I didn't have a spiffy title, so...
So I have this odd tradition of wearing all Red Sox gear for each of the days that the Red Sox play the Yankees. However, I also promised myself I'd be wearing something Giants oriented every day up until the post season. Dilemma much? I think yes.
So I have this odd tradition of wearing all Red Sox gear for each of the days that the Red Sox play the Yankees. However, I also promised myself I'd be wearing something Giants oriented every day up until the post season. Dilemma much? I think yes.
So decidedly, I drew the SF sign on my hand and wore a Red Sox shirt to school. Now at home I'm all dressed up in my awesome onfield jacket that makes me match with the coachs' =D
Anyway, on to more important stuff.
A brief overview of the weekend. The Giants will play the Rockies who are trailing 3.5 games behind the Padres for the NL West. However, they are games and games and games away from being a eliminated. Since Tim Lincecum pitched today against Colorado's Chacin, we will see Barry Zito tomorrow, and Matt Cain the day after. Luckily for us, the Rox aren't so hot right now plus we won't be seeing Ubaldo Jiminez. What a relief.
The Red Sox are not seeing the last of the Yankees. Tonight Boston played in New York. Josh Beckett pitched for the Red Sox against New Yorks' Pettitte. There are SO many 'T's' in his name. Since Beckett pitched today, lefty Jon Lester will pitch tomorrow against someone named Nova. Haha, we have a Nava. Baseball players have such similar names sometimes. Anyway, he's 1-0 and I've never heard of him in my life, so I can't really have an opinion there.
Alright, I'll start with the Red Sox game.
It's always good to score in the first inning, you know, get that early lead on them, the head start. Lowrie homered out to left field to score Ortiz and Lowell to start the game. A step in the right direction. Lowrie's been doing well anyway, a very valuable asset to the team. Granderson returns the aggression from the other side in the third, sending a solo homer off of a pitch by Josh Beckett. I feel like this would frustrate Beckett as he doesn't giving up homers and runs in general...but so early on...?
BUT LIFE GOES ON.
The score at 3-1, Boston just doesn't like the way that looks. With Lowell, Ortiz and Lowrie on base...not exactly in that order, Darnell McDonald decides he's gonna do something about that score, so he doubles making the score 5-1. It occurred to me today that Boston tends to take the first game of series against the Yankees -- or at least it's been that way this year. As I recall, Josh Beckett threw the first game of the season, which was against the Yankees and we won that game...but the Yankees took the remainder of the games. 'Course...when Beckett was on that slippery Yankees mound in, what, June? June 3rd...I only remember because it's a month after my birthday; he slipped, fell and uh, his playing sort of stopped for a long time.
BUT HEY. LIFE GOES ON (AGAIN).
speaking of birthdays, check out this almost totally unrelated picture of some cake:
Buchholz and Lester went on to basically be co-aces this season, there is no doubt however, that if I were to pick an ace it'd be Lester, even though he's the one with the higher E.R.A and such, he is third with strike outs in all of MLB, usually one or two behind or ahead of San Francisco's Tim Lincecum. Yay Timmy and Jonny. I just feel like Lester has more dominance, more of an ability to command.
In terms of the game last night, it was good that we had something of a 9 run lead before they started scoring on us, because by the end, the Yankees offense also stepped it up. Luckily, with that lead, we were able to make it out of that game with a 10-8 score.
Most of the Giants game was scoreless.
The Rockies did end up scoring however, to make the score 1-0. At this point I was a little nervous, thinking that our offense was playing dead again. Luckily for us, Pat Burrell sent a two run shot out into the bleachers late in the game to save our asses. Burrell seemed to be in a slump recently. Awhile back, he was hitting a ton of late game saves, which seem to be his specialty. Does this mean his slump is over? Who knows, I'm just glad we managed to get that late come back. The Reds were ahead of the Padres for a bit last night, at least when the Giants game ended they were. Unfortunately for Giants fans, the Padres managed to come back and steal the win.
The good news is that Andres Torres is back. Yes, after something along the lines of an exploded appendix, he made a speedy recovery and is slated to play today, 9/25 against the Rockies in the lead off position. Right back to the way things where. I'd say that our offense is doing alright, but with Andres Torres is back, I feel like he'll ignite the batting line up, and uh, for lack of better wording, we'll be on fire.
Barry Zito will be pitching today. He did win his last start against the Brewers. He pitched well before that too, but the offense was lacking support. This evening he will pitch against Hammel, who isn't doing as well as he normally is. The best we can hope for is that the team steps the offense up (something like the game against the Cubs would be spectacular...but you know, if not, I'll be okay) and Zito continues to assert his dominance.
I pointed out in another post that the Giants are favoring scoring on home runs, at least recently they have. It's been better recently, the Cubs game for example, but still, a lot of those runs came on homers. Let me do the math (*takes out calculator*) Uribe scored 2 on his first home run, then he homered again in that same inning to score 4, totaling up to 6. Then Posey homered, make that 7, and Cody Ross also wanted to play long ball, so that's 8. 8/13 runs were scored on home runs.
The problem we had when we faced the Cubs at home a long time ago (my time is all over the place) was that we couldn't get our runners home. We could have runners on first, or in scoring position, or even have the bases loaded, we just couldn't get those runners home. For now, I don't see a problem with scoring pretty much on home runs, but if we do make it into the post-season, I'm not sure that would work so well for us.
With Torres back in the line up, Cody Ross will be sitting on the bench and Guillen and Burrell will play the other outfield positions. By the way, the Rangers have also clinched there division.
ALRIGHT.
RED SOX.
HELLO OFFENSE!
It's really, really good to see you.
Two games straight against the Yankees, the offense has been phenomenal. I'm not saying it never happens, it's just impressive.
Just like they did yesterday, Boston got a lead early on, giving Lester a bit of support before he started pitching. Speaking of Jon Lester, let's just say he gave up a grand total of 2 hits, 0 runs and issued just 3 walks throughout the innings he pitched. I mean, Lester no-hit the Yanks for five frames, what a beast. Lester, like I said, has been a savior this year (like Brian Wilson's been the Giants savior this year), especially as we saw the Red Sox each go limping to the doctor's office. Yes, call the doctor and break out the bandages. Luckily, much of our line up is back, Josh Beckett, Varitek, Martinez, etc, etc. Ellsbury was back for a little while, but then he apparently fell on the same place he was injured...so he's now back chillin' out in the dugout with Youkilis and his thumb injury and Pedroia and his foot. Lester managed to stay healthy, Buchholz as well (save for an injury during the all-star game). Dice-K was out for a little bit with a forearm strain and I was already thinking to myself, "here we go again."
(Giants update, Freddy hits a homer in the first off Hammel, 1-0 Giants after Torres grounds out. Aubrey Huff singled and goes to second on a wild pitch, and on a throwing error that sailed over the head of the Rockies' second baseman advanced to third.)
Luckily for our bullpen, we had a lot of runs to cushion them with. We saw Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima today. A rather solid pitching job by both of them, though they did allow 3 hits, but those three hits just weren't enough for the Yankees to close the gap. With that said, the Red Sox are now just one game away from sweeping their rivals in New York.
Mathematically speaking, the Red Sox are still in the race. In the American League East, the Red Sox, the Yankees and the Rays. In order for us to see the Red Sox in the post-season, the Yankees pretty much have to lose every game they play, the Rays have to lose every game they play, and the Red Sox have to win every game they play.
But hey, who am I to say that it can't happen?
Alright, I'll start with the Red Sox game.
It's always good to score in the first inning, you know, get that early lead on them, the head start. Lowrie homered out to left field to score Ortiz and Lowell to start the game. A step in the right direction. Lowrie's been doing well anyway, a very valuable asset to the team. Granderson returns the aggression from the other side in the third, sending a solo homer off of a pitch by Josh Beckett. I feel like this would frustrate Beckett as he doesn't giving up homers and runs in general...but so early on...?
BUT LIFE GOES ON.
The score at 3-1, Boston just doesn't like the way that looks. With Lowell, Ortiz and Lowrie on base...not exactly in that order, Darnell McDonald decides he's gonna do something about that score, so he doubles making the score 5-1. It occurred to me today that Boston tends to take the first game of series against the Yankees -- or at least it's been that way this year. As I recall, Josh Beckett threw the first game of the season, which was against the Yankees and we won that game...but the Yankees took the remainder of the games. 'Course...when Beckett was on that slippery Yankees mound in, what, June? June 3rd...I only remember because it's a month after my birthday; he slipped, fell and uh, his playing sort of stopped for a long time.
BUT HEY. LIFE GOES ON (AGAIN).
speaking of birthdays, check out this almost totally unrelated picture of some cake:
In terms of the game last night, it was good that we had something of a 9 run lead before they started scoring on us, because by the end, the Yankees offense also stepped it up. Luckily, with that lead, we were able to make it out of that game with a 10-8 score.
Most of the Giants game was scoreless.
The Rockies did end up scoring however, to make the score 1-0. At this point I was a little nervous, thinking that our offense was playing dead again. Luckily for us, Pat Burrell sent a two run shot out into the bleachers late in the game to save our asses. Burrell seemed to be in a slump recently. Awhile back, he was hitting a ton of late game saves, which seem to be his specialty. Does this mean his slump is over? Who knows, I'm just glad we managed to get that late come back. The Reds were ahead of the Padres for a bit last night, at least when the Giants game ended they were. Unfortunately for Giants fans, the Padres managed to come back and steal the win.
The good news is that Andres Torres is back. Yes, after something along the lines of an exploded appendix, he made a speedy recovery and is slated to play today, 9/25 against the Rockies in the lead off position. Right back to the way things where. I'd say that our offense is doing alright, but with Andres Torres is back, I feel like he'll ignite the batting line up, and uh, for lack of better wording, we'll be on fire.
Barry Zito will be pitching today. He did win his last start against the Brewers. He pitched well before that too, but the offense was lacking support. This evening he will pitch against Hammel, who isn't doing as well as he normally is. The best we can hope for is that the team steps the offense up (something like the game against the Cubs would be spectacular...but you know, if not, I'll be okay) and Zito continues to assert his dominance.
I pointed out in another post that the Giants are favoring scoring on home runs, at least recently they have. It's been better recently, the Cubs game for example, but still, a lot of those runs came on homers. Let me do the math (*takes out calculator*) Uribe scored 2 on his first home run, then he homered again in that same inning to score 4, totaling up to 6. Then Posey homered, make that 7, and Cody Ross also wanted to play long ball, so that's 8. 8/13 runs were scored on home runs.
The problem we had when we faced the Cubs at home a long time ago (my time is all over the place) was that we couldn't get our runners home. We could have runners on first, or in scoring position, or even have the bases loaded, we just couldn't get those runners home. For now, I don't see a problem with scoring pretty much on home runs, but if we do make it into the post-season, I'm not sure that would work so well for us.
With Torres back in the line up, Cody Ross will be sitting on the bench and Guillen and Burrell will play the other outfield positions. By the way, the Rangers have also clinched there division.
ALRIGHT.
RED SOX.
HELLO OFFENSE!
It's really, really good to see you.
Two games straight against the Yankees, the offense has been phenomenal. I'm not saying it never happens, it's just impressive.
Just like they did yesterday, Boston got a lead early on, giving Lester a bit of support before he started pitching. Speaking of Jon Lester, let's just say he gave up a grand total of 2 hits, 0 runs and issued just 3 walks throughout the innings he pitched. I mean, Lester no-hit the Yanks for five frames, what a beast. Lester, like I said, has been a savior this year (like Brian Wilson's been the Giants savior this year), especially as we saw the Red Sox each go limping to the doctor's office. Yes, call the doctor and break out the bandages. Luckily, much of our line up is back, Josh Beckett, Varitek, Martinez, etc, etc. Ellsbury was back for a little while, but then he apparently fell on the same place he was injured...so he's now back chillin' out in the dugout with Youkilis and his thumb injury and Pedroia and his foot. Lester managed to stay healthy, Buchholz as well (save for an injury during the all-star game). Dice-K was out for a little bit with a forearm strain and I was already thinking to myself, "here we go again."
(Giants update, Freddy hits a homer in the first off Hammel, 1-0 Giants after Torres grounds out. Aubrey Huff singled and goes to second on a wild pitch, and on a throwing error that sailed over the head of the Rockies' second baseman advanced to third.)
Luckily for our bullpen, we had a lot of runs to cushion them with. We saw Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima today. A rather solid pitching job by both of them, though they did allow 3 hits, but those three hits just weren't enough for the Yankees to close the gap. With that said, the Red Sox are now just one game away from sweeping their rivals in New York.
Mathematically speaking, the Red Sox are still in the race. In the American League East, the Red Sox, the Yankees and the Rays. In order for us to see the Red Sox in the post-season, the Yankees pretty much have to lose every game they play, the Rays have to lose every game they play, and the Red Sox have to win every game they play.
But hey, who am I to say that it can't happen?
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