Bay State: A's-Sox Gamer VIII

Everyone says Jason Bay should not be looked at as a replacement for Manny Ramirez. Of course, he's playing Ramirez's position and puts up his best numbers from Ramirez's spot in the lineup. So good luck selling that one.

So Bay will understandably face a lot of pressure as he adjusts to Boston. Here's a quick checklist to gauge how the Boston press will treat Bay's performance tonight:

• Home run: "Manny who?"
• RBI: "Theo Epstein is a genius."
• One hit: "Bay almost as good as Ramirez."
• 0-for-4: "Red Sox lineup doomed for rest of season."
• One or more strikeouts: "Theo is an idiot."
• 0-fer plus an error: "Bring back Gagne!"

With that in mind, comment away!

Red Sox
1. Dustin Pedroia 2B
2. Kevin Youkilis 1B
3. David Ortiz DH
4. Mike Lowell 3B
5. Jason Bay LF
6. J.D. Drew RF
7. Jed Lowrie SS
8. Kevin Cash C
9. Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Starting Pitcher - Tim Wakefield

Oakland A's
1. Ryan Sweeney RF
2. Kurt Suzuki C
3. Jack Cust LF
4. Frank Thomas DH
5. Carlos Gonzalez CF
6. Mark Ellis 2B
7. Jack Hannahan 3B
8. Bobby Crosby SS
9. Daric Barton 1B
Starting Pitcher - Justin Duchscherer

Comments

[Atheose]

Before the game they're playing "Bye bye bye" on mlb.tv, while doing a video montage of Manny.

I'm tearing up a little bit.

[Atheose]

Live press conference on ESPN, Manny in a Dodgers uniform. This is depressing as hell. Oh, and he's wearing #99.

Bay, you had BETTER take the pain away with a homerun tonight.

[Atheose]

10 pitches, 2 K's to start the night by Wakefield.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

99? Um, inspired by Gagne?

[Atheose]

I don't get it.

[Atheose]

Okay Bay, time to make good with the awesome.

Lots of cheers for him as he's announced. LOTS of cheers.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Standing O for Bay. Very nice.

[Atheose]

Bay walks in the first. Good sign so far.

[Atheose]

That was the longest cheer I've heard at Fenway since Pedro returned two years ago.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

99 was Gagne's number, with the Red Sox and the Dodgers.

Just strikes me as odd, given what a failure he was in Boston.

[Atheose]

Drew doubles!

[Atheose]

What? Gagne definitely wore 83.

[Atheose]

Jason Bay scores the first run on a sac-fly!

[David (SF)]

24 is retired (http://mlb.mlb.com/la/history/retired_numbers.jsp), so maybe he just picked a random number.

Or maybe it's a Jay-Z reference?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

TFMLBP Named Jed w/ sac fly, Bay scores, 1-0. So far so good.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

You're right. Gagne did wear No. 99 with the Dodgers, right?

[rootbeerfloat]

IBM - wha??

[I'mBillMcNeal]

I'm not gonna worry about forgetting Gagne's number with the Red Sox. I usually had my eyes closed.

[Atheose]

"The Future MLB Player" ?

[David (SF)]

Wikipedia says: "In Boston, Gagné wore the number 83, as starting pitcher Curt Schilling already wore Gagné's usual number 38," so maybe that's what he wore in LA.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

No. 24 was worn by Walter Alston, the old Dodgers manager. It's retired. Gagne wore No. 38 in LA. And apparently I was high the whole time.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Now I'm gonna wonder where that 99 crap came from. ...

[Atheose]

The knuckleball is really sailing all over the place tonight.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Hope someone tells Manny to set his watch back three hours. ... Bradford said this afternoon that Manny took the team hairstylist with him. (... The Red Sox have a team hairstylist? ...)

[Atheose]

Pedroia and Youk are awesome 1-2 hitters.

[Atheose]

Ortiz misses a homer by 5 feet. Damn. Get on base Lowell so we can see Bay up with RISP.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Ah. Rick Vaughn, Major League, wore 99.

[Atheose]

Ahhh that makes sense Bill. At least Rick Vaughn made us laugh, whereas Gagne made us cry.

[Paul SF]

Bay, not Lowell, should bat cleanup. Lowell's just not as good a hitter, power or otherwise.

[Atheose]

I'd put Drew there, Paul. There's no need to put TOO much pressure on Bay the first night.

[Atheose]

Bay gets hit by a breaking ball; career OBP of 1.000 for Bay with the Red Sox.

[Atheose]

Cash GIDP on a very hard-hit ball to 3B. Tough luck.

[Atheose]

How the hell do the Angels not have a hit through 4IP... against Ponson?

[SF]

Unfortunately Theo didn't trade for a good catcher...

[SF]

Nice, Ath! There's a hit!

[Atheose]

JASON BAY MAKES A FANTASTIC SLIDING CATCH! Okay, Bay is officially awesome.

[SF]

I think we already have one run saved by Bay.

[Atheose]

Thank you, thank you, once again I flex my jinx-related muscles. It was the first batter after I said it too!

[SF]

Really nice grab. Bay making himself quite welcome already. Good for him, he's gotta feel pressure.

[SF]

Ponson just got squeezed badly on two horrible hitters, RIvera and Mathis, and walks them. Not that I care!

[SF]

MLBtv is AWFUL tonight. What, is everyone on earth checking out Jason Bay?!

[Atheose]

Ponson falling apart, walks the bases loaded.

[Atheose]

SF, you're getting mlb.tv lag too?

[SF]

Chone Figgins just exemplified why I don't think the Angels will win anything: two guys walk, two balls, and he pops up a pitch to Jeter with the sacks full. Horrible approach.

[SF]

Terrible, Ath. And I can't get Gameday to load either.

[Atheose]

Great, I miss hits by both Youkilis AND Ortiz thanks to lag. Good thing I have 3 monitors, and Gameday up in a different one.

[SF]

Hmm, Gameday showed the fourth pitch to Ortiz off the plate and high, by a margin. Is this accurate?

[Atheose]

Chone Figgins just exemplified why I don't think the Angels will win anything: two guys walk, two balls, and he pops up a pitch to Jeter with the sacks full. Horrible approach.

The Angels offense is so hurried, so frantic in my opinion. They always seem like they're scrambling to get as many runs as quickly as possible.

Except for when they hit like 15 homeruns against the Red Sox in a series in Fenway.

[SF]

My Gameday hasn't even shown an Ortiz hit, Ath.

And there's a walk to Papi, apparently.

[Atheose]

Can't tell SF, I can't see anything on mlb.tv. Gameday showed Ortiz with a hit, but then undid that. He ends up with a walk instead.

Come on Lowell...

[SF]

Seven baserunners for the Sox thru 4.2. Come one, efficiency! SCORE DAMMIT!

[Atheose]

Lowell grounds out on the first pitch. Sad face.

[SF]

Nice, Lowell hacks away. Six left on, only one run.

And Pudge GIDPs in the Bronx. He's really paying dividends quickly.

[Atheose]

Bay does a great job of playing the wall, and he has a great arm too apparently; he fires it back in.

[SF]

Implosion!

[Atheose]

Wow, now even my Gameday is lagging. It's still showing 3 pitches thrown in the Suzuki at-bat.

[SF]

Ok, my Gameday said Cust got a hit, then rescinded. WTF?

[SF]

NIce!

[Atheose]

Strike-em-out throw-em-out!

[David (SF)]

Double Play!!!

[Atheose]

This mlb.tv service is unacceptable tonight. I pay a lot of cash for the Premium service and it craps out on me? F*ck that.

[Atheose]

Not only that, but it craps out on me on the only game I've been able to watch so far this week!

[David (SF)]

Bay's been walked, and HBP...

How about Catcher's interference?

[Atheose]

Goddamnit I'm missing Bay's 3rd AB!

[Atheose]

Well I guess that's a good AB to miss.

[Atheose]

Delcarmen puts out the fire with 4 pitches. Send him back out for the 8th, Paps for the 9th?

[Atheose]

Delcarmen trips and stumbles but throws the runner out from his knees. ANd it was 6 pitches, not 4. Stupid Gameday.

[Atheose]

Youk singles again but is thrown out at 2nd, despite a lazy play by the fielder.

[Atheose]

Oki in for the 8th. Please be the 2007 Okajima?

[Atheose]

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT OKAJIMA.

[Atheose]

And Wakefield gets another no-decision, despite pitching awesomely. Son of a bitch.

[stuck working]

I'd almost rather that Coco was hitting here in the 9th instead of Ellsbury. Sad.

[stuck working]

Well, he stayed out of the DP and advanced the runners -- more than I expected.

[Atheose]

Shit, Lowell gets on base with an infield single but he injures himself running to 1st.

Come on Jason!

[Atheose]

Jason Bay looks a lot like John Olerud.

Bay draws a walk, RISP for Drew.

[stuck working]

Bay's been on base a lot for someone who's 0 for 2 -- I imagine we'll see many nights like this from him. And when he screws up, we can call him a hoser! Oh, Canada...

[Atheose]

Full count, bases loaded! COME ON LOWRIE!

[stuck working]

Am I just being nostalgic or is Street having a very Hansen-esque inning?

[stuck working]

Except, of course, Hansen wouldn't have gotten out of it.

[Atheose]

Lowrie flies out. Two wasted opportunities.

[SF]

Another three left on base. This team looks almost no different from the team that has sleepwalked since the ASB. And now Lowell might be hurt. Starting to feel a lot like 2006.

[Atheose]

Cora in to play SS, Lowrie over to 3rd.

[Atheose]

JESUS H FUCKFEST that was an awesome play by Cora/Youk!

[SF]

God, Tek is just so done. He can't even hit a hanger.

[SF]

Remember the days when Jacoby got on base and stole? Seems like a million years ago, right?

[SF]

Dang, bad luck for Ellsbury. Though any normal left-fielder wouldn't have fallen all over himself catching that. Cust is lumbering.

[Atheose]

It sure did. He had some good cuts during that at-bat though, and Cust made a good play in left field.

Pedroia singles, time for a Youk walk-off homer.

[SF]

Pedroia singles, another multi-hit game (and another LOB, probably!). Come on, Youk. Do it here. End this.

[SF]

Come on, Youk, don't do your patented "I sweat everything out in the first half" fade...

[SF]

Good cut at 2-2, but fouled back.

[SF]

Oh come on, Youk called out on a pitch that looked clearly inside. Youk unhappy. Interested to see a replay.

[Atheose]

Youk called out on a close pitch, one that he shouldn't have taken. And thankfully one of the base coaches runs over and hauls him in, because we're out of bench players. Can't let him get thrown out.

Ortiz-Lowell-Bay for the 12th.

[SF]

Amazingly, our new cleanup hitter is...ALEX CORA.

[Atheose]

Oh shit I forgot about that. Of course Cora will homer in his at-bat now.

[SF]

Uh, Timlin? Masterson unavailable?

[Atheose]

Masterson was warming earlier, I don't understand why Timlin is in instead...

[rootbeerfloat]

getting updates on phone. How hurt is Lowell?

[SF]

Timlin with a nasty curve/sinker. Shocker!

[stuck working]

Yeah, really? Timlin? Where's Hansen? Oh, right...

[Atheose]

He didn't look too bad RBF, probably just a little tweak.