I personally have had the worst luck when it comes to going to Red Sox games. Almost 90% of the time, the pitcher for the Sox is the 5th or even 6th or 7th pitcher. In all of the games I have gone to I never once got to see Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Josh Beckett or Curt Schilling. I got to see Jon Lester earlier this year, but it was the game that was called due to rain after five innings. So with when I counted the days and saw Jon Lester set to take the mound today, a game that I am going to, I should have known something would happen to fuck it up for me.

So because of Wakefield’s newest back spasm, Jon Lester got his start pushed back to Tuesday, and Paul Byrd will get the start today against Roy Halladay. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m still pumped. The seats are great, the weather looks ok, and it will be nice to see the Sox bounce around Halladay. I would rather watch the Sox win a game 1-0 but today I guess I will have to settle for 14-9.

- Chris

I am a big fan of the NBA and have not touched on this topic yet, so I thought I might as well give my two cents on it. Braking news the other day was that Michael Beasley has checked into the John Lucas Rehabilitation Center in Houston Texas. The second-year player out of the University of Kansas State was expected to enter the rehab center ever since last summer when he was caught smoking marijuana at the rookie symposium and was later fined $50,000 for his actions. Just a couple of days ago, reports said that he had many disturbing posts on his Twitter account that related to not living anymore and other drastic actions. C’mon, just look at the guy, you can easily tell that he smokes weed, or at least used to. He’s not the most clean-cut guy in the world, but it is too bad that a player so young, 20 years old, is having these kind of struggles early on in his career. In his first season with the Miami Heat he averaged 13.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game. Those numbers good for a rookie but by being the second overall pick last year, he was expected to join up with Dwayne Wade and improve the team dramatically. This offseason Wade has called for more help but has not seen any major roster changes. Hopefully in his second season, Beasley will get over the drug charges and suicide notes and have a successful season. He is a player who has a lot of promise and very high expectations in his career. This is a minor set-back for him, but I am sure that he will get back on the court as soon as possible and try and become an all-star in the NBA.   

By Greg Petersen

Scott Kazmir is about to be traded to the Angels for a pair of prospects. On the year, Kazmir is only 8-7 on the year with a 5.92 but has won four of his last five decisions and has a 3.20 era over his last five starts. More importantly, he has been very tough on the Red Sox in his career. The Sox had some success last year in the playoffs against Kazmir, but other than that, it has been limited. If and when the Red Sox make it to the post season, their likely opponent will be the Angels once again. Adding Kazmir to an already good rotation is not good news for us. Luckily, we own the Angels in the playoffs, but this years Red Sox are a very confusing team and may forget that point.

What bugs me is why the Red Sox didn’t put in a claim for Kazmir in an attempt to block him from going to a team like the Yankees or the Angels. Even if they didn’t want to trade for him, the worst thing that could happen would be Tampa just giving him to us for free. If that was the case we would be on the hook for the $20 million remaining on his contract. I can only assume this is the reason they let him slide, and that pisses me off. It’s not like the Alex Rios situation where Rios had $60 million left and sucked, Kazmir only had a third of that remaining on his deal and he is a very good pitcher, something we could definitely use. For now I guess we will just have to work on getting into the playoffs and deal with Kazmir and the Angels then, but knowing the Red Sox could have done something to prevent this from happening is a bitch to think about going forward.

- Chris

Don’t look now but Alex Gonzalez has hit a home run in back-to-back games and is now batting .286 with the Red Sox. This guy is making a case for himself to remain the starting shortstop for the rest of the season and I don’t mind it at all. He has three home runs with the Sox after hitting three all year for the Reds. I know that I wasn’t the biggest fan of the signing at first but since he has proven me wrong, and I hope he continues to (knock on wood), he belongs in the starting lineup, for both his offense and defense. Go A-Gon!

Greg

So this was the guy who was supposed to fill in and stop the bleeding? Well the Japanese phenom has just got lit up for eight runs in three innings of work against the Chicago White Sox. Sure the White Sox are a good offensive team, but after pitching a scoreless first inning, Tazawa has not looked good at all. Through three innings he has given up the eight runs off of nine hits while striking out one and hitting a batter in 65 pitches. After his best performance all year against the Yankees when he went six innings without giving up a run to get his second victory of the year, he has not been so sharp against Chicago. In the game against the Yankees Tazawa struck out two and walked two as well. As a Red Sox fan it is hard to watch him struggle so hard on the same day that we dropped Brad Penny. Like Chris noted before, none of our low-risk, high-reward players have worked out at all. Smoltz disappointed and is now gone, Penny was alright to start off the year and is now gone and Saito has been decent, nothing spectacular. OK, so Tazawa just gave up another run, and added a strikeout, as I have been making this post, just take him out Francona! I know that we need to preserve our bullpen, but we can’t just give up the game that easily. Hopefully we can pull out ten runs and win the game somehow, maybe somehow. Well I’m off for the night, see ya tomorrow!

By Greg Petersen

Seems like these little low risk high reward type of players are having an off year. You can add Penny to the list of busts this season, as he has been officially released. Penny never really figured his stuff out in Boston. He had about three or four starts where he was throwing 98+ and getting batters out, but other than that, he has been mediocre. His roster spot will be taken by newly acquired Billy Wagner, who is set to be added to the team today.

The NY Post is hearing that the Yankees would like to claim Penny and Johnny Damon says he would like the Yankees to add him.

Usually my response would be, good, have fun with him, but the way this year is going, Penny would go to the Yankees and be dominant. Just let him get his fat ass to the National League where he belongs. I would legitimately worry seeing him in a Yankee uniform because lady luck has been on the wrong side of this rivalry of late.

- Chris

David Ortiz has made a living hitting walk off home runs and carrying the Boston Red Sox offense whenever the team was slumping. Of late, Ortiz has been neither of those, until tonight. Ortiz hit his first walk off home run since September of 2007, a span of almost two years. The Red Sox won the game 3-2 behind two homers from Ortiz and another from the newest power hitting shortstop in baseball, Alex Gonzalez. Despite the Ortiz dramatics, the real story of this game has to be Tim Wakefield’s return to the mound.

Last night was Wake’s first start since before the All Star Game as he was placed on the DL with lower back spasms. He ended up going 7 innings allowing only 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 3. In his first start in over a month, he put together a better performance than the clown whose spot in the rotation he took over could ever have done, against a good lineup to boot.

Ramon Ramirez tried to give away the game in the eight giving up a bomb to Scott Posednik of all people, but Daniel Bard channeled his old self and struck out three of four batters he faced to lock down the win throwing only 14 pitches, 13 for strikes.

It was real shitty watching that Yankee series, but they won three straight games prior and have won three straight games since. The Beckett game was obviously a fluke and we don’t have to worry about Brad Penny anymore so I don’t even count that series anymore. Junichi Tazawa will take the bump tonight against Jon Danks in an attempt to finish off the sweep.

- Chris

I know that all of Red Sox Nation should embrace the fact that Manny Ramirez, steroids or not, helped our team win two World Series rings in the past five years. The keyword in that statement is should, that is because we don’t care how he performs in LA, more or less we want to see him fail. He disrespected our team and our city with all the antics about wanting to be traded for years. We paid him millions to keep quiet and just play ball, but he seemed to want a trade more than anything. I know that he had his 50-game suspension this season after testing positive for some illegal drug, but he has fallen off the map of the most feared hitters in the league. He is currently batting .306 with 13 home runs and 46 RBIs in 255 at-bats, not the best numbers he has ever put up. After arriving in LA last season, Ramirez batted .396 with 17 home runs and 53 RBIs in only 187 at-bats. So last season he was more productive in less at-bats than he has been this year, maybe there is a reason for that? Maybe being 37 years old has caught up to him or maybe he wants to be traded again and he isn’t performing up to his ability until his team starts winning or he is traded. You never know with Manny and people never will. He has been more open in LA and helped his team win a lot of games last season, but that was last year and this is now.

Earlier this year the Dodgers held the best record in all of baseball, but now trail the Yankees and Angels in that category, with the Cardinals right behind them. Also catching up to the Dodgers are the Colorado Rockies, who have won back-to-back games against the team from LA and are only two games behind the Dodgers in the NL West. Could it be that the Dodgers aren’t doing as well because Manny hasn’t been hitting well? Could be, but they also have Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Orlando Hudson, James Loney and Andre Ethier, all whom are having very respectable years. The Dodgers are no longer the best team in the majors and are looking like they aren’t even the best team in the National League, the Cardinals and Phillies have been playing very well since the all-star break. The Dodgers’ pitching staff is both young and talented, but it is looking like Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley can’t hold all the weight on their shoulders. Jeff Weaver and Randy Wolf are having decent years but they have not been anything besides mediocre in their respected careers. The Dodgers are still a strong team on paper and on the field, but with their recent struggles it’s hard to imagine them making it to the World Series this year, especially with Manny and his 13 home runs all season.

By Greg Petersen

Tonight marks the return of a Boston legend (yes, legend) to the mound. After hitting the DL at the end of July with what I thought was a 15 day vacation, Tim Wakefield will finally take his rightful spot in the middle of Fenway park Wednesday. No longer will we have to endure Brad Penny throwing meatballs right down the middle and letting every man who gets on base steal second and then third. I have never been a huge Wakefield guy, but losing him for these four weeks has really made me appreciate what he does for the ball club. The man is a consistent pitcher with the most inconsistent of pitches; all while somehow managing to keep most base runners in check. Even if he goes out and gives up nine runs in two innings against the yankees the odds are pretty good that he will cone back and give you three more solid innings. While Wakefield will never be the best pitcher on the team, after missing himf or this month, he can certainly have a spot on my team.

- Chris

As Chris noted earlier, The Red Sox have officially obtained Billy Wagner from the New york Mets for practically nothing, good deal for the Sox. Sure Wagner is 38 and coming off Tommy John surgery, but he has been one of the most consistent closers of his time. With a career ERA of 2.39 and 385 saves, Wagner is one of the best left-handed closers the game has ever seen. I am glad the Sox got him and hopefully Papelbon won’t bitch about it. Papelbon is just scared that his job might be in jeopardy and he said that the bullpen was fine as is and they didn’t need Wagner. Well, with the rotation struggling then who is going to pick them up? It has to be the bullpen and what better way than to have Wagner bring in his veteran presence and lead the Sox to the playoffs.

On another note, has anyone realized how good Hanley Ramirez has been this year? The Marlins are currently second in the NL East behind the Phillies at 66-59 and Ramirez is one of the main reasons behind the team’s surprise season. No one would ever think that the Marlins would be in contention for the Wild Card this season. They don’t have any impact veterans and rely on very young and low-budget players. Ramirez is the highest paid player on the team at $5.5 million and even that is not a lot for a player of his caliber. His numbers this year are absolutely mind-blowing, considering the fact that he has no protection in the lineup and his team is in the tough NL East division. He is hitting an amazing .361 with 19 home runs, 85 RBIs and 23 stolen bases.

He had a great breakout year in 2007 when he hit .332 with 51 stolen bases, 81 RBIs and 29 home runs. Last season he saw a decline in stolen bases (35), RBIs (67) and average (.301) but saw an increase in home runs with 35. This season is more of a combination of the past two seasons for Ramirez. When he came up through the Red Sox farm system he was a five-tool player and now he is more of a power hitter, the same as ex-Marlin Miguel Cabrera. Ramirez only trails Joe Mauer for the lead league in batting average, Mauer is currently hitting .374 for the Twins. Ramirez is one of the best fantasy players in the majors, only behind Albert Pujols. Of course Pujols leads the majors with 40 home runs and 98 runs scored. Ramirez does fall a little short behind Pujols with his 19 home runs and 79 runs scored. Of course Pujols is having a down year in terms of average so Ramirez has the advantage there. Also, what Ramirez lacks in home runs, he makes up in stolen bases (23) over Pujols’ 12 bags. I know that Pujols is more likely to get the NL MVP because he is Albert Pujols and has slightly better numbers than Ramirez and his team is in first in the NL Central, but it is really hard to overlook Ramirez for the up-and-coming Marlins. He also plays a much more difficult position at shortstop rather than first base. I myself would like to see Ramirez succeed and one day win the NL MVP. He has the talent but if his team was able to get on base for him to drive them in then his numbers would increase even more. It’s too bad that he doesn’t steal as many bases as he used to because those stats would really help him in his case for MVP as well. So the best of luck to Ramirez and hopefully Wagner will succeed in Boston.

By Greg Petersen