6/11 – Game 3 vs. A’s & The Upcoming Week
My consecutive games recapped streak is in Serious Jeopardy (which is a lot worse than Double Jeopardy) this upcoming week, starting tomorrow. There is Vacation Bible School at my church all week and since my dad is the children’s pastor my family has to be there extra early and stay extra late. Hopefully having my iPad will help and I’ll do the best I can to get a post up after each game, but just in case I don’t… thats why.
And I missed tonights game but I checked out the replays on MLB At-Bat and man what a catch by Lillibridge. Keleigh, I request that play be put on your defensive highlights page (if you weren’t already thinking that yourself).
Danks pitched a heckuva ballgame to earn just his second win of the year. And Jesse Crain logged his first save – two points
Some pitchers will pitch tomorrow.
Go Sox!!
6/10 – Game 2 vs. A’s
I have nothing to say about this game…
Sox, I am disappointed. And Sergio… I expected better of you.
Go Sox.
6/9 – Game 1 vs A’s
Who was that huge guy with the bat that hit a home run in the eighth inning? He had Adam Dunn’s jersey on…
I’m gonna need to see eight more one-for-three or two-for-four games before Dunn earns back my trust. I think that’s a pretty reasonable number, and definitely achievable with one hundred one games left to play in the season. (Can you believe that? Already. Man.)
Mark Buehrle keeps turning in good outing after good outing and it’s making me very happy. Another seven solid innings out of the left-hander tonight as he improved his season record to six wins against four losses. I know we beat up on a team that came into the game having lost nine in a row, but a win is a win, right?
The offense was huge tonight. Dunn had a home run, Konerko had another homer (how many games in a row is that now?), Pierre, Vizquel, Ramirez, and Quentin all drove in runs as well. Everyone contributed in this game and that more than anything will help us win ballgames. It’s nice for one player to have a huge game that we can ride for nine innings (see: Carlos Quentin), but when the guys work as a team we’ll have a higher chance at a win. I know I probably sounded like the John Madden of amateur baseball analysts right there but I like to stress the importance of teamwork.
Didn’t I just say yesterday that this team would be a lot better if Dunn was the Dunn we thought we were getting when we signed him? The next game we get a 9-4 win. Keep it up, big guy. And you too, Rios! I see that two-for-five in the box score, don’t try to hide from me.
Jesse Crain and Will Ohman both appeared in tonight’s game. Crain pitched pretty well and despite allowing one run so did Ohman. Two points for Crain and, even though I don’t usually give out points to pitchers who surrender a run – it was a good game tonight so I’m feeling generous – a point for Ohman as well.
Young Graham Godfrey will be making his MLB debut for the A’s tomorrow against Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.50). Let’s give him a debut he’ll never forget. In the bad way, though.
Go Sox!!
6/8 – Game 3 vs. Mariners
I’m sitting here listening to the Alter Bridge station on Pandora as I try to figure this game out.
Well, it looked good for a while there, right? I hate seeing games like this go to waste. The Twins beat the Indians earlier today which set us up for a chance to get even closer to first place. Then the Mariners spoil the sweep and keep us where we were.
I tweeted during the game (or I tried to but the app like… crashed or something. Timed out? I think it timed out. I’m still getting used to the jargon) that this is as locked-in as I have seen Carlos Quentin since his 2008 campaign. Seventeen homers? It’s Jose Bautista junior over here. I was in the extreme minority of Sox fans who wanted to hold on to Quentin this offseason and I think, now, we can all agree its a good thing we kept him. The kid is ridiculous.
Alex Rios was in the lineup for the first time in a few days tonight. He didn’t do anything special, as usual. He and Dunn have been huge disappointments so far but the last few weeks have shown that our offense can produce anyway. Imagine how good we’d be if those guys chipped in once every thirty at-bats or so. Until then we’ll rely on Lillibridge (which is fine) and Teahen (blech, threw up in my mouth a little bit).
I just wanted to point out how consistent Gordon Beckham has been this year. He struggled a bit towards the end of last season and he was one of the question marks going into 2011. We’ve seen some flashy hitting from Konerko, Ramirez, and Quentin, some surprising games from Lillibridge and Vizquel, and of course those disappointments I mentioned above. I feel like Beckham has kinda gotten lost in the middle. He drew two walks tonight and drove in a run in the seventh inning. Another guy who needs more recognition is Brent Morel. How about that kid, huh? This is some Crede-like defense he’s displaying and I’m always impressed by him. Let’s not forget these guys.
Floyd pitched a pretty good ballgame, but so did Jason Vargas. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) Sergio Santos, however, was completely out of character. He just had no command of his pitches tonight and that’s why he got burned. No points for Sergio. No points for Crain either as he allowed the game-tying run to score. Matt Thornton and Brian Bruney will get points – two each for outings that made me feel like we had another chance at a win.
Well, we tried for the sweep but it just didn’t work out. Thankfully, just as these guys are getting hot, the Sox will welcome in one of the worst teams in the game right now, the Oakland Athletics. Trevor Cahill (6-3, 2.65) will do battle with Mark Buehrle (5-4, 3.95) tomorrow night at 7:10.
Go Sox!!
6/7 – Game 2 vs. Mariners
Alright, I’m gonna try writing tonight’s post on my iPad. I can’t edit the widget for bullpen points on here so I’ll have to do that later. Other than that (and typos I’ll have to fix), this should go smoothly.
Phil Humber is climbing into the upper tier of American League pitchers. Anyone who can out-duel Felix Hernandez is one heck of a pitcher. Even Humber’s ERA is better than Felix’s! 2.87 as of the conclusion of the game against Hernandez’s 3.29. I don’t want to get way ahead of things, but could there be a Cy Young award on the way to the South Side? If not, at least give the guy Comeback Player of the Year,
Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin are swinging hot bats lately. Konerko launched his fourteenth home run of the season in the second inning and Quentin hit his fifteenth (a frozen rope down the left field line) of the year in the third. Both are among the tops in the Majors in runs batted in (Konerko with 47 and Quentin with 42). And of course there was Omar Vizquel’s two-run triple in the third inning, a few batters before CQ’s laser. This wouldn’t be a proper recap of the offense without an Adam Dunn mention so here it is: he didn’t play. Mark Teahen manned first base tonight while Paulie filled the DH spot.
Here’s a thought to chew on… Dayan Viciedo is ripping triple-A apart right now. What if we call him up and put him at DH? I know we have Dunn and his $56 million dollar roster spot to deal with, but I say we convert him to the leagues highest payed pinch hitter. It could work, right?
Not much to say about the bullpen. These are the good games when I have nothing but praise for whoever comes out of the pen. Chris Sale was the lone reliever to make The Jog tonight, pitching one inning and some change, allowing one hit. Two points for Sale. See how nice that was? No Thornton explosions and Jesse Crain nail biters to report. Just a solid outing we can watch in peace.
The Sox will go for the sweep tomorrow as they’ll send Gavin Floyd (6-5, 3.84) to the mound to go against Jason Vargas (4-3, 3.96). Wait, no… Vargas is going against Floyd, right? Yeah. The way I write these always sounds funny to me. I’ll pay more attention from now on.
I fixed twelve typos in this post and if there are any I didn’t catch, point them out and… I dunno. You’d make a good editor some day.
Go Sox!!
EDIT: Turns out I can edit the widget I just have to go to WordPress in Safari. Perhaps I never need to leave my room again…?
6/6 – Game 1 vs. Mariners
That’s more like it, gentlemen!
John Danks is finally into the win column after a very frustrating (for both Sox fans and Danks) first two months of the year. This will have to go on my Games of the Year list just for the sake of Danks finally earning a win. If I’m wrong, let me know.
Adam Dunn continues to struggle. He struck out twice, climbing up to the eighty strikeout rung on the ladder, and left six men on base. Can you believe that? Six runners. Stranded. Absolutely ridiculous. I’m beginning to think there’s no hope for Dunn this season. If he were to heat up it should’ve been sooner than June. Quentin, Konerko, and Lillibridge are carrying this team right now. Speaking of Konerko, the captain hit his thirteenth home run of the season in the fourth inning. To go along with those thirteen homers, Konerko has driven in forty-six runs and is sporting a batting average of .314. Those are quality numbers
John Danks’ seven innings and some change earned him a standing ovation when he exited in in the eighth inning. Six strikeouts and one walk, Danks allowed just one unearned run in his best start of the 2011 season.
Jesse Crain entered the ballgame for the last two outs of the eighth inning and struck out a batter. Then Sergio Santos logged his eleventh save of the year as the Sox took game one of this series by a final score of three to one. Two points for Crain and Santos.
Well, if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll already know what I got from FedEx today. A bright, shiny iPad 2. It seems like forever ago that I ordered it online from Apple and it finally came today. I was able to watch the Sox game on the MLB At-Bat app and, even though it’s pretty much a portable Gameday, it was pretty to look at. I’m gonna really enjoy using this thing for the rest of the year and beyond. I’ll get some pictures up tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, we get a pretty good pitching matchup. Phil Humber (4-3, 3.06) will be opposed by Felix Hernandez (6-4, 3.04). Should be a good’n, guys!
Go Sox!!
6/5 – Game 3 vs. Tigers
This game probably could have gone a lot better.
I’ll be completely honest, I slept through all of it. I didn’t mean to but it was a long day at church today and as soon as I got home I was asleep with the game on. It happens sometimes and I hate it when I do it… but I can’t really fix it now. I’ve mentioned before that I hate blogging about games I didn’t see because my post could be so much better had I seen the game… ugh. Oh well.
I don’t really feel like writing about this game. Rather, the little bit of the game that I heard. Reading the box score and the professional recaps, too much bad went on over the course of today’s nine innings. Dunn sucks, no Rios in the lineup cuz he sucks, Will Ohman sucks, Paulie is awesome, Peavy got hurt so that sucks. Just a sucky game overall. Am I right?
Hopefully the Mariners series will be less of a pain to watch/listen to. Of course, I’d probably actually have to listen to it…
The package I’ve been raving to my friends about, that my family is sick of hearing about, and that I’ve mentioned on here a couple times should arrive tomorrow. If it doesn’t, though, Tuesday for sure. Based on it’s current geographical location, though, it should be here tomorrow.
Michael Pineda (6-2, 2.30), my front-runner for American League Rookie of the Year, will take on the still winless John Danks (0-8, 5.25). I’ll listen to it, I promise.
Go Sox!!
6/4 – Game 2 vs. Tigers
Over the course of one hundred sixty-two games there is bound to be a heartbreak or two. Or seven. Or ten. You never know, but there are going to be some. Tonight was just one of those games.
Any time Justin Verlander takes the mound you know it’s going to be a difficult battle. With an ERA of 3.12 it should be obvious that it will be tough. And it was. Much like Mark Buehrle yesterday, Verlander really only made one mistake: Gordon Beckham’s two-run home run in the fifth inning. Verlander stuck around until the eighth inning, still dealing, and then Jose Valverde came on in the ninth. Edwin Jackson had a decent outing himself, but a home run by Brennen Boesch in the top of the first inning sort of got things started at an awkward pace.
The usually reliable Jesse Crain gave up a two-run home run to Miguel Cabrera in the top of the ninth inning but that will happen when Cabrera is up to bat. The man is a professional ballplayer and he’s at the top of the Silver Slugger categories (batting average, home runs, runs batted in) year after year. I would rather be burned by a big flame than a little wimpy one. *coughCasperWellscough*
Crain will not earn any points for his appearance tonight. Chris Sale, who was in the game before Crain, and Will Ohman, who entered afterwards, will earn points – two each, to be exact. It’s rare that Jesse Crain lets us down. He’s only done it one or two times this year, not counting tonight, that I can remember. This far into the year I think that’s still a pretty good ratio of clutch situations to let-downs.
I’m glad to see that after a rough start to his year Will Ohman has turned it around. We now have a couple left-handers out in that bullpen that we can go to. I’m seeing Ohman more as a specialist throughout the remainder of the season and Chris Sale as long man/he’s-just-a-left-handed-pitcher man. Left-handers are highly coveted in baseball and we’ve got a couple of good ones on our hands.
Adam Dunn continued his struggles tonight, striking out another three times. Frank Thomas said in an interview with Boers and Bernstein on The Score (a sports radio station here in Chicago) that he “knew this was going to happen. You play outfield or first base your whole career and then you switch to at-bat by at-bat, it’s going to take a while to adjust.” Big Hurt also said that he should turn it around this month and we should start to see Adam Dunn-like numbers again. The guy knows his stuff so hopefully that’s true.
Alexei Ramirez was two-for-four in the game today so he’s still swinging a hot bat. He should smack everyone in the leg with it, maybe some of his luck will rub off. Or bruise off? Bruise off sounds pretty cool so we’ll go with that.
I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game as Jake Peavy (2-0, 3.24) will take on Brad Penny (4-4, 4.72) at 1:05 pm. For whatever reason this pitching matchup looks really good to me. I’ve always been a fan of Brad Penny and with Peavy on the mound for us the two should make for a fantastic ballgame.
Go Sox!!
6/3 – Game 1 vs. Tigers
It seems like forever since we’ve been at home. It’s good to be back, I gotta tell you. It’s also good to have The Duke of Buehrl on the mound.
Buehrle pitched seven innings and really only had one mistake – that three-run home run off the bat of Casper Wells in the top of the fifth inning. Other than that, this outing was arguably his best of the year.
Carlos Quentin, Brent Lillibridge, and Juan Pierre all hit home runs. (It’s 2:26 am as I’m writing this so I apologize for it not being as thorough as usual. I’ve been at the Home School Conference the past two days and I have to go again in four hours so my mind is in other places 
That and yesterday’s off-day threw me off a little bit.)
Two points for Bruney and Thornton, three points for Santos for reaching double-digits in saves.
Good way to start off a series! We were a little more dependent on the home run than I wanted us to be but, with a team like this, that will happen some times. As long as we win it doesn’t matter.
I like sharing funny things that Ed and DJ say and I got one from tonight. Miguel Cabrera reached first base on a single and started removing his equipment
DJ: He has a lot of equipment to take off. Shin guard, elbow guard…
Ed: Right Guard.
DJ: Right Guard? You’ve been getting a little closer to him than I have…
Hilarious. I love it.
Oh! And remember that thing that I teased a few weeks ago? That I said was coming and is insanely awesome? Well, it’ll be here on Monday. I’ll be sure to take some pictures for you to see. I’m so excited about it!
Game two of this series is tomorrow – Justin Verlander (5-3, 3.12) will take on Edwin Jackson (4-5, 4.63).
I’m so tired.
Go Sox!!
6/1 – Game 3 @ Red Sox
The Sox are slowly but surely climbing their way up the standings in the AL Central. The Indians have been cooling off lately (although they beat the Jays 13-9 today) and the Sox are heating up. Dying first place team + red-hot bottom feeders = recipe for Soxcess. (I’ll stop there, I promise.)
Gavin Floyd started the game a little shakily today, giving up three runs in the bottom of the second inning. He settled in after that as he went on to pitch six and two thirds innings, striking out one and walking one. His record in Boston remains perfect as he picked up his fifth career win at Fenway Park. My friend Keleigh has said (several times this year) that Gavin needs to stop and breathe every once in a while. He seems to get in a hurry on the mound and we’ve seen that his stuff is good enough for him to be a dominating starting pitcher. Apparently he stopped to breathe today.
If the Sox go on to bigger and better things this season we’re gonna have to have a Brent Lillibridge day. I doubt we’d be where we are if it weren’t for this scrappy little guy. The Bridge (this is probably the most unoriginal nickname I’ve ever given) drove in two runs today, one on an RBI double off of the Big Green Monster in the fourth inning and a solo homer over the said Green Monster in the sixth. Paul Konerko had arguably his best game of the season as he went three-for-four with three runs batted in. He had a huge two-run home run off of Jonathan Papelbon (who was having a pretty good season) in the ninth inning to ensure our 7-4 victory. Oh, and Adam Dunn was disappointing again. No hits in four at-bats, two strikeouts. Come on, man… $56 million.
This is embarrassing.
Chris Sale is now becoming one of the more reliable arms in the bullpen. Whatever problems he was having earlier in the year he’s fixed them now. Perhaps he can share his magical ways with Adam Dunn? Anyway, Gavin Floyd left the game with two outs in the seventh so Sale came in to finish off that frame, then he stuck around a little bit for the eighth inning. Three Sweep Points for Sale. Sergio Santos came on in the ninth inning to nail down the save – his tenth of the year – and he’ll earn three Sweep Points as well.
I’m still really excited that we managed to sweep the Boston Red Sox. Of all teams! This was pretty much the equivalent of when I played for the Yankees about four years ago and our team beat the only undefeated team in the league. It was awesome. We weren’t terrible, we finished with a 12-3 record, but that game definitely gave us a confidence boost. Hopefully this sweep will have the same effect on the Boys in Black.
Much deserved off-day tomorrow before we come home to play the Detroit Tigers on Friday. Mark Buehrle (4-4, 3.91) will be laughably opposed by Andrew Oliver (0-0, 4.50).
Go Sox!!
And whoever found my blog by searching for “can you pitch one third of an inning and get a save,” you’re awesome.
Anders
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