Dude Of The Day

One Man To Save The Sox Season

He's Back!!!

Now that all that Tidal Wave stuff is over, the Sox and their Ace Dice K got back to work. Dice hasn't been pitching that well this offseason and has a accrued a million ERA but yesterday pitched 5 scoreless innings with 5 Ks. Dice K also changed his post game routine so that might have been something to do with it.

Him, Lackey and Beckett are the biggest question marks going into the year because we completely revamped our offense and our bullpen so if these guys struggle we will obviously have a tougher time then people are predicting. But to be honest Dice K has the most upside to both Beckett and Lackey because when he's on he's untouchable. Lackey is what he is, and Beckett has never had an ERA under 3. So if Dice pitches back to his 2007 style it's a guaranteed championship.

6 Red Sox, 2 Indians

The Red Sox best pitcher had another outstanding outing last night as he went eight strong innings, allowing just one run and striking out 6. Dice-K is 5-1 in his last 10 starts and has allowed three earned runs or less in 10 of his last 12 outings. Pretty good, if you ask me. The Sox needed this win but it's still embarrassing that we split the series with the fucking Indians.

The lead came from a grand slam off the bat of Adrien Beltre in the forth off the soft tosser Josh Tomlin. I still believe the Sox are done, but this rotation is downright nasty, especially if Beckett continues to pitch the way he has since coming back from the DL.

Oh yea, Okie Dokie makes me want to hurl. He and Papelbon tried their hardest to make this game interesting in the 9th. It blows that with a 5 run game, you can't give Papelbon a little bit more rest. Gay.

BMack and I were talking and if the Sox were to make the playoffs, Lackey might be the guy pushed to the pen the way the other "Big 4" have been pitching.

Either way the fact is that Dice K doesn't lose 4 starts in a row. Dice K for Cy Young in 2011!

Scoring Summary

			CLE	BOS
	1st	S Choo homered to center (452 feet).	1	0
	4th	A Beltre homered to left (373 feet), M Scutaro, V Martinez and J Drew scored.	1	4
	8th	J Drew singled to right center, J Ellsbury and D Ortiz scored, V Martinez to third.	1	6
	9th	L Valbuena singled to right, M LaPorta scored, J Nix to second.	2	6

P.S. I love how the other DC writers didn't take the recap because of the Dice K win, so I could write and bask in his glory. Even though, I'm by far the worst recap writer of all time.

Dude Of The Day

Awww Herrrrroooo

6 Rays, 5 Sox

Once again the Red Sox ruined another quality start by Dice K to give the Rays now a half game up on the wild card lead. The Red sox hurler threw 5 innings with 4 runs, 4 BB and 4 Ks. A reason for his struggles was the huge wait he had between the 2nd and 3rd inning where the Sox offense was on the field for close to 45 minutes.

The game was tied until Jason Bartlett hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh and the Rays bullpen closed the door on the Sox.

Even though the Sox lost, we can start saying the Garza magic is over. Garza only pitched 3 innings let up 4 runs and only K'd 1.

Scoring Summary

			BOS	TAM
	1st	C Crawford doubled to deep right, B Zobrist scored.	0	1
	3rd	E Patterson homered to right (382 feet).	1	1
	3rd	K Youkilis tripled to deep right, D Ortiz scored.	2	1
	3rd	A Beltre singled to left, K Youkilis scored.	3	1
	3rd	B Hall singled to center, A Beltre scored, J Drew to second.	4	1
	4th	E Patterson homered to right (381 feet).	5	1
	5th	E Longoria hit sacrifice fly to center, B Zobrist scored.	5	2
	5th	C Crawford scored, W Aybar to third on passed ball by K Cash.	5	3
	6th	J Jaso singled to center, S Rodriguez and C Pena scored, J Bartlett to third.	5	5
	7th	J Bartlett hit sacrifice fly to right, B Upton scored, S Rodriguez to third.	5	6

The Savior Coming Back, Wake To The Pen

With the Red Sox being the worst team in the league in all, the savior is coming back to save this team (Sorry Jesus) and that man's name is Dice K. After a long extensive rehabbing assignment when he gave the Red Sox free will, they have destroyed it all and have failed miserably. Now that he is back the hitting will start hitting for him, and the other pitchers will start pitching better to try and be like him and the Boston Red Sox will climb back to the top of the mountain known as the AL East.

Dice K has a lot of questions surrounding him and many skeptics such as our own Captain and BMack like to question his abilities. But all I remember from him is last year when he got healthy he was 4-1 with a sub 3 era, and is the fucking man. All he has done for the Red Sox in his short time is win a world series and win 18 games with a sub 3 era.

In other news Tim Wakefield is going to the pen. I like this move over Clay Buchholz because Clay has more of an upside. As long as he doesn't face Aaron Boone he will be alright.

Is Dice-K On The Block?

The Red Sox may be willing to listen to teams asking about Daisuke Matsuzaka in the offseason, the Boston Globe reported.

The Globe report says Matsuzaka would have to agree to any deal, but that would not be a problem, especially after the recent clash between the Red Sox and the Japanese pitcher over workout routines. ESPN

If the Red Sox were to trade the former 18 game winner, it would be one of the biggest mistakes in franhise history. I know a lot of you don't see Dice-K in the same light as I do, but if you broke it down, the kid is an unbelievable player and pitcher. Sure the feud with the Sox, injury problem this year, and playing in the WBC isn't helping him with the big wigs upstairs for the Sox. Once, this passes then everything will be ok. And he will be back to his winning ways once again.

More Impressive Stat

Missou hasn't had a 3 and out all year.

or
Dice K has batters batting .000(0-11) with bases loaded.

Red Sox Bunt To Beat Orioles 5-4

This was one of the sillier games I had ever seen in my life. The Sox were down 4-2 in the 8th then Mark Kotsay (was has just been amazing in a Sox uniform) hit a game tying 2-run triple. Masterson (who got the win) shutdown the Orioles in the top of the 9th, then the silliness ensued. It started with an Alex Cora single, then Coco came up and bunted. This was no normal bunt as it looked to be going foul, but then (for some reason unknown) did a 180 and stayed fair. So, there was a man on 1st and 2nd with no outs, and Ellsbury at the plate. So what does Ellsbury do??? Well, of course bunt, and the Orioles try to get Cora out at third, but it is a wild throw and Cora walks home to win the game...ridiculous.

What a win for the Sox. Dice-K had a solid inning going 6 innings allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, 3 runs with 7 Ks. You would like to see the walk total go down, but we have been saying that all season. Dice-K didn't get the win and was actually on the hook for the loss until Kotsay's game tying triple. Dustin Pedrioa continues to make his case for AL MVP by going 3-4 with a solo HR. For a guy who is listed at 5-9 180lbs (but it more like 5-7) the kid can hit he is now hitting .333 on the season with 17 HRs, 76 RBI, and 17 SBs. You have to hope he can continue this as the Sox try to get healthy.

Fuck Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee is a dick. The reason I hate him is because I have been waiting all year for this douche to explode and for my boy Dice-K to take over the Cy Young race, but nope. After Lee's great game last night, a complete game, five hit shut out, it pretty much stomps on any chance Dice winning anything. Lee is now 20-2, with 2.32 and 149 Ks, which is very impressive. But I am sick of these Cleveland Indian pitchers ruining Red Sox pitchers from winning the Cy Young. Last year it was C.C. Sabathia over Josh Beckett and this year it is Cliff Lee over Dice-K.

AL Cy Young Debate: Yes, Already

Well I finally calmed down and don't want to hurt Bob anymore. I still believe he sucks; but it is time to move on. I already discussed Dice and Lester a little bit, but now I will get a little bit further in depth with all of the contestants for this years AL Cy Young race. I have it down to four pitchers; Dice K, Jon Lester, Cliff Lee, and Roy Halladay.

Lets get the hometown guys out of the way

Long Shot #1

Lester is 12 and 4 with a 3.17 era and 114 Ks and a no hitter under his belt this year. Don't get me wrong these are amazing numbers, especially for a guy who I thought was going to be 10-10 and a 4.50 era, but I don't think these are Cy Young worthy. He will finish with around 16 wins, which is nice, but I believe voters will think he should have more on a Red Sox caliber team.

Long Shot #2

Dice K is 15-2 with a 2.77 era and 109 Ks. An outstanding second season, but voters will look down on his high walk count (77 walks) and short outings. As much as he is my boy, this just is not going to be his year, even if he finishes with 17-18 wins.

Now the guy who will win, but I don't want to win.

What bad things can I possibly say about Cliff Lee other than I hate his face. Cliff was sent down to the minors last year for being shitty, but this year he cockslapped the whole AL and put up some incredible numbers. Lee is 17-2 with a 2.43 era with 134 Ks, and 3 CGs on a terrible Cleveland team. He will win it this year, but I smell a Jon Garland, Estaban Loiaza and Jarrod Washburn type career. Don't get used to this, Lee willl be lucky if he finishes over .500 next year.

The guy who I would vote for:

Roy Halladay

Roy has been an absolute warrior for Toronto forever, and I never really cared for him too much. However, this year he has changed my perspective on him ten fold. He is 14-9 with a 2.64 era with 159 Ks and 8 complete games and 2 shut outs. Toronto only gives Roy 2.88 runs per game which is partially the reason why he has 9 losses. The 9 losses will definitely hurt his chances and probably be the reason Lee gets the Cy Young, but 8 complete games for this seasoned veteran is remarkable.

Screw Mack

One of the biggest problems I have with BMack is his shitty little ways to go after "my guys" aka the players I like, without coming out and just bad mouthing them. Mack and I have always had petty disagreements whether it be Michigan/ Michigan State, Steelers/ Patriots, EJ Manuel/ DeAnthony Curtis, Ryan Perilloux/ Josh Freeman, Barry Bonds, etc. In turn these petty disagreements turn into absolute hatred. He will never admit his tactics, but he knows what he is doing.

The reason I am bringing this up is because of his recent poll that he put out there. Dice-K vs Jon Lester is an argument that no one can really win, but it is an argument we will have nonetheless. He knows I love Dice-K and he loves Lester, but I really don't want to have to hate Jon Lester. However, I'm not going to sit here and listen to his stupid face talk about Lester like he is the greatest pitcher that ever lived.

Here are Dice-K's stats:

22 Starts, 126 IP, 77 BB, 109 Ks, 2.77 era, 15 wins and 2 losses, 1.37 WHIP

Here are Lester's stats:

26 Starts, 167 IP, 51 BB, 114 Ks, 3.17 era, 12 wins, 4 losses, 1.28 WHIP

Both have extremely sharp looking stats all around, but I have to go with my boy on this one as of right now. I know there have been problems with Dice-K getting into high pitch counts and not getting past the 5th or 6th innings, but in 4 less starts he has 3 more wins and he has a lower era.

Hopefully both of these players do great in the future and this doesn't turn out to be a Kurt Warner/ Kordell Stewart situation where both players tanked after the argument like the Captain and I had a while back.

Also, the people that think who cares they are both Red Sox players. Screw you, I love the Red Sox but have turned my back on Queeratek, Nomar, Trot, Daubach, Ellsbury and Buchholz.

Just Dice-K Being Dice-K

Yesterday, the Red Sox beat the red hot Baltimore Orioles and the now 15-2 Dice-K pitched a game like he has all year. 2 Runs, 5 innings, 5 walks and 6 Ks was his stat line and that should not surprise anyone. Many times he had runners on third or basesloaded and his magic act got the Red Sox out of a jam. I personally love Dice-K and believe he should win the Cy Young over both Cliff Lee and Jon Lester. A lot of people are giving him flack due to his innings only being at 5 or 6 each game, I say he is preparing the bullpen for the future.

Oh yea. The Sox beat the Orioles thanks to home runs from Queeratek and Youk.

Big Papi Crushes White Sox 6-2

Dice-K continued his domination last night, and is pitching his way to being considered for the CY Young award. Last night he went 8 innings allowing only 1 run on 4 hits with 4 Ks. He seems to find his way out of trouble, and always seems to be able to get the pitch he needs to allow him out of an inning. Dice-K is 13-2 with a 2.90 ERA...that sounds to me like a Cy Young type of guy. Anways back to the game.

The game went sour for the White Sox as Conteras left the game when he ruptured his left Achilles' tendon. This injury will keep him out for 9 months (which means he'll be only 64 years old when he comes back) and really hurts the White Sox chances at making the playoffs. Looks like they should have signed a pitcher instead of another aging slugger.

David Ortiz woke up in a big way last night hitting a 3-run double in the 7th, and finally looked like the Ortiz we remember from years past (total in the game he went 3-5 with 3 RBI) The other big story in this game was the play of Jacoby Ellsbury who went 3-4 with an RBI. In his last 3 games he is 8 for 12 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs. Last night was no different as he hit a HR to push the Sox past the White Sox. On a low note, Varitek hit 9th for the first time in his career, and though it is good news that the Sox finally gave up on him, it is still sad to see how far he has fallen ( batting .222 on the season).

Sox are still 3 1/2 games back in the AL East, and only 2 games up in the Wild Card.

-BMack

Red Sox Sweep A's with 5-2 Victory

This just in...Jason Bay is really good, and the Sox are 3-0 with him on the team. Today the Sox pulled out a 5-2 victory over the A's to finish off the sweep. Bay went 2-4 with 2 runs. The hero of the game though was Jed Lowrie, who had two RBIs, and has just been on fire the last couple of games. I think a lot of the Sox improvement is that they finally took Ellsbury out of the lead off spot, and replaced him with Pedrioa. Little Dusty has been reporting for duty (as usual), and with him being an on-base machine, it gives players like Ortiz, Lowell, and Bay the chance to really have an impact on the game.

Dice-K continued his dominance, even though he still struggles with high pitch counts. He went 6 innings allowing 2 runs with 8 Ks. It is annoying that he doesn't go deeper into games, but I will take 6 strong innings and a victory any day. With this win Dice-K is now 12-2 with a 3.04 ERA. In the 9th Papelbon came in and got his 31st save of the year.

-BMack

Sox Go For the Sweep

The Sox go for a sweep of the A's today. The A's aren't very good, they did get swept by the Royal's of all teams earlier this week. Dice-K is on the mound against Dallas Braden. The Sox have made a nice little turn around and are seeing leadership from the injured Mike Lowel who is playing through the pain because he actually gives a damn unlike your beloved Manny Ramirez. Theo and the rest of the front office couldn't have planned this more perfectly. The team is rallying around their leadership and are finally showing signs of life. When the lineup is struggling the staff picks them up, and when Lester gets on the mound surely its a skid stopping performance. Breathe easy Sox fans, its going to be a fun next couple of months.

2 Red Sox, 1 Orioles

Well it is good going into the All-Star break on top of the AL East. With a 7 game skid of the Rays the Red Sox are now on top. Dice-K (6 in 0 er 7 ks) pitched masterfully as the Sox took the lead on a J.D. Drew and Pedroia knocked in the 2 runs. Papelbon ran into a little trouble finishing the Orioles letting 3 hits, and 1 er in the 9th inning.

Dice-K might go to Japan, and Beckett Not

I got this from Boston Blood Sox

Josh Beckett is said to be "progressing" and has resumed throwing once more, but he will not make the trip to Japan later this week. Terry Francona officially announced this on Sunday.

Beckett will continue playing catch, and by Thursday could be throwing off a mound again. But with an exhibition game in Japan on Friday, and two real games next Tuesday and Wednesday; there simply isn't enough time to get him in good enough form to pitch in a meaningful game. Moreover, the 14 hour flight and general pain in the ass of going to Tokyo is unnecessary for a pitcher recovering from a back problem.

However, another Sox frontline starter may make the trip. Daisuke Matsuzaka's wife Tomoyo gave birth to a boy Saturday morning. This frees up Daisuke to make the trip to Japan.

There's no official announcement as to who will be starting the two games against Oakland in the Tokyo Dome. However, the logical choices now seem to be Lester and Matsuzaka. Wakefield is also a possibility, but he has said he'll be starting one of the exhibition games over the weekend.

Speaking of Wakefield, he threw 5 perfect innings against minor leaguers from the Cincinnati Reds' organization. Granted, it was a spring training game against AAA players, but 5 perfect innings is still impressive.