Beckett-Halladay: Sox-Jays Gamer III

Two of the best at their craft, head-to-head. Great stuff to watch on your Sunday afternoon.

Boston
D. Pedroia 2b	.250
K. Youkilis 1b	.316
D. Ortiz dh	.091
M. Ramirez lf	.250
M. Lowell 3b	.208
J.D. Drew rf	.333
J. Varitek c	.211
J. Ellsbury cf	.182
J. Lugo ss	.294
J. Beckett	NA
Toronto
S. Stewart lf	.273
A. Hill 2b	.316
A. Rios rf	.353
V. Wells cf	.278
F. Thomas dh	.235
L. Overbay 1b	.316
M. Scutaro 3b	.231
R. Barajas c	.500
J. McDonald ss	.000
R. Halladay	3.86

Comments

[Max]

Pedroia leads off with a single. Let's hope for some early runs today.

[SF]

JD singles following two atrocious at-bats from Manny and Lowell.

[SF]

Tek grounds weakly to McDonald.

Nothing has changed since last year: watching Tek hit is a painful thing to have to do.

[SF]

Nice motoring by Drew to catch Thomas' flare. Not a tough play at all, but certainly a solid play as it really seemed like a bloop single off the bat.

[SF]

"One of the things that helped Josh Beckett last year was that he got off to a good start", sayeth a Blue Jays announcer.

What the heck does this even mean?

[SF]

"You just want to find guys like this, tough, hard-nosed", says the color man about Beckett. Yeah, and it also helps if they can through a knee-buckling curveball and spot their 97mph cheese on the corner.

Scouts who sign nothing but tough, hard-nosed guys with 7.88 ERAs don't tend to last.

[SF]

Beckett looks pretty darn good considering the layoff and the back issues. Very sharp, good location, good mix of pitches as well, a well-called game from Tek. Let's see what happens the deeper he goes, if he can make it through the order a couple of times.

As I type, Jacoby goes deep!!

[Dionysus]

Power from thge speedster!

[Max]

Ellsbury's home run is a nice surprise. Remy just noted that Jacoby is 4 for 4 against Halladay, with 2 home runs.

[Dionysus]

SF, these announcers have been atrocious all series. Be happy you missed it.

Also be happy you missed the Sox's play the last two nights.

[SF]

Pedro lines one to Shannon Stewart, good contact again but caught for the out. The youngsters showing the vets how to hit Halladay...

[Dionysus]

Pedroia got good wood on that one, just not quite enough

[SF]

Ugh, now they are talking about Beane, Youk, the GGoW nickname, how Youk can't run, but, and I quote, "boy, how he can play the game". Did they cross the real game feed with one of those "fans in the booth" promotional things where amateurs try their hand at calling an inning?

[SF]

In the second inning one of the announcers asked another announcer, ostensibly a former player, "if you played today how would you prepare for Roy Halladay?" (not a bad question, right?). The answer: "wow, that's a good question!". And then nothing.

Great, illuminating stuff.

[SF]

Papi taps to short following a Youk walk. Inning over. Just the run from Ellsbury's round-tripper. 1-0 Sox going into the bottom of the third.

[Dionysus]

I particualrly enjoyed "You have to have agreat onbase percentage to take a pitch liek that"

I'm pretty sure its the other way around.

[Dionysus]

ick. I hate walks. Dammit Josh, bear down.

[SF]

How does Beckett look so sharp and then walk John McDonald, who is basically a terrible hitter?

[yankeemonkey]

I just realized Spunky McScrappenstein isn't playing today. What gives?

[SF]

Tremendous pitch by Beckett to K Stewart looking. Stewart unhappy but he has zero case, the ball wasn't even near the corner. Instant popout follows and the inning is over. Nice.

[Dionysus]

They're just giving us a break, ym. Too much scrappiness causes cancer, you know.

[SF]

Taking a break, back in a while...

[Dionysus]

Ugh. Stupid mistakes.

Still, for being as rusty as Josh must be....

[rootbeerfloat]

Just got back from a meeting to check in... exactly how rusty is Beckett looking?

[Dionysus]

He's needing alot more pitches than he usually does, rbf. The line itself isn't TOO bad, but

HOME RUN TEK!

[Atheose]

HOMERUN VARITEK! I just got in, missed the first 4 innings.

[Atheose]

Wow, that's 3 homers for Varitek so far this season. Yes I'm counting the one that they stole from him in Oakland.

Ellsbury homered? Wow, he has as many as Manny and Ortiz now!

[Dionysus]

And Tek has the most on the team, Atheose.

Halladay gets ellsbury out for the first time ever

[Dionysus]

Side Note: The Rays suck at baserunning

[Dionysus]

hmmm that chick runnign the sovenier stand looked cute.

I'm so lonely.

[Dionysus]

*wishes his TV worked. TBS annoucners have to be better than Blue Jay ones*

[Dionysus]

Thats what, the fourth broken bat in this game?

[Atheose]

Beckett walks Rios, Wells up. Beckett stays out there.

[Jays Fan]

I absolutely concur that the Blue Jays announcers suck. Be happy you don't have to listen to them every game.

[Atheose]

Shit, 2-0 count to Wells.

[Atheose]

Wells walked on 4 pitches, Beckett is out. Little Manny coming from the bullpen, PLEASE don't give up any more of Beckett's runs.

[Dionysus]

Mediocre night for Josh. Too many walks, too many pitches. I'll give him some leeway since it was his first start back.

[Atheose]

Frank Thomas crushes a grand slam on the first goddamn pitch. I think the whole world expected a fastball there--it's all Manny throws.

[rootbeerfloat]

crap

[yankeemonkey]

Gulp.

[Atheose]

So Manny blew a situation the other day when Wake was pitching, and does the same now. Sigh.

[rootbeerfloat]

Is anyone else listening to mlbRadio.com? They still have the score as 2-1?

[Jays Fan]

By the way, if you're wondering why The Gritmyster isn't playing at short it's that John MacDonald plays during Halladay's games as he's more of a defensive specialist and the Doc induces so many ground balls. Nothing out of the ordinary.

[rootbeerfloat]

This is so weird - I already had to listen to Manny giving up a homerun once, now I have to listen to it again.

[Atheose]

I figured as much, Jays Fan. McDonald is a FANTASTIC shortstop, much better than Eckstein in my opinion.

[yankeemonkey]

McDonald = vacuum cleaner at SS
Eckstein = throws like a girl at SS

[I'mBillMcNeal]

I'm not saying this IS the case, but I HOPE that the crappy baseball we've seen from the RS the ast three games is just fatigue from that long road trip catching up to them. ...
And watch. RS leave town, Thomas goes back to being the Big Skirt (sorry I had to quote @$$hole Jay Mariotti there. But the nickname is appropriate.)

[rootbeerfloat]

How is it that JD Drew seems impervious to this road trip fatigue?

[Atheose]

Pedroia thrown out at first on a close play. Youk hustles and gets a triple.

[Jays Fan]

You're right Atheose and yankeemonkey, MacDonald is the much better shortstop, which is why a lot of Jays fans were surprised at Eckstein's signing. The Jays just gave MacDonald a big contract (relatively speaking) in the offseason, then 2 months later signed Ek. I agree that things needed to be shaken up in the roster, but most fans felt MacDonald paid his dues to be able to play everyday. I guess we'll see how the added grit pays off. The Jays needed some spark to play smallball, and they were terrible at stranding runners last year. We'll see what happens.

[yankeemonkey]

Can someone please tell me why the hell Halladay is still out there?

[Jays Fan]

Agreed yankeemonkey. Why run an ace out for more than 100 pitches this early in the season? I only see it on Gameday so I can't tell how tired he is, but what's the point of avoiding the bullpen? No way should he see the 9th.

[yankeemonkey]

Accardo is in for the save...

[rootbeerfloat]

In my mlbRadio world, it's only the top of the 7th....

[Jays Fan]

Already Accardo is saving it his way... putting men on base and making it interesting. Can't wait until Ryan is back.

[Atheose]

The ump is squeezing Accardo. Not that I'm complaining.

Full count to Drew... who foul tips a pitch that's dropped by the catcher.

[Atheose]

Varitek singles, moving Drew to 3rd. Tying run at the plate! Come on Ellsbury!

[yankeemonkey]

Maybe this is why Halladay stayed in as long as he did....

[Jays Fan]

You're probably right YM. How did this guy save 30 games last year? I would like to see a stat of how many 1-2-3 innings he had.

[rootbeerfloat]

And it comes down to Lugo. Sigh

[Atheose]

Hey, Lugo is going to have a great bounceback year! Drew is already well on his way.

And Lugo pops up right as I say that. To make things worse, Mo just closed out a save.

[Adam W]

With two down, and the tying run up to bat, why isn't Sean Casey batting for Julio Lugo? This just makes no sense to me.

The Sox hired Casey for a reason, right?

[rootbeerfloat]

Well, this series just sucked.

[Jays Fan]

Good game guys. The East is going to be nasty this season.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Rootbeerfloat, I know this is too late, but go to the radio screen and click on the WRKO radio link. It should catch you up. For some reason the mlb.com radion drifts farther and farther behind as the game goes on.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

JF, I don't know why so many think you're going to win the division just as I don't know why so many as so dismissive of you guys. It will be a war in the East this year between Bos, NY and Tor, and Ray will make it even more interesting.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

I guess that's my convoluted way of saying I think it's a tossup. I don't think any team has any real advantage right now that gives it a distinct advantage and will hold up in the long run. (The Toronto bullpen is the best of the three, IMHO.)

[Jays Fan]

IBM, I'm not saying we're going to take the division this year (as much as I would love them to), but I'm hoping as long as the starting rotation stays healthy, the Jays should be able to be competitive. On paper, the division looks very tight, and that makes for great ball. I'd love to see a war all year between the big three (and if TB can stay there, all the better). I just hope that people don't dismiss the Jays, as it's a solid club with some good pitching with some solid veterans and some good young talent. Every year brings the promise of a good season, but since the mid 90's, the Jays have just been a tease (or flop). They've been good, but not great, and just missing something on the field.

[sam-yf]

Ive thought all winter that the Rays are also gonna be much better than advertised. Their offense can bang with the best of them and their Starting pitching is very good especially if a few of the other young guys like Sonnenstein come around. Percival should be able to stabilize the back of their pen if he stays healthy, the trick for them will be getting the ball to him. This could prove to be a very interesting year....

[Hudson]

I haven't been commenting, because (a) there's been so little to cheer for, and (b) the first couple weeks of the season can be such a crapshoot. I expect the Sox to revert toward their expected men (a .590-.600 ballclub), just as I expect the Kansas City Royals to wind up closer to .500.

But sheesh, this has been an ugly week.

[Hudson]

[mean not men]

[Hudson]

Note also that the Sox have a pretty brutal schedule coming up, at least on paper: Detroit, the Yankees, Cleveland, the Angels -- and even Texas gives me some shivers, since they seem to have hit the Sox pretty hard in recent years.

Not the best time to be struggling to tune up the rotation, the pen *and* the lineup.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

JF, if Halladay stays healthy, you're pretty solid. One thing that might kill you is a potential lack of consistent power (that's speculative on my part.) But as I said, I love your 'pen. ...

Speaking of pens, Cafardo wrote in the Globe of today's game that Thomas says he's been studying film for the first time, and that he noted some tendencies from MDC. If that's true, 1. not too smart to reveal it, because; 2. Ferrell needs to fix it pronto. The RS pen really needs MDC.

As Hudson said, an ugly week. But thank God it's the first week and not the 21st week. I got the feeling that the RS simultaneously need a week off to rest and to play every day to work the kinks out. Lugo probably needs to see a therapist.

One positive: Tek and Drew hit fairly well. Biggest negative: The 'pen looks like it absolutely stinks. Still, it's better without Gagne.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Yes, Hudson, I'm wincing at the thought of the schedule right now. But take solace in the fact that NYY has been off to some horrific Aprils before and has recovered nicely. So I know it can be done. And I know this team has the character to do it.

[Jays Fan]

IBM, I too hope that Halladay can stay healthy. Halladay's health has always been a weird one: it's not that he's prone to injury, but he has had his string of wacky ones. Acute appendicitis, come-backers, stuff you can't predict. The best thing that happened to club last year was the young arms getting a chance to throw. We've never had a good back end of the rotation since the glory days (and I would put both Marcum and McGowan ahead of Stottlemyre) but the string of McGowan, Marcum, and Litch could be the best 3-4-5 I can remember on this club. I'm more worried about Burnett. The guy has a golden arm but can't keep it healthy (or consistent for that matter - the guy is a career 0.500 pitcher. I call him the Raúl Mondesí of pitching - never quite living up to expectations). He can have lights-out stuff or nothing at all. I hope he can keep his A-game. I really like the 'pen but it's really too bad that Jannsen had to suffer the season-ending torn labrum. Not that you can see injuries coming, but that came from nowhere.

I haven't been following what has been going on with the Rays, but man, they are really burning it up. Hudson is right though, and the first couple weeks of the season is a real crapshoot and it takes a while for teams to settle into their patterns. Baltimore always is strong out of the gate but typically can't maintain it. As Hudson said, Boston will likely drift down into their normal .590-.600 ballclub and so will New York. I would love to see Toronto maintain this level of intensity, but inconsistent offense has always been an issue. Maybe the Gritmeister can keep them on task. I think it'll take a boatload of wins to take the East this year.

[attackgerbil]

Jays Fan, I think you are spot on.