Red Sox News & Notes – 7/22

 

The Red Sox bats are starting to wakeup and Kason Gabbard is making a his case to stay in the rotation when Curt Schilling returns from his rehab assignment. Let’s hope the bats don’t start to go cool again as they head into Cleveland on Monday. With it being Sunday, the day of rest, let’s take a look at the headlines and happenings from yesterday’s game from the Boston area and Chi-town media.

Curt Schilling wrote about his rehab start at his blog, 38 Pitches.

Biggest factors are easy to see. [Boston Globe]

It’s getting out of control. [Chicago Tribune]

Gabbard-led Red Sox burn ChiSox to Crisp. [Boston Herald]

Nothing but gloom. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Bats Still Making Noise. [Hartford Courant]

Rookie’s mastery, and veteran’s start delight Francona. [Pro Jo]

Guillen on changes: ‘Going to be fun’. [Chicago Tribune]

MRI on Ortiz’s shoulder reveals no damage. [Boston Globe]

Paulie: Only 1 untouchable. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Kason attends ’Tek school. [Boston Herald]

Ortiz Listed As Day-To-Day. [Hartford Courant]

Another gem by Gabbard. [Pro Jo]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, Providence Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Chicago Sun-Times websites.

Sunday Stroll Around The Majors

The Red Sox got good news on Saturday when Big Papi’s MRI came back negative.

Garrett Anderson is getting healthy and starting to hit for the Angels.

Roy Oswalt will miss his next start for the Astros with a chest injury.

Huston Street will return to the A’s bullpen on Monday.

Curtis Thigpen will get a chance to prove himself with the Blue Jays for the rest of the season.

Braves GM John Schuerholz thinks this year’s trade deadline will be a busy one.

The Brewers sent Gabe Gross to Triple-A to get some regular playing time.

Injured Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder is making progress towards a late season return.

Jacque Jones has gotten hot for the Cubs since the All-Star break.

Jason Hammel pitched game 1 of the Devil Rays doubleheader then was sent back to Triple-A after the game.

Injured Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson threw on the side and reported no discomfort.

Eric Stults will make his first start of the season for the Dodgers on Sunday.

Giants OF Dave Roberts is starting to finally come around after his June elbow surgery.

The Indians are very happy with the way Fausto Carmona is pitching.

Kenji Johjima will get some extra time off for the Mariners down the stretch run.

Marlins SS Hanley Ramirez is tied for the NL lead in hits.

Despite 14 errors for the Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman’s defense has been solid.

Orioles broadcaster and Hall of Famer Jim Palmer had some kind words about Erik Bedard’s outing on Friday night.

Saturday’s matchup of David Wells for the Padres and Jaime Moyer for the Phillies is the second oldest matchup in history.

The Phillies 1st round draft pick in 2006, Kyle Drabek will undergo Tommy John surgery.

John Van Benschoten hopes his side session results will keep in the Pirates rotation.

The Rangers hope the move of Ramon Vazquez to the leadoff spot will produce some hits.

Reds utilty man Ryan Freel was pissed after Armando Benitez plunked him on Friday night.

The Rockies gave Brad Hawpe the day off on Saturday because he struggles against lefties.

Royals 2B Mark Grudzielanek is batting .415 since returning from the disabled list.

Sean Casey will play almost everyday for the Tigers with the injury to Marcus Thames.

Jason Kubel is starting to get hot for the Twins.

White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle is anxious about pitching at home on Monday.

Yankees reliever Mike Myers is having trouble finding his release point.

Team USA Whips Argentina, 85-54

Behind Emily Fox’s game high 18 points Team USA crushed Argentina Saturday night, 85-54 to improve to 2-0 in the Pan-Am Games. Fox, a junior from the University of Minnesota (Highlands Ranch, CO) came off the bench to provide the spark for Team USA in 19 minutes of game action. Tasha Humphrey (Sr., University of Georgia/Gainesville, GA) had 14 and Marisa Coleman (Jr., University of Maryland/Cheltenham, MD) added 12 points. Tennessee’s Nicky Anosike (Sr./Staten Island, NY) and UConn’s Mel Thomas (Sr./Cincinnati, OH) also chipped in with 9 points each for Team USA. Thomas was 4-4 from the line and 2-7 from the field (1-5 from 3-point land) in 17 minutes of play. UConn senior Charde Houston (San Diego, CA) scored 2 points in 13 minutes.

Argentina, who drops to 0-2, was lead by Mariana Cava who had 13 points.

Team USA will face Cuba Sunday at 7:45 p.m. Rio Time.

Gabbard, Crisp Help Red Sox Demolish White Sox

 

Fresh off a complete game shutout in his last start, Kason Gabbard pitched 7 strong innings and Coco Crisp had 5 RBI as the Red Sox destroyed the White Sox 11-2. The win was Gabby’s 4th of the season, all of which have come at the Fens. Crisp got his 5 RBI on three hits. In his last 29 games, Crisp has robust .370 avg and his season batting average now stands at .271 avg. Out of the Red Sox starters, only Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Peña were hitless.

Gabbard and White Sox starter John Danks both had easy first innings. In the second, Gabbard ran into a little bit of trouble through no fault of his own.

Paul Konerko led off the 2nd with a hotshot to Wily Mo in left that he totally misplayed into a double. It was initially ruled an error but later changed. Gabbard then got the struggling Jermaine Dye to ground back to him for the first out. Josh Fields followed that with a double of his own scoring Konerko for a 1-0 wrong Sox lead. Gabby got himself out of the inning by retiring Andy Gonzalez and Juan Uribe.

The hometown boys put a crooked number on the Green Monster scoreboard in the 2nd inning. Kevin Youkilis led off the inning with a walk and then Danks got J.D. Drew to strikeout swinging. Youk moved to second when Danks issued another walk, this time to Mike Lowell. Varitek followed with a single to load up the bases. Youk had no chance of scoring with the injured quad, setting the stage for the first of three times Coco would bat with the bases juiced. With the lefty Danks on the mound, Coco was batting righthanded and laced a single into left that scored Youk and Lowell, giving the local nine a 2-1 lead. Danks got out of the inning as he got WMP to ground into an inning ending double play.

From the 3rd inning to the 6th inning, the game was boring as both pitchers were dominant on the mound. In the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings, Danks only allowed one hit, a double to Julio Lugo. After allowing the hit to the Fields in the 2nd inning, Gabbard had retired 8 straight batters until Fields reached on a Lugo error to start the 6th inning. Gabbard then got Gonzalez to ground into a fielder’s choice. He would get out of the inning as he induced a 1-6-3 double play by Uribe.

Danks got into a wee bit of trouble in the Red Sox half of the 6th. Dustin Pedroia led off the inning with a single but Danks got Manny to ground into a fielder’s choice. Youk followed that with a single, moving Manny over to second. Danks then gave up a double to Drew scoring Manny with the Bosox 3rd run. Youk moved over to third on the play. Danks then issued a walk to Lowell, loading up the bases for Tek. Danks got Tek to ground into a fielder’s choice, with Youk retired at the plate. Coco then came up with the sacks full for the second time and again didn’t disappoint the Fenway Faithful as he delivered a run-scoring single with Drew crossing the plate, giving the Red Sox a 4-1 lead. Lowell was thrown out at the plate trying to score for the third out.

Gabbard had another easy inning in the 7th. The only runner in the 7th was when he issued a two out walk to Dye. Gabby got Fields to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Ozzie Guillen went to his bullpen in the 7th inning and probably wishes he didn’t. Eric Hinske, pinch-hitting for WMP, led off the inning with a single off of Ehren Wassermann. As Wassermann was striking out Lugo, Hinske took off for and stole second base. Wassermann then got Pedroia to strikeout swinging for the second out of the inning. Then the roof caved in for the White Sox bullpen. With Hinske on second and Manny at the plate, Guillen decided to intentionally walk Manny to face Youk. That move failed as Wasserman walked Youk to load up the bases for Drew. Before Drew got to the plate, Guillen went to his beleaguered bullpen again and brought in the lefty Boone Logan. Drew drew a walk off of Logan to make it 5-1 Red Sox. Guillen went to his bullpen again and brought in Dewon Day. Day was no better as he issued a walk to Lowell bringing in the 6th run of the day for local nine. Day then walked in his second run and third of the inning as he issued the free pass to Tek. Coco came up for his third time with the bases loaded and delivered again as he uncorked a 2-run single, making it 9-1 Red Sox. Hinske, batting for the 2nd time in the inning, brought home two more runs with a bases clearing triple, giving the Red Sox a commanding 11-1 lead. Day got out of the inning as Lugo struck out for the second time in the seven run 7th for the home team.

Does he look like a young Wade Boggs or what?Gabby came out for the 8th inning but after a 38 minute wait, Terry Francona decided to go to the bullpen and brought in Javier Lopez. Gabbard departed the game to another standing ovation from the Fenway Faithful. Lopez allowed two hits in the inning but got out of the inning by getting Tadahito Iguchi to ground into a fielder’s choice.

Gabby went 7 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and he struck out 1 to move his record to 4-0. All of his wins have come at the Fens.

Joel Piñero came in for the 9th inning as the White Sox tried to overcome a 10 run deficit. Alex Cintron, pinch-hitting for Thome, led off with a fly ball out to Coco in center. Luis Terrero, who had come in defensively for Dye, laced a single off of Piñero and came around to score when Rob Macowiak tattooed a ball of the Green Monster for a double. Piñero mopped up the last two outs as he retired Fields and Gonzalez to end the game.

The win moved the Red Sox to 5-5 on the 11-game homestand. Tim Wakefield will try for his 11th win of the season tomorrow as he takes the ball for the Bosox. Gametime is 2:05 PM.

Boxscore

How Well Do You Know Your Friends?

Big PapiDavid Ortiz is having a rough week. Last night, he is hit with a lawsuit and during the game he strains his shoulder. But that’s not the worst of it. Earlier in the week, Big Papi found out his best friend had been living a lie.

Known as Edwin “Monga” Garcia, Felix Leopoldo Marquez Galice was arrested on 3 counts of identification fraud upon his return from the 2007 MLB All-Star Game.

Beginning in 2003, Marquez allegedly submitted a series of applications to the Registry of Motor Vehicles in which he claimed to be a US citizen named Edwin Manuel Cotto Garcia, of Puerto Rico, according to a criminal complaint charging him with fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents; fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents; and false claim to US citizenship.

Big Papi met “Garcia” when he was a teenager back in the Dominican Republic and was the one who introduced Big Papi to the Mariners scout who signed him back in 1992. “Garcia” is free right now on $10,000 bail.

Big Papi’s only comments were “I don’t know anything about it.”

Red Sox News & Notes – 7/21

 

Last night’s game started out similar to Thursday’s game and it had you thinking, is this a case of deja vu. Then the J.D. Drew got robbed of a homerun by the boys in blue and you started to think, man can anything go right for the Sox. Then Josh Beckett gives up a 3-run homerun to Jim Thome and you’re like here we go again especially if you’re scoreboard watching and see the Skanks are losing. Then all the sudden the Bosox have the bases loaded and Coco Crisp hits a triple and your happy again. These are the emotions that Red Sox Nation went through early in last night’s game. All I can say is that it’s great to see Julio Lugo is hot at the plate. How many teams have probably the hottest hitter in MLB in the 9th spot of the lineup. Beckett got his 13th win and as Sam suggested in a comment, is he on his way to a 20 win season. He’s only 3 away from his career high of 16, which he set last year. Anything’s possible folks. One thing I know will happen though is that we will now take a look at the headlines from the Boston area and Chicago media on this cool summer morning in Red Sox Nation.

Big bang theory. [Boston Globe]

Red Sox pound Contreras, White Sox. [Chicago Tribune]

Riled-up Red Sox fight for the right to party. [Boston Herald]

Contreras has a hit show. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Losing Streak On The Shelf. [Hartford Courant]

Short ball pays off. [Pro Jo]

Francona’s meeting provides speech therapy. [Boston Globe]

Mackowiak putting on trade show. [Chicago Tribune]

Josh leaves Ozzie awestruck. [Boston Herald]

Sox future hanging in the balance. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Hinske Helps Fuel Rally. [Hartford Courant]

Suddenly, Lugo is a power at the plate. [Pro Jo]

Drew takes healthy swings. [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.

Saturday Salute To Bloggers

Super sexy Texy over at Center Field has good article about Barry Bonds questioning a fan’s honesty. She also writes over at Ladies…. and tells you what music her and the ladies would have playing when they came to the plate.

Deadspin has a funny video about old people sex from the British Open.

Dan from Red Sox Monster has a great eye for some funny videos. Check out this one about Baby Schilling and another about some crazy Braves fans.

One of my favorite sites, Awful Announcing, was a subject on ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt. Will from Deadspin was also interview right after.

The succulent Sooze is helping out at new blog, Epic Carnival, and has a pretty funny video about Barry Bonds. She also has a funny look at a headline from Yahoo Sports on her main site, Babes Love Baseball.

Richie Rich from Home Run Derby didn’t know Peter from Family Guy was an Orioles fan. He is also doing a best Mascot contest from Major League Baseball.

Sam from MetsSox has a look at the impact that Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling will have when they return from the DL.

The Feed has a look at baseball’s unwritten rules.

Yankees Chick shares her on again/off again love for Johnny Demon.

J.D. from SporTech Matter has an interesting fact from Josh Willingham about crapping your pants.

And now boys and girls, your favorite part and mine (at least I hope it’s your’s too), Fitzy from the Townie News has his latest Wicked Pissah webcast. As always, it is NSFW.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bqUegRtP6i4[/youtube]

Houston Records Double-Double in Pan Am Games Opener

USA Basketball Press Release:

Relying on a balanced scoring attack that saw five American womens score in double digits, the USA Basketball women’s team (1-0) opened its Pan American Games competition Friday afternoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a dominating 95-41 victory over Colombia (0-1).

Played at Rio Multipurpose Arena in front of a largely pro-Colombian crowd, the USA dominated from the start. Dashing out to a 17-4 advantage five minutes into the contest, the U.S. owned a commanding 18 point advantage, 32-14, after the first quarter.

The U.S. continued to roll in the second quarter and extended its lead to a 40 point advantage while taking a 63-23 lead to the locker room at the end of the second quarter.

In charge 78-35 after 30 minutes, Team USA posted its largest advantage – 55 points – in the fourth quarter of the contest and finally settle for the 95-41 victory. out-rebounded Colombia 50 to 27.

The USA shot 52.7 percent in the contest, hitting 39-of-74 field goals, including 11-of-21 3-pointers (.524). Forty-two of the team’s 95 points were scored in the paint and 19 recorded off of turnovers.

Mattee Ajavon (Rutgers / Newark, N.J.) paced the USA scoring with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, Tasha Humphrey (Georgia / Gainsville, Ga.) added 14 points and seven rebounds, Angel McCoughtry (Louisville / Baltimore, Md.) accounted for 12 points, while Charde’ Houston (Connecticut / San Diego, Calif.) recorded a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and Candace Wiggins (Stanford / San Diego, Calif.), and also posted 10 points. Eleven of the 12 team members scored at least one field goal in the contest, including nine players with five-or-more points.

Alexis Hornbuckle (Tennessee / Charleston, W.Va.) led the squad with four assists and Jayne Appel (Stanford / Pleasant Hill, Calif.) led the team with four blocked shots.

“I think it was a great way for us to come out and start the Pan American Games,” said Humphrey. “I think everybody played well. We really played well as a team offensively and defensively.”

USA head coach Dawn Staley was likewise pleased with her team’s energy and overall performance. “We wanted to get up the floor as much as possible and play in transition and I thought we did that well,” said Staley. “I thought we shared the ball extremely well amongst each other and we played the type of defense that is our staple. We like to pressure the basketball and force you out of what you want to do and I thought our team did that extremely well.”

The United States is fielding the youngest squad in the eight-team tournament pool with an average age of 20.5 years. All 12 players on the American squad are 21 or under. Appel is the youngest player on the team at age 19 and Hornbuckle, the elder stateswoman on the team, will be the first to turn 22 on October 16.

Reflecting on their upcoming game against Argentina, Ajavon added, “From what I hear, they’re [Argentina] a tough team,” said the 21-year-old from Rutgers University. “I’m sure every team here has come to win the gold medal. We’re open-minded and we just want to play hard.”

“We don’t know a whole lot about Argentina. We’re going to scout the game tonight and we’ll be very well prepared for Argentina and the types of things they’ll likely do,” Staley added.

The USA squad will take on Argentina Saturday evening, July 21, at 7:45 p.m. (local time).

Boxscore

Note: Mel Thomas had 7 points off the bench in 17 minutes.

Red-hot Lugo & Crisp + Beckett = Red Sox Win

Sexy Texy's BBF of the day

The Red Sox overcame a blown call by an umpire and rode the bats of a red-hot Julio Lugo and Coco Crisp plus the arm of Josh Beckett to a 10-3 win over the White Sox. Lugo was 3 for 4 with his 4 RBI coming on a grand slam in the 8th inning. Even though Crisp had only one hit, the one hit, a triple, gave the Red Sox the lead for good in the 5th inning. Beckett ended up throwing a lot of pitches in the game but he was good enough for his 13th win, tying him with C.C. Sabbathia for the MLB lead.

Beckett got himself into some trouble in the first inning but was able to work his way out of it. After he got the first two outs of the inning, he issued walks to Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, eerily reminiscent of last night’s game in the first inning. Beckett rebounded from his slight control issues to get A.J. Pierzynski to ground out to Eric Hinske at first.

The Boys from Beantown got a run on the board in their half of the 1st and really should have had 3 runs. White Sox starter Jose Contreras got Crip and Dustin Pedroia for the first two outs of the inning. He then issued a walk to David Ortiz and followed that with a plunking of Manny Ramirez. Then the controversy came about. J.D. Drew hit a ball off the Green Monster that appeared to be a homerun but was ruled a double. Big Papi scored on the play and Manny was thrown out trying to score. The ball looked like it had gotten over the wall and television replays showed that it did. Terry Francona came out to argue the call and after a meeting of the boys in blue, it was ruled a double and Manny was out at the plate. The call irked Tito and he was tossed for probably calling Tim McClelland “Lurch” (fiction) as McClelland looked about a foot taller than the rest of his crew.

(NESN screenshot from Extra Bases)

Beckett cruised through the 2nd inning as he struck out the side (Dye, Mackowiak, Fields) all swinging. He got himself into trouble in the 3rd inning as the wrong Sox took over the lead. Juan Uribe led off the inning with a single and went to third on a Jerry Owens single. As Tadahito Iguchi was striking out swinging for the first out, Owens stole second base. With a 3-2 count on Thome, Beckett left a fastball up in the zone that Thome planted into the seats in centerfield to give the Whites a 3-1 lead. Beckett settled in and got Konerko on a foul out and Pierzynski for his sixth strikeout of the night.

Beckett was solid in the 4th and 5th innings as he got three of the six outs via the strikeout. Contreras was equal to the task in the 3rd and 4th innings as he only allowed a single to Lugo.

The 5th inning was a weird inning but nonetheless a good inning for the local nine. Contreras walked Jason Varitek to lead off the 5th. For some strange reason, Ozzie Guillen put a shift on for Hinske and Hinske being a smart hitter, laid down a bunt that rolled down the third base line to the outfield. Tek moved over to second on the bunt single. Lugo then laid down a bunt of his own that he beat out and loaded the bases for Coco. Coco didn’t disappoint the 36,000+ at the Fens as he hit a bases-clearing triple to give the home team a 4-3 lead. With the infield drawn in, Pedroia couldn’t bring Crisp home as he grounded back to the pitcher. Big Papi came up with a clutch single that brought in Coco but he was thrown out at second base. The run gave the Sox a 5-3 lead. Contreras then got Manny to ground out for the third out of the inning. Big Papi ended up leaving the game with a strained shoulder and is day-to-day. He was replaced at DH by Alex Cora.

Beckett’s final inning would be the 6th inning. He got Thome to strikeout swinging for the first out and his 10th strikeout of the game. Konerko then popped out for the second out. Pierzynski followed that with a single but was thrown out at second base by an excellent throw from Coco. As they were coming off the field, you could see how pumped up Beckett was.

Beckett went 6 innings, giving up 2 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and he had the 10 K’s on a 114 pitches.

The Sox put the 2-run game away in the 8th inning. Manny led off with a single and went to third on a Drew double. Lowell then drew a walk from Contreras to load up the bases for Tek. Tek brought in the 6th Red Sox run of the night with a sacrifice fly scoring Manny. Kevin Youkilis came into pinch-hit for Hinske and was plunked in the hand by Contreras reloading the bases up, this time for Lugo. Lugo continued to be en fuego as he crushed a ball off of the Sports Authority sign above the Green Monster for his third career grand slam and making it 10-3 good guys. Ehren Wassermann came in for Contreras. Wassmermann, making his MLB debut, got the wrong Sox out of the inning with a strikeout of Coco and a ground out by Pedroia.

The Boston bullpen was solid for the final three innings, as Mike Timlin, Hideki Okajima, and Joel Piñero combined on 3 hitless innings. The trio didn’t allow a runner and struck out one in holding Beckett’s 13th win of the season.

Kason Gabbard takes the ball for the Red Sox on Saturday afternoon and he will be opposed by John Danks. Gametime is 3:55 PM and the game will be broadcast nationally on FOX.

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