8/7 vs Yankees

[Palodios]

Wakefield was lit up against the Twins early on the season when their offense was mostly AAA guys. Hopefully he can do some damage against their lineup tonight.

[a700hitter]

The one-third of an inning by Morales was one of the most excruciating that I have seen in a long while. He is too inconsistent and unreliable. Supposedly Okajima is lights out in AAA. They should bring him up to see if he can be effective.

[a700hitter]

With Lowrie being activated tonight, maybe we have seen the last of Darnell McDonald.

[a700hitter]

...and who gets cut if Drew comes back before September?

[Palodios]

...and who gets cut if Drew comes back before September?

 

Darnell will probably stay on the roster when Lowrie is activated. Aviles is not ready to be a 4th OF. The Sox are carrying an extra RP right now, with a short bench, probably to rest the bullpen during this 20 consecutive game streak. Randy Williams is the most likely candidate to be taken off the roster today, with Darnell following to correspond to the Drew move.

[a700hitter]

Darnell will probably stay on the roster when Lowrie is activated. Aviles is not ready to be a 4th OF. The Sox are carrying an extra RP right now' date=' with a short bench, probably to rest the bullpen during this 20 consecutive game streak. Randy Williams is the most likely candidate to be taken off the roster today, with Darnell following to correspond to the Drew move.[/quote']That makes sense.

[MNSoxChief102]

Pitching matchups for the Twins series

 

Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff August 8, 2011 10:00 AM

 

Tonight: RHP Tim Wakefield (6-4, 4.99) vs. RHP Scott Baker (8-6, 3.01), 7:10 p.m., NESN, ESPN

 

Tuesday: LHP Erik Bedard (4-7, 3.55) vs. LHP Francisco Liriano (7-9, 5.03), 8:10 p.m., NESN

 

Wednesday: LHP Jon Lester (11-5, 3.23) vs. RHP Nick Blackburn (7-9, 4.58), 8:10 p.m., NESN

 

Tonight's game is probably going to be the toughest. Baker has been the Twins best pitcher all season long and while his win-loss record doesn't indicate it, his ERA of 3.01 does. We need to get to him early and often, knock him out of the game, and get into their bullpen.

 

Liriano is hit or miss... with the way we've been hitting lefties, I can see us knocking him around unless he's really on his game.

 

Wednesday should be no problem. Lester is pitching well, aside from one inning on Friday, and Blackburn is definitely hittable. Need to take two out of three in this series for sure.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Tonight's game is probably going to be the toughest. Baker has been the Twins best pitcher all season long and while his win-loss record doesn't indicate it, his ERA of 3.01 does. We need to get to him early and often, knock him out of the game, and get into their bullpen.

 

Liriano is hit or miss... with the way we've been hitting lefties, I can see us knocking him around unless he's really on his game.

 

Wednesday should be no problem. Lester is pitching well, aside from one inning on Friday, and Blackburn is definitely hittable. Need to take two out of three in this series for sure.

 

Last nights game had the feel of a game that jump starts a huge win streak. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Sox went on some outrageous .800 baseball tear for a month and started to pull away from the Yankees.

[jacksonianmarch]

Liriano has been pretty good since April. But he isnt the kind of pitcher who dominates the sox. Power guy with hit or miss command and the capability to be a hot head. My guess is the sox take 2 of 3

[ORS]

Last nights game had the feel of a game that jump starts a huge win streak. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Sox went on some outrageous .800 baseball tear for a month and started to pull away from the Yankees.

Maybe this is just my perception, but it feels like you've said this about 30 times this season.

[jacksonianmarch]

Maybe this is just my perception' date=' but it feels like you've said this about 30 times this season.[/quote']

 

It's baseball. Momentum stops with the next day's pitcher.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Maybe this is just my perception' date=' but it feels like you've said this about 30 times this season.[/quote']

 

I don't remember saying it before?

[Palodios]

Unless you score 10 runs a game...

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

I'm going to wait until about an hour before the game to make the game thread if that's cool with you guys. It's not my turn to make it, I only made it because BornToRun was at the game yesterday. I'm not sure if he's going to make an apperance today so that's why I'm going to wait.

[AtWork]

Wakefield was lit up against the Twins early on the season when their offense was mostly AAA guys. Hopefully he can do some damage against their lineup tonight.

 

I was at the game, the Twins had not one but two minor league hitters named Rene in their lineup.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Crawford is hitting 2nd tonight, Pedroia hitting 4th, Lowrie at 3B, Youk getting the day off.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

What's funny lol?

[AtWork]

Crawford is hitting 2nd tonight' date=' Pedroia hitting 4th, Lowrie at 3B, Youk getting the day off.[/quote']

 

I can't wait to hear about how Crawford belongs at the top of the lineup for the next month if he has a good game

[SoxFanForsyth]

What's funny lol?

 

Just because of all of the debate, that's all. The only reason he's hitting 2nd is because Youkilis is out of the lineup today.

 

Just when I was happy with him hitting 6th...

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

Oh gotcha haha.

[Thunder]

Lowrie's back! Sox OF's have been clutch this year. They have combined for all eight of the team's walk-offs; Crawford 4, Ellsbury 2, Reddick 1, even Drew has 1. Can't wait to have CC behind Ells in the order. Last time Sox were at Target Field was for the field's first three games last April.

[Jasonbay44]

Crawford's up to .260 now. Like Forsyth has been saying, I hope Crawford can remain hot through these last two months and into the playoffs and play out the rest of the contract like the Crawford we saw on the Rays.

[AtWork]

Anyone else find it strange that Crawford's struggled to deal with the pressure of Boston and his new contract yet he's killed the Yankees and gotten tons of walk off hits?

[SoxFanForsyth]

The good thing about Crawford's showing this weekend isn't that he went 9/12, or that he is 9 for his last 10. It's that he did it against some LHP. Given, his knock against Boone Logan wasn't exactly scorched, but at the same time, he hit the ball hard against CC. This is something we didn't see during his other hot streaks this year. Plus, he's a guy who can hit the ball weakly on the left side of the infield and beat it out because of his speed. I don't really care how he gets on base, just as long as he gets on base.

 

The thing about Crawford is that when he starts getting on base at a more consistent clip, he's going to start to use his wheels more often because he's going to start getting his timing down, his jumps will get better, and his confidence will get better. He will turn into the game changing player that we signed as soon as he gets on base more consistently. Hopefully this is the turn around that we've been waiting to see, and yes, I do realize that I've said that before.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Anyone else find it strange that Crawford's struggled to deal with the pressure of Boston and his new contract yet he's killed the Yankees and gotten tons of walk off hits?

 

In his first 9 games against the Yankees, he had 5 hits. He's killing the Yankees now, but that's probably because he's started to relax. I really think that trip to the DL was a bit of a blessing in disguise. It kind of took the magnifying glass off of him, and people almost forgot about him a little bit during that month he was out. It was almost like a reset button for him.

 

Before his trip to the DL, he was hitting .243/.275/.385. Since coming off the DL, he's hitting .316/.358/.434 in 81 PA. That's a very significant uptick in production.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Also, FWIW, Crawford has taken 5 BB in 81 PA since coming off the DL. Prior to going on the DL, he had 9 BB in 278 PA. He is clearly more patient at the plate and willing to take a walk. This, by itself, would be a massive improvement on his first half production.

[RedSox_Ruszkowski]

two words..... double steal!

[Palodios]

Screw that. With Pedroia's speed this season, I want to see a triple steal

[SoxSport]

Ells and Crawford are hitting lefties better. Reddick seems to hit them OK. AdGon and Ortiz power numbers are down vs lefties. But Papi is doing a lot better than last year when he was useless against lefties.

 

Pedey hitting cleanup? Deserves it. He can hit anywhere. Mighty Mouse Pedey.

 

Against righties, Tito no doubt wants Ells-CC batting 1-2.

[ORS]

No doubt. What does he want for dinner tonight?