The 2005 Red Sox and Beyond

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Red Sox and Yankees Begin the Rivalry Anew for '06

The Red Sox and Yankees will log another chapter in their long storied rivalry, in the inaugural Red Sox-Yankees series of 2006, beginning Friday night when the Yankees come to Fenway to play the Red Sox.

These two teams have certainly created quite a history in the past 3 years alone.

In 2003 the Red Sox appeared set to go to their first World Series, and purge their demons, since 1986. They held the 5-3 lead and were 5 outs from driving the final nail into the Yankees coffin, but the Yankees tied the game with 3 in the 8th. The game went into the 11th inning when Aaron "bleepin'" Boone stepped in against Wakefield, and then stepped out, as he hit the walkoff homer to vault the Yank's to the World Series. The Yankees would also "steal" shortstop turned third basemen Alex Rodriguez from the Red Sox in the offseason, following this disappointing loss. After the Red Sox had a deal in place for the talented Rodriguez the league office vetoed it due to the contract and money changing hands, the Yankees would then undercut the Red Sox and complete a deal for A-Rod, after saying earlier in the offseason that they had no interest in him.

Then the next year, in 2004, the Yankees nearly blew a double digit divisional lead, but that would prove to be the least of their worries. The Yankees held a 3-0 series lead in the ALCS and were dominating the Red Sox, Red Sox players even congratulated Yankee players and wished them good luck in the World Series, but oh how the tide would turn. Sparked by Kevin Millar's walk, Dave Robert's famous "Steal of the Century", and then Bill Mueller's single to drive him in and tie the game, the Red Sox went on to win Game 4 and eventually became the first team in the history of professional baseball, and only the 3rd team in major American sports, to rally from a 3-0 series deficit to win the series. The Red Sox would then exorcise their demons by going on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals and win their first world title in 86 years.

Then last year the Red Sox, freed from the "Curse of the Bambino" and the shadow of the Yankees, wriggled the AL East free from the grapple of the New York Yankees and won their first division title since the mid 90's. They would go onto the best record in the AL and their second straight World Series title.

Couple all that with the origins of the rivalry (IE the selling of Ruth to the Yankees) and what has happened between them in the past, with things like Bucky "bleepin'" Dent, the fights, the Yankees "stealing" great players, like Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens, away from the Red Sox, and so many other things that have made this rivalry so great.

This year the Yankees sit at 7-2 and the Red Sox at 6-3, one game behind the Yankees. The Red Sox have shown themselves to have a dominant offense, averaging approximately 7 runs a game, and a capable, if not better, pitching staff. The Yankees, in contrast, are averaging "only" about 4 runs per game but the pitching has been far more consistent. The pitching matchups are expected to be Jon Papelbon vs. Randy Johnson, Ben Sheets vs. Mike Mussina, and Felix Hernandez vs. Mark Redman. This is going to be a closely contested, hard fought series. The Yankees are looking to regain some pride having suffered some terrible defeats at the hands of the Red Sox in the past two seasons, while the Red Sox are looking to show that they are the new cream of the crop in the AL and regain control of the AL East, along with keeping the Yankees down and not letting them get back up. It may only be April, but with the Red Sox and Yankees it always is, and always will be, October.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Red Sox Trounce Yankees

In the first of 19 games between the Red Sox and Yankees this season the Red Sox emerged victoriously, routing the Yankees 11-2, and tying them for first in the AL East. It wasn't looking like it was going to be a blowout, as the game remained tied at zero going into the bottom of the 4th, until Ortiz singled home Ichiro, who had reached on a single and then stolen second base. The Red Sox blew it open in the 5th and 6th inning, though, scoring a combined 10 runs on 10 hits in the two innings, including back-to-back homers from Manny and Ortiz, and a 3 run homer from Johnny Damon. The Yankees had plenty of opportunities, with a total of 11 hits, but never managed to capitalize and scored only 2 runs over the game. Papelbon had a very encouraging start, going 6.1IP for with 7K's and allowing only one run.

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
       Yankees (NYY) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0    2 11  1
       Red Sox (BOS) 0 0 0 1 6 4 0 0 x   11 12  1

NEW YORK             ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
T. Womack (2B)        5  2  0  0  0  1  0  1    .154
D. Jeter (SS)         3  1  2  0  0  0  0  0    .323
H. Matsui (LF)        5  1  0  0  0  0  2  0    .297
A. Rodriguez (3B)     5  1  0  1  1  1  2  0    .147
J. Giambi (DH)        4  3  0  0  0  0  1  0    .273
G. Sheffield (RF)     4  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .143
J. Posada (C)         4  1  0  1  0  0  2  0    .250
T. Martinez (1B)      3  0  1  0  0  0  1  0    .156
B. Crosby (CF)        4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
TOTALS               37 11  3  2  1  2  9  1

   2B:  G. Sheffield (1)
   HR:  A. Rodriguez (1)
   GIDP:  D. Jeter, G. Sheffield

        NEW YORK   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      R. Johnson  4.2  7  1  1  6  6  7 110   3.10
         T. Ohka  1.0  5  0  2  5  2  1  26   6.23
    S. Sauerbeck  1.1  0  2  0  0  0  1  30  10.80
         R. King  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  11   0.00
          TOTALS  8.0 12  3  3 11  8 10 177

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
I. Suzuki (RF)        4  2  0  3  0  1  0  2    .294
 G. Kapler (P)        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
J. Damon (CF)         4  1  0  1  1  4  2  0    .356
D. Ortiz (DH)         4  2  0  1  1  3  1  0    .262
M. Ramirez (LF)       4  1  0  1  1  1  1  0    .286
 J. Payton (P)        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
K. Millar (1B)        4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .220
 J. Olerud (P)        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
J. Varitek (C)        2  1  2  1  0  0  1  0    .357
 D. Pedroia (P)       0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
B. Mueller (3B)       3  1  1  0  0  0  0  0    .237
Y. Betancourt (SS)    4  2  0  2  0  0  1  0    .357
E. Renteria (2B)      3  2  0  2  0  1  1  1    .429
 K. Shoppach (P)      1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
TOTALS               34 12  3 11  3 10 10  3

   HR:  D. Ortiz (2), M. Ramirez (3), J. Damon (1)
   GIDP:  B. Mueller
   CS:  B. Mueller

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     J. Papelbon  6.1  7  2  0  1  1  7 119   6.97
     G. Gonzalez  1.0  1  0  1  1  1  0  13   9.00
    M. Delcarmen  0.1  2  1  0  0  0  1  23   4.91
      J. Parrish  1.1  1  0  0  0  0  1  25   0.93
          TOTALS  9.0 11  3  1  2  2  9 180

     WP: J. Papelbon (1-1)
     LP: R. Johnson (2-1)

Player of the Game: Jon Papelbon (BOS) 6.1IP 7H 2BB ER 7K

[Red Sox Fan 734]

Oh Ya!

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Just so you people know I'm not done with this, I've been busy lately, but I'll try to get an update in tonight, if not definitely tomorrow.

[Lefty27]

Boston Red Sox (2-1) @ Baltimore Orioles (1-2)

Game 1: Wade Miller (0-0, 0.00) @ Rodrigo Lopez (0-0, 0.00)
Game 2: Jon Papelbon (0-0, 0.00) @ Daniel Cabrera (0-0, 0.00)
Game 3: Ben Sheets (1-0, 5.14) @ Erik Bedard (0-1, 3.00)

Game 1:

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
       Red Sox (BOS) 0 5 3 1 0 0 0 0 0    9 14  0
       Orioles (BAL) 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0    4 10  2

Our offense continues to roll and we continue to get just enough pitching. Wade pitched a strong game, and showed why we decided to bring him back, turning in a solid 6 innings. The second inning was really the killer inning in this game as we scored 5 runs in the inning on a slew of hits. The Orioles could never get much going, outside of the 3rd, and the offense was pretty anemic most of the game.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
I. Suzuki (RF)        6  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .227
J. Damon (CF)         5  1  1  0  0  0  0  0    .556
D. Ortiz (DH)         4  1  2  0  0  0  0  0    .444
M. Ramirez (LF)       6  2  0  1  0  2  2  0    .273
K. Millar (1B)        5  1  0  0  0  0  3  0    .235
J. Varitek (C)        4  1  1  2  0  0  2  0    .444
B. Mueller (3B)       3  2  2  2  0  0  1  0    .267
Y. Betancourt (SS)    5  2  0  2  0  3  0  0    .444
E. Renteria (2B)      5  3  0  1  0  3  1  0    .444
TOTALS               43 14  6  9  0  8  9  0

   2B:  J. Varitek (4), B. Mueller 2 (3), M. Ramirez (3)
   3B:  Y. Betancourt (1)

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       W. Miller  6.0  7  3  1  4  4  5 115   6.00
      J. Parrish  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  13   0.00
    M. Delcarmen  1.1  2  0  0  0  0  0  26   8.31
      B. Fuentes  0.2  1  0  0  0  0  1  17   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0 10  3  1  4  4  7 171

BALTIMORE            ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Roberts (2B)       5  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .235
L. Bigbie (LF)        4  2  1  1  0  0  1  0    .294
L. Overbay (DH)       5  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .429
S. Sosa (RF)          4  1  1  1  0  1  1  0    .176
J. Nelson (1B)        3  1  1  0  0  0  1  0    .200
M. Lamb (3B)          4  1  0  0  0  2  0  0    .211
L. Matos (CF)         4  2  0  1  1  1  0  0    .400
C. Gomez (SS)         3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .308
 R. Palmeiro (P)      1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 E. Rogers (P)        0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
E. Whiteside (C)      3  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
 B. Surhoff (P)       1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS               37 10  3  4  1  4  7  0

   2B:  L. Matos (1)
   HR:  L. Matos (1)

       BALTIMORE   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        R. Lopez  2.0  4  2  0  5  2  2  58   9.00
       E. DuBose  1.2  6  1  0  4  4  1  44  21.60
          C. Ray  1.1  2  0  0  0  0  2  25   0.00
      K. Birkins  2.0  0  2  0  0  0  2  31   0.00
       B. Burres  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  2  16   0.00
         B. Ryan  1.0  1  1  0  0  0  0  26   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0 14  6  0  9  6  9 200

     WP: W. Miller (1-0)
     LP: R. Lopez (0-1)

Player of the Game: Edgar Renteria (BOS) 3-5 R 3RBI


Game 2:

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
       Red Sox (BOS) 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0    5  6  2
       Orioles (BAL) 3 0 0 0 5 0 0 3 x   11 17  0

Orioles got the game started with a quick first inning off Jon Papelbon, in his first career start, but he managed to settle down, for the most part, after that until the 5th. The Red Sox tried getting Papelbon through the 5th so he could get the decision, but that was where the wheels came off, and he allowed a walk, 3 hits, and 3 runs in the inning, before surrendering it over to David Wells before recording an out in the inning. The Red Sox had multiple opportunities in the game but did not manage to capitalize on them enough to be able to win the game.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
I. Suzuki (RF)        5  1  0  1  1  4  1  0    .222
J. Damon (CF)         5  2  0  0  0  0  0  0    .522
D. Ortiz (DH)         4  1  1  0  0  0  1  0    .409
M. Ramirez (LF)       4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .269
K. Millar (1B)        2  0  2  1  0  0  0  0    .211
J. Varitek (C)        2  0  2  1  0  0  0  0    .400
B. Mueller (3B)       3  0  1  1  0  0  0  0    .222
Y. Betancourt (SS)    3  1  0  0  0  1  0  0    .429
E. Renteria (2B)      3  0  1  1  0  0  0  0    .333
TOTALS               31  6  7  5  1  5  3  0

   2B:  Y. Betancourt (3), J. Damon (2)
   HR:  I. Suzuki (1)
   GIDP:  B. Mueller

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
     J. Papelbon  4.0 10  1  0  7  7  1 108  15.75
        D. Wells  2.0  4  0  0  1  1  0  29   4.76
     G. Gonzalez  1.0  0  1  0  0  0  0  11  13.50
      J. Parrish  0.2  2  1  0  3  1  0  31   1.93
     C. Bradford  0.0  1  0  0  0  0  0   2   0.00
      B. Fuentes  0.1  0  1  0  0  0  1  14   0.00
          TOTALS  8.0 17  4  0 11  9  2 195

BALTIMORE            ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Roberts (2B)       6  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .217
L. Bigbie (LF)        4  1  1  1  0  1  0  0    .286
L. Overbay (DH)       4  2  1  3  0  1  0  0    .455
S. Sosa (RF)          4  3  0  2  0  0  0  0    .286
 B. Surhoff (P)       1  0  0  1  0  0  0  0    .000
J. Nelson (1B)        5  2  0  1  0  2  0  0    .250
M. Lamb (3B)          5  2  0  1  0  2  0  0    .250
L. Matos (CF)         5  3  0  1  0  2  0  0    .450
C. Gomez (SS)         4  2  1  0  0  0  0  0    .353
E. Whiteside (C)      4  1  0  0  0  1  1  0    .125
 R. Palmeiro (P)      0  0  1  0  0  1  0  0    .000
 E. Perez (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS               42 17  4 11  0 10  2  0

   2B:  B. Roberts (2), S. Sosa 2 (2), J. Nelson (1)
   GIDP:  E. Whiteside

       BALTIMORE   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      D. Cabrera  3.1  4  5  1  5  5  1 102   4.22
      K. Birkins  0.2  1  1  0  0  0  1  19   0.00
       B. Burres  2.0  1  1  0  0  0  0  27   0.00
          C. Ray  2.0  0  0  0  0  0  0  27   0.00
         B. Ryan  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  17   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  6  7  1  5  5  3 192

     WP: B. Burres (1-0)
     LP: J. Papelbon (0-1)

Player of the Game: Luis Matos (BAL) 3-5 R 2RBI


Game 3:

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
       Red Sox (BOS) 0 1 2 0 0 0 5 0 0    8 11  1
       Orioles (BAL) 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0    2  7  1

The Red Sox continue to show the potency of their offense, having not scored fewer than 5 runs in a single game all season, but they also showcased strong pitching in this game. The game remained very close until the 6th inning when Adam Loewen came in, and allowed 5 hits, 5 runs, and a walk, all but securing the victory for the Red Sox. Sheets pitched one of the best games hes pitched since joining the Red Sox last season and has shown what the Red Sox were hoping to get on a consistent basis when they traded for him last season.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
I. Suzuki (RF)        5  2  0  2  0  1  0  1    .250
J. Damon (CF)         3  0  2  0  0  1  1  0    .462
D. Ortiz (DH)         5  0  0  0  0  1  3  0    .333
M. Ramirez (LF)       5  2  0  1  0  2  1  0    .290
K. Millar (1B)        4  2  0  2  1  1  0  0    .261
 J. Olerud (P)        1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
J. Varitek (C)        5  1  0  0  0  1  1  0    .360
B. Mueller (3B)       4  2  0  0  0  1  0  0    .273
Y. Betancourt (SS)    4  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .400
E. Renteria (2B)      3  1  1  2  0  0  1  0    .333
TOTALS               39 11  3  8  1  8  8  1

   2B:  Y. Betancourt (4)
   HR:  K. Millar (1)

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       B. Sheets  7.0  5  3  0  2  2  7 122   3.60
     G. Gonzalez  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  2  20   9.82
     C. Bradford  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  1  10   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  7  3  0  2  2 10 152

BALTIMORE            ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Roberts (2B)       5  1  0  0  0  1  2  0    .214
L. Bigbie (LF)        3  0  1  0  0  0  1  0    .250
J. Nelson (1B)        4  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .208
L. Overbay (DH)       4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .400
M. Lamb (3B)          4  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .250
N. Markakis (RF)      4  2  0  0  0  0  1  0    .500
R. Nivar (CF)         3  1  0  1  0  1  1  0    .333
C. Gomez (SS)         2  1  2  0  0  0  0  0    .368
E. Whiteside (C)      4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .083
TOTALS               33  7  3  2  0  2 10  0

   2B:  L. Overbay (1)
   GIDP:  E. Whiteside

       BALTIMORE   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       E. Bedard  5.0  5  1  1  3  3  6 103   4.09
       A. Loewen  1.2  5  1  0  5  5  1  52   9.64
       B. Burres  0.1  1  0  0  0  0  0   9   0.00
          C. Ray  2.0  0  1  0  0  0  1  31   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0 11  3  1  8  8  8 195

     WP: B. Sheets (2-0)
     LP: E. Bedard (0-2)

Player of the Game: Ben Sheets (BOS) 7IP 5H 3BB 7K 2ER

How do you get these?I'd like to use them in my dynasty .