On the Road Again: Sox-Tigers Gamer IV

Tonight the first place Sox face off against the last-place Tigers. Though we predicted a World Championship for the squad from Michigan, we'll be happy to be proven wrong and hope that the Sox use tonight as an opportunity to make things even harder for the boys from Detroit. Today the Tigers DFA'd Jacque Jones, perhaps a first step in reshaping their team for the rest of the season. Daisuke Matsuzaka takes on Jeremy Bonderman, full lineups after the jump. Comment away.

1. Ellsbury, CF
2. Pedroia, 2B
3. Ortiz, DH
4. Ramirez, LF
5. Lowell, 3B
6. Youkilis, 1B
7. Drew, RF
8. Varitek, C
9 Lugo, SS

Matsuzaka SP

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

Jeremy Bonderman, SP

Comments

[Paul SF]

Two walks and 24 pitches for the Dice man in the first. Hope he settles...

[Paul SF]

Leadoff double for Man-Ram in the second. He's still pounding the ball; just not getting the homers.

[Paul SF]

LOWELL WITH THE HOMER! 2-0 Sox!!

thanks paul. i'm stuck at work for another half hour. for now, you are my remy.

[sf rod]

-rod

[Paul SF]

Youk starts off 0-2, works the count full, then grounds out 5-3. Drew singles, Tek flies out to right, now Lugo grounds into the force to end the inning.

Still, gotta feel good with the lead.

[Paul SF]

Sheff flies out to left for the first out of the third. Now 3-1 to Matthew Joyce...

[SF]

How do you walk a guy in his first at-bat up from the minors?

[Paul SF]

Ugh, third walk to a guy that I'm pretty sure has no ML at bats. Not what you should be doing as a MLB pitcher. 1-2 on Renteria.

[SF]

Renteria flies out to the warning track, two down.

[Paul SF]

Renteria takes Drew back almost to the wall. Two down.

[SF]

Behind Pudge 2-0. Blech. Daisuke looks off.

[SF]

Pudge flies to Jacoby on what definitely looked like a mistake pitch, but no damage done on the can of corn.

[Paul SF]

I-Rod flies out to end it. Better inning for Matsuzaka, but three walks in two innings with zero Ks sucks.

[Paul SF]

Hopefully, the Sox can keep scoring. Dice-K's not looking like two runs will be enough...

[SF]

Pedroia hits a rope to Rent, who can't handle the shot. This with one out after Jacoby taps out, first base to the pitcher.

[SF]

Error given to Edgar.

Maybe it's just the Sox uniform that makes Edgar make those errors.
Although, Lugo is on pace to make more than thirty errors. By a lot.

[Brad]

Me.

[SF]

Papi skies one to center, shallow. Two down, Pedroia at first.

[Paul SF]

Ortiz flies out, up to Manny.

[Lar]

How's Dice's control? 3 walks and no K's.. at least he has a lead to work with..

(Disclosure - I have DMat on one of my fantasy teams..)

[Paul SF]

Manny took that one for a ride. Just short, looks like.

[SF]

Leadoff walk to Granderson. Four BBs now for DM. This is not going to end well if he keeps this up.

[SF]

First pitch to Polanco is a head-high fastball, not even close. Frustrating to watch this.

[Paul SF]

Prediction: That walk will hurt us.

[SF]

High chopper back to Matsuzaka, Dice throws to second on a tight play but gets the lead runner. One down.

[SF]

No way, Dice is ahead of a hitter! 0-1 to Guillen.

[SF]

Guillen walks, #5. Good at-bat from Guillen, but the final pitch was nowhere close.

[SF]

And then a four-pitch K of Magglio. Schizophrenic from Dice.

[SF]

Then two pitches to Cabrera and a shallow fly to Ellsbury. Phew.

[Paul SF]

Matsuzaka keeps playing with fire, yet he emerges unscathed. 70 pitches through three though. Not pretty.

[AndrewYF]

Do you SFs who follow Dice-K much more closely than I, ever really see him overcome his control problems? To me, overcoming problems with your control, when you've never really shown great control, would almost take a miracle. Now, Dice-K had amazing numbers in Japan, but I think you can really almost throw those numbers out the window - MLB is too different in too many ways to even try to project from Japan numbers.

Anyway, does he need to overcome some mental or mechanical problem he's developed since coming over, or is this just a product of the way he pitches?

[SF]

Brutally tough question, Andrew. It's odd - that last inning was illustrative of his skills and shortcomings. He issues a leadoff pass, then gets an easy grounder, then Guillen sees like 10 pitches and earns (really, totally earned, not necessarily all on Dice) a walk, then two efficient outs finish the inning. If a commenter has an answer to your question there's probably a job waiting in the Sox' organization for them.

And as I type, Youk goes deep to make it 4-0 Sox.

[Paul SF]

Sox piling on the runs now. 4-0 after Youk's homer. Drew with his second hit...

[SF]

Rent makes a great play to rob Tek of a hit.

[SF]

Lugo whiffs. How unpredictable!

[SF]

Leadoff walk to Sheffield, not really close on any of the balls.

[SF]

Popup to Lowell by Joyce, one down.

[SF]

And then a first pitch popout to Pedroia from Renteria. Thank you, Edgar.

[SF]

And the lack of control hurts Dice as a 3-2 pitch, borderline, isn't given, that's walk #7.

[SF]

There's the first hit of the game, a single for Granderson. 4-1 Sox.

Four runs isn't going to be enough tonight.

[AndrewYF]

My one-sentence, horridly ignorant evaluation of Matsuzaka is that he has a ton of trouble with control, but has the stuff to get out of the majority of his mistakes. Whether that's a positive or a negative, well...let's just say he's been a very valuable player to the Red Sox so far.

[SF]

Miraculously, only that one run. On to the fifth.

[Paul SF]

Hard to see Daisuke getting past the fifth inning. Might be Tavarez Time tonight.

[Paul SF]

Papi walks. I think Manny gets 497 right here.

[SoxFan]

8 walks so far for Matsuzaka. I almost want to come out for the 6th just to see if he can make it 10 walks for the game.

Lowell now 3-for-3. We need Mikey to heat up.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

That was me.

[Atheose]

What's up guys, just got back from softball to see us winning 4-1. Very nice.

But WHAT THE HELL how did Daisuke manage to walk 8, only K 1 and still hold the Tigers to 1 run over 5?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Familiar sight: Second error of the night for Renteria.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Ath, we all have that what "what the hell" question.

[Paul SF]

Good to see the old Renteria come back...

[Paul SF]

Coming up on 2.5 hours, and we're not out of the sixth yet. Sloooooow game.

[Atheose]

Woah, Schilling is going to throw tomorrow?

"Reports: Right hander says he will pitch for Red Sox this season"

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080505&content_id=2646628&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[SF]

Lugo sucks. He just sucks. Enough already.

[SF]

Wow, Hansen with a nine-pitch inning!

[I'mBillMcNeal]

On ESPN, Hansen wows Orel with 2 unhittable pitches. VERY good inning from Hansen.

[SoxFan]

What's this? A briskly-worked inning from a Red Sox pitcher?

No walks?

No excruciating frustration at the inability to throw strikes?

No "just throw strikes dammit" looks from the dugout?

This will not stand.

[Atheose]

Error by Hansen? Goddamnit.

[SF]

Another walk. Jeez. Two on, two out.

[SF]

Hansen has some crazy stuff, wonder if he can work out the control issues - leads Sheff off with two pitches nowhere near the zone.

[SF]

Uh, what was the difference between the 2-0 pitch and the 2-1 pitch, ump?

[Atheose]

Okajima coming in for 4 outs.

[SF]

And, another walk. And Tito goes to get Hansen. Okajima coming in.

Hansen looks like he has promise, but leaning on him for two innings against this offense is a burden he may not be ready for, quite yet.

[SF]

Sox getting what they deserve here - you cannot walk ten batters and expect to run away with a game. If anything, you should expect to lose.

[Atheose]

Shiiiiiiiiiit.

[SF]

Hansen's line looks worse than it was, thanks to Oki giving up the single and losing the inherited runners. The walks weren't good, but that's an encouraging appearance from Hansen, in my book. Not there yet, but getting somewhere, at least.

[Atheose]

Tigers balk!

[Atheose]

By the way SF, Lugo has a better batting average than Ellsbury right now. ;-)

Wow, Lugo trying to steal third... he would have had it too if not for the foul ball.

[Atheose]

Damnit Granderson makes a good play to rob Ellsbury.

[SF]

Granderson makes a nice catch to rob Ellsbury of a hit and the Sox of a run. Slight "dive after the catch" embellishment, but a big defensive play regardless.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Oki's ERA is great but he's been giving up the inherited runners.

[SF]

Um, what was wrong with the first pitch to Polanco?

[SF]

Oki out of the eighth, nothing doing for the Tigers. A run or five would be nice, if Paps isn't available tonight.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

OK. Tigers will have to beat Paps.

It hasn't been pretty tonight but I think a 7-8-9 of Hansen-Oki-Paps (when it's not 6-7-8-9) will be solid. Hansen was outstanding in the sixth. Then he started thinking too much in the 7th with the single-error (scored a hit, for Christ sake, but is was a flippin' error by Hansen.)

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Jones on to pitch for Detroit. This could be fruitful for Boston given than some closers tend to struggle in non-save situations.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

[Atheose]

PAPI!

[SF]

This could be fruitful for Boston given than some closers tend to struggle in non-save situations.

Or, if you're Joe Borowski...

[SF]

Man, Papi CRUSHED that pitch. Insurance run #1! Well called, IBM!

[Atheose]

Ahhh I love Todd Jones.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Disclaimer: Joe Borowsi isn't a closer. But he plays on on TV. ...

Thanks, SF. I'd better go buy some MegaMillions tickets.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Paps' strikeout/walk ratio: 21/1.

[SF]

uh, ump? hello!?

[SF]

Game!

[I'mBillMcNeal]

So, was Dice-K effectively wild or damn lucky?

[Atheose]

Both.

[Atheose]

Daisuke with a 2/12 groundout-flyout ratio tonight. Jesus he got lucky.