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By Jimmy, 4/28/2011 3:46 pm

It seems like this is a good opportunity for Jon Lester and the Red Sox to avoid the sweep, as they face a right-handed pitcher who is not particularly overpowering. Brad Bergeson does throw strikes and features a decent sinker, but he’s a guy who doesn’t miss many bats, and a lineup stocked with left-handed hitters could score a run or two in that sort of environment.

On not. Who knows. I thought the Sox would explode for a few against Jeremy Guthrie yesterday, but that didn’t happen. Baseball’s a funny game like that.

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By Jimmy,

“This is a Hockey Town”

Box Score

The Reverse Lock Theory was applied at Camden Yards last night, as Red Sox hitters were not able to generate any offense against the awesomely mediocre Jeremy Guthrie, while Josh Beckett gave up four runs.  I suppose I deserve this after mocking Luke Scott yesterday.  He did not seem to be phased by the thick coating of egg on his face, hitting a 2-run blast in the 4th inning, and proudly flipping his bat (much to Beckett’s chagrin).  You might call the move a “Freedom Flip”.

Top 5 Goats

Silver Lining

Jacoby Ellsbury, again, looks to be hitting line drives much more often that what we’ve seen since his injury.  However, his defense is another story…

Quote of the Day

“Those things have a way of working themselves out.”

- Josh Beckett, implying Luke Scott will experience four-seam retribution for his post-HR bat flip.

Whenever Josh Beckett is angry, there tends to be a few of these to choose from.  It was a difficult decision, but the above quote wins by a narrow margin over “Is this TMZ?!“ 

Prospect Watch

• AA – Miguel Tejeda again had a good night, going 2 for 2 with 2 walks.  Just like that, he’s now hitting a respectable .296/.345/.426 on the year.
• High A – Salem scored 16 runs on 17 hits in the first game of their double-header, and were shut out on 4 hits in the second.  Most of the regulars had at least two hits in the first game, but catcher Dan Butler in particular continues to shine, now hitting an other-worldly .362/.455/.745.

Off-Topic Rant:

I’m a 98.5 FM “The Sports Hub” listener.  The night guy, Damon Amendolara, is OK in my opinion.  He’s listenable and seems to be knowledgeable enough, he seems like a decent guy, and he’s a paisan so I give him the benefit of the doubt.  However, he never really keeps my attention or adds any insight beyond what most dedicated sports fans already know.

Now, let me add that I don’t know very much about hockey, so I could be talking out of my ass here.  In a late-night Tweet after the Bruins won in OT, Amedolara wrote this: “B’s proved they are a different team than last year’s el choko. Thank God.” Given how easily they could have lost that game, and how easily they could have won Game 7 against the Flyers last year, is this really true?  Does that OT goal suddenly prove that this team is much different that the one we watched last year?  This seems like sports radio cliche-ism at its worst.  And I don’t mean to pick on D.A., because he’s certainly not the only guy who says this type of thing on air or in print.  I read and hear statements like this quite a bit (regarding all four major sports), and it annoys me each time; absolute proclamations about a team or player’s make-up based on one isolated moment that could have easily gone in either direction.

Again, I don’t know hockey, so somebody school me if I’m off base here.

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By Jimmy, 4/27/2011 12:55 pm

Most of you are quite familiar with Baltimore starter Jeremie Guthrie, as he’s a guy the Red Sox have faced 3 or 4 times per season for the past several years.  Guthrie is the type of pitcher where you can’t help but wonder how he manages to be as effective as he is.  He’s not a strikeout pitcher, and he’s not a ground ball pitcher, yet he’s been the most reliable pitcher in Baltimore over the last few seasons.

While Guthrie has pitched well so far in 2011, the Red Sox (and their left-handed hitters in particular) have crushed him in the past.  This could be one of those nights where the Sox approach double-digits in the runs column.

Speaking of Luke Scott, check out his numbers against Beckett.  Yikes.  Will he take out his Real American Joe Sixpack™ rage against those blue-blooded elitists from Boston?  We shall see.

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By Jimmy, 4/26/2011 1:31 pm

In the offseason, Buck Showalter accomplished a tremendous feat: he brought media attention to the Baltimore Orioles.  Of course, he did this by acting like a jackass, but that does not lessen his improbable achievement.  Congrats, Buck.  You may never win a championship, but you’ll always have Men’s Journal.

Today marks the first day that Showalter can act on his words, as the Red Sox visit Camden Yards for “an away game”.  They’ll be facing a rookie out of Baltimore’s stable of promising young pitchers: LHP Zach Britton.  Britton has been impressive in the early going, winning 3 out of the 4 games he has started with a 3.16 ERA over 25.2 innings.  Since there is no head-to-head data to look at, here’s a quick rundown on the new guy:

• A top prospect in the organization (#2 at Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus, #1 at Fangraphs)
• Early R.O.Y. candidate
• Heavy 92-93 MPH sinker, lots of ground ball outs
• Pedestrian K/BB rates: 7.3 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 in minors last year
• Throws a changeup and a slider, but mostly relies on his fastball

In comparison to Tyler Chatwood, the rookie right-hander from Anaheim we saw last week, Britton appears to be more polished with better command.

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By Jimmy, 4/25/2011 3:16 pm

It’s a little late, but I’ve finally added a Power Rankings page to the site.  See here (or click the “Power Rankings” link at the top of the page).

My formula for each team’s power score goes something like this:

.10 (Prior Year Coefficient) + .05 (Age Coefficient) + .35 (Predicted Win Coefficient) + .50 (Actual Performance)

• Prior Year Coefficient = a number based on the team’s Pythagorean record in 2010.
• Age Coefficient = a number based on the team’s average age (used to deflate scores based on injury probabilities).
• Predicted Win Coefficient = A number that I determine based on how many wins I believe a team will have at the end of the season, based on current information.
• Actual Performance = a number based on the team’s current Pythagorean Record.

The first two variables will remain constant over the course of the season (I might update the average ages after the trading deadline), while the last two will be changing regularly.

This clearly isn’t an exact science, and I may tinker with the formula in the future if I find a better way to do this.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s logo website, which is worth checking out for any baseball fan.  The historical logos are especially interesting.

Comments (2)

By Jimmy, 4/24/2011 8:21 am

Daisuke Matsuzaka’s last two starts: 15 innings, 2 hits, 4 walks, 9% line drive rate. In a span of 5 days, he’s resurrected his season.

Happy Easter.

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By Jimmy, 4/23/2011 9:43 am

Lester Crosses-Up Angels on Good Friday

Box Score

Two weeks ago, the Red Sox were 1-7 after a 9 to 4 loss to the Yankees.  If a genie had materialized out of your empty metallic blue Bud Light bottle (if you were to Google Image-search for the term “Red Sox fan”, I imagine it would bring you a photo of a 25-year-old Caucasian male drinking out of one of these) and offered you a deal where the Sox would be 8-11 two weeks later, you probably would have taken it, right?

Top 5 Heroes

We see here another quirky attribute for WPA; if you hit a lazy fly ball that happens to be completely bungled by the outfielders, you are credited with the WPA from that situation.  A better system might be to penalize the outfielders instead?  WPA doesn’t acknowledge good defensive plays at all, so I can see why there might be inconsistencies if it were to penalize defenders for making errors.

Anyway, if you were to take Crawford’s name off the list, Saltalamacchia would pop up in the 5th spot an account of his double and run scored (which again would be a problem, since he had a costly defensive mishap that isn’t considered by WPA).

Buzz Kill

Carl Crawford continues his struggles.  He’s now at .135/.190/.162 after going 0 for 4, despite the runs scored on his fly ball error.

Quote of the Day

“It was kind of a ‘tweener, but it was up there long enough that somebody should have been camped under it. [It was] not a Bermuda Triangle.”

- Mike Scioscia, on the Crawford fly ball that dropped in for a 2-run error.

Prospect Watch

• AAA – After bring sent back to Pawtucket, Felix Doubront made his 2011 AAA debut by pitching three shutout innings, allowing only 1 hit and striking out 3.  Michael Bowden is off to a good start in his new role as the team’s closer, notching his third save.
• AA – Stolmy Pimentel, considered one of the better pitchers in the organization, got rocked for 6 runs over 4.1 innings.  He’s now 0-2 with an 8.03 ERA.
• High A – Third baseman Kolbrin Vitek went 2 for 4 with a double and a triple, and is hitting .447/.533/.711 in his last 10 games. Chris Balcom-Miller improved to 3-0 with an 0.60 ERA.
• Low A – Starter Manny Rivera went 5 strong innings, striking out 7.

Other Notes

• Kevin Youkilis will likely be in the lineup today.
• An MRI on Ryan Kalish revealed a shoulder sprain.  Not good, but not the worst-case scenario either.  They’ll reevaluate the injury after two weeks of rehab.

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By Jimmy, 4/22/2011 12:52 pm

It’s Good Friday, so naturally, the pitching matchup is…good.

I’m assuming Kevin Youkilis will be out of the lineup tonight, since a) he sustained a minor injury yesterday, and b) he’s struggled against Haren (.188/.188/.188 in 16 plate appearances).

Other notes:

• Today is Terry Francona’s 52nd birthday.
• I’ll be touching on the proposed playoff expansion in the next couple of days.

Comments (2)

By Jimmy,

Sox Win First Extra-Inning Game of 2011

Box Score

I’d imagine that most fans here passed out after an arduous Bruins playoff victory.  If that’s the case, they’ll wake up to the news that the Red Sox also won in overtime.

Josh Beckett was outstanding again, giving up only 3 hits over 8 innings of work.  However, he received a no-decision, as the Sox squandered several scoring opportunities against rookie Tyler Chatwood.  Luckily, the bullpen came up big with 3 scoreless innings, and the Sox managed to score a couple of runs in the 11th.

Kevin Youkilis was removed from the game after hitting a foul ball off of his foot, but fortunately, x-rays were negative.  He’s probably day-to-day at this point, but I’ll update this if anything changes.

Top 5 Heroes (Fangraphs WPA)

WPA is an interesting stat to use when determining how “big” or “clutch” a player came up over a period of time.  However, one of my problems with the metric is manifested in last night’s numbers posted above.  Intuitively, you’d think that Josh Beckett’s contribution (8 excellent innings) was more crucial to the win than Dan Bard’s (a scoreless 9th inning).  Much of WPA is determined by situational environments outside of the player’s control.  Sometimes, to earn a good WPA, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.  It should never be used to figure out how good a player really was.  It can, however, be used to determine how good a player was when it counted.

Buzz Kill:

I do admire Jason Varitek’s accomplishments over the course of his career in Boston, but right now he looks like someone who should no longer be playing professional baseball.  Yes, I probably wrote that same exact line two years ago, but at that time my statement was 50% hyperbole.  The hyperbole in my words are now gone.  After going 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk last night, the Captain is now hitting .043/.185/.043.  It’s a small sample (26 plate appearances), but it’s not like you can really rely on Saltalamacchia to give him a rest when he’s hitting like this.

Luckily, Varitek has some sort of magic catcher’s mitt that can transform pitchers like Josh Beckett from perpetually injured underachievers to a front-line aces.  In that sense, he might be worth keeping around.  Speaking of which…

Quote of the Day:

“Oh, I’m freaking locked in. … Fortunately I can help us win in other ways right now.”

- Jason Varitek, on his slump

Prospect Watch

• AAA – Bad news from Pawtucket as Ryan Kalish, considered by many to be the heir apparent to J.D. Drew in right field, hurt his arm while making a diving play.  It could be minor, but it could also be very bad; remember, Kalish missed most of the 2007 season after breaking his wrist.  In better news, Lars Anderson had three hits and is now hitting .320 with a .462 OBP.
• AA – Catcher Tim Federowicz, known primarily for his defense, is hitting .341/.375/.523 after going 2 for 4 last night.  Given the issues in Boston, he is absolutely someone to keep an eye on.
• High A – Kolbrin Vitek went 3 for 4 with a double, now hitting .341/.431/.500.  No, I’m not just copying and pasting this from yesterday’s recap.  He’s Lowrie-esque right now.
• Low A – Brandon Jacobs went 2 for 3 with a double, and is hitting .353/.452/.686.

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By Jimmy, 4/21/2011 1:58 pm

As the Sox travel south on the Pacific Coast Highway and pull into Anaheim, they will prepare to face a pitcher whom they’ve never seen before, 21-year-old right-hander Tyler Chatwood.  Chatwood was the #4 prospect in the Angels organization, according to Fangraphs.

Now, maybe I’m falling into some sort of a heuristic bias trap here, but it seems like the Red Sox have generally struggled against this type of pitcher in recent years (a somewhat highly-touted rookie making one of his first few starts in the Majors).  This could be all in my head, or it could be a genuine trend attributable to the lack of data available for our hitters to use in preparation for the game.

In any event, here’s a quick scouting summary on Chatwood:

• 92-94 MPH 4-seam fastball
• Decent curveball
• Can be wild (3.7 BB/9 last year, combined)
• Isn’t a big strikeout pitcher (6.3 K/9 last year, combined)
• Was able to get lots of ground ball outs in the minors
• Pitched very well in Chicago in his last start (7 innings, 5 hits and 2 walks allowed)

It seems like the Red Sox might do well against this guy if they are patient and force him to throw strikes.  However, if the usual suspects get up there and choppity-chop-chop at everything in the zone, it could be a long, frustrating night with a lot of weak ground balls.

Here’s the pitcher vs. batter data:

Several of those Angels hitters have pounded Beckett in the past, but at this point you have to consider his split personality.  Were they facing the overweight Beckett who can’t throw his curveball without pulling an oblique muscle?  Or were they facing the current iteration of Beckett?  The differences are staggering.

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By Jimmy,

Lowrie Leads Road Warriors to Victory

Box Score

Well, it took eight tries, but the Red Sox finally have their first road victory in 2011.  Ironically, they accomplished this by hitting reasonably well against left-handed pitchers, despite 12 strikeouts.

Top 5 Heroes (Fangraphs WPA):

Yes, it’s very suprising that Jed Lowrie isn’t atop this list.  You know you’ve set the bar very high when people start substituting your name for “Chuck Norris” in the Bill Brasky jokes.  While Jed did have a good game, Dan Bard’s 6th inning performance was absolutely key.  Hats off to Terry Francona by bucking conventional wisdom and inserting his “8th inning guy” into a 6th inning jam.  That’s exactly the type of situation where you want to use your best reliever (or second best reliever, depending on how you view Bard in relation to Papelbon).

Buzz Kill:

Red Sox catchers (Varitek and Saltalamacchia, combined) are now hitting .143/.176/.161.  It’s like having a pitcher hitting in our lineup.  If the Red Sox had lost this game, all you would be hearing about are Varitek’s double play and the five guys he left on base.  Naturally, Dan Shaughnessy has this topic covered.  What, did you expect him to focus on something positive?

Quote of the Day:

“Maybe you can call me the stopper” – Dan Bard

Prospect Watch

• AAA – Former top prospect Andrew Miller continues to pitch well, allowing 1 run and 4 hits over 6 strong innings.  He now has a 1.32 ERA after three starts.
• High A -  Kolbrin Vitek is on fire, going 3 for 4 for the second consecutive night.  He’s 8 for his last 13, including 3 walks.

Comments (4)

By Jimmy, 4/20/2011 11:07 am

The Red Sox were predictably flummoxed by Oakland’s good, young left-handed pitcher in yesterday’s loss.  Good thing they won’t be facing another pitcher like that tonight, right?  Oh, wait…

Gio Gonzalez, a 25-year-old lefty, is the current league leader in ERA (0.47).  If you have some episodes of House clogging up your DVR, tonight might be a good night to catch up on them.

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By Jimmy,

Brett Anderson Continues his Reign of Terror over the Red Sox

Box Score

Boston finds themselves in the highly unexpected position of being 0 and 7 on the road, as Oakland’s man-child lefty once again dominated the Red Sox lineup, yielding 4 hits and striking out 8 over 8 scoreless innnings.  While John Lackey pitched very well against his old nemeses, he can thank his teammates’ offensive impotence for his second loss of the season.

One thing I should note as I go on: I’ve decided to scrap “Victory Shares / Pie of Shame / etc.” since Fangraphs.com and BaseballReference.com both have the tools and the capacity to track this sort of thing much better than I ever can.  I think it would be best for everyone involved to just summarize the key players here by listing their daily WPA (Win Probability Added).  FG and BBref both have their own unique calculations for this metric, and while I like BBref’s version a bit better (they use park factors in their analysis), on most days I’ll be using the Fangraphs version only because they typically publish their numbers earlier in the morning.  In any case, I’ll always let you know which version I’m using.

Top 5 Goats (Fangraphs WPA):

The Ellsbury WPA is very questionable, since the official MLB box score (the one I’m linked to up top) list the “Ellsbury CS” as a batter interference on Cameron.  It appears that the umpires weren’t exactly sure what had happened themselves.  The replays do show that Ellsbury was in fact safe, so if it actually is an interference call on Cameron, his name would jump to the top of the Goat list with a whopping -21.4% WPA.

Silver Lining:

John Lackey is the obvious bright spot here, throwing 6 quick, clean innings against a relatively tough opponent.  According to PitchFX, the main difference between last night and his previous start (the 4/8 bombardment from the Yankees where he actually got the “win”) was that he relied much less on his curveball.  Only 17 thrown out of 93 pitches last night, compared to 38 thrown in 93 pitches against New York.

Quote of the Day:

“I just work here” – John Lackey, on the staff’s decision to pull him after 6 innings.

Prospect Watch

• AAA – Not a prospect, but Matt Albers threw 2 scoreless innings of relief in his rehab outing.  He’s heading to Anaheim to join the team on Thursday, which means that Alfredo Aceves is most likely on his way back to Pawtucket.
• High A -  One of last year’s 1st round picks, Kolbrin Vitek, went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a triple, while pitcher Chris Hernandez gave up 1 unearned run over 5 innings.
• Low A – Anthony Ranaudo, the organization’s top pitching prospect, continues to toy with Sally League opponents.  He gave up 3 hits and one run while striking out 6 in 6 innings.

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By Jimmy, 4/19/2011 11:27 am

As the Red Sox look for their first road win in Oakland tonight, they’ll be facing a left-hander who has dominated the Sox like no other pitcher.  In 81 plate appearances, Brett Anderson has held Red Sox hitters to a pathetic .115/.148/.179 line.  With Lackey starting for the Sox, this could be one of those west coast games that make fans regret staying up late.

I’m only speculating that McDonald starts for Drew, who has struck out 3 times in 3 at-bats against Anderson.  I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Elsbury and/or Ortiz get a night off (Cameron at CF, Scutaro at SS, Lowrie at 3B, and Youk at DH) and possibly Varitek behind the plate again.

The only guy in Oakland’s lineup who has had sustained success against Lackey is Daric Barton, so this could be a good opportunity for a struggling pitcher to regain some swagger.  And yes, I do realize that the term “swagger” is the pitcher’s version of “grit”, but I’ll use it here anyway.

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By Jimmy,

4/15/11: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 6
Bobby Jenks Dishonors Jackie Robinson’s Legacy by Sucking

Clay Buchholz wasn’t really dealing against the Jays, but it was Jenks who completely torched Boston’s chances for a victory, as the Red Sox celebrated Jackie Robinson Day by continuing their shocking plummet in the loss column. The one bright spot here was the home run by Kevin Youkilis, one of the handful of Red Sox hitters who had been mired in a horrible slump.

Loss Shares (I’ve renamed “Pie of Shame/Honor”, choosing to go with “Victory Shares” and “Loss Shares”.  Hopefully I can manage to tip-toe around any lawsuits from Bill James).
.50 – Jenks
.25 – Buchholz
.25 – Crawford

4/16/11: Red Sox 4, Blue Jays 1
Odd-Year Beckett Freezes Jays

I was at both this game and the one before it, and in both cases, the temperature was around 40 degrees with 15-25 MPH winds.  I can’t imagine it’s fun to face any major league pitcher in those conditions.

Victory Shares
.75 – Beckett
.25 – Lowrie

4/17/11: Red Sox 8, Blue Jays 1
Salty and Ellsbury Join the Party

Lester battled a bit during this outing (9 baserunners allowed, 3 Ks in 6 innings) but still managed to hold the Jays to only one run.  The big hit here came early from an unlikely source, a 3-run HR by Jacoby Ellsbury.

Victory Shares
.50 – Ellsbury
.25 – Lester
.25 – Saltalamacchia

4/18/11: Red Sox 9, Blue Jays 1
A Tale of Two Matsuzakas

Every Red Sox fan is now familiar with the inconsistency of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and there is no better example of this trait that in his last two starts.  Matsuzaka was absolutely horrible against the Rays, but magnificent against Toronto.  How can this be?

1) A bit of luck – while Daisuke pitched very well, it did seem as if the Jays hit a lot of lazy fly balls and pop ups on pitches that I wouldn’t exactly describe as “nasty”.
2) Location – I’ve said this several times in the past, but I truly believe that Matsuzaka is at his best when his pitches are all over the place.  When the hitter (along with the catcher, the manager, and the fans) have no idea where the next pitch will be located, it’s not as easy to make solid contact.

For some evidence of this, here is a plot of Matsuzaka’s pitches from his bad start (top) and his incredible outing yesterday afternoon, courtesy of Brooksbaseball.net:

Victory Shares
.75 – Matsuzaka
.25 – Lowrie

Coming Up - A preview of what could be a difficult series in Oakland.

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By Jimmy, 4/15/2011 2:16 pm

Generally, a hitter’s BABIP (batting average on balls in play) will hover around the same rate year over year, gradually moving towards the mean over the course of an increasing sample of plate appearances.  While several Red Sox hitters have struggled mightily in the early-going, there is reason to believe that they will turn things around based on the fact that they haven’t been striking out at an abnormally high rate.

Let’s take a look at four struggling Red Sox hitters, and how their 2011 BABIP compares to their rates from the previous four years:

Note: the 2006 numbers on Jacoby’s graph are from minor league games played, and I omitted his lost 2010 season.

As you can see, all four of these guys have had awful luck in terms of batted balls finding fielders’ gloves at a much higher rate than they are used to.  Eventually, these batted balls will find gaps, and more runs will be scored.

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By Jimmy,

“I know this: #Jays have a better rotation than #RedSox or #Yankees. That goes a long way.”

Fox Sports baseball analyst Jon Morosi tweeted that statement on April 10th.  I immediately stopped following him when he wrote that.  Writers who belch out half-baked analysis based on a sample size of 7 or 8 games aren’t really featured on my must-read list.

Certainly, the Jays have an interesting young rotation, anchored by Ricky Romero and featuring impressive youngster Kyle Drabek.  Tonight, however, the Sox face Toronto’s #5 starter, and counter with last year’s ERA+ champ.  Let’s see how both teams match up.

Overall, current Blue Jays have hit .228/.265/.346 against Buchholz, while the Sox have hit .382/.429/.724 (!) against Cecil.  This seems like a decent opportunity to get the Sox offense going.

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By Jimmy,

As everyone suspected, the actual long-term contract between 1B Adrian Gonzalez and the Red Sox was just a formality.  Until now.

Per multiple reports, the Sox will announce Gonzalez’ seven year $154 million contract today.  The slugger’s average annual salary of $22 million dollars makes his the highest paid player on the team.

Based on what we believe Adrian can do offensively, I’d say the money is worth it.  Like everything else, we just need to see those paper projections converted to real-life performance.  The first few weeks of the season have been a glaring reminder that this doesn’t always happen.

Comments (1)

By Jimmy, 4/13/2011 9:58 am

It’s a good thing Charlie Sheen brought his circus to town last night (performing about 100 yards from where I currently sit), if only to serve as a temporary distraction from the atrocities taking place on Yawkey Way.

Quote of the Day:
“It’s a long season and there’s a ton of talent there and a really bitchin’ hitters park they play in. Relax.”
-Charlie Sheen

Pie of Shame:
.25 – Lester
.25 – Cameron
.25 – Crawford
.25 – Gonzalez

Silver Lining:
Their Pythagorean record is 3-8.  Why must the baseball gods smite us?!

Minor Threat:

• High A: Chris-Balcom Miller, the guy Boston stole from Colorado in exchange for Manny Delcarmen, pitched 5 scoreless innings, giving up 2 hits and striking out 5.  I have him ranked #15 on my prospect list.
• Low A: Bryce Brentz continues to rake, going 2 for 4 with a HR and a walk.  He’s a 22-year-old sandwich draft pick, so he should be expected to tear up Greenville pitching, but it’s good to see this actually happening.

Comments (2)

By Jimmy, 4/12/2011 12:14 pm

It’s a battle of elite left-handers tonight, as Jon Lester takes the hill against David Price.

I’m guessing Darnell McDonald will be starting in place of J.D. Drew, as he’s fared well enough against Price in the past. A more creative move would be to start Jed Lowrie at 1B and DH Adrian Gonzalez in place of Ortiz, but I doubt that will actually happen.

Media Watch:

More often than not, I find myself agreeing with Pete Abraham’s take on the Sox, but when he announces that the time is now to trade Daisuke Matsuzaka, I couldn’t disagree more.  It’s a knee-jerk reaction after a horrible performance, but I do think Daisuke can build up some more trade value with decent performances before we entertain this idea.  At this point, his trade value is as low as it’s ever been.