The Diceman Cometh

Ortiz is such a f'n baby. Guy bitches at every called strike on him. IF that ball was off the plate, it was by a hair, but it looked to me to catch the side. He needs to pick his battles.

definitely too close to take.

the beauty of this year's team is if someone's down (or out), his teammates will pick him up.

Diceman pitched his best game of the year on saturday (7 innings, 3 hits, no runs, 3 walks, 8 Ks).
it was a cool day and he had only thrown 112 pitches -- i was surprised francona didn't let him pitch the 8th.

nice sweep.
we need to win these winnable games, keep a boot on the spankees throat...

schilling may miss a start.
MRI was negative... he might have a tired arm.

cy (10-1) beckett restored some order last night with a 6 inning gem (no runs, 4 hits).
he gave himself a little insurance with a loud RBI-double in the 5th.

the lead is 9 games...

Tavarez had a no-hitter going into the 4th. Not that that's so amazing except he's the #5 starter. It was 7-0 when I turned it off last night.

they tacked on another 4 runs.
still can't figure out why atlanta left that crappy pitcher in so long.


yo-yo was far from so-so

last year i couldn't stand the guy, cringing every time they brought him in from the bullpen.
he made himself valuable when they switched him to starting last september.

tough series in san diego this weekend: maddux, young and peavy...

the diceman cameth... the diceman conquered...

6 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 9 K's.
he spazzed out in the first inning, walked the bases loaded, but got out of it with just the one run.
from then on he was in command.

spankees lost a tough one in san-fran.
the lead is currently 11 games...

its been fun watching cy (11-1) beckett pitch this year -- 8 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 8 K's.
he totally out-pitched peavy.

the lead is now 11 games over tranna, 11.5 over the spankees...

2 uninspiring losses in seattle.
dice needs to stop the bleeding this afternoon...

ouch... swept.

can't pin this one on dice (8 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 8 K's).
his best outing of the year was offset by a non-existent offense.

julio (0-31, .190) lugo might've punched his ticket outta town by angrily chucking his bat and pouting in the dugout after he was pinch-hit for in the 11th.

the lead is down to 9 games over tranna, 11 over the spanks.

i do take solice in knowing clemens is now 1-3 with a 5.32 ERA.
that's an awful lotta ka-ching for a mediocre, middle-aged pitcher...

ok, its midway through the long grind, and the sawx are 50-31 (the same record they had last year after 81 games).

the lead is 10.5 over tranna, 11 over spankees.

our future centerfielder jacoby ellsbury is up for a cuppa.
he's faster than fast, scoring from 2nd on a wild pitch...

Never thought I'd see that written about the Olde Town Team.

Is his middle name & Meyers?

young jacoby has been sent back to pawtucket for seasoning.
he'll be back (for good?) in september.

the devil rays were annihilated last night 15-4, and swept out of towne.
we get to stomp on them 15 more times in the final 78 games

the lead is now 12 games.

all-stah cy (12-2) beckett struck out 9 in 6 easy innings.
all-stah lowell went 5 for 6 with 5 ribs.
coco hit the coca bottle with the bases jacked, had 5 ribs total.
drew had 2 singles in the 6-run 1st inning.

reliever okey-dokey got the most votes for the last spot on the all-stah team...

I'm starting to feel bad for the Rays.


Well, a little.

swept in motown, but it matters not...

the all-staah sawx are taking tonight's game seriously.
a win guarantees the 1st two games of the world series will be at fenway...

seeing about getting tix (thru my office) to sunday's game vs tranna...

not much to write about lately...

enter kason gabbard!

the kid pitched a 3-hit complete shutout last night -- outta no where!
107 pitches, i walk, 8 k's.

i think he might've won himself a spot in the rotation with that performance.

when schilling gets back, i predict tavarez either moves back to the 'pen, or gets traded...

Don't jump the gun with that prediction...he still has some time to prove himself before Schilling gets back. Tavarez has pitched some good games too, and he was never guaranteed anything.

Lessee how Gabbard does today...but you're probably right. Tavarez has been terrible, I didn't realize he's been that bad his last few outings.

If I hear one more time from an announcer that Wily Mo Pena has "all the talent in the world," I'm going to punch myself in the face. He doesn't have all the talent in the world, he has a lot of power. Big difference. If he had talent, he would be able to play defense better than an average high school player, and wouldn't predictably strike out swinging at awful breaking balls.

gabbard kicked some ass and took some names!
7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run.
he's 4-0, and they need a lefty in the starting rotation.
it was supposed to be lester, but he's been struggling at pawtucket...

wily mo is rotting away on the bench.
he would make a good DH for somebody scrubby like tampa bay...

Maybe Wily Mo would make a good DH somewhere. I was at the game Saturday when he was in left field. I sat 3 rows from his back pocket and he wasn't looking pretty in that position.

Gabbard was outstanding.