Mendoza's Line: Rangers-Sox Gamer I

Former Sox prospect Luis Mendoza (traded to Texas in 2006 for Bryan Corey) was touched for four runs and eight hits in his first start of the season, which came against Toronto, but only one of those runs was earned which leaves him with a deceptively low ERA after what was a pretty poor outing. The first-place Red Sox send Daisuke Matsuzaka to the mound as the Rangers come to Fenway for a three four-game series starting tonight.

Lineups follow, comment away...

Texas
I. Kinsler 2b	.297
M. Young ss	.234
J. Hamilton cf	.308
M. Bradley rf	.353
H. Blalock 3b	.302
D. Murphy lf	.305
F. Catalanotto dh	.233
G. Laird c	.255
B. Broussard 1b	.200
L. Mendoza	1.80
Boston
J. Ellsbury cf	.212
D. Pedroia 2b	.329
D. Ortiz dh	.111
M. Ramirez lf	.343
K. Youkilis 3b	.371
J.D. Drew rf	.362
J. Varitek c	.278
S. Casey 1b	.312
J. Lowrie ss	.250
D. Matsuzaka	2.70

Comments

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Dice-K with K to open the game.
This good Dice-K. More of this Dice-K.

[Atheose]

Daisuke is throwing strikes. That's always good, based on the 4 or 5 times he's done it. Heh.

K to Kinsler on 4 pitches, two swings-and-misses.

[Atheose]

Two quick strikes to Young! Dice-K is getting ahead of people!

Boooo, automatic double to Young on a lucky slap.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Runner on base.
Bad Dice-K emerges.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Too many pitches.

[Atheose]

Daisuke sends Hamilton to the bench. Woohoo.

Now all he has to do is... wait nevermind, he just walked Bradley.

[Atheose]

Whew, Casey makes a good play and the inning is over. Time for some runs.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Let's get through the order once then tear this guy up.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Hey ... WTF is Tampa thinking giving Longoria a huge contract before he's even arbitration eligible? Thanks for raising the bar, @$$holes.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Manny: Be the bad man.

[attackgerbil]

Manny was right, it was outside, but that's a close pitch to watch.

[TJ]

nevermind arvitration elibible, tyhey coulda waited longer then 6 career games.

Tampa pretty much screwed over the other 29 teams with that move.

[Atheose]

Kinsler steals third easily? WTF?

[Atheose]

Sigh, sac fly. Rangers up 1-0. Youk could have turned and thrown home and it would have been close, but oh well.

[Atheose]

Hughes has a high pitch count so far despite not getting into any trouble; 40 after 2 innings.

[Atheose]

HAHA, late strike call to Bradley to make it a full count. In the replay you can clearly see Milton throw his bat and the ump is staring at him, then makes the call. I'm cool with it.

[Atheose]

Aaaaah Bradley K's. Time for some offense damnit!

[Micah-SF]

Well, 1 run through 3 isn't bad, but 62 pitches is - I'd really like it if Dice-K could learn to pitch more efficiently this year. His second start gave me hope, but it's starting to look like he's going to be the enigmatic, frustrating, talented pitcher he was last year, and a drag on the bullpen.

The really annoying thing is, he has a 2.73 ERA and is leading the league in strikeouts right now - imagine if he actually had COMMAND of the strike zone.

Now let's stop being shut out by Random Guy Named Mendoza.

[Micah-SF]

Are we only capable of working the count against the Yankees? This is getting annoying.

[Atheose]

Lowrie with the double!

[Micah-SF]

Right, that's it. Bench Lugo, play Lowrie ALL the time. I like this kid!

[sf rod]

congrats to jed on his first hit at fenway. hope there's another 3,000 behind it.

[Micah-SF]

Yeah, so, time for Ortiz to WAKE UP.

[sf rod]

a good spot here for papi to bust out.

[sf rod]

and our prayers our answered.

[Micah-SF]

And by "wake up" I totally meant "hit a grand slam".

WELCOME BACK, MY FRIEND!

[Atheose]

WTF I go to the bathroom and come back and we're up 4-1? I MISSED A PAPI GRANNY?!?!?!

[no sleep til brooklyn]

First pitch homerun, oh Papi- how we have missed you! Welcome back!!

[Atheose]

Hehe that was funny seeing Papi assaulted by the time he got back to the dugout. Gotta love team chemistry.

[Atheose]

Wow Lowrie makes a great play showing off his speed. Glad Manny has a sense of humour about it, having the ball stolen from him sorta by a rookie.

[Micah-SF]

Catalanotto still owns us. Sigh.

[Lar]

Damn Ortiz. Hahah. I say this because the one day I took him off my team in a daily fantasy league, he hits a grand slam. And I need those HR/RBIs too!

[Atheose]

Daisuke's pitch count is high, and the Yankees are threatening in the 5th thanks to a Baltimore error.

[Micah-SF]

He gets me points against you this week, Lar, but you're already ahead by way too much for it to matter. How DO you get all your pitchers to get wins at the same time like that, anyway?

[SoxFan]

Gerald Laird's picture makes him look like he should be named Igor.

[Atheose]

That sucks Lar! Though that's what you get for doubting the large father.

[Atheose]

I'm losing in the fantasy league by 10 points to sf rod, and I have all 5 of my pitchers pitching either tonight, tomorrow or sunday. Based on how the league scores pitchers I'm VERY nervous.

[Lar]

Micah - I wish I know, so I can reproduce it! ;)

Ortiz also killed last week for me because I lost batting average by 0.005, and his 0/17 or whatever didn't help.. (also, that league has OPS, which I also lost by something too small)..

Grumbles!

How's DiceK?

[Micah-SF]

Who is this awesome man and what has he done with our beloved Captain?

[Lar]

Seriously though, I think my pitching is actually good (at least it passes the eyeball test - Smoltz, Oswalt, Penny, Snell, maybe Greinke, Putz, Kazmir.

Too bad my hitting really sucks. But they've been hitting well thus far.. so we'l see how long that last..

[Atheose]

I dunno Micah, but I like him. Maybe he saw how Posada did last year and decided that it's a good idea to hit well.

[Micah-SF]

Atheose: Yeesh, good luck with that. Try not to get too many negative points, eh?

Which reminds me, I should send my analysis to Fox (even if they'll ignore it) - I have definitively proven to myself, and hopefully to the rest of the league, just how much this scoring system blows.

In other news, keep it going, Jed!

[Micah-SF]

The kids are all right!

[Atheose]

Lowrie is my new favorite prospect. Looking forward to trading Lugo.

HOLY CRAP Ellsbury triples over the center fielder! 7-1 Sox!

[Atheose]

Yeah Micah, any time there are THREE negative modifyers (walks, hits, runs) and only TWO positive ones (IP, K's) it's not a good thing.

PEDROIA with the 2-run homer! We've hit for the cycle this inning.

[Micah-SF]

REALLY wish I'd played Dustin this week, although it wouldn't have mattered given Lar's Amazing Pitching (TM).

But god, this is fun. I like stress-free games. We've had too few of them.

Now if only Dice can figure out how to pitch with a lead (strikes!) we'll be all set.

[Atheose]

Boo, Ortiz HBP. Great job by Ortiz to talk the umpire into it. I'd be furious if I was Washington, the Rangers manager.

[Atheose]

Replay shows it clearly hit Ortiz in the leg.

[Lar]

This looks bad for my team though, because even given "Lar's Amazing Pitching", I'm actually (as of right now) 5th in the league in this week's scoring..

And that's after 70 points from pitching... (and a -9 by Snell)..

[Atheose]

I had 68 points on Monday from scoring, it was pretty epic. Since then I've struggled though. ARod needs a couple of pointless homeruns in a losing game.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

This is a key inning for Dice-K. he tend to struggle with a big lead.
I finish typing and he K's Broussard.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

WELCOME BACK, MY FRIEND!
and
The kids are all right!

Micah quoting 70s rock songs tonight.

[Atheose]

70 points from pitching, Lar? I hate you!

[Micah-SF]

I have 105 points from hitting and -14 from pitching. One of these weeks I'll run into someone who has worse luck with pitching than I do - I've won batting points all three weeks, I think, but I've always gotten crushed by pitching.

And I'm going to start a health Cueto, Litsch and K-Rod next week and that's it. My pitching staff is almost entirely made up of injured or ineffective pitchers - basically every bet there I made was wrong and compounded by the terrible scoring system. What's more, I see no point in trying to trade for pitching given the absolute crapshoot that the scoring system makes it - I guess I'll just have to hope people pick it up before I'm too far into the dumps.

Ah well, this year's looking like a possible wash pretty early. Next time we should try a Yahoo league or something where the scoring makes more sense.

Dice at 95 through 5 - I bet he comes back out for the sixth.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Here's what blows: Sox have an 8-run lead and they'll be lucky to get 6 innings from the starting pitcher.

[TJ]

Pawtucket is having much the same result tonite. There up 13-2 after 4 innings.

[Atheose]

There's an epic battle between Giambi and Daniel Cabrera going on right now. Four straight fouled-off pitches. It's a full count with 2 outs and runners at 1st and 2nd.

Aaaaand he walks him. He's at 98 pitches, with the bases loaded. Melky up.

[Atheose]

HAHA this is funny listening to Remmy make fun of the couple that just got engaged.

[Micah-SF]

I'mBillMcNeal: Haha, I guess I am. Didn't even mean to.

I'm not generally a big fan of 70s music, more 60s (born in '85, Dad has a huge vinyl collection).

Hit that to the wrong part of the park, JD.

[Atheose]

Smart move Micah. What I'm gunna start doing more often is taking a look at which team my pitchers will be facing during the week, and whether they'll have one start or two. I think this is the only effective way to get points from pitching.

Wow, great play by the Rangers center fielder.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Good news: 2 LOBs by the Sox through 5.

[Atheose]

I was born in '86 Micah. Glad I'm not the only youngin' round these parts.

[Atheose]

Woohoo, first pitch fly-out. Daisuke needed that.

Yankees left the bases loaded in the 6th, and now Hughes gives up back-to-back singles. Time for the O's to break out.

Ugh, ground rule double.

[Atheose]

SHIT, 2-run homerun. Daisuke is getting pulled. Time for the Javier Lopez Comedy Hour.

I've always been a huge fan of Young. That man can hit.

[Atheose]

Whoops, that was Hank Blalock. Not Michael Young.

[Micah-SF]

Why can't Dice ever go seven? I mean, he'll get another win tonight (gee, wish I had him in fantasy) but it's annoying to have to rely so much on the bullpen even in a blowout.

In Yankee-land, Phil is falling apart with some help from A-Rod's error.

[Atheose]

Wooooooo, Hughes gives up a few runs thanks to an ARod error. O's up 3-1, 2 in scoring position with 1 out.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

85. 86. Jeez, you guys a pups.
1965 here.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Tito: Please, please, for the love of God, play Lowrie at SS more.

[TJ]

OK at the very least we need to ditch Alex Cora, I know its unlikely to deal Lugo midseason but this kid needs to be here all season!

[Atheose]

Lowrie with yet ANOTHER hit! Maybe Lugo will go down with an injury and we can use this kid more often.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Balt up 3-1 w/bases loaded in bot 6.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

They're not going to dump Cora. Lowrie needs to play and Cora is a key reserve infielder.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

5-1 Balt. runners on the corners.

[TJ]

if the ditch Cora they can start Lowrie and use Lugo to be a reserve, he'd be an expensive reserve but oh well

[Atheose]

More Yankee shatenfreuda (sp?)! 5-1 O's, men on the corners with 1 out still.

[Micah-SF]

And Hawkins lets all of Phil's baserunners score. The ERA's back up to 8.82.

GREAT at-bat by Jacoby. If the kid's plate patience stays like this and he starts hitting more, damn, watch out.

[Atheose]

That's why I'm praying Lugo goes down with an injury. I like Cora as a backup.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Lugo's not a reserve, though. That's one of those things the fans want to happen that ain't gonna happen.

Ellsbury walks, DPed up, setting up for another Papi slam, eh?

[Micah-SF]

Tough luck on the line drive for Papi.

The LaTroy Hawkins Experience: not so much fun in Baltimore.

[no sleep til brooklyn]

Nice hit to left for Papi, too bad Murphy was there.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Balt 7, NYY 1.
THAT's the LaTroy Hawkins I know and love.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

6 run 6th for Balt. Markakis batting for the second time in the inning.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

8-1. Millar up, 11th to bat in the inning.

[Atheose]

Wow, two singles in the inning for Markakis.

[Atheose]

Time for ARod and Cano (both on my fantasy team) to hit a few meaningless homeruns.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Millar Ks to end it.

[Atheose]

I wanted ARod and Cano to hit meaningless homeruns, not you Moeller!

[Atheose]

Wow, Santana struck out 10 over 7 innings. 0 BB, 3 ER.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

The backup catcher homers for NYY.

[Atheose]

Woah, liner hit back at Aardsma went off his arm. Replay shows it hit off the wrist of his glove hand. At least it's not his throwing arm.

[Atheose]

Hey Micah, I'll trade you ARod and Frank Thomas for Pujols and Ortiz :-)

[Atheose]

Yes Francona, use Timlin HERE. Where we have a huge lead!

[Atheose]

WOOHOO, Casey digs out a double.

[Atheose]

Wow Casey does not dive well.

[Atheose]

Holy shit, did you guys see Jose Reyes get a concusion sliding into 2nd base tonight?

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Yes. Ouch.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Here's a chance to get that ERA down, Timmy.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

One out, Timlin's ERA goes down more than 3 runs/inning.

[I'mBillMcNeal]

Two outs, Timlin's ERA has dropped 6.00