robertson, P

Comments

[Dionysus]

Ugh. Crisp in the lead off spot makes me sad.

[Dionysus]

Oh man, Robertson looks like he plans on kicking our asses.

Drew looked like he was AIMING that ball up the middle on the swing...awesome. Runners, corners, nobody out. 1-0 Sox.

[Devine]

Me.

[Devine]

Cash! 2-2 pitch hammered to left for a double. 2-0, 2 runners in scoring position, nobody out.

[Devine]

Lugo pops to right uselessly. Man.

[Devine]

Crisp grounds out, but Drew scores. All right, they'll get at least 3 from the inning.

[Devine]

Pedroia grounds out...and now a walk to the store...

[pale blue eyes]

Kevin Cash - or whoever is impersonating him at the plate - right now has the highest BA among today's starters!

[Atheose]

I'm late here, but GOD BLESS COCO!

[Atheose]

Coco's batting .299, Lugo is at .286. Drew's at .286 too, which ain't bad in my book. I do miss Ellsbury in the lead-off spot, but Coco ain't too shabby so far this season.

[rootbeerfloat]

So some random website I've visited in the wee hours that I don't quite remember how to find again theorized that Lugo not sucking and Mike Lowell back to being healthy could result in Youk being traded for a middle reliever. I almost jumped out of a window at the thought.

[Atheose]

Cash gets another hit! Dougie who?

[Atheose]

WTF rootbeerfloat? What website was that? Who would we play at first... Ortiz? Move Manny to DH, which allows us to have both Crisp and Ellsbury in the outfield?

That's an interesting possibility, but Youk is just too good. His production alone makes him good, but with his flexibility (both in fielding position and batting order) he's invaluable.

YEAH, Lugo bunt singles! I swear I've been the only one defending him and Coco all season.

[Atheose]

GOD BLESS COCO for the sac bunt!

[rootbeerfloat]

Sean Casey... alternating with Moss was the plan. Seriously, it made me want to throw up.

[Dionysus]

Epic Squander.

[Atheose]

I'm a huge fan of Sean Casey, but he's 5 years older than Youk and far less productive. They have similar career averages (Youk: .282 .385 .441, Casey: .302, .367, .450) but Youk is younger and has increased his HR, RBI, BA, OBP and SLG every year for the last three years (assuming he hits more than 16 HR this season, which he's on track to do).

Though I do worry about what will happen when both Manny and Ortiz are older. I'd rather not think of a lineup without either of them right now.

[Atheose]

Wakefield has his third straight 1-2-3 inning, and the Indians just gained the lead against the Yankees!

[Atheose]

Manny singles!

[Atheose]

This ump is inconsistent as hell. First two pitches to Lowell were the exact same, but he calls one a ball and one a strike. Wake's knuckleball probably has him all confused tonight.

[Devine]

Rock, spit, rock, spit, rock, spit. (Francona)

[Devine]

HOLY SHIT, that play by Lugo was good!

[Dionysus]

Wake lookign pretty good so far tonight.

[SF]

Wait, it's already the sixth inning and only 8:22? WTF?!

Obama wins NC big, Indy likely to go to Clinton, but perhaps closer than people thought. Can't deal with watching the talking heads - Tom Brokaw just said something about this being the best chance for an African American to be elected President in 200+ years. Technically true, but maybe Tom needs a brief history refresher?

[Atheose]

Wait what? Indy is going to Clinton? I thought Obama was WAY ahead of her in the polls.

Obama winning NC isn't too surprising. The Democrats had better hope Obama wins, cause Hillary would never win the general election. I like Obama a lot, but hate universal healthcare. Anybody ever been in a hospital on a navy base? An ex-girlfriend of mine had a urinary tract infection and we waited from 7:00pm to 3:00am for her to get seen. Longest night of my life.

[Atheose]

Tom Brokaw just said something about this being the best chance for an African American to be elected President in 200+ years.

What a horribly obvious statement. In other news, humans are living longer now than ever before.

Sorry, but I can't even come up with an analogy for Brokaw's statement. God I hate the media.

[SF]

An ex-girlfriend of mine had a urinary tract infection

Maybe a little too much information for a game thread, Ath...

[SF]

Papi!!

[Atheose]

HOLY SHIT Ortiz destroyed that ball!

[SF]

Killer at-bat from Ortiz, just fantastic.

[sf rod]

that ball was crushed.

where have you gone mr. robertson? heaven holds a place.....

[Devine]

Crushed. That ball was destroyed.

[Dionysus]

DAVID ORTIZ SAYS SIT DOWN BONDERMAN!

[Atheose]

Hah, sorry for that SF. All-in-all I've had three girlfriends that have had them, so it no longer phases me as a personal issue.

[Atheose]

HEHE sf rod. I love that song solely because it reminds me of my favorite movie of all time, The Graduate.

And because it's a sweet-ass song. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio...

[Devine]

BACK 2 BACK! To dead, dead center goes Manny. The AL should watch out.

[SF]

It wasn't just the obviousness of it, Ath, but rather the lack of acknowledgment that African Americans actually had NO RIGHTS for a good portion of our country's history and his simplistic folding of that fact into the overall picture. It was a ridiculous statement on so many levels, devoid of any sense of history or responsibility to describing the context of events.

(MANNY!!!!)

[Dionysus]

497!!!!!!

BACK TO BACK!

[Atheose]

MANNY! #497! Welcome to the big leagues, Freddy Dolsi.

[sf rod]

manny ran hard out of the box for a ball that was hit 450 ft.

[Atheose]

Yeah, considering black Americans haven't even been "equal" since the 60's it's pretty ridiculous. I can't watch television news anymore. Nothing but internet news for me.

[Dionysus]

HA HA HA The Tigers announcer just insinuated that the Sox might let Manny walk at the end of the year.

HA HA HA HA HA

What a buffoon!

[sf rod]

WMP just played a routine ball off his arm and into a double. can't say i miss the guy.

[Atheose]

I was just thinking the same thing Dio! The Sox are idiots if they don't pick up BOTH of his options, barring injury. What's the point of picking up his option now when he could break his leg tomorrow? There's certainly no rush, and Manny seems confident it'll get picked up.

[Atheose]

Shit, Pedroia with an error allows a runner.

[SF]

The Tigers' announcer just made me crack up, literally, digging on Cy Young's haircut in an old picture.

[Atheose]

Wakefield for Cy Young? Anybody?

[Atheose]

So SF, I take it you're watching on mlb.tv? You figured out how to make it work on your mac?

[SF]

Nope, Ath, but I can see it on Windows on the PC partition of the Mac since I have Boot Camp installed (this allows me to do dayjob work on the thing).

[Atheose]

"Lugo has some speed, I wonder if he'll steal despite being up by 5 runs"

Hey, even announcers know that there are situations where you shouldn't steal!

[Atheose]

Bah, Pudge hits the first extra base hit for the Tigers this series. Come on Wake, get out of the inning.

[Atheose]

Wake wisely listens to me. That should be it for him tonight, probably Delcarmen in for the 9th. 8IP, 2H, 6K. Fantastic start from Wakey.

[sf rod]

gotta send wake out for 9th.

[sf rod]

geez........... timlin warming.

[Dionysus]

This is goign to end badly.

[Atheose]

No way Wake goes out for the 9th. We're up 5-0, this is a good time to let Timlin or Delcarmen get some low-pressure practice in.

I see Timlin's the one warming, not lil Manny. Ugh.

[Atheose]

Timlin gets ahead 0-2 to Polanco... and then gets a DP!

[SF]

Wheee!

[Dionysus]

WATER

[Atheose]

No Dirty Water, but a win nonetheless.

By the way, for anyone that's interested Baseball Mogul 2009 is out now. It's a great baseball simulator for the computer, and doesn't require many system resources. A TON of fon to play. You can play a full season in the demo, it's a great game. Google it if you're interested.

[Atheose]

YESSSSSSSSSS! Joba gives up a 3-run homerun in the 8th!

[Dionysus]

Perfect day now