4/10 @ Toronto

[Coco's Disciples]

Kyle Drabek is terrible, let's do it.

[VA Sox Fan]

RED SOX (1-3)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 3B
Sweeney RF
Ross LF
Saltalamacchia C
Punto SS
Pitching: RHP Daniel Bard (2-9, 3.33 in 2011)

[redsoxfan3]

Interesting look at a pitcher who has moved from the BP with some success (Chris Sale) and Bard:

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx...603&position=P

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx...115&position=P

They look quite similar in pitch values except that Bard's change averages ~4 mph faster than Sale's. Bard has a much better FB and slider though.

I go to the same college that Sale is from. He was a beast in college. He made his way to the majors very fast. He was a great starter in college and has a lot of potential. I always saw Sale as a natural starter. Sale reminds me of Bard. Both good starting pitchers in college. Bard obviously has not been a starter longer than Sale, but both have great potential to be successful starters.

[redsoxfan3]

Score prediction: Red Sox 9 - Blue Jays 4

We need to jump on Drabek early. Let's start out the first inning by scoring a couple of runs. Give Bard some run support and get him a W in his first start.

[ORS]

WMB hit his first HR of the season today. Line is at .364/.364/.591. Some sign of patience would be nice, but the footsteps behind Kevin just got a touch louder.

[mvp 78]

RED SOX (1-3)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 3B
Sweeney RF
Ross LF
Saltalamacchia C
Punto SS
Pitching: RHP Daniel Bard (2-9, 3.33 in 2011)

We'll see what the spark plug can do in the 9 hole. Aviles sitting was a pretty obvious choice.

[redsoxfan3]

RED SOX (1-3)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 3B
Sweeney RF
Ross LF
Saltalamacchia C
Punto SS
Pitching: RHP Daniel Bard (2-9, 3.33 in 2011)

Hopefully Ells and Youk can both have solid games. They both could use them. Salty needs to get going too.

[jung]

I see that Youk did get dropped a spot. A little surprised that they did not drop him behind Sweeney given the pitching matchup and the way Sweeney has hit so far.

[redsoxfan3]

I see that Youk did get dropped a spot. A little surprised that they did not drop him behind Sweeney given the pitching matchup and the way Sweeney has hit so far.

Maybe Bobby V is hoping that since Drabek is pitching that he will give Youk another chance in the 5 hole? I think if Youk wants to get going offensively, then he has a good chance with facing Drabek. I would prefer if Sweeney does not hit 5th. You want someone with consistent contact batting 5th, so if Youk does not start to hit then maybe Sweeney will get moved up. Typically, you want a guy with some decent power hitting 5th, which is the strategy with Youk hitting 5th over Sweeney. If Ross gets things going, I would not mind seeing him bat 5th over Youk.

[kapsis21]

and when i said Papi behind AGon would work better a lot of guys were up in arms about Youk being perfect at no 4....

[jung]

Sweeney is not a typical 5 but he is going so much better than Youk is right now and he would be lefty against righty. I suspect you might be right about Youk getting one more shot this high in the order and granted he is being dropped a spot already.

Dropping him further might take some pressure off of him. He looks as frustrated with this as anybody else might be.

[Spudboy]

"America's Hat" is the derogatory term used to refer to Canada by Jim Rome.

EDIT: ie, it is not an independent, sovereign country, but merely an American accessory, and since it is on top of America, it is the hat.

Garcia.

[Spudboy]

Kyle Drabek is terrible, let's do it.

Wit' ya bro.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Kyle Drabek is terrible, let's do it.

I hate to sound pessimistic but last year we struggled vs scrubs at times. I feel a win but I'm not trying to get my hopes up.

[Brown28]

If Punto has another good game tonight, and maybe a few more over the rest of the month, I think he'll be our everyday SS by the middle of May. Unless Aviles starts to hit like he did in ST