Friday, April 14, 2006

SHANE HILDABRAND NEEDS TO SHUT UP

The Red Sox are going to be really interesting to watch this season not just because they'll compete for a playoff spot and possibly more, but because they seem to be pissing off every other team they play.

The other night, Shea Hillenbrand took a 3-1 pitch, thought it was ball 4 and started walking down to first base. The umpire called it a strike, Shea returned to the batter's box, and grounded into a double play. Josh Beckett, who was on the mound, barked at Hillenbrand. Actually, it was more like he berated Hillenbrand.

The incident ended with nothing notable happening later. However, Hillenbrand keeps complaining about it. Now, I don't know what Beckett said, and it may have been out of line. Shea is a solid and hard working player and he usually doesn't pull crap to try to sneak on base. Also, at least when he was with us in Boston, his batting eye isn't world renowned. He very well could have misjudged the strike call. But the whole thing should have just ended.

Shea is calling out Beckett through the media, accusing Beckett of actions he "should be embarrassed" about. Whether or not that is true, I don't know. Pitchers and batters have all sorts of confrontations, verbal and nonverbal, physical and nonphysical. This seems to be one of many but Shea is taking it to a whole new level.

The two are bound to face each other again as we have 16 more encounters with the Jays. Beckett will probably be starting in the opener of the 3 game series that begins in a week up in Toronto. It should be interesting, to say the least.

ANOTHER WELLS CAUSES SOX TO LOSE


Once again, the Red Sox equation of no pitching and no hitting (for 7 innings at least) resulted in a loss. The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the 1st, but Clement gave it right back with a 6 run 2nd inning. The big hit was Vernon Wells's Grand Slam. Clement allowed another run in the 5th then Tavarez allowed one in the 6th.

The Sox rallied against Toronto's bullpen. Ortiz hit a 2 run homer in the 8th to make it 8-3. The bottom of the lineup worked some walks and got a few hits to bring the score to 8-6. Then Ortiz came up with 1 on and 2 out against Toronto closer BJ Ryan. The first pitch to Ortiz was a crushable one, but Papi got under it and flew out just shy of the warning track to end the game.

Two really pathetic displays by the Red Sox in two consecutive nights against a team we're going to have to play 16 more times. Not only did Clement suck last night, but almost the entire lineup performaed poorly. The Red Sox struck out 13 times last night. Each battered went down the way of the K at least once. The 6 thru 9 hitters went a combined 1 for 13. The 4 thru 9 hitters combined for 3 for 21.

Youkilis, Loretta, and Ortiz did great, combining for 6 hits in 14 ABs. They had all 3 of our extra basehits and 11 of our 14 total bases. They knocked in every run we scored. Starting with Ramirez, however, there was a considerable drop off in production.

On the bright side, Keith Foulke looked solid going 2 scoreless innings to end the game. He struck out 2 and the only baserunner he allowed was off a walk.

The Man of the Game is Ted Lilly who settled down after the 1st and pitched 7 strong innings allowing just the one run, scattering 6 hits and striking out 10. I don't know why we can't figure him out. He went 3-0 against us last season.

The B*tch-Goat looks like this:
Clement: 0.6 - 4+ IP, 7 ER
Lowell: 0.1 - 0 for 4, 2K, 2 LOB
Mohr: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, 2 LOB
Pena: 0.1 - 0 for 3, 2 K, 2 LOB
Tavarez: 0.1 - 2 IP, ER

The Red Sox look to rebound tonight against the Seattle Mariners. Curt Schilling faces Jamie Moyer. Curt is looking for win #3 and Jamie is looking for win #1.