Red Sox News & Notes – 7/23
The biggest news on Sunday wasn’t the fact the Red Sox won their third straight game, it was the announcement of the return of Jon Lester to the Red Sox rotation. He will start Monday’s game in Cleveland. With Julian Tavarez struggling, the Red Sox brass and Terry Francona decided it was time for a change and Lester was their man. Unfortunately for Joel Piñero he is the odd man out as the Red Sox designated him for assignment after the game. We all know Lester’s story about beating cancer and the remarkable path back to the big leagues. He doesn’t want to be known as a hero to people. What he will accomplish tomorrow is amazing in itself. Returning to the big leagues after missing almost a year while battling the cancer and getting back to health. If anyone on the Red Sox team knows what that’s like, Mike Lowell can tell you as he came back from testicular cancer.
Oh yeah there was a game after the announcement and the boys from Beantown kicked butt again. So let’s take a look at the headlines from the Boston area and Chicago media on this glorious day in Red Sox Nation.
All the right notes. [Boston Globe]
White Sox in Central cellar. [Chicago Tribune]
Mixed messages: Sox take good with bad on 6-5 homestand. [Boston Herald]
Close Call, Then A Save. [Hartford Courant]
Sox’ offense coming around. [Pro Jo]
Idea for Sox’s Williams: Do something, will ya? [Chicago Tribune]
Wakefield in exclusive company. [Boston Globe]
Against lefties, White Sox can’t get it right. [Chicago Tribune]
Lester Back In Rotation. [Hartford Courant]
Changes haven’t altered Fenway Park. [Chicago Tribune]
Pineiro let go in favor of Lester. [Pro Jo]
High note for Lowell: Ends ‘slump’ with HR [Boston Herald]
Careful thought process. [Boston Globe]
For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Sun-Times websites.
Red Sox vs Indians Pitching Matchups
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Monday July 23th, 7:05 PM
Jon Lester (L) (0-0, 0.00) vs Jake Westbrook (R) (1-5, 6.07)
Tuesday July 24th, 7:05 PM
Daisuke Matsuzaka (R) (11-7, 3.99) vs C.C. Sabathia (L) (13-4, 3.81)
Wednesday July 25th, 7:05 PM
Josh Beckett (R) (13-3, 3.41) vs Fausto Carmona (R) (12-4, 3.52)
Thursday July 26th, 7:05 PM
Kason Gabbard (L) (4-0, 2.97) vs Cliff Lee (L) (5-7, 5.95)
R.I.P. Mike Coolbaugh 1972-2007
Former Major Leaguer and current Tulsa Drillers hitting coach, Mike Coolbaugh, passed away at the young age of 35 after being struck with a line drive while coaching 1st base in a game. Coolbaugh had just taken over the job on July 3. The Drillers are the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
He was knocked unconscious by the line drive and had CPR adminstered to him on the field. He was still alive when they put him in the ambulance but as they were going to the hospital, he stopped breathing and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Coolbaugh spent parts of two seasons in the big leagues. He played in 39 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2001 and 5 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2002. He retired after spending 2006 in the minor leagues with the Kansas City Royals. He had 256 career homeruns in the minor leagues.
He is survived by his wife and two children and has another on the way that is due in October. My thoughts and condolences go out to his family and the Drillers and Rockies organizations.
Monday Jog Around the AL & NL East
Red Sox slugger David Ortiz will be out until Wednesday at the earliest with his sore shoulder.
Even though he was arrested, Scott Olsen will make his next start for the Marlins.
Casey Janssen has pitched in almost half of the Blue Jays games this season.
The Braves won’t pitch around Barry Bonds unless the situation calls for it.
The Devil Rays bullpen suffered another blow when Jay Witasick’s elbow blew up after his appearance on Saturday.
Batting between Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran in the Mets lineup has it’s advantages.
Orioles 1B Kevin Millar isn’t fazed about trade rumors involving him.
The Nationals farm system is much improved from last year.
Phillies stud’s Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins were happy they witnessed Tony Gwynn’s ceremony before Saturday’s game.
I am sure that Mike Mussina isn’t happy about the Yankees releasing Wil Nieves.
McCoughtry Helps USA to 78-63 Victory Over Cuba
July 22, 2007, Rio de Janiero, Brazil – The United States defeated Cuba 78-63 in the final preliminary round game of the Pan Am Games at Rio Multipurpose Arena Sunday evening. Maryland’s Marissa Coleman led the U.S.A. with 19 points while Louisville’s Angel McCoughtry was the second leading scorer with 13 points.
Cuba jumped out to an 8-6 lead in the first five minutes of the game. The United States finished the first quarter with a slight 17-13 lead. McCoughtry entered the game at the five minute mark of the first quarter. She finished the quarter with five points. That included a steal that she converted into three points to end the quarter.
Cuba came back to cut the U.S. lead to 22-20 in the first five minutes of the second quarter. The United States finished out the quarter with a 14-4 run to lead 34-26 at the break. McCoughtry played the whole second quarter, finishing with nine points.
The United States continued to build its lead, jumping out to a 47-30 lead in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Cuba made a 17-11 run in the final five minutes, cutting the U.S. lead to 58-47 at the end of the quarter.
The U.S. held the lead with a 68-51advantage in the first five minutes of the final quarter. Cuba outscored the United States 13-10 to finish out the quarter but it was not enough. The United States shot 42 percent from the field while Cuba shot 38 percent. The U.S. held a slight 38-34 rebounding advantage.
McCoughtry finished the game 42 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. She also finished with five rebounds and two steals. McCoughtry saw action in all four quarters for Team USA.
The United States will play in the semifinals on Monday, the time and opponent will be determined following the Brazil-Canada game.
Notes: UCONN’s Mel Thomas did not play in the game. No reason was listed as to why. Charde Houston had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
Even Five Year Olds Don’t Like the Yanks
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic-pnKYX8pI[/youtube]
[Hat tip to Sox Space for the find]
Manny & Lowell’s 3-run Homers Enough In 8-5 Win
Manny Ramirez and Mike Lowell both hit 3-run homers as Tim Wakefield went 6 1/3 solid innings as the Red Sox sent the White Sox into the AL Central cellar with a 8-5 win. The win for Wakefield was his 11th of the season and he now has a decision in all 20 of his starts. Manny ended up with 4 RBI on the day as he added a RBI single in the 6th inning. Coco Crisp continued his hot hitting as he had three more hits while Manny and Lowell had two each for the hometown team.
The Bosox got on the board in the 1st inning as walks continued to doom the White Sox pitching staff. Jon Garland walked Julio Lugo to lead off the inning but Lugo was erased from the base paths when Alex Cora grounded into a fielder’s choice. Garland then issued his second walk of the inning to Kevin Youkilis. Manny made Garland pay for his mistakes as he put a ball into the Red Sox bullpen for a 3-run homerun and 3-0 lead for the boys from Beantown. Garland got out of the inning as he got J.D. Drew to ground out and Lowell to strikeout swinging.
Wakefield was perfect through the first two innings but ran into a little trouble in the 3rd. He got Rob Mackowiak to strikeout leading off the inning but then he walked Josh Fields. With Juan Uribe at the plate, Fields took advantage of Wake’s slow delivery and stole second base. Fields went to third on a Uribe single. Wake then got Jerry Owens to fly out to Coco in short center, keeping Fields at third. Wake got himself out of the inning as he retired Alex Cintron on a groundball to first base.
The Chi-sox would get on the board in the 5th inning. Jermaine Dye led off with a double and he would go to third on a Mackowiak ground out. Fields brought in Dye with a single cutting the Red Sox lead to 3-1. Wake then got Uribe to fly out to left field. With Owens at the plate, Wake uncorked a wild pitch allowing Fields to move to second. The wild pitch wouldn’t hurt Wake as he got Owens to pop out to Lugo at short.
The local nine would make Garland pay again for issuing walks in the 5th inning. After Garland got the first two outs of the inning, he issued walks to Manny and Drew. Lowell provided the punishment for Garland’s walks as he lined a ball into the first row of the Green Monster seats for a 3-run homer and a 6-1 lead for the good Sox. Coco followed the homer with a single that would chase Garland from the game. Charlie Haeger, a knuckleballer, came into the game for Garland. With Eric Hinske at the plate, a Haeger knuckleball got past A.J. Pierzynski for a passed ball, allowing Coco to get to second. Haeger got out of the inning as he retired Hinske on a ground ball to second.
In the 6th inning, the Red Sox would make Haeger pay for control issues. Haeger walked Doug Mirabelli and Lugo to lead off the inning. Cora moved the runners over a base each on a ground out to Konerko at first. Youk followed that with a sacrifice fly scoring Mirabelli for a 7-1 Red Sox lead. Manny brought in the 8th run of the day with a single. Haeger got out of the inning as he got Drew to line out to left.
Wakefield’s afternoon would end in the 7th inning as he got himself into a jam. Pierzynski led off the inning with a single and went to third on Dye’s second double of the afternoon. Mackowiak brought in a run with a sacrifice fly cutting the Sox lead to 8-2. Fields hit a single scoring Dye and chasing Wake from the game. Manny Delcarmen came in for Wake and was wild to say the least. Uribe greeted Delcarmen with a single moving Fields to second. Delcarmen then walked Owens to load up the bases for Cintron. Cintron laced a single to left scoring Uribe, bringing the deficit to 4 runs and keeping the sacks full for Thome. At this point with the lefty Thome at the plate and Delcarmen struggling, you would have thought Hideki Okajima would come in. Terry Francona decided to stick with Delcarmen and he walked Thome bringing in another run, making it 8-5 Red Sox. Delcarmen settled down to get Konerko. With another lefty coming to the plate in Pierzynski, Francona brought in Okajima. Okie got out of the inning as he got Pierzynski to strikeout swinging.
Wakefield went 6 1/3 innings, giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 2 walks and he struck out 2 on 96 pitches.
The Red Sox had chances to score more runs in the 7th and 8th innings but were unable to push anything across off of Haeger.
After Okie-Dokie worked a perfect 8th inning, Jonathan Papelbon came in and decided to provide a little more drama to the game. Just like he did with Delcarmen, Uribe greeted Papelbon with a single. Uribe went to second on an Owens single. Papelbon then walked Cintron to load up the bases for Thome. After a visit from John Farrell, Papelbon rebounded to strikeout Thome for the first out of the inning. Papelbon followed the strikeout of Thome by getting Konerko to hit into a 5-4-3 game-ending double play. The save was Papelbon’s 22nd in 23 tries.
The Red Sox finished up the homestand at 6-5 and now the entire eyes of Red Sox Nation will be focused on one person in Cleveland. That person is Jon Lester, who will return to the Red Sox rotation, almost one year after finding out he had a treatable form of lymphoma. The local nine will play 4 in Cleveland before heading to Tampa for a 3 game set.
Breaking Sox News: Lester Called Up
Just saw this on Extra Bases. The Red Sox have called up Jon Lester to start tomorrow’s game against the Cleveland Indians. Julian Tavarez will go to the bullpen. The Red Sox will make a roster move after the game and the speculation is Javier Lopez will be sent back to Pawtucket after the game since he has minor league options left.
“We want to win games so bad,” Francona said, “but I can’t say there won’t be some emotion involved when he gets to take the mound. I think his folks are going to be there, which I’m sure for them will be extra special.
“I think talking to Jon, he just wants to win the game. I think he’s got that attitude, he’s already been through this enough and answered the questions, I’m sure he’ll have to answer them again, but he just wants to win baseball games. He’s pretty refreshing, pretty remarkable for a kid that age.”
What went into the decision to summon him back?
“So much did,” Francona said. “We’ve been staying up on this kid, I think it’s pretty evident, all year. Where we thought he was, what needed to happen, what’s best for him, what’s best for us. I think we got to a point where we thought this might be in his best interest and ours.
“It’ll be interesting to see how he does. We’re excited. We’ve had a lot of conversations with a lot of people, trying to do the right thing.”
Francona was asked if it was tough to separate the baseball from the emotion during the process.
“No, it wasn’t, we didn’t let it be, ever, or he would have been here three months ago. We never let that get away of our decisions. I wouldn’t apologize to be crazy about a kid like Lester. I would be crazy not to. We don’t ever let that get in the way of making decisions.”
This is a huge step for Lester who just under a year ago was diagnosed with cancer. I am sure it will be an emotional night for Lester but it will be very nice to see him back in Boston with the boys.