Final: Red Sox 8, Marlins 2
9:40 Red Sox win 8-2. Bard pitches a scoreless ninth. Wakefield is now 9-3. The nine wins are the second-highest victory total in baseball.
9:33: Daniel Bard, who many consider to be a candidate to be sent down when John Smoltz joins or Jed Lowrie returns to the club, will get a chance to close it out. He'll face the heart of the Marlins order, starting with Hanley Ramirez.
9:30: After Youkilis' two-out double, Mike Lowell is the only remaining Red Sox starter without a hit tonight. Pedroia, Ortiz, Ellsbury, Green and Kottaras each have two of the Sox' 13 hits.
9:18: Wakefield is now certainly in All-Star contention, but is he in Cy Young contention? The numbers probably point to at least Halladay and Greinke ahead of him.
Wakefield (BOS) - 8-3, 4.39 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 47 K, 35 BB
Roy Halladay (TOR) - 10-1, 2.53 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 88 K, 12 BB
Zack Greinke (KC) - 8-2, 1.72 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 97 K, 16 BB
Kevin Slowey (MIN) - 9-2, 4.23 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 61 K, 10 BB
9:12: Despite the strikeout, Nick Green is still 2-for-4 on the night and, at .292., is a few hits away from .300. If Lowrie comes back within the next two-to-four weeks, as scheduled, where does that leave Green? The lineup otherwise boasts only two other .300 hitters.
9:05 Wakefield departs after giving up two runs on six hits and a walk. He's in line to win his ninth game of the year, which would tie him for second in the majors, at 42 years old.
8:58: Ortiz walks (barely -- on a close pitch and half-swing) to first. He's still two-for-three on what might be his defining night.
8:32: Fifteen-minute fantasy baseball superstar Emilio Bonifacio now has a double to go along with his steal and run tonight. Might there be two resurgences tonight?
8:24: Bay walks on five pitches to load the bases for Ortiz. He pulls a single up the middle -- an old fashioned gap single through the shift -- to score two more. Could this be the defining Big Papi Slumpbuster Fiesta? He has three RBIs on two hits. 8-1, Sox.
8:16: Volstad won't make it through the fourth. Burke Badenhop, a late-April Marlins recall from Triple-A New Orleans, will enter.
8:14: Volstad's slow motion and Chris Baker's weak arm are allowing Dustin Pedroia to take four-to-five-step leads off of second base.
8:12: George Kottaras continues to swing the bat well. After this single, he's batting .500 with three doubles in the past seven days. He picks up his seventh RBI of the season. 5-1, Sox.
8:10: The Sox are taking total advantage of Ellsbury's stolen bases. His 27th steal of the season this time turned up an RBI from a Nick Green double to the corner. 4-1, Sox.
8:04: Ortiz is making Francona's circumstantial batting order look smart. Ortiz hit his fifth home run of the season. It was his first home run of the season pulled to deep right, too, which may be a sign that he has his aggressiveness almost completely back. 3-1, Boston.
7:36 Jacoby Ellsbury's straight steal of second was his 26th of the year. He's second in the majors to Carl Crawford's 36. Nick Green took advantage immediately. Well, he took advantage of the Marlins, driving a soft nubber in between second and short. Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla both ran past the ball and Ellsbury ran home from second.
The Florida Marlins' fielding percentage is second-worst in the majors at .978.
7:12: Tim Wakefield struck out the first two batters (Chris Coghlan, Ross Gload) in six pitches to start the game. Hanley Ramirez flied out before he could get to three, but here's a nifty graph of every nine-pitch, three-strikeout inning in the history of baseball.
PREGAME:
Shortstop Jed Lowrie will fly to Florida tomorrow to begin rehabilitation on his surgically repaired left wrist.
"He's a little rusty, but he's doing really well," said manager Terry Francona.
He'll play a game or two in extended spring training before making his way back up, most likely with a rehab assignment in Pawtucket. But no more than that, and for good reason.
"After one or two games, people will start throwing at your shoulders," said Francona. "He's gonna want to get out of there."
Francona said to expect Lowrie back in a week would be a "little quick."
Ortiz's lefty bat breaks up the Youkilis-Bay-Lowell righty contingent in the middle of the lineup to counteract Marlins righthander Chris Volstad.
"Once he comes back, hopefully there's no turning back and he pitches deep into October," Francona said.
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The Gulf Coast League doesn't start their season until June 24.
Is everyone looking forward to or excited about Lowrie returning? I just don't see the big deal with so many reports about it. Don't get me wrong, I hope he comes back and dominates but I guess we'll see.
6 man rotation all the way tothe world series! COOL!!!
Wait a minute--one run down in the 9th, and the Red Sox let the pitcher (Ike Delock) bat (Bunning for Detroit in '59)? I don't remember him being that good a hitter. Tempting to lay it on Higgins being in a hurry to get to the bar, but I think Jurgens was the manager by then.
Wait a minute--one run down in the 9th, and the Red Sox let the pitcher (Ike Delock) bat (Bunning for Detroit in '59)? I don't remember him being that good a hitter. Tempting to lay it on Higgins being in a hurry to get to the bar, but I think Jurgens was the manager by then.
I'm not thrilled about Lowrie either-I'm glad he's healthy, yes, but he's not the 2nd coming of Joe Morgan or anything. I guess with Lugo's recent fielding woes, Lowrie seems like a Godsend to some. So, where are all those bloggers calling for Theo to "designate Papi for assignment" or "trade Big Poopie"..? Yeah, climb back on the bandwagon, it's ok. Thanks for another solid outing tonight Wake...
Your Cy Young list seems to be missing, um, Zack Greinke. You know, the dude with 8 wins and a sub-2 era. Something tells me he's a little ahead of Wakefield and Slowey in the voting.
First, a correction...if Halladay is 10-1, and Slowey is 9-2 (as stated in the article), then Wake has the THIRD best record, not the second, at 9-3.
Steve - At most, the six man rotation would be very temporary and situational. Taking it "all the way to the world series" reduces the number of starts for Beckett and Lester...is that REALLY what you want to do?
"9:18: Wakefield is now certainly in All-Star contention, but is he in Cy Young contention? The numbers probably point to Halladay and Slowey ahead of him.
Wakefield (BOS) - 8-3, 4.39 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 47 K, 35 BB
Roy Halladay (TOR) - 10-1, 2.53 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 88 K, 12 BB
Chad Billingsley (LAD) - 9-3, 2.72 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 93 K, 39 BB
Matt Cain (SFO) - 9-1, 2.39 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 68 K, 34 BB
Kevin Slowey (MIN) - 9-2, 4.23 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 61 K, 10 BB"
i dont get it...is this guy Collins not a baseball guy? talking about the cy young and mentioning AL and NL pitchers? mentioning Wake and Slowey in the debate? Can i write for the Globe instead?
Why would you even mention Wakefield for a Cy? He's had a decent season at best, his numbers since May 1 have been pretty awful. That, and you list NL guys for the AL Cy Young? And miss probably the CY Winner if it were today, and that's Zack Greinke. Where did you guys get this hack?
That's definitely not Papi's first home run to right this year. One of his round-trippers was wrapped around the Pesky Pole. Was that his second? Third? I don't remember which, but he did pull it to right.
"Wakefield is now certainly in All-Star contention, but is he in Cy Young contention? "
That's the kind of thing people write when they look at "wins" instead of statistics which actually measure pitching quality. Where's Zach Greinke? Where's Jered Weaver? Where are Cliff Lee and Edwin Jackson and Justin Verlander? Wakefield had an excellent April, but he hasn't been one of the 20 best AL starters so far. He shouldn't be an All Star, and including his name in Cy Young discussions is laughable.
How'd Ben Collins swing this gig? He knows less about baseball than John Kerry. Must be dating Amalie, who must have dirty pictures of the Globe's managing editor or something.
Two really premature calls: Wake in CY Young contention, and Ortiz' "defining" season moment. I doubt Wakefield, much as I like him, will get any serious Cy Young consideration, and there's nothing that really points to that now, so why bring it up? It's pie in the sky. As for Ortiz, he'll bat maybe .250 with 15 home runs this year, and I'm feeling generous. So again, there's nothing particularly 'defining' about his recent hitting spree. He's getting some hits at times when the rest of the club is hitting as well. That's a far cry from leading the club. At best, he's broken out of a very deep funk. Now he can go on to have a subpar year. Sorry to say that, since I like Ortiz as well, but that is what we are facing.
I keep thinking, too bad Wake hadn't been around for last years fifteen inning debacle, he could have eaten up some innings and Francona wouldn't have had to use Kazmir. Joe Maddon might just be thinking the same thing.
"If Lowrie comes back within the next two-to-four weeks, as scheduled, where does that leave Green? The lineup otherwise boasts only two other .300 hitters."
uh, youk's at .330, ells is .310, lugo's at an even .300, and pedey will be back at .300 by the time the marlins leave town. come on, ben, between this and naming tim as a cy young contender? please do your homework a little more closely.
4.39 ERA and Cy Young consideration? What is this, a joke?
Are you kidding me? Wakefield for Cy Young? Yeah...it's just based on total wins. Good one. Let's not be total homers here, huh?
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