Beyond The Game: Sox-Mariners Gamer VII

Jon Lester's return to the Red Sox is an uplifting story and probably my favorite one in the game of baseball this season. Triumphant in his return to the mound July 23rd, Lester received a no-decision in his last outing, against Tampa Bay. He's on the bump tonight to face Horacio Ramirez and the Seattle Mariners. Though my personal leanings usually preclude me from aligning with results that include positive developments for the Sox as a team, I do wish Jon Lester health and good fortune, and I look forward to watching him pitch tonight. Action starts in 30 minutes at SafeCo. The lineups are in the extended. Comment away.

Boston
D. Pedroia 2b	.322
K. Youkilis 1b	.300
D. Ortiz dh	.320
M. Ramirez lf	.298
M. Lowell 3b	.304
J. Varitek c	.272
W. Pena rf	.221
C. Crisp cf	.281
J. Lugo ss	.222
Seattle
I. Suzuki cf	.351
J. Vidro dh	.306
J. Guillen rf	.286
A. Beltre 3b	.275
R. Sexson 1b	.198
K. Johjima c	.272
A. Jones lf	.000
J. Lopez 2b	.260
Y. Betancourt ss	.285

Comments

[BirdmanofVt]

If Pedroia is batting first and Youk second, does that mean Dustin is faster?

[Hudson]

Bases loaded, one out, Lowell at the plate.

I can't wait for this weekend to be over, frankly. The Yankees are playing K.C., while the Sox are playing a team that the Yankees are chasing for the wildcard. It's bound to leave New York in a better position one way or another.

[Atheose]

No, it just means Pedroia is swinging a hotter bat right now ;-)

[Hudson]

I do feel marginally better, though, after Mike singles in a run. Youks nabbed at third, though, leaving Lowell on 2nd and Manny on 3rd with 2 out for Tek.

[mp]

great baserunning....

[Hudson]

Tek grounds out, meaning the Sox only get one run on four hits. Better than nothing, I suppose.

[mp]

total little league BS

[Ric]

mannys a retard sometimes

[mp]

Is it just me, or has it been decades since the Yankees actually played a *real* baseball team? So far, it's been:

Royals
White Sox
Royals
Devil Rays
Sacramento River Cats
Royals

[Rob]

Did Drew travel with the team?

[Ric]

i think so- i think hes sitting becasue the lefty?

[Rob]

Ok..wasn't sure if the surgery for his kid was over or not.

[Ric]

im not positive- but he was at the end of the game yesterday- and i heard rumblings that the kid is okay

[Atheose]

God bless Coco!

[Ric]

and lugo!

[Atheose]

Bunt single by Lugo!

[attackgerbil]

That bunt was close. Great bunt.

[Hudson]

Bags loaded *again* in the 2nd... This Ramirez guy really stinks. Sox had better capitalize!

[Ric]

drew sighting! withs boys regular haircut!

[Atheose]

At least another run scores. Come on Youk!

[Hudson]

DPed (I enjoy saying that, it's such a terrible shorthand; the whole JLo/ARod/shorthand trend is annoying as heck) GIDPs. At least WMP scored.

[Hudson]

And KYou grounds out to end the inning.

The Sox seem to be running a clinic on how to score the fewest runs with the most baserunners today.

[Hudson]

Lester gives up a couple of singles in the bottom of the 2nd, but they wind up harmless. Still 2-0 Sox.

[Atheose]

Lester gets himself out of trouble. Glad we're not the only ones stranding runners tonight.

[Atheose]

PAPI! YEAH!

[attackgerbil]

Wow he killed that crappy pitch.

[Hudson]

Ortiz with the solo shot! 3-0.

[Ric]

so what do you think- will Ortiz reach 500 before A-Rod? ;)

[Hudson]

I'm still getting over the photos of KGar (heh) and Papi together. Garnett made Ortiz look tiny, and I think of him as way larger than life...

[Atheose]

At this rate Ric, ARod will end his career with 499.

[Hudson]

(Regarding scheduling... The Yankees have had it pretty easy, but come mid-August they're really going to have to either put up or drop out of the race for the wildcard: 8 games against Detroit, 3 against the Angels, and 3 against some team called the "Boston Red Sox.")

[Ric]

garnett looks kind of like tori hunter there... i wonder if its a sign?

[Atheose]

What a crappy little dribbler through the right side of the infield. These Mariners are pesky.

I'll trade a DP here for a run.

[Atheose]

Pedroia makes an amazing catch for his size!

[sf rod]

dustin with a nice leaping catch to save a run. i think a suitable nickname for him is "the noid". he looks like the the character from the old dominos commercials.

[Atheose]

Lester grabs a K with a great sweeping curveball. Kudos to the Ump for calling it.

[mp]

that was cheap

[sf rod]

beltre (the mariners vesion of jose offerman) finds an acorn.

[Atheose]

Lester gets another K, but not before letting a run creep in. It looks like this game is turning into a "lets see who can leave more runners on base" contest.

[sf rod]

watching this mariners team makes one wonder....what if beltre and sexson earned their contracts?

[Atheose]

Boy is this one inconsistent umpire. Pitch 1 to Lugo is right d own the middle but called a ball, and then strike 3 is high and inside.

[Atheose]

sf rod... Beltre is batting .276 with 16 homers and 66 RBI's. Not too shabby.

Now Sexton... Sexton just plain sucks.

[Ric]

sexson- .198, hes not batting his shoe size.

[rootbeerfloat]

who in heck is adam jones?

[Atheose]

If Coco still played left field he would have caught that.

[sf rod]

ath- those numbers aren't exactly what the m's had in mind when they signed him to a $13 mil a year deal. his contract year with the dodgers was an scam.

[QuoSF]

Adam Jones is one of two excellent outfield prospects the M's have had at the AAA-level this season. The idea that he will produce just as well as Ibanez (at least) through the end of the season while playing far better defense is not at all far-fetched.

[Atheose]

Ahh, wasn't thinking about his paycheck. I just keep thinking "He has about as many homers as Manny and Papi"

Glad to see them finally getting their power back. Ortiz having half as many homers as Arod just makes me want to cry.

[Atheose]

God-fucking-damnit.

Lester looked really nervous on the mound when they went to visit him. I could feel something bad about to happen.

[mp]

f

[rootbeerfloat]

yuck

[QuoSF]

Lester control problems make me want to cry. So do Betancourts hitting go-ahead HRs.

Beltre is also normally in the upper tier of 3B defensively. According to the stats, he's middle of the pack this season on everything but the amount of balls he gets to out of his defensive zone. It's far from a disastrous contract. He's probably only being overpaid by a few million per.

[Hudson]

Ugh, I step away for an inning and Lester's imploded.

[QuoSF]

After the 4th, it'll be time for one of those "Timlin throws 6 innings on 25 pitches" outings that felt like the norm before he went on the shelf last week.

[rootbeerfloat]

ok, it's only one run. Our guys can get one run back, can't we?

[Paul SF]

Same old Lester, and same old crappy situational hitting from the Sox... Just one blowout. That's all I ask.

[Atheose]

Yeah Pedroia! Batting .700 in August.

[Atheose]

Woah, dejavu from the 1st inning.

[Hudson]

Sox trying to answer back with two singles, none out.

[Atheose]

Ortiz drives in a run, way to go Sox.

Definitely liking this whole "come-from-behind" Red Sox ream.

[rootbeerfloat]

I used to feel so good about Manny coming to the plate...

[mp]

I'd trade this whole "come-from-behind" Red Sox team for a "hit above 0.050 with RISP" Red Sox team

[attackgerbil]

> Hudson: Regarding scheduling... The Yankees have had it pretty easy

I'm don't see that big of a difference in the schedules. Since the break:

Boston has played
Toronto 4 times
KC 3 times
Chicago 4 times
Cleveland 4 times
SatanFish 3 times
Baltimore 3 times

New York has played
SatanFish 8 times (once a resumption)
KC 4 times
Toronto 4 times
Chicago 3 times
Baltimore 3 times

So okay, Boston's played a *slightly* harder schedule because of the Tribe, but not really that different, and Boston has a somewhat easier schedule in August compared to NY, but not dramatically so. Looks like 6 in 1, half dozen the other, doesn't it?

[mp]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Atheose]

Manny has been doing well lately, but it seems at the same time he's grounded into like 15,000 double plays. Frustrating.

[Ric]

i only like manny when 1st base is open

[attackgerbil]

Wow, SafeCo is such a beautiful park.

[Ric]

safeco makes me want to buy from Schucks Auto Supply so bad!

[attackgerbil]

Just bought spark plugs and oil for my cycle there last week. ;)

[Ric]

wow- timlin is a dumb ass!

[rootbeerfloat]

cripes - is this going to worth staying up for?

[rootbeerfloat]

why is timlin still pitching?

[Josh]

Uhm, I thought the whole point of the Gagne trade was so that we didn't have to watch this crap.

[CincySF]

I am getting to the point where I want to turn off the game everytime Timlin is on the mound. I think I would rather have WMP pitching.

[bloodyank78]

The Cubans and the Japanese are putting the hurt on RSN tonite. Jeez.

[CincySF]

I really hope Seattle doesn't make the playoffs, I don't want to see this happen in October.

[bloodyank78]

AL West teams have not been kind to Al East teams in October Cincy, your fears are well founded. Lord knows how much I hate the Angels. And holy shit! that Betancourt play against Lugo's hit was crazy.

[rootbeerfloat]

or apparently the A's or Detroit - we have losing records against all 3.

[Paul SF]

I hate to say it, and I really do because he's one of my favorite players, but I think Timlin's done. He can still be an effective pitcher -- for two weeks at a time, and then his arm ends up sore, and he becomes ineffective, hits the DL for a month, etc.

So I guess we'll see Timlin again in September, where he'll be dominant for two weeks. I guess that's not all bad...

[yankees76]

I don't like many players on the Sox, but I do like Timlin and hope he turns it back around.

[SF]

Gerb, playing four additional games against the Fish while playing four fewer against the Indians is an advantage, significantly so. Still, the teams have to perform, and the Sox won 3 of 4 from the Tribe -- it's the rest of the league they are having trouble with. Still, I'd take the Royals and the Fish extensively over the west coast and the Indians, which is what the Sox have for the first month after the break. The schedules aren't close. Obviously it all evens out, so complaining is not useful.