Yeah, well, Pedroia sucked. So take that!

As for the Yankees, well, they'll go pound that Budweiser and get 'em tomorrow

Yikes.

Please stop trolling

dear god ... wok, please ... get some help.

Wow, that comment got yanked but quick

I went ahead and got rid of Wok's post, which was extremely offensive and not appropriate in the wake of such a tragedy. I've also let Jim know so he can decide if he'd rather reinstate the post.

okajima is pretty good, huh?

Okajima looks like it's all smoke and mirrors.

Can't believe I'm saying this again, but kudos to Tito. He knows he can't use his one stud reliever, so he chooses a guy who's a complete mystery to the opposition. For 1 inning, just that can be enough.

When he got to 3-1 on ARod, I started to assume that they were just pitching around him to get to Thompson--who the hell wouldn't. I was shocked he threw him 2 strikes after that. He did a really nice job on him.

First time in a long time that I got to see a red sox game from start to finish. What a game. I thought tito put himself into a couple preventable bad matchups: romero vs arod?! Not keeping schilling and snyder in against the last right before bringing in lefty vs lefty (although, I guess schilling could have been out of gas). But hey, it worked out in the end. I just gotta wonder: are the sox winning *inspite* of tito's brain farts?

That said, I don't think the wmp pinch hit and bringing in okajima to close it out were amonst his brain farts. I guess he could've waited another inning for wmp, but you can't anticipate that. Plus, okajima has been one of the most reliable options thus far (outside of his first pitch in the mlb =P). I was a bit nervous with him up against arod, but I would rather roll my dice on arod a) not going yard thrice, and b) arod being unfamiliar with okajima over the fact that it was a lefty and also with the other option being pineiro.

Good to see schilling regroup after missing his spots in the 5th. That's what your workhorse has to do on off-nights: muster through long enough and regroup after giving up runs in order to buy your team some time to get back into it. Of course, I was also asking him in the 6th where all this was one inning ago =P

I just gotta wonder: are the sox winning *inspite* of tito's brain farts?

I missed the part of the game you're talking about, but I'm thinking that at that point, he considered it mop-up duty.

Schilling looked terrible, much like he did on opening night. Am I the only one who thought that?

Schilling looked terrible, much like he did on opening night. Am I the only one who thought that?

9 Baserunners in 7 innings. 5 K's. The HR to A-Rod w/ 2 outs and 2 strikes and was a heater on the outside black. A-Rod is just lights out right now. #### happens.

Schill was fine. Not great, but fine.

actually, regarding okajima, i was really starting to worry when he wasn't throwing the curve. it took like 15 pitches to get to it ... that pitch is devastating.

I was pretty sure A Rod was struck out in that at bat vs. Romero and Abreu looked lucky to get on base in the 9th vs. Okajima.

The strike zone was just plain horrible and inconsistent.

When he got to 3-1 on ARod, I started to assume that they were just pitching around him to get to Thompson--who the hell wouldn't. I was shocked he threw him 2 strikes after that. He did a really nice job on him.

I thought he hung the 3-1 curveball.

I was pretty sure A Rod was struck out in that at bat vs. Romero and Abreu looked lucky to get on base in the 9th vs. Okajima.

They were both struck out looking. The 2-2 pitch by Romero to A-Rod was waist high, middle of the plate. I think Marsh must have called that obvious strike a ball because A-Rod didn't hit it to the top row of the triangle seats.

this was the first game i've watched from beginning to end without being interrupted and i liked some parts of the team better than i thought i would after reading some comments around here.

i am hoping against hope that this game turns crisp around. i was rooting for him or pedroia to be a hero tonight and i was happy that he was able to contribute a triple to tie the game.

i thought schilling looked good and i like this even more efficient schilling who throws 88-90 and cranks it up to 93-4 when he needs a k. i thought his breaking ball was good, and except for 2 mistakes to arod, i thought he was spot on.

and who's the punk who's been complaining about crisp running in on fly balls, before correcting course and running back? i didn't see that at all tonight. in fact, i saw him running back without regard for the wall (which in one instance didn't help). but i thought he had good instincts tonight in CF.

Geez, I almost forgot: I hope Bruney's feelings weren't hurt by the way the Red Sox celebrated their victory tonight. Maybe he could have a little talk with ARod about his bat-throwing on the walkoff.

P.S. What morons were sending fruitbat and Veronica today, or were they just running on their own?

Did Mariano try to steal a base? (Mariano = Fruitbat)

I was listening on the radio, but it sounded like the Yankees made some loud outs before finally getting to Schilling.

As for Tito's moves, I thought sticking with Okajima rather than going to Piniero was among his best. Also pinch-hitting Wily Mo.

Also, I understand Drew got thrown out by a lot, but I like the idea of him running with fewer than two outs. He's got some serious DP candidates coming up after him.

I went ahead and got rid of Wok's post, which was extremely offensive and not appropriate in the wake of such a tragedy.

Good call. I think most of us are still working our way through the grief process about the Sanjaya vote.

The Drew CS looked like a blown hit-and-run. He didn't start running until well after Petitte had made his move toward the plate, kept looking in the whole time he ran. And when Lowell subsequently got his base hit that should have put Drew at third, he was grimacing and shaking his head at first base, as if he missed the sign that got Drew hung out to dry.

Did Mariano try to steal a base? (Mariano = Fruitbat)

Sorry, I meant Cora AGAINST Mariano.

I mean, aren't Pettite and Mariano the two pitchers you should be LEAST stealing against? Pettite hasa ridiculously good pickoff move (and a lefty), and Mariano doesn't have any breaking pitches to run against.

Cora and Veronica are ok baserunners, but Ichiro! they are not.

As for the Yankees, well, they'll go pound that Budweiser and get 'em tomorrow

I was under the impression that sloths were prone to pound 3000 Bud Lights.

I was not confident in schilling's performance last night. he spent the first two innings giving up fly balls to the warning track on just about every batter (at least 4 of 'em), couldn't really establish any of his pitchesan and finally got eaten up in the 5th. Only after he regrouped did he look like the dominant schilling of old. Gotta go check out 38 pitches to see if he did anything to right the ship, or if it just really took him 80 pitches of bp to get warmed up.

That said, that lost confidence I didn't have for schilling, I felt with pettitte. He was consistently throwing first pitch fastballs for strikes and frequently followed that up with another strike. That's almost a flaw against patient hitters. They waste strikes because they're trying to work the count in their favor. Taking the first pitch is a given, but that second one is a killer.

But luckily, the yankee pen was as horrible as advertised, and our pen, despite its question marks, has held up pretty well.

Veronica shows us why we let trot walk: he can hit lefties =P

I'm not sure if I'm worried about mariano. He started off either last year or two years ago the same way: two huge blown saves (both against the sox), but went on to have another terrific year. Plus, last night was the first time he's pitched in 5 days. If we pound him a couple more times this series and next weekend, then I can start celebrating the downfall of rivera =)

I find the use of Veronica as a nickname highly awful.

Pettitte was going well and I was begging the Sox hitters to swing at the first pitch because they were all constantly down 0-1 or 0-2. Pettitte looked really great and I'm going to be pretty mad if he ends up with an ERA better (or as good as) what he's been doing in the NL. He should be forced to put up a Josh Beckett year as he readjusts.

We know nothing about Mariano yet. It's just been a couple bad games and he'll occasionally have those, as hard as that is to believe.

Mariano didn't just have a bad game, he was extremely awful. Just kept throwing 90mph down the middle of the plate. Him giving up the runs wasn't bad luck, it was bad pitching, and if Cora (or Tito?) didn't make the stupid decision to steal, it would've been worse than 7-6.

I agree with Darren. "Veronica" is the worst nickname since Brocktoon.

Yeah he looked awful, but he hadn't pitched in a week. Sometimes good pitchers look awful.

Him giving up the runs wasn't bad luck, it was bad pitching, and if Cora (or Tito?) didn't make the stupid decision to steal, it would've been worse than 7-6.


You don't hand the Yankees outs in that situation.

But luckily, the yankee pen was as horrible as advertised, and our pen, despite its question marks, has held up pretty well.

The pen is holding up well because the starters are going deep(er). Also, Okajima is teh good.

That was awesome.

I'd like to take credit for announcing Varitek's death in the offense thread on the morning of game day. Thank you, thank you.

While the green uniforms were awful on everyone, I thought they made Pedroia in particular look like a christmas elf.

I agree with ekogan that Mariano actually looked bad, for pretty much hte first time in the hundreds of times I've watched him pitch. Has his velocity been this low all season? I kind of assumed he wasn't fully warmed up, or he was pacing himself, or it was jsut a weird night.

"the yankee pen was as horrible as advertised"

Was it advertised as horrible? I thought most people considered the Yankee bullpen an advantage over the Red Sox, at least until recently. Of course, they weren't counting on our hero in the dark.

According to the Globe, Mariano has blown 9 of 29 save opportunities against the Red Sox since 2003. And it appears that, with the exception of last year's disappointing squad, the Sox have been beating him about twice a year since 2001.

I don't understand "Veronica." But I like "Brocktoon."

"Veronica" was my response to the constant "Nancy Drew"'s being thrown at JD Drew. Veronica = Veronica Mars, who is actually a not lame teenage female detective.

Oh, I'm okay with that, then. It's like a feminist reclamation: rather than counter a mysoginistic female nickname with a male nickname, you give him a woman's name that is, in fact, an honorific. I like it.

I also think that Brocktoon sketch was hilariously weird, though, so I'm okay with both.

But the fact remains that Veronica is, and always will be, an incredibly lame nickname, and should be banished forever.

I recommend going with a Japanese theme for nicknames. That seems to be the in thing in 2007 Red Sox.

The Japanese suffix names with a honorific which depends on their relationship to the person. The most common is -san, which is basically Japanese for "Mr.".

So JD Drew should be called Drew-san.

Of course, if one starts hitting everything out of the park, then -san just isn't respectful enough. Then I suggest using the -sama suffix, which basically means "Lord". So for example Ortiz and A-Rod should be called Papi-sama and Rod-sama.

And if someone is small, young and has no ability to hit a fastball, then he ought to be called -chan. So Dusting Pedroia should be Pedrochan from now on.

I saw some guy on a blog call Okajima Okahontas today.

Pedrochan

I think I've a met Pedro Chan once.

John Kruk made a decent point (!) on ESPN, simply noting how important Ortiz's double against Myers was, forcing Torre's hand with regard to the bullpen (Torre said after the game that if Myers had retired Ortiz, he would have left him to face Manny and Drew).

Anyone know what Ortiz's numbers against Myers are since the latter joined the Yankees? I remember that big home run he hit into the wind against him, but I've no idea what the overall numbers are.

ekogan - I believe that his parents would have called Matsusaka "Dai-kun" as a child. Hope that doesn't catch on here...

Also, I understand Drew got thrown out by a lot, but I like the idea of him running with fewer than two outs. He's got some serious DP candidates coming up after him.

i don't mind running there, but drew has to try to get an almost half-decent jump. the ball was low and not really hittable ... that's the pitch you have to be able to steal on. sure, you risk getting picked off, but if you're going to run, you have to be able to make it when the ball is low and unhittable ... and if a hit and run is on, the hitter should let the low, unhittable ball go by.

Drew was thrown out when Lowell missed the hit and run sign.

Fantastic game.

Does swinging and missing ACTUALLY make it harder for a catcher to nail a runner? just wondeirng.

i don't mind running there, but drew has to try to get an almost half-decent jump. the ball was low and not really hittable ... that's the pitch you have to be able to steal on. sure, you risk getting picked off, but if you're going to run, you have to be able to make it when the ball is low and unhittable ... and if a hit and run is on, the hitter should let the low, unhittable ball go by.

Which is why Francona should have called for a RUN and HIT, not a HIT and RUN.

Still, he shoudln't have called or anything with Pettite on the mound, but still. Youdon't run on control lefties who have ridiculous pickoff moves. You run on wild righties who can't throw to 1st base to save their lives.

Which is why Francona should have called for a RUN and HIT, not a HIT and RUN.

that's what the ai used to always tell me when i called for the hit and run in earl weaver baseball.

Speaking of Rivera, who thought he lost his cool and threw at Lugo in the 8th? He was nowhere near the target and the ball went right over Lugo's head. Someone with Rivera's control rarely misses by that much. Wouldn't be surprised to see retribution tonight.

No one cares about this other than me, most likely, but WTIC 1080 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of broadcasting Red Sox games. I went to the microfilm to try and find out what station in Hartford carried the Red Sox before that. As it turns out, I couldn't find any evidence of TIC carrying them before 1960. WPOP and WDRC carried them before that. Like the young curmudgeon that I'm turning out to be, I fired off an email to them today.

Yeah, I believe in clutch hitting and other intangible stuff, yet I require evidence for some stupid radio station anniversary.

No one cares about this other than me, most likely, but WTIC 1080 is celebrating the 50th anniversary of broadcasting Red Sox games.

and yet in boston they switched again. back to 680 this year after ... it's gotta be like 15? with 850.

I came across an article from 1984. WTIC was looking to drop the Sox because the broadcast quality in 1983 was terrible. In 1983 Boston was carried by something called the Campbell Sports Network and the flagship station was WPLM out of Plymouth.

Whatever. If they're on during the day, I can catch them at 105.5 WVEI now. If they are on at nite, I have XM now.

I listened to many a scratchy, barely listenable game on 1080 at night, in the car, on the fire escape, barely able to follow the action, from NY and NJ, EWK. The bad old days. Now we have EE.

I read some article about a Blohard (NYC Red Sox fan group) who was following the team back in '78. The only place he could get good radio reception was Central Park, so he'd drive there to listen to the games.

I got an email from TIC saying that heyt were going by their old records. I'm still not convinced and am going to fire off an email to the Hartford Courant.