There’s got to be some good news coming soon, right? Apparently Mark Bellhorn has been making out with Bill Mueller, as now he’s gone down with the flu that knocked out Mueller for most of last week. That forced the Sox to bring Kevin Youkilis back up to Boston, rather than recalling a pitcher to replace Curt Schilling, who officially went on the DL. Oh, and now Ramon Vazquez might have tweaked something in his leg.

Combine the rash of injuries and sickness with the suspensions handed down for the “incident” in Tampa — Arroyo for 6 games and Nixon for 2 — and the Sox are going to be putting together some odd lineups for the next few weeks.

None of this was really a factor last night. The Sox just didn’t play well. Poor defensive plays by Manny Ramirez and Edgar Renteria assisted the Rangers, who didn’t really need any help (10 hits). Tim Wakefield had his worst start of the year, giving up 5 runs in 6+ innings. The Sox bullpen woes continued, as next Monday’s starter John Halama gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to close out the Rangers scoring.

Chris Snow sums up the insanity of the Sox season thus far with a couple of bits from Johnny Damon:

This is how bad it’s gotten for your beloved Red Sox: Johnny Damon didn’t realize that suspended skipper Terry Francona wasn’t managing last night until the second inning. Really.

“This is a very important time for us, with Wells, Schilling [out],” Damon said. “This month of May is going to dictate how we look at July 31 [the trade deadline]. Whether we’re in the market or whether we’re the other guys.”

Johnny doesn’t know who’s managing, but at least he realizes that the games on the field count.

Check out Chris Snow’s report on Wade Miller’s outing in Pawtucket last night. Sounds pretty encouraging.

I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that Boston’s two old, overweight pitchers have made their way to the DL.

Schilling out at least two weeks.

Joe Sheehan wrote one of his better “Prospectus Today” columns last week wherein he managed to articulate a great aspect of baseball’s allure.

To me, those three games indicate why I love baseball so much. You can never know for sure what kind of game you’re going to get on any given day, and the possibilities are virtually endless. Any game has the potential to be a taut pitchers’ duel or a 20-run slugfest. The same two teams can play completely different ballgames from one day to the next. The A’s and Angels played a series over the weekend with final scores of 6-1 (was 2-1 after eight innings), 1-0 and 7-6, each with its own kind of tension, each with its own standout performances.

If ever there were 2 games to illlustrate the unpredictability that baseball presents, it was last Wednesday’s and last night’s respective tilts between the Orioles and Red Sox. Last Wednesday night, Rodrigo Lopez and Matt Clement hooked up in a great pitcher’s duel, with Clement coming out on top 1-0 on the strength of the measley unearned run the Red Sox were able to scratch across. Last night the same 2 teams and the same 2 starting pitchers hooked up and the result was an 11-8 Orioles victory in a long, drawn-out, ugly game.

Neither Lopez nor Clement were able to find any sort of groove, and given the strength of each lineup, I don’t think there is any reason to go overboard critiquing either. I found last Wednesday’s pitching performances far more impressive than I found last night’s outings unimpressive. Those two will bounce back.

Doing the bulk of the Oriole offensive damage last night was the left side of their infield, quite possibly the best in baseball (and yes, I saw what A-Rod did last night). Melvin Mora and Miguel Tejada combined for an 8 for 11 evening with 2 doubles, a home run, a walk, 5 runs and 2 RBI. Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Javy Lopez all chipped in with productive evenings as well. For the Sox, it was Manny Ramirez that did the bulk of the damage. That is to say he paced their ferocious 4-inning attack with a home run and 5 RBI. Boston scored 8 times in the first 4 innings and went silent thereafter.

One would like to think, however, that after such a sterling start to an offensive evening that a lineup might be entitled to sitting back a bit. Not against these Orioles. Clement pitched fine through the first 3 innings but labored in the 4th and 5th, throwing virtual batting practice to a Baltimore club that looked far more prepared to swing the bats against the American League newcomer than they did last Wednesday. Still, when Clement left the game in the 5th, the Sox had an 8-5 lead with two men on and two outs. Alan Embree came on to close out the inning, but not before yielding a two-run double to Larry Bigbie. It was 8-7 after 5. Mike Timlin would do his job over the next 2 innings before handing the ball over to Keith Foulke, to whom Terry Francona turned to record the two-inning save. Foulke was awful. It’s funny, I have never fully understood why Foulke is so effective. He throws 87 miles per hour and features a devastating change up that he rarely throws for a called strike. Now it’s almost like the rest of the league has simultaneously woken up to the fact that Foulke is eminently hittable, if you can either guess right on the change up or discipline yourself to let it go by. This is especially true when he is missing spots as he was last night. Both Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez hit 2-run home runs off of Foulke in the eighth inning last night, staking the Orioles to the 11-8 lead they would not relinquish.

Foulke’s performance record can tell you a whole lot more about what kind of pitcher he is than my naked eye. That’s for damn sure. But Foulke, because he does not throw hard, has a minimal margin for error. When he is not absolutely pinpoint with his fastball and controlling his change up as he would like, there is not just a bit of slippage in his performance but an absolute boulder-drop off of a table. As soon as he starts to regain control, however, he’ll start to be effective again.

On my walk to work this morning, I passed through Post Office Square. Pegged into the lawn on all sides is a sign that reads “Lawn closed for re-seeding, will re-open May 1″. The only living creature visible to me on the lawn was a gorgeous Oriole, strutting defiantly around the middle of it. I chuckled to myself and shook my head.

Wakefield and Cabrera in a matinee today. The Sox try to avoid the sweep while the O’s look to extend their division lead.

Blech. Just a thoroughly unenjoyable ballgame at Fenway Park, marred by shoddy defensive play, worse pitching, a couple of injuries and considerable bad luck. The Red Sox lost an ugly one last night to the Orioles, 8-4.

On the mound, David Wells never got comfortable, a credit to the Orioles attack as much as it is a knock on Wells himself. In the first inning, the best player in the history of baseball led off with a single, stole second, stole third and then scored on a ground out. In the second, Javy Lopez led off with a 6-pitch walk followed by a first-pitch BJ Surhoff single and a Luis Matos double. After a David Ortiz error a few batters later, the Orioles had plated another 2 runs. David Wells made his costliest mistake of the night on an 0-2 pitch to Surhoff in the 4th, a fastball up in the zone that Surhoff billy-clubbed to deep right field. Wells left the game shortly thereafter having sprained his foot on a chopper just to his right. Acclimating himself just fine to the Boston media scene, Chris Snow couldn’t resist taking a shot at Boomer after Wells quipped last Wednesday night in Baltimore that “this old dog can still field his position.” No word on the severity of Boomer’s injury yet. Blaine Neal came on and did fine in spot relief duty before handing the ball to Matt Mantei, who also injured himself going to back up third base after a Javy Lopez double. One has to wonder if we won’t be seeing Portland relief phenom Cla Meredith any time soon.

The Red Sox offense was by no means bad as they got to Bruce Chen here and there all night and even a number of their outs were awfully loud. Jason Varitek had Boston’s only 2 extra base hits of the evening, a double and a rocket of a home run. Edgar Renteria, however, continues to disappoint. Simply put, Renteria has an awful approach at the plate and his continued propensity to ground into double plays has earned him the nickname RIDP over at Primer (Renteria’d Into Double Play - thanks Mikael). The admittedly snarky nickname is a coping mechanism I suppose and one we all took to but in all seriousness it is hard not to think about what might have been on an evening in which Wells goes down with a foot injury and Renteria drains the hell out of the offensive attack. How would Pedro and Jose Valentin sound about now? Or Pedro and Placido Polanco? Because either one of those combinations probably would have cost right around the same amount as Wells and Renteria. Hindsight I know but I think we were skeptical enough around these parts when Petey left and Renteria signed to raise the issue. I am not writing Renteria off by any stretch but I do wonder if at any point he will come even close to earning the money for which he signed. Oh well.

Red Sox negativity aside, the important thing that I think we are learning is that the O’s may be a bit longer for contention than many realize. With an offensive core of Javy Lopez, Brian Roberts, Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada and Sammy Sosa, a strong bullpen and a starting staff that’s come better than advertised, I don’t see any reason why the O’s can’t make noise in the 2005 playoff race. I have been on the O’s bandwagon since the Sosa trade and I don’t see any reason to hop off now.

Rodrigo Lopez and Matt Clement tonight at Fenway, as the Sox try to climb to within one game of the American League East leaders.

Nick Cafardo files the “conventional wisdom” report in the Globe today, regarding yesterday’s ugly Sox game. Cafardo’s lede:

On a day when payback and brushbacks and two bench-clearing events were the show at Tropicana Field, the Red Sox, losers of two straight one-run games and the target of errant and/or purpose pitches, decided they had endured enough from the young, small-market Devil Rays.

The Sox fought their way to an 11-3 win to claim one game of the three-game series, but, more important, they salvaged their pride before their return to Boston last night.

“Salvaged their pride?” These are the Devil Rays. The Sox shouldn’t be losing 2 out of 3 to the DRays. That’s the story. Maybe the continued carrying of 12 pitchers while Bill Mueller’s absence continues to leave the Sox with a short bench. That’s another story. How about Francona’s mismanagement of the bullpen in the early going of the season, particularly in this Devil Rays series? That’s another fine story. Maybe something on Schilling’s early season struggles, something about how thick pitchers coming off leg injuries are likely to be a significant risk?

Nope, Cafardo files a completely predictable account of the game, focusing entirely on the grossly overblown beanball battle and subsequent bench clearing festivities. Honestly, the whole getting indignant thing when you get hit by a pitch is getting old. Batters these days have a huge advantage over pitchers, as they’re allowed to crowd the plate and don’t have to worry about a high strike. So get over it already.

And the need to retalliate so that you can defend your hitters? Whatever. Yes, Ortiz got buzzed, and the Rays got warned. Isn’t that enough? What good does it serve having Arroyo go back out there and nail someone else? How does that protect anyone? All that does is raise everyone’s ire and make it more likely that these teams will engage in this behavior the next time they’re together, just like it’s happened in a series every year for the past 3 or 4 seasons.

Just an embarrassing series for the Sox.

If you’re going to pay a reliever big money to be your closer/relief ace, it is in your best interests to use him in high leverage situations. Bottom of the 9th, tie game–that’s a high leverage situation, as a single run allowed ends the game. In fact, innings don’t get more high leverage than that. In that situation, you have to bring in Keith Foulke, even if he has been a bit shaky in the early going.

Instead, when the Red Sox found themselves in that situation last night after battling back from a two run defecit to tie the game in the top of the 9th, Terry Francona went to Alan Embree. 1 pitch later, the game was over.

There are a whole bunch of problems with using Embree. First, he doesn’t seem to be throwing as hard as he used to, which doesn’t help his already flat fastball. Second, he’s a lefty. He was scheduled to face the lefty Alex Sanchez, but Sanchez is awful and you don’t need to bring in a lefty to face him, especially since you know that Lou Pinella will pull Sanchez and go with his best pinch hitter available, the righty Eduardo Perez. Even worse, Sanchez’s 3-year splits against lefties are better than his numbers versus righties. Topping it off, the likely pinch hitter Eduardo Perez kills lefties.

3 Year Splits
Sanchez vs. Lefties
.320/.340/.382/.722

Sanchez vs. Righties
.289/.327/.362/.689

Perez vs. Lefties
.302/.401/.613/1.014

Perez vs. Righties
.207/.274/.333/.607

So, Embree is the worst of both worlds. If you really want to save Foulke so that he can pitch multiple extra innings, the smart move would have been to go to Timlin for Sanchez. Pinella probably still pinch hits with Perez. Timlin versus Perez is a matchup that greatly favors the Sox. You can then come back with Embree against Carl Crawford, and then bring in Foulke to face Julio Lugo.

3 Year Splits in Projected Matchups
Perez vs. Righties (Timlin)
.207/.274/.333/.607

Crawford vs. Lefties (Embree)
.265/.302/.345/.647

Lugo vs. Righties (Foulke)
.271/.332/.403/.735

For giggles:
Lugo vs. Lefties (Embree)
.270/.333/.389/.722

That gives you three matchups where the Sox get the platoon advantage, and while it is an inefficient use of resources (2 good relievers for 1 out each), if you’re going to try to win ballgames, sometimes that’s what you need to do. Instead, the Sox used the worst possible matchup and it resulted in a moonshot and a Devil Rays victory.

Flipping around TV on Wednesday night, I caught some of the Dodgers/Padres game in HD. This is what I saw:

Those uniforms are hideous, even in hi-def. I’ve been to San Diego–there’s not a whole lot of dense foliage downtown. At Wrigley, these uniforms might make more sense: imagine a fully face-painted Kerry Wood throwing a fastball at you, but he blends into the ivy like Kermit blended into the green wall on that episode of “Muppet Babies.” All you see is his eyes and then a white ball whipping at you. That’s home field advantage.

But in San Diego? Even in camo, I don’t think Woody Williams is all that intimidating.

Matt Clement was great, so was Rodrigo Lopez, the Sox were lucky to get 1, the umps were as bad as bad can be and I am reminded of what Mazz wrote before the season. I already addressed the inanity of the piece here but I wonder if Mazz isn’t embarassed yet. Nothing funnier than someone who is simultaneously opinionated and ignorant.

His (Joe Torre’s) New York Yankees have better pitching than the Red Sox.

An opinion? No, no, no. That’s a fact. Many Boston sports followers are still inhaling the fumes from the outbreak of local championships, and they’re so high now that they cannot see straight.

Presented with the all of the appropriate it’s-still-early caveats…

Sox Starters’ ERA: 3.15
Yanks Starters’ ERA: 5.46

Who can’t see straight?

As Chris Snow points out in the Globe (now behind an annoying free registration), last night’s performance is what the Sox were expecting when they signed David Wells. Showing the pinpoint control that has been the hallmark of the latter stage of his career, Wells allowed only 4 batters to reach base (just 1 walk) while striking out 5. Wells lasted 8 innings, a feat he’s achieved only 3 times in 2004.

Wells’ performance certainly wasn’t wasted by the Sox offense, who exploded in the latter half of the game for 8 runs. Former Sox (and f0rmer every other team in baseball) pitcher Bruce Chen pitched a quiet 4.2 IP before balking in the first run of the game. That opened the flood gates, as the Sox touched him up for 3 more in the sixth on a Jason Varitek home run, and another in the 7th before he was lifted for Steve Reed. Reed continued his struggles for the Os, giving up 3 runs in just an inning pitched.

Manny Ramirez continues his obsession with hurting every pitch thrown in the strike zone, going 2 for 2 (a single and a huge double) with 2 walks. Captain Varitek, doing everything in his power to make it hard for me to argue his signing was short-sighted, pitched in with a single and his three run homer. The Sox offense drew another 7 walks as they shake off their early season impatience.

Tonight the Sox send Matt Clement up against Rodrigo Lopez, winner gets first place in the AL East.

I spent the best weather night of 2005 in the front row of the green monster seats at Fenway Park for an excellent game, the type you can easily recall years later because of the principals involved. In the summer of 2003, I was fortunate enough to take in a classic pitcher’s duel at Dodger Stadium between Mark Prior and Kevin Brown with the difference in the game, a Cubs win, being two Sammy Sosa home runs. Prior, Sosa, Brown. Well last night, Roy Halladay peppered the strike zone all game long, and the Sox were only able to get a lead because of two monstrous home runs off the bat of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. They surrendered that lead because of a home run by Vernon Wells in the eighth and a dreadful performance from Keith Foulke in the ninth. Halladay, Ortiz, Ramirez, Wells, Foulke.

The Red Sox fan in me didn’t much enjoy the result but the baseball fan in me enjoyed a hell of a game with a hell of a view on a hell of a night with three of the nicest and most enjoyable people I know, my girlfriend Johanna and our friends Chris and Holly, who were kind enough to extend the invite. The Sox lost a game they certainly could have won but not a game they really should have won. When your opponent hits .375/.526 (OB/SLG) and you only hit .235/.375, no matter how late in the game you have a lead, you can’t really say you were the better team.

The entire Run Prevention unit for the Blue Jays was magnificent. I have had the pleasure of sitting just a couple of rows behind home plate for a Roy Halladay start and let me tell you, he just pounds the strike zone all night. He is 6’6” and throws a hard, heavy fastball that rides in on a right-handed batter and darts away from a lefty. Halladay is efficient in that he knows that the action on his fastball is such that even mistakes won’t cost him that much most of the time. The end result is that you get innings like the 4th from time to time in which Halladay threw just 3 pitches. Through 6 innings he had thrown just 59 total. Of course a hurler can’t conserve as Halladay did last night without some fantastic glove-work behind him. In that very same 4th, Trot Nixon led the inning off with a line drive single into right field. Manny Ramirez followed with a two-hop shot down the third baseline, only to have Corey Koskie lay out for it, throw accurately to Orlando Hudson to cut down Nixon for one, who in turn threw out Manny by a step at first base. You may not see a prettier 5-4-3 all year long.

The offensive stars on the night were the four home run hitters. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz hit home runs that cleared their respective Fenway walls by a combined 250 feet. I am not kidding. Manny’s home run in the first inning was still on its ascent as it cleared the monster, a good 80 feet over my head as it sailed by. Ortiz hit his home run a good 20 rows up into the stands in the deepest part of right field. Not to be outdone, Corey Koskie and Vernon Wells hit home runs of their own, shorter in length but of the very same currency.

After the Red Sox took a 3-1 lead in the seventh inning, Terry Francona made two curious decisions, both of which I commented upon at the time. Kevin Millar was plunked on the right arm and subsequently lifted in favor of Dave McCarty. Also, Jay Payton replaced Manny Ramirez to start the ninth inning. As Payton and not Manny Ramirez trotted right at us to begin the eighth, I explained to Johanna that the likelihood that the Jays would tie the game up because of inferior left field defense was not as great as the likelihood that they would just score two runs by simply earning two runs. Sure enough, 5 pitches into the eighth from Alan Embree, the game was tied, Jay Payton was Boston’s #3 hitter and Dave McCarty its #5. I can’t exactly get my arms around when you should and shouldn’t use defensive replacements. I’m inclined to believe that in a close game, you should only make defensive replacements when the offensive downgrade is relatively negligible. That way, if the game goes long, you still have a strong lineup intact. You can replace your sluggers with a larger lead, say 4 or 5 runs, so as to guard against the kind of gaffe that plagued Giants outfielder Jason Ellison last week at the Dodgers home opener. He muffed a routine single into a game-winning, bases-clearing triple. That’s my very rough defensive replacement modus operandi, I guess. Defensive replacements only make sense in a close game when the offensive downgrade is relatively negligible.

The Red Sox would threaten in the eighth and ninth but failed to score each time. Meanwhile, after hanging 2 runs on Alan Embree in the eighth inning, the Blue Jays got to Keith Foulke, who looked awful. Toronto parlayed a hit batsman, a walk and two singles into the go-ahead run but not before Jay Payton cut down the potential go-ahead run one play before the eventual game-winning single. Some will say this play justified the managerial move and showed why the decision to replace Ramirez with Payton made sense. This position ignores, however, that Payton came up in a tie game in the eighth with men on 1st and 3rd and two outs, only to pop up the first and only pitch he saw all night. What a spot that would have been for Ramirez, or any team’s #3 hitter for that matter (save Alex Sanchez and Tike Redman). Miguel Batista, not without his own share of drama, shut the door in the ninth for the save.

The Red Sox head to Baltimore to play the first place Orioles at Camden Yards tonight. David Wells squares off against Bruce Chen, who has been lights out thus far in 2005.

Edit: Tony Mazz reports that Manny hurt his quad and that’s why he was lifted. So that absolves Tito here but it’s an interesting topic nonetheless. When are defensive replacements appropriate?

The Portland Sea Dogs lost their first game yesterday but that shouldn’t dampen enthusiasm for what it is truly an intriguing pipeline of prospects the Sox are developing.

Here are the team stats thus far.

Also on the Minors front, check out Bryan Smith’s piece on Hanley Ramirez and Dodgers farmhand, Joel Guzman - the two best shortstop prospects in the world.

Curt Schilling got his first win of the season in an ugly early Patriot’s Day game at Fenway. A lot of folks will think Schilling dominated, pointing to his 10 Ks in 5 innings, but he labored throughout the day, running deep into a lot of counts, and giving up 10 hits and 2 walks. Schilling only got charged with 3 earned runs, as the midday sun caused trouble for the outfielders, particularly in left field, where Manny Ramirez badly misplayed two balls (Frank Catalanotto also lost a ball in LF for the Jays). Not a stellar outing for Schilling, as he simply doesn’t have control of his stuff yet. The good news is that he doesn’t look to be to have lost too much after off-season surgery, and I expect he’ll round into form in the next few outings. 10 Ks in 5 innings is 10 Ks in 5 innings, no matter how you slice it.

Even with his gaffes, Manny wasn’t all bad. He made a nice play on a Shea Hillenbrand liner off the Monster in the first, holding him to a single. He also went deep twice, doubling his homer total for the year, and driving in five more runs. The top of the order was stellar, as Damon, Nixon, and Manny were a combined 7 for 11 with 6 runs scored and 9 driven in. Trot also robbed Alex Rios of a homer, as he reached into the RF stands down around the pole to bring one back. No one interfered this time, which was nice to see, since the denizens of those first few seats tend to be non-discriminate with who they interfere with.

All told, it was an ugly game. The teams used a combined 11 pitchers in the game that finished just 20 minutes short of four hours. Blaine Neal is probably very close to getting DFAd, as he gave up 3 hits and a run in his lone inning of relief. That might be the best thing for the Sox, who really don’t need to be carrying 12 pitchers, especially since Terry Francona seems to become comfortable with a subset of relievers while the others get sporadic work. Certainly something to keep an eye on over this long stretch of games.

Not a whole lot to say about this one. The Sox seem to be rounding into shape in all three aspects of the game. The offense has been firing well, drawing walks and driving the ball well, though they couldn’t quite get it going today. Once again the pitching was fantastic, with Wakefield continuing his nice run. 6 more innings of 1 run ball from Timmy, though he had a bit less control of the knuckler today than he’s had in his past 2 outings. Just to round things out, the defense has been pretty solid after a shaky start to the season.

What does all of this tell us? Not too much. The Sox have split with the Yankees, lost 2 out of 3 to the Blue Jays bizarrely powerful offense, and ripped an overmatched DRays squad 3 straight. True to form, the Sox love playing in Fenway, putting up an .850 OPS at home thus far, versus just .719 on the road. The home/away differential wasn’t quite that large in 2004, but the Sox are definitely a team built for Fenway, and that shows so far this season, with the obvious caveat of small sample sizes and all that.

Tomorrow is the big Patriot’s Day game. It’s the typical early start at 11:05, so skip work, load up MLB.tv, or listen to Joe and ignore Jerry.

All Manny, all the time. Manny Ramirez broke out in a big way, launching two blasts over the Monster, including the Sox’ second grand slam in as many days. Ramirez drove in all 6 Red Sox runs off of Devil Rays starter Dewon Brazelton, knocking him out of the game with just two outs in the 4th. Six was the magic number for Brazelton, who let in 6 runs, gave up 6 hits, and walked 6 batters. Someone needs to check what’s under the bandage on the back of his neck.

This is great news for Manny, and for those of us who were just dreading the media and “fans” who would start ripping Ramirez for not producing. Manny is aloof, never looks to be going full speed, and is simply an odd fellow. He’s also, by all accounts, the hardest working player on the Sox with regards to his offense. He spends countless hours in the cages and watching video, and Remy pointed this out last night, saying that Manny had made an adjustment to his hands and felt more comfortable at the plate. Ramirez will never look like Carl Crawford in the field or on the basepaths, but he will always be a more valuable player.

Sox starter Matt Clement picked up his first win of the season in his first start in the Fens. He was helped by a nifty diving catch by Trot Nixon, and didn’t kill himself with walks. Clement went 7, giving up just 1 run on 7 hits and 2 walks. I’d guess that this is probably the top end of what we’ll get out of Clement this season. He’s simply too inefficient to ever go much more than 7 innings, considering he was up to almost 110 pitches when he was done. In 2004, he had only 5 starts go longer than 7 innings–a much easier feat in the NL when you’re basically facing the pitcher 3 times a game (and you’ve got Dusty Baker having you throw 120 pitches).

This brings up an interesting consideration: with Clement following Wells in the rotation, there’s a good chance that you’re going to have back to back nights where the bullpen is required to go 3 or more innings (Wells only had 3 starts of more than 7 innings in 2004). Wouldn’t it make sense to realign the rotation at some point to get Schilling or even Arroyo or Wakefield in between Wells and Clement? Just something to ponder as the Sox play game 3 against the Rays in about 4 hours, with Wake facing off against Scott Kazmir.

This game was over the moment David Ortiz lined a Hideo Nomo pitch down the right field line for one of the shortest and least majestic grand slams you’ll ever seen in baseball. David Wells had his first good start in Sox laundry, going 7 innings without giving up a walk, followed by an inning each from Matt Mantei and John Halama, who also bucked the recent trend in Sox pitching by not giving up a single walk.

The Devil Rays staff was a stark contrast, but that was mostly Nomo. Nomo walked 5 in just 2 innings of work, in one of the worst outings I’ve seen in a long time. He simply had no control, and the Sox were willing to sit on good pitches if he wasn’t going to be around the plate. Nomo gave up 8 runs on 5 hits (2 singles, a double, a triple, and a homer) and 5 walks. He was followed by Casey Fossum who performed admirably back in front of the fans of Fenway. It was great to see Casey and I’m hopeful that he can reclaim a bit of the shine he had as a young prospect just up from AA. It could be that it has taken him a few years to recover from his arm injury(ies?). He’s never going to be a quality major league starter (though, Baseball Reference lists Jeremy Bonderman and Doug Davis amongst his most comparable pitchers), but I hope he can catch on and become a stud reliever for someone. Maybe Tampa Bay is the place for him.

Edgar Renteria continues to battle back from his early season woes, ripping a couple of hits (a single and triple) and scoring 2 runs. Mark Bellhorn also broke out of a mini-slump with two doubles. A good night for the middle infielders, as they also joined in together on a 4-6-3 DP. The much maligned Dave McCarty even got in on the action, singling the last two runs of the game off of the Rays’ Lance Carter.

It was a rather uneventful game–no altercations with fans or grand ceremonies or even Lou Pinella going apoplectic on someone on his bench. It’s really too bad the Rays got rid of Ben Grieve.

Ben Sheets signs a 4-year, $38.5 million extension with Milwaukee.

Today is a great day for Milwaukee fans. With that farm system and a horse like Sheets to anchor the staff, there is legitimate cause for optimism in the Badger State.

Last night’s game was an ugly game marred by two uglier incidents. Those incidents will overshadow the Sox slugging their way to victory, behind big nights from Jason Varitek, Jay Payton, and Edgar Renteria. All three players went deep off of Randy Johnson, including Varitek’s shot which cleared everything in left. The blasts accounted for 5 of the Sox 8 runs, but it wasn’t enough at the time, as control problems again plagued the Red Sox pitching staff. Bronson Arroyo walked 4 in only 5.2 innings of work, walking a run in on a borderline call of a nasty 12-6 curveball (more on this later). Arroyo gave up all 5 of the Yankee runs, which left the Sox in a tie game heading into the bottom of the 8th.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Sox went ahead on a double by Edgar Renteria off of Stephen King’s favorite player. A couple of batters later, Jason Varitek lined a shot down the RF line that bounced around in the corner. As usual, a bunch of moron fans tried to reach over and grab the live ball, seemingly oblivious to the fact that it would likely cost the Sox a run. Thankfully, not one of these morons was able to get a hand on the ball, but one moron reached down right around Sheffield’s head as he leaned over to field the ball. In an instant, Sheffield shoves the guy, turns and heaves the ball back into the infield, and then turns around to jaw some more with the fan. A Fenway security guard cooled things down, but the shove was enough to get people talking in this post-Artest sports world.

There’s a lot of discussion about the fan’s intentions and whether he hit Sheffield or not. To my eyes, it’s pretty obvious from the MLB.com video (between 2:40 - 3:00) that the fan tries to interfere with Sheffield (probably trying to tap his hat or just wave in front of his face)–as evidenced by his “let me look away from the play while I swipe down, even though the ball is right in front of me” action, and accidentally catches a piece of Sheffield’s face–as evidenced by his “oh shit, I just hit Sheffield in the face and now he’s going to go all Incredible Hulk on me” reaction. Looking at the situation after the fact, Sheffield’s reaction is overblown. But really, he just shoved a guy who probably caught him in the face in a hostile environment. I have no issues with what Sheffield did, as he didn’t throw a punch or climb into the stands. That may be controversial, but it’s how I feel. I don’t think athletes should be forced to just accept physical contact from fans.

The larger issue here is the fact that fans in RF at Fenway are able to too easily interfere with a ball in play. There’s an easy solution to that problem. Post signs or leave notes along all of those seats that anyone even attempting to interfere with a ball in play will be removed from the park. If there’s a situation where fans reach over, use the video replay to identify the fans and then remove them between half-innings. Once that happens a couple of times and fans see an entire row of people removed because they thought they were more important than the game going on, I think folks will get the message.

Getting back to the game, Varitek’s ball was a triple, the Sox took an 8-5 lead, and Keith Foulke was brought on to close out the final 2 innings. Foulke again struggled with his control, walking 3 and throwing 53 pitches, but was able to close things out without giving up a run.

Walks have a been a problem for Red Sox pitchers all season. Last night, the problem was particularly acute, since home plate umpire Greg Gibson had a horribly inconsistent strikezone. Gibson tossed out Sox hitting coach Ron Jackson after Arroyo walked Sheffield with the bases loaded to drive in a run. Chris Snow captured Francona’s amusing reaction to this in his article in today’s Globe.

[Gibson said] he read his lips,” Terry Francona said. “That [expletive] guy can’t even see the ball in front of him.

In Gibson’s defense, the pitch in question was definitely borderline, as was the pitch to Bill Mueller that Francona argued later in getting himself tossed. The bigger problem was Gibson’s inconsistency. Pitchers simply cannot be effective if they don’t know where the strike zone is going to be called. The result is a slugfest like last night, where pitchers issue a combined 10 walks while giving up 13 runs.

I think most fans are happy that this early season Sox-Yankees storyline is over for now. Neither team is playing particularly well. The Sox hope that a change of opponent will help, as they’re scheduled to face the Devil Rays for a three game series starting tonight. David Wells tries to have his first decent outing in Red Sox laundry against old friend Hideo Nomo for the Rays.

One of the things that interests me about baseball is the amount of planning involved in doing even the smallest task. I know the old saw is that if you think, you hurt the team, but that’s a bunch of horse hockey. If you don’t think, you wind up like Shea Hillenbrand. Good God, I hate that bastard.

I digress. The self analysis starts at the top and goes down. John Henry has a notion, and the validity is explored by his underlings until you have Ramon Vazquez playing for Mark Bellhorn. I think. Well, thinking is important.

Anyway, the idea of planning is right now being scoffed at by the reigning World Champions. You see, they chose to vanquish Kevin Youkilis to Pawtucket in order to call up Curt Schilling. As a strictly personnel move, it makes sense, because Youks wasn’t playing a whole lot, he can benefit from being the every day 3b in AAA, and most importantly, it allows Curt Schilling to pitch for the big club.

However, once you look at the mechanism involved, you can see that the Red Sox now have 12 pitchers, which unless it’s the playoffs or Colorado, and especially in the American League, is a completely horrible idea. The Sox now have an old team, and a short bench, which is no good mojumbo.

During spring training, the Red Sox acquired two pitchers, Blaine Neal and Mike Myers, who were fungible major league talents. They have their uses, but they are both replaceable on the major league level. Another good name for them is organizational depth. They also either don’t have the options to send them to AAA, or can refuse to go there. At this point, it was forgone that Schilling would be on the DL to start the year. That means the Red Sox saw a 12 man staff on the horizon.

When Theo constructed the bench, he turned Roberts into Payton and Vazquez, creating the 4th outfielder, and utility infielder. Doug Mirabelli resigned, giving the Red Sox a backup catcher. David McCarty has naughty pictures of Lucchino and animals. Kevin Youkilis is coming off a successful rookie year. Roberto Pentigene is loved by stat-heads. Shawn Wooten is fat.

Anyway, when Pentigene got his hurt on, the Red Sox were left with one player who could bat left handed on the bench, Vazquez. Rather than go and sign Pentigene insurance, Brian Daubach was available, the Sox just shrugged and purchased McCarty’s contract. Mrs. Lucchino breathed a sigh of relief.

Fast forward to yesterday. The Sox need to make a move to activate Schilling. You know newly acquired Blaine Neal and Mike Myers are chilling, and McCarty will be buried next to Theo when they die, so that leaves Kevin Youkilis, the 2nd best hitter off the bench after Payton, on the shuttle down to Pawtucket.

Because the Red Sox failed to plan for this moment, the Sox have a short bench, an average age of around 45, and a pitcher in the bullpen who will probably rust out from not getting regular use. But hey, at least McCarty can draw on his 10 year pension.

There wasn’t a dry eye in Fenway Park last night as Ramon Vazquez took the home field for the first time last night…oops. Wrong intro.

Curt Schilling took to a Major League mound for the first time this season, throwing 94 pitches over 5 strong innings, yielding just 2 runs. The problem was, his Manager decided to run him out there for a 6th inning, of which he lasted just 2/3rds, 14 pitches and 2 home runs. The bullpen would come in to do its job, holding the Yankees to just the 5 runs Schilling yielded but the offense only mustered a 2-spot. The final score was 5-2. I wouldn’t even point out this managerial gaffe if it were not for two things:

1) Just before the game, I mentioned to my cousin, seated next to me, that 5 innings and 100 pitches would be great from Schilling today.
2) Schilling really labored through the 5th. It was pretty evident he was gassed.

It was Schilling’s first start of the year, coming off of an injury, on a 40 degree night against one of the best lineups in baseball. He never should have come out for the 6th. Tito screwed up.

Jaret Wright wiggled out of a few jams but didn’t pitch particularly well. He gave up 10 base-runners in 5 innings, an unsustainable level for anyone with even meager aspirations. To Wright’s credit, however, nobody on the Sox save Trot Nixon looked all that comfortable in the box against him. Wright throws hard and is wild enough to give right-handed hitters cold feet in there.

To be perfectly honest, it was nice to see Jason Giambi hit such an important home run. Some of the Sox fans seated near me were insufferable, heckling well-behaved Yankee fans and pouring chants of “BAL-COE” down on Giambi. People were more confused than anything as Giambi lumbered around the base-paths. “How could Giambi hit a home run off of Schilling?” He stuck his chest out defiantly and gave an emphatic fist-rock to Jorge Posada, who scored on his home run and was waiting for him at home plate. As it should have, that one felt good for Giambi. When some Yankee fans stood and cheered the beleaguered Giambi, a Sox fan launched a beer into the middle of the crowd. I feel the need to mention this in light of some of the horror stories from the opening series at the Bronx I have heard from Sox fans. Every team has its mook fans.

It’s hard to say what would have happened had Tito pulled Schilling but I don’t think there was a worse option available to him to start the 6th than Schilling. Maybe the decision didn’t cost the Sox the game but it significantly hindered their ability to win it.

Doesn’t get any easier tonight, as the Unit squares off against Bronson Arroyo.