6/9 Nationals vs Red Sox

[VA Sox Fan]

RED SOX (29-29)

 

Nava LF

Pedroia 2B

Gonzalez RF

Ortiz DH

Youkilis 1B

Middlebrooks 3B

Aviles SS

McDonald CF

Shoppach C

 

Pitching: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2012 debut)

[jung]

What is this lineup? Is this the "I have no confidence in my RH hitters lineup?

 

I would force Gio to face more righties at the top of the order.

[Palodios]

Gonzalez in right at fenway. With Dice-k on the mound. Could be a very interesting game

[wyo-sox]

Early game, I get to watch the entire game before I go to work. Well, it is Dice K so maybe I won't have time.

[redsoxbeatz]

RED SOX (29-29)

 

Nava LF

Pedroia 2B

Gonzalez RF

Ortiz DH

Youkilis 1B

Middlebrooks 3B

Aviles SS

McDonald CF

Shoppach C

 

Pitching: RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2012 debut)

 

WMB!!

 

While Gonzalez has been having his way with National League lineups, the Red Sox have never really had big troubles with him. Always able to score at least a few, with the team averaging an OPS over .900 against him for his career.

- Over the Monster, SB Nation blog.

 

Hopefully everyone is locked into today. Youk, Gonzo, Ortiz, Pedey... c'mon guys!~

[evilhand]

I'm really not sure what to expect out of Daisuke today or going forward. The elbow injury may have built up over several seasons or it could have been sudden in 2011, so it's tough to say how much of his performance after 2008 was simply the fact that Daisuke is inconsistent and how much was his arm slowly tearing apart.

 

I'd like to hope that we'll see the guy who's stuff was so good that even with a 5.05 bb/9 he managed a 2.90 ERA, but it would be disingenuous of me to not point out his 4.03 FIP and a 4.64 xFIP that season. Fact is, he's never had lower than a 4.17 xFIP and that was back in 2007. He's just not a top of the rotation starter and likely never will be.

 

But a 7.5 or 8.0 k/9 with a 4.25ish bb/9 and an average of 5.5 or so innings per game would make him a solid back of the rotation arm. Getting that for the rest of the season before he departs as a free agent would make me quite happy. Let's get started on that today, hmm?

[Cocos Disciples]

Very interested in seeing this game. Big sports day.

[jung]

The LH hitters have been put in a situation where they have to perform against Gio today (not that it has not happened before) but if they don't, rally's are going to be tough to sustain.

[Cocos Disciples]

Last time Dice-K pitched was one of my favorite games of last year. He was terrible (4 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 7 BB, 2 K), but the Sox came back from down 6-0 in the 6th to win 8-7. It put them over .500 for good. I'm looking for the same. Maybe with less drama.

[VA Sox Fan]

Ross finally takes his cuts on the field

 

Posted by Peter Abraham, Globe Staff June 9, 2012 02:48 PM

 

Apologies for the pre-game technical difficulties that delayed the posting of the lineup. But here are some notes:

 

• Marlon Byrd was designated for assignment so the Red Sox could activate Daisuke Matsuzaka. Bobby Valentine said it came down to Byrd or McDonald, two righthanded hitting outfielders.

 

Byrd hit .270 in 34 games (27 starts) filling in for an injured Jacoby Ellsbury. He was picked up on April 21 from the Cubs for the low, low cost of Michael Bowden.

 

“Marlon came here and kind of saved the day and now he’ll more than likely be with another team,” Valentine said. “Hopefully it’s not in our division whose competing against us. He did a good job while he was here, we just needed room for a starting pitcher for today.”

 

• After rain prohibited him from hitting on the field for two days, Cody Ross finally got out there and looked a bit rusty, uppercutting a few into the cage. But he also drove a ball into the Green Monster seats.

 

"Felt good," he said afterward. Ross is on the disabled list recovering from a fractured left foot. He may not be too far away from a rehab assignment.

 

• Carl Crawford threw for the second straight day, ran the bases and took BP on the field. He had a good BP, too. Plenty of line drives and showed a nice, compact stroke with a much more closed stance than he had last season.

 

• Jacoby Ellsbury hit off a tee and took soft tosses for the fifth straight day.

 

• Josh Beckett said the reason he got a hamstring cramp in the eighth inning of his last start was that he was dehydrated after a case of food poisoning.

 

• Dustin Pedroia didn't have a particularly good BP session then flung three bats into the stands. As an usher started gathering them up, Pedroia stopped him. "Let a fan have them," he said.

 

• Will Middlebrooks, the youngest of the Red Sox, was flipping groundballs to D'Angelo Ortiz, Hudson Ross and Justin Crawford before batting practice. All three of the kids have uniforms with their dad's number. Fun to watch that.

 

• Will also was debating NESN's Jenny Dell about who had the most Twitter followers. At last count, Will had 27,765 and Jenny had 27,593.

 

Follow them at @JennyDellNESN and @middlebrooks.

 

You also can follow me @PeteAbe and Nick Cafardo at @NickCafardo. Our summer intern Alex Prewitt is at @alex_prewitt.

[SoxFanForsyth]

What is this lineup? Is this the "I have no confidence in my RH hitters lineup?

 

I would force Gio to face more righties at the top of the order.

 

7 RHH, 2 LHH. Not sure what you're talking about.

[redsoxbeatz]

Let's Go Sox!!

 

I'm at work during the game should get my lunch around 2-2.5 hrs into it. Keep us updated on how DiceKs effort is!!

[Lionbush]

Gonna watch this on my iPad whilst playing the show 12 badly

[Cocos Disciples]

7 RHH' date=' 2 LHH. Not sure what you're talking about.[/quote']

 

And the two lefties are Gonzalez and Ortiz. Lineup looks fine to me.

[jung]

7 RHH, 2 LHH. Not sure what you're talking about.

 

Said it three different ways at least...I would not have put Agons and Ortiz back to back today. Might work out fine...I would likely have put another RH bat up there and dropped one of them probably to 5th.

[TutGadol]

Maybe Dice K won't suck tonight? And maybe Lebron chokes too?

[evilhand]

Struck out the first batter on 3 pitches? We're saved!

[VA Sox Fan]

Nice catch by Nava

[TutGadol]

Oh did Nava improve defensively.

 

And Dice K's curve reminds me the one Strasburg threw. Kind of slurvish.

[TutGadol]

How long can Daiskue throw tonight? What was his top in the minors?

[SoxFanForsyth]

Wow.

 

DiceKK.

[Cocos Disciples]

Terrific 1st inning for Dice. Didn't even throw a lot of pitches. Not what I was expecting.

[SoxFanForsyth]

How long can Daiskue throw tonight? What was his top in the minors?

 

He'll probably be done at around 95-105.

[VA Sox Fan]

2 strike outs for Dice K in the 1st. 3 up 3 down.

[jung]

dice has a terrific first...that wind up has got to take some getting used to hitting against him. "Is he there yet...is he there yet....whoops how the hell did the ball get here?

[SoxFanForsyth]

dice has a terrific first...that wind up has got to take some getting used to hitting against him. "Is he there yet...is he there yet....whoops how the hell did the ball get here?

 

That's what she said.

[TutGadol]

That's what she said.

 

Wow that was the best I've seen in a while.

[Cocos Disciples]

Whoa Rick Ankiel! If this game goes 17 innings, maybe Ankiel will pitch and walk in the winning run. Memories.

[TutGadol]

Pedroia isn't himself. He should've been sent to the DL a while back.

[jung]

I can't really tell but it almost looks like he is not as quick in the hands and wrists as we are used to seeing Pedey. We have been saying timing but maybe his timing is fine but he is just not physically able to perform right now. Really hard to tell but the more I look at him the more I think his timing might not be the problem.