Home Again: Rays-Sox Gamer VII

The Sox come back to Fenway to host the first place Rays (uh, WHAT!?!?), having already weathered two 10-game road trips early in the season.  Justin Masterson takes the mound against Matt Garza, who seems to have found his sea legs down in Tampa after a roughish opening to the season.  Use this as your game thread for tonight's action.  Lineups after the jump - no Big Papi of course.

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

P -- Justin Masterson

1. Iwamura, 2B
2. Navarro, C
3. Upton, CF
4. Pena, 1B
5. Longoria, 3B
6. Floyd, DH
7. Hinske, LF
8. Gross, RF
9. Bartlett, SS

P -- Garza

Comments

[Lar]

I *just* traded Manny in my fantasy league and now Ortiz is out. Well, there goes the season..

[rootbeerfloat]

Well that was fast, we're already behind.

[rootbeerfloat]

Well that was fast, we're already behind.

[rootbeerfloat]

Well that was fast, we're already behind.

[sf rod]

joba gives up his first run as a starter. put me down on record as being in the camp of "this will not work". will not work on the farnsworth end as well as the joba end. joba will end up throwing 30 first inning pitches. ouch.

[sf rod]

joba gives up his first run as a starter. put me down on record as being in the camp of "this will not work". will not work on the farnsworth end as well as the joba end. joba will end up throwing 30 first inning pitches. ouch.

[sf rod]

joba gives up his first run as a starter. put me down on record as being in the camp of "this will not work". will not work on the farnsworth end as well as the joba end. joba will end up throwing 30 first inning pitches. ouch.

[rootbeerfloat]

Masterson seems to have settled down nicely

[Paul SF]

So is it triple posting day at YFSF and I didn't get the memo?

Also, people can talk about the "Rays are real" all they want, but they are outperforming their Pythag by a whopping three games (which indicates regression), and their run differential is not as good as Boston's. Mark me down as predicting the wave of, "What happened to the Rays?" stories will begin in about one month.

[Paul SF]

LOWELL puts the Sox ahead 2-1!!!

And Typepad is doing some funky stuff when we try to post. Not cool.

[rootbeerfloat]

yeah, me too with typepad

[sf rod]

wow, typepad rules today. my hatred for joba is big but not threefold.

[rootbeerfloat]

I hate Ortiz being out but boy did our outfield get quite the upgrade. Drew, Coco, and Elsbury - kind of awesome

[SF]

Tek whiffs on a borderline pitch - he looks upset but how can he complain after Masterson got those pitches during the Cliff Floyd at-bat? Short memories.

Crisp pops out to center. It's really not fun watching games without Papi. I have a feeling Crisp and LFRS are going to make me very angry far too often. And I've been SO mellow this year...

[SF]

Weird "comment saved" dialog window from Typepad. Anyone else getting this? I had a comment eaten already.

[SF]

What the hell is going on with Typepad? Comments not showing up for like two minutes, weird dialog boxes, nothing wrong in our administrator control panel though. WTF?

[rootbeerfloat]

SF - yes on the typepad issues. But I'm thinking every day playing might be jsut what the doc ordered for Coco.

[Micah-SF]

You know what I *really* like about Masterson? He actually throws strikes. 27/9 strike/ball ratio after 3. Mmmm, strikes.

[SF]

But I'm thinking every day playing might be jsut what the doc ordered for Coco.

Only problem is it might be Dr. Phil, which might help Coco's self-esteem but not much else. Or Dr. Mengele, in which case we've got severe problems.

[rootbeerfloat]

SF - Are you basically a glass half empty guy :) or just skeptical of Coco?

[SF]

I have been a big Coco booster, actually. But I have watched a lot of Coco now and am not sure if my boosterism wasn't misplaced.

[SF]

Ells draws a free pass.

[SF]

Pedroia's OBP is really bad. Stealth bad, to be honest - he's gets a long leash for his D and last year, but his offense seems to be in "sophomore slump" territory. Perhaps it's just SSS-itis.

[SF]

Ells SB

[rootbeerfloat]

I'll bite - what is SSS-itis?

[SF]

Pedroia HBP, 1/2 nobody out.

[SF]

(S)mall (S)ample (S)ize

[rootbeerfloat]

Seems like it's impossible to Ellsbury to get just one base. Every hit or walk turns into effectively a double.

[SF]

Youk with a bad at-bat, popping out. Totally unproductive. Now a squander comes into play. Let's go, Manuel.

[sf rod]

my last 5 comments have been lost. i'm out, not gonna play games with typepad tonite. go sox.

[SF]

And there's the double play. Thanks, Youk, for setting that up. Let's see how long it takes Tampa to answer that missed opportunity.

[SF]

Leadoff double. How utterly predictable.

This team is really getting on my nerves as of late, not sure why. It's been a pretty mellow season for me, but this past couple of weeks has really annoyed the crap out of me.

And, now a ground rule double. So the answer to my question above was "two batters". F*cking annoying. Between Typepad and the Sox' poor play I may just need to watch and not post.

[Paul SF]

Pedroia's numbers are surprisingly bad right now. He's not hitting much worse than usual, but his walks are way down -- just five in 132 plate appearances during the month of May.