Red Sox Memoirs - Spiderman and The Rocket (1996 - )

[rockiesfan4ever]

Do you think Clemens can reach 300?

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Do you think Clemens can reach 300?

I think he's got a really good shot. He is 34, but he's still pitching at an elite level and he doesn't look like he's slowing down any. It depends a lot on if he decides to pitch into his early 40's or not, and if we can stay competitive. I am planning on making some changes and bringing in some better defenders this off-season so that should help him and the rest of the pitching staff (especially guys like Radke and Suppan that are a lot more effective with a strong defense behind them).

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

August 28
Tigers (43-86) @ Red Sox (82-48)
Tigers 9 - Red Sox 12

A whole lotta offense in this game. We got to Lima for six runs in the first inning before he eventually got pulled after the second. We also put up four on Brian Williams, and two on Bob Scanlan. We were up 12-5 going into the ninth inning, but they made it interesting by putting four runs on the board in the ninth and bringing the tying to the plate. The offense was spread pretty evenly throughout the line up. Five players collected multiple hits, seven players drove in runs, and eight guys scored.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Larkin (SS)        4  1  1  1  0  0  0  0    .328
R. White (CF)         5  2  0  2  1  3  2  0    .311
N. Garciaparra (DH)   5  1  0  1  0  1  0  0    .306
M. Vaughn (1B)        4  3  1  1  0  0  0  0    .320
M. Greenwell (LF)     5  1  0  1  0  1  0  0    .304
T. Nixon (RF)         4  2  1  3  0  1  0  0    .261
F. Sanchez (3B)       5  4  0  2  0  1  0  0    .336
S. Hatteberg (C)      4  1  0  1  0  2  0  0    .333
J. Frye (2B)          3  2  0  0  0  2  0  0    .311
TOTALS               39 17  3 12  1 11  2  0

   2B:  S. Hatteberg (1), N. Garciaparra (34), M. Vaughn 2 (23)
   HR:  R. White (26)

WP - Jamie Moyer (11-4)
LP - Jose Lima (6-11)
SV - N/A
HR - Rondell White (22)

August 29
Tigers (43-87) @ Red Sox (83-48)
Tigers 7 - Red Sox 5

We put up four in the first inning but scored only one more run after that unfortunately. Butch Henry got rocked, allowing five runs in four innings on nine hits and a walk, and striking out only two. Offensively, Nomar and Nixon were 2-5 with two RBI's, and Greenwell was 3-5 with an RBI as well.

WP - Omar Olivares (5-15)
LP - Butch Henry (7-10)
SV - Gregg Olson (18)
HR - N/A

August 30
Tigers (44-87) @ Red Sox (83-49)
Tigers 4 - Red Sox 3

We started Doherty in this game to set up Clemens - Radke - Suppan for the Yankee series and paid the price for it. Doherty lasted only 3 2/3 innings before giving up three runs on seven hits and a walk. Justin Thompson on the otherside pitched pretty solid, going eight innings and allowing three runs on five hits without walking anyone and striking out two. Nomar went 2-4 with a homer and two RBI's, while Rondell White hit a solo homer for his only hit of the game.

WP - Justin Thompson (5-13)
LP - John Doherty (3-1)
SV - Gregg Olson (19)
HR - Nomar Garciaparra (18), Rondell White (23)

Thoughts: We go down to the Yankees a game for the division, but we've got our big three going against them in our final series against them starting in tomorrow's game. Even with going down a game to the Yankees we're still six up on the Angels for the Wild Card, so I'm pretty confident that even if we don't win the Division we'll make the playoffs as the Wild Card.

In other news Nomar Garciaparra became the first player on the team to eclipse the century mark in RBI's. And he's starting to get hot at the plate, as he's gone 13-45 with eight runs, three homers, and 12 RBI's for a line of .289/.304/.600 in his last ten games.

NOMAR'S SEASON LINE AND LAST TEN GAMES

Rondell White's killing the ball lately, too. He's gone 18-45 with ten runs, four homers and 12 RBI's, for a line of .400/.413/.778/1.191 in his last ten. It's a toss-up between what Radke and White for whose been the best mid-season acquisition for us, as Rondell has arguably been the MVP of the team since coming over from Montreal.

RONDELL'S SEASON LINE AND LAST TEN GAMES

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

August 31
Red Sox (83-50) @ Yankees (84-49)
Red Sox 4 - Yankees 7

Clemens actually pitched fairly well in this game, at least to the point where he shouldn't have lost. He went six innings and allowed only two runs on four hits and four walks, and struck out seven. On the other side Pettitte went 7 2/3 and allowed four runs on six hits and a walk and struck out seven, and got the win despite giving up more runs. If the bullpen had held together for us we probably would have won, but instead they gave up five runs in two innings on seven hits. The big hit of the game for us came in the eighth when Nomar hit a three-run shot to left for his only hit of the game.

WP - Andy Pettitte (12-7)
LP - Roger Clemens (18-4)
SV - John Wetteland (23)
HR - Nomar Garciaparra (19)

September 1
Red Sox (83-51) @ Yankees (85-49)
Red Sox 11 - Yankees 2

Brad Radke is a FREAK. He throws yet another complete game, this time allowing just two runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out five. But as good as Radke was, the story of this game has got to be Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar went 4-6 and hit for the cycle and drove in three runs. He tripled in the third, homered in the fifth, doubled in the eighth, and singled in the ninth. I definitely think it's safe to say that he's out of his cold streak.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Larkin (SS)        6  4  0  1  0  0  1  0    .333
R. White (CF)         4  2  1  1  0  2  0  0    .310
N. Garciaparra (DH)   6  4  0  3  1  3  0  0    .311
M. Vaughn (1B)        4  0  0  0  0  1  2  0    .313
P. Clark (RF)         5  2  0  2  0  1  1  0    .295
M. Greenwell (LF)     5  3  0  2  2  3  0  0    .306
F. Sanchez (3B)       5  2  0  1  0  0  1  0    .327
S. Hatteberg (C)      5  1  0  0  0  1  1  0    .233
J. Frye (2B)          3  0  2  1  0  0  1  0    .303
TOTALS               43 18  3 11  3 11  7  0

   2B:  N. Garciaparra (35), B. Larkin (24), P. Clark (5)
   3B:  N. Garciaparra (9)
   HR:  N. Garciaparra (20), M. Greenwell 2 (20)
   HBP:  M. Vaughn
   GIDP:  S. Hatteberg

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        B. Radke  9.0  8  1  1  2  2  5 114   3.62
          TOTALS  9.0  8  1  1  2  2  5 114

WP - Brad Radke (7-0)
LP - Jimmy Key (9-6)
SV - N/A
HR - Nomar Garciaparra (20), Mike Greenwell 2 (20)

September 2
Red Sox (84-51) @ Yankees (85-50)
Red Sox 5 - Yankees 7

Frustrating, frustrating loss. Jeff Suppan went six innings and allowed three runs, although none of them were earned, on six hits, two walks, and struck out two - all in all, a good game for him. However, Mike Maddux came in after him and gave up four runs on three hits and a walk in just 1/3 of an inning. If not for Maddux's not-so-brilliant performance we probably would have won this game.

WP - Jim Mecir (2-0)
LP - Mike Maddux (8-2)
SV - John Wetteland (24)
HR - Mo Vaughn (26), Rondell White (24)

Thoughts: Frustrating series loss leaves us 2 games back of the division with 26 to play. Obviously we can make up two games and more in 26 games, but we do have some stiff competition to end the season. We have games against the Mariners, Angels, White Sox, and Indians, the White Sox and Angels we're also battling for the Wild Card. Next up we're home for three games against the Angels, in what should be a big series as we currently sport a 5 game lead over them for the Wild Card.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

FINAL LEAGUE UPDATE
(BEFORE PLAYOFFS)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

STANDINGS - DIVISIONAL


STANDINGS - WILD CARD


OFFENSIVE LEADERS


PITCHING LEADERS


NATIONAL LEAGUE

STANDINGS - DIVISIONAL


STANDINGS - WILD CARD


OFFENSIVE LEADERS


PITCHING LEADERS

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

FINAL NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS BEFORE OFF-SEASON

NOTABLE SIGNINGS/RE-SIGNINGS



MILESTONES



TRADES

Gaetti's Cycle:

TOP OF THE SECOND
Gary Gaetti singled up the middle. <--1>

TOP OF THE FOURTH
Gary Gaetti tripled in the right field gap. <3-->

TOP OF THE SIXTH
Gary Gaetti homered to left-center. <--->

TOP OF THE SEVENTH
Gary Gaetti doubled down the right field line. <-2->

ST. LOUIS            ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
G. Gaetti (3B)        5  4  0  3  1  1  0  0    .258

   2B:  T. Pagnozzi (23), J. Mabry (24), G. Gaetti (18)
   3B:  G. Gaetti (3)
   HR:  G. Gaetti (29), W. McGee (5)

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

FINAL SPIDERMAN AND ROCKET UPDATE
BEFORE POSTSEASON/OFFSEASON

SS/DH Nomar Garciaparra (85/95), 22 years old



Although Nomar fell off his astronomic early season pace, he has still been a very valuable part of the Sox line-up. He's fourth on the team in batting average, tied for third in homers, first in RBI's, first in runs scored, third in steals, fifth in on-base percentage, third in slugging, and fourth in OPS. He's also really picked it up of late (when we've really needed him to), as he's currently hitting .348/.362/.696/1.058 in his last ten games, and he's riding a thirteen game hitting streak.

SP Roger Clemens (96), 33 years old



Clemens also hasn't been as good lately as he was earlier in the season, but if not for some bullpen meltdowns and ineffectiveness from the offense in some of his starts I have no doubt he'd already have 20 wins this season. Regardless, he's leading the team in just about every pitching category there is, including ERA, innings pitched, strike outs, complete games (tied with Radke) and shutouts. He has struggled a bit lately (3.73 ERA in his last ten starts), but hopefully he turns that around in the last month of the season so we can lock up a playoff berth early and give our guys some rest going into the postseason.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

FINAL TEAM UPDATE
BEFORE POSTSEASON/OFFSEASON

NOTE 1: A green box around the players indicates September call-ups, and a purple box indicates a player who is on the DL.
NOTE 2: Stats with a red box around them are the team leaders.
NOTE 3: If there is a stat with a red box around it but there are players with a higher number in that stat, it means that not all the stats were accumulated with the Red Sox.

BATTING LINEUP


We have continued to have one of the best line-ups in baseball throughout the season. Although, as expected, some players who got off to extremely hot starts (Nomar, Vaughn, Greenwell, Naehring) came back down to Earth, but have continued to hit well for the most part. I think the biggest surprise in the line-up has easily been Rondell White, who we acquired early in the season from Montreal. I certainly was not expecting him to challenge for the team lead in home runs (he actually has 24 with us, which is two behind Vaughn's 26) or have a shot at hitting thirty homers with us at the beginning of September. If he has a good month he could finish the year with 30 homers, 100+ RBI's, a .300/.360/.580/.940ish line with us, which would probably make him team MVP. He's vastly outperformed any expectations I had of him. Greenwell is also almost certainly going to break his career high of 22 homers set in 1988, and Jeff Frye is having a career year. Let's hope they continue it and help us to the playoffs, and hopefully even a World Championship.


PITCHING STAFF


The starting rotation has really come around since the beginning of the season (given that 2/5 of it have changed).It goes without saying that Clemens has been studly all season, and he's currently one of the leading candidates for Cy Young (though Randy Johnson might have the edge right now), and the addition of Brad Radke really helped solidify the front end. Additionally, Jeff Suppan has provided us with a very solid #3 starter, Moyer has given us a consistently solid and predictable #4, and even Butch Henry has been good (though at times victim of poor/non-existent run support). Radke has been very impressive since coming over from Minnesota. In nine starts he has six complete games, a 7-0 record, a 2.65 ERA, only 12 walks to 75 K's, and a .220 BAA in 71 1/3 innings. If Radke wins 3 of his 5 remaining scheduled starts he'll become the fourth of five Red Sox starters to reach double-digit wins (with the team), and the same goes for Henry. We're facing the possibility of having all five of our starting pitchers finish the season with double-digit wins in a Red Sox uniform, which would be, in a word, amazing.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

September 3
Angels (79-57) @ Red Sox (84-52)
Angels 2 - Red Sox 9

A very, very good win. Going into this series I wanted to at least win two of three and I'm already half way there. And we got there via an excellent start by Jamie Moyer and a great game from the offense all-around. Moyer went eight innings and allowed only two runs, walked one, and struck out one, though he did give up ten hits. Offensively we really went off. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit, and everyone but Coleman and Greenwell scored a run.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Larkin (SS)        5  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .327
B. Boone (2B)         5  2  0  1  1  2  0  0    .286
N. Garciaparra (DH)   3  1  1  2  0  1  1  0    .311
M. Vaughn (1B)        5  2  0  1  1  2  0  0    .314
M. Greenwell (LF)     3  1  0  0  0  1  0  0    .306
 R. White (CF)        2  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .313
T. Nixon (RF)         3  1  1  1  1  1  1  0    .262
F. Sanchez (3B)       4  2  0  1  0  1  0  0    .330
S. Hatteberg (C)      3  2  1  1  0  1  0  0    .273
M. Coleman (CF)       4  1  0  0  0  0  1  0    .250
TOTALS               37 14  3  9  3  9  3  0

   2B:  N. Garciaparra (36), B. Boone (28), F. Sanchez 2 (17)
   3B:  R. White (6)
   HR:  B. Boone (17), M. Vaughn (27), T. Nixon (9)

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        J. Moyer  8.0 10  1  2  2  2  1 113   4.56
       R. Garces  1.0  0  1  0  0  0  2  18   3.38
          TOTALS  9.0 10  2  2  2  2  3 131

WP - Jamie Moyer (12-4)
LP - Jason Dickson (7-4)
SV - N/A
HR - Bret Boone (11), Mo Vaughn (27), Trot Nixon (9)

BREAKING NEWS

Well this is just getting strange and ridiculous. I sat Jeff Frye in this game because he was in need of a day off, and he some how gets injured? And not only does he get injured, but it's a pretty major injury. He's going down for the rest of the regular season and beginning of the post-season with a ruptured knee. He's going to miss the ALDS, assuming we make the postseason (which it looks like we will), but if we were to advance to the ALCS he would be able to play in most of that. Fortunately for us second base happens to be one spot where we have good depth, so we'll be able to plug in Bret Boone without missing a beat. Not sure whose gonna replace Frye on the postseason roster yet, but it'll probably be Naehring.

September 4
Angels (79-58) @ Red Sox (85-52)
Angels 1 - Red Sox 6

Butch Henry actually put in a pretty decent start in this game, going five innings and allowing four runs on eight hits, but unfortunately for him and the rest of the team, Trevor Wilson was damn near untouchable today. Wilson pitched a complete game, allowing only one run on seven hits and a walk, while striking out five. The only run came in person of a Mo Vaughn solo homer in the fourth inning. We have to win tomorrow to come out of here with a bigger lead than we came in with.

WP - Trevor Wilson (9-8)
LP - Butch Henry (7-11)
SV - N/A
HR - Mo Vaughn (28)

September 5
Angels (80-58) @ Red Sox (85-53)
Angels 0 - Red Sox 1

An excellent pitcher's duel between Langston and Clemens in the rubber game of this series. Langston shut us down quite effectively, allowing only one run on four hits and three walks while striking out six over seven innings, but fortunately for us Clemens was just slightly better. Clemens went the distance for the complete game shutout, giving up just six hits and walking one, while striking out an astounding 14 batters. The lone run of the game came in the sixth inning in the form of a Nomar Garciaparra solo homer.

WP - Roger Clemens (19-4)
LP - Mark Langston (12-9)
SV - N/A
HR - Nomar Garciaparra (21)

Thoughts: We're still two games back in the East, but we managed to put another game between us and the Angels by taking two of three. It was good to actually see a Clemens-esque performance by Roger, especially since we're going down the stretch and we really need him pitching at his best so we can lock up a playoff berth. Fortunately for us (especially in light of the Jeff Frye injury) we've got Mike Stanley returning in less than a week.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

September 7
Twins (53-88) @ Red Sox (86-53)
Twins 3 - Red Sox 5

Brad Radke started this game, and, believe it or not, he threw a complete game. Shocking, I know. This time he allowed three runs, seven hits, walked two, and struck out three over nine innings, while throwing just 105 pitches. Mo Vaughn went 2-3 with a homer and drove in all five of our runs, and Barry Larkin went 4-5 with two doubles.

WP - Brad Radke (8-0)
LP - Jake Westbrook (3-8)
SV - N/A
HR - Mo Vaughn (29)

September 8
Twins (53-89) @ Red Sox (87-53)
Twins 9 - Red Sox 3

A rought start by Jeff Suppan sends us home with a loss. Suppan lasted only four innings before he gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits, although on the bright side he didn't walk anybody. It also didn't help that Wakefield did a pretty effective job of shutting us down (6.2 IP, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 R, 1 ER, 7 K) and the bullpen kind of exploded on us. Mike Maddux, Brian Shouse, and Heathcliff Slocumb combined to go three innings, and allow five runs on five hits.

WP - Tim Wakefield (3-5)
LP - Jeff Suppan (11-5)
SV - Trever Miller (2)
HR - N/A

September 9
Twins (54-89) @ Red Sox (87-54)
Twins 9 - Red Sox 12

Quite the slugfest in this game. The teams combined to score 21 runs on 35 hits. Everyone in both lineups except Darrin Jackson for the Twins got a hit, and everyone but Mo Vaughn, Phil Clark, Paul Molitor, and Chip Hale scored for both teams. The strangest thing might have been the fact that despite the high scores, the only person in the whole game to homer was Jeff Manto for the Twins. Regardless, everyone in our lineup collected two or more hits except for Freddy Sanchez, who went 1-5, and Nomar and Rondell White both drove in five runs.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
B. Larkin (SS)        4  2  1  3  0  2  1  1    .331
R. White (CF)         5  3  0  2  0  4  0  0    .313
N. Garciaparra (DH)   5  4  0  1  0  4  0  0    .310
M. Vaughn (1B)        5  2  0  0  0  0  2  0    .315
P. Clark (RF)         5  2  0  0  0  1  1  0    .278
M. Greenwell (LF)     5  3  0  1  0  0  0  0    .311
B. Boone (2B)         5  2  0  2  0  0  0  0    .280
F. Sanchez (3B)       5  1  0  1  0  0  1  0    .304
S. Hatteberg (C)      4  2  0  2  0  1  1  0    .283
TOTALS               43 21  1 12  0 12  6  1

   2B:  S. Hatteberg (2), N. Garciaparra 2 (38), R. White (35)
   CS:  P. Clark

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
        J. Moyer  4.2  9  2  1  7  6  3  88   4.73
      M. Stanton  1.1  2  0  0  1  1  2  21   4.02
       T. Gordon  2.0  2  0  0  1  1  2  36   5.47
       R. Garces  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  2  24   3.23
          TOTALS  9.0 14  2  1  9  8  9 169

WP - Mike Stanton (5-5)
LP - Chris Pulido (0-3)
SV - Rich Garces (24)
HR - N/A

BREAKING NEWS

Rondell White will sit down for about a week with elbow tendonitis. Rondell was hitting well at the time of his injury (.995 OPS in his last ten games), but it gives him a chance to rest before the playoffs a little, and it gives us a chance to see what our top prospect Michael Coleman can do. Troy O'Leary will be getting the majority of the starts, but Coleman will make one or two and we're anxious to see what he's gonna bring to the table.

Thoughts: We took two of three from the Twins, but we still lost a game in the standings to New York. But fortunately we're still six up on the Angels in the Wild Card with only twenty games to play. I'm still not gonna start sitting guys until I actually do clinch a playoff berth, but I think we're all but guaranteed at least the Wild Card at this point. We've got Mike Stanley returning to the line-up in the second game against the Indians, which will be a boost to the line-up since Hatteberg hasn't been very effective since his call-up.

Another boost to the line-up we've gotten lately is the hot bat of Mo Vaughn. He's hitting .270/.386/.649/1.035 with four homers and 12 RBI's in his last ten games, and is only one homer from crossing the thirty homer plateau for the second year in a row, and four RBI's from crossing the 100 RBI mark for the second year in a row and third year in his career.

MO VAUGHN'S LAST TEN GAMES AND SEASON STATS

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Some real life Nomar news.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

September 10
Red Sox (88-54) @ Indians (95-47)
Red Sox 8 - Indians 3

Another gorgeous start by Clemens helps us take the first game of this three game set against the best team in baseball. Clemens went eight innings, allowed no runs on three hits, walked only one, and struck out a solid seven batters. Offensively a few guys had good games too. Nomar was 3-5 with a double and three RBI's, Vaughn was 3-4 with two RBI's, and Nixon was 3-5 with an RBI.

BOSTON               ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
A. Cole (CF)          4  0  1  1  0  0  0  0    .000
B. Larkin (SS)        5  2  0  2  0  0  1  0    .332
N. Garciaparra (DH)   5  3  0  2  0  3  0  0    .313
M. Vaughn (1B)        4  3  0  1  0  2  0  0    .319
M. Greenwell (LF)     5  2  0  1  0  1  1  0    .312
B. Boone (2B)         5  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .277
T. Nixon (RF)         5  3  0  0  0  1  1  0    .267
F. Sanchez (3B)       4  1  0  0  0  1  0  0    .303
S. Hatteberg (C)      4  0  1  1  0  0  0  0    .260
TOTALS               41 14  2  8  0  8  5  0

   2B:  N. Garciaparra (39), M. Vaughn (26), M. Greenwell (26), F. Sanchez (18), T. Nixon (24)
   HBP:  M. Vaughn

          BOSTON   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
      R. Clemens  8.0  3  1  0  0  0  7 138   3.00
      M. Stanton  0.1  3  1  0  3  3  0  19   4.38
      J. Doherty  0.2  2  0  0  0  0  0  13   4.19
          TOTALS  9.0  8  2  0  3  3  7 170

WP - Roger Clemens (20-4)
LP - Dennis Martinez (12-10)
SV - N/A
HR - N/A

BREAKING NEWS

Things just keep getting crueler and weirder. Probably to no one's surprise (certainly not mine) we have yet another injury. This time it's Jamie Moyer going down, probably for the remainder of the season, with a sprained ankle. Moyer has had an excellent season, posting a 12-4 record and a 4.73 ERA and striking out 118 batters in 186 innings. It's not clear who will start in his place yet, but Hideki Okajima is a possibility, since we've been stretching him out to be a starter in the minors.

September 11
Red Sox (89-54) @ Indians (95-48)
Red Sox 5 - Indians 7 (10 innings)

Stanley homered in his first at bat back from injury, but unfortunately Brad Radke does not have one of his better starts and we lose in extras. Radke lasted only three innings before he gave up four runs on five hits. He actually wasn't pitching that badly when the computer pulled him and I was quite perplexed when it did. At any rate, Mike Stanley had a good game in his return from injury, going 2-4 with a walk, two runs, and a solo homer. The Indians won the game in the tenth inning on a walk-off homer by Jim Thome.

WP - Jose Mesa (6-9)
LP - Stan Belinda (1-2)
SV - N/A
HR - Mike Stanley (19)

BREAKING NEWS

Okay, seriously, this is getting ridiculous. The Baseball Mogul Gods have got to be messing with me. This time it's Nomar going down, only for seven days with a spiked knee, but still, it's ridiculous. Everyone is going down right now. I suppose I should just be glad it's now and not a couple weeks from now at the beginning of the postseason. We're not sure whose going to take Nomar's spot in the lineup yet, but we may DH Vaughn and play Reggie Jefferson or Phil Clark at first base.

September 12
Red Sox (89-55) @ Indians (96-48)
Red Sox 8 - Indians 5

We were able to win in spite of a very poor performance by Jeff Suppan as the starter. Suppan lasted only 2 2/3 innings before giving up five runs on five hits (two homers) and striking out only one. Fortunately for me, however, the bullpen was able to shut them down the rest of the game, and did not allow a single run in 6 1/3 innings of work. Offensively speaking, Troy O'Leary was 2-4 with an RBI, and Barry Larkin, Mo Vaughn, and Trot Nixon all homered, although Barry's was an inside-the-park job.

WP - Mike Maddux (9-2)
LP - Paul Assenmacher (3-5)
SV - Rich Garces (25)
HR - Mo Vaughn (30), Barry Larkin (9), Trot Nixon (10)

Thoughts: The series win pulls us to within 2 1/2 of the Yankees and keeps our Wild Card lead at six games. With all the injuries we've suffered throughout the season, and especially down the stretch, we're very, very lucky and very fortunate to be where we are right now. Now we just need to hold it together for a couple more weeks and we'll be playing October baseball.

[ewing6]

May i asked what happen to kevin mitchell he has a nice bat haven't heard much of him since the start though.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

September 14
Red Sox (90-55) @ Brewers (64-82)
Red Sox 5 - Brewers 3

Okajima made his first major league start and pitched a pretty solid game. Okajima threw 81 pitches over six innings, allowed only two runs on six hits, and struck out four. Offensively, Greenwell and Sanchez tripled, and Sanchez, Nixon, Boone, and Troy O'Leary had an RBI each.

WP - Mike Maddux (10-2)
LP - Graeme Lloyd (4-5)
SV - Rich Garces (26)
HR - N/A

September 15
Red Sox (91-55) @ Brewers (64-83)
Red Sox 2 - Brewers 9

Really rough performance by pretty much the whole pitching staff today. Clemens lasted only 4 1/3 innings before giving up five runs on seven hits and five walks, Shouse allowed two runs on four hits in just 1/3 of an innings, and Tom Gordon allowed two runs in an inning of work. Cal Eldred did a pretty good job of holding us in check as well, allowing us to score just two runs in the 7 2/3 innings he was on the mound, while striking out eight batters. Vaughn was the only guy to get multiple hits, and Larkin and Stanley drove in our only runs.

WP - Cal Eldred (10-5)
LP - Roger Clemens (20-5)
SV - N/A
HR - Barry Larkin (10)

September 16
Red Sox (91-56) @ Brewers (65-83)
Red Sox 8 - Brewers 9

Really, really frustrating loss. We lead 8-6 going into the eighth inning, but in the eighth they put a run on the board to bring it to within one, and then in the ninth Rich Garces blew the save by giving up a walk-off two run homer to Greg Vaughn. It didn't help that Brad Radke didn't exactly have an effective start, he made it through only 4 1/3 innings before allowing six runs on ten hits.

WP - B.J. Ryan (1-0)
LP - Rich Garces (2-2)
SV - N/A
HR - Bret Boone (12), Barry Larkin (11)

Thoughts: We really should not be losing 2/3 games to the Milwaukee Brewers. I think the door is pretty much shut on us winning the division, as we're five back with 14 to play and the Yankees are red hot again (15-5 in their last 20 games), but we've still got a good grip on the Wild Card (5.5 game lead over California) and we should be able to sew that up pretty soon. The sooner we can do that the better because I really want to rest some guys like Nomar and Clemens and Vaughn and others before the playoffs so they don't end up getting injured (again in the case of Nomar).

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

May i asked what happen to kevin mitchell he has a nice bat haven't heard much of him since the start though.

Honestly don't really remember, lol. He got sent down to AAA at some point during the season and spent most of the season there. I just can't remember if it was to call Nixon up to start in RF when that happened or if it was part of me adding a few extra pitchers earlier in the season.