Wake Shines Again!

Tim Wakefield pitched into the 7th inning allowing 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 3 Cubs. The win gives him 194 lifetime and 180 in his Red Sox career. That leaves him 6 shy of the 200 mark and is 12 short of the Red Sox's team record of 192 -- the total shared by Cy Young and Roger Clemens. 

The Red Sox pounded out 12 hits tonight, including a 4/4 performance from Adrian Gonzalez. Kevin Youkilis drove in 2 runs with a triple and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit his 3rd HR of the season. Daniel Bard went 1.1 innings giving up nothing to the Cubs. The Yankees and The Rays both won today. The Red Sox remain 0.5 GB them, but at 25-21, they have gone 23-11 since their dubious 2-10 start.

For videos of Wakefield, Youkilis and Saltalamcchia, click here.

Red Sox 5 Cubs 1 BOX SCORE

Best Fan Sign Ever?

Masshole Sports has posted a photo of the Best Fan Sign Ever down in the giant yurt known as Tropicana Field. It's borderline NSFW, otherwise I would have posted it here. It's definitely in questionable taste, but with a name like Masshole, I suppose that is to be expected.

UPDATE: That was the Fenway West post, but I can post it here, though.

 

Carl Crawford has arrived

With his 2nd walk-off hit this week, Carl Crawford has removed the monkey from his back. He started the season with a horrendous .155/.204/.227/.431 line for the month of April. In the 1st 10 games in the month of May, his line reads .361/.378/.500/.878, quite the difference. 

As for the rest of the crew, McDonald, Varitek, and Cameron are all on the interstate, while Salty and Crawford have both risen above the Mendoza Line. Scutaro and Drew both have BAs in the low .200's. Pedroia is in a rare slump dragging his BA down to .237. Youk started slow, but has since risen his BA to .250. That leaves Lowrie, Gonzalez, Ellsbury and Ortiz all with very satisfactory numbers so far.

Fenway Security Takedown Update

Yesterday Matt posted a youtube video of a drunk guy running on to right field and getting slam dunked by Fenway Security. Today, MyFoxBoston interviewed the guy. (I hesitate to use the word 'fan'.)

Crawford gets the walk off hit, Sox win

Carl Crawford is no longer useless. He had 2 hits today, including a game winning walk off single in the bottom of the 9th inning scoring Jed Lowrie who had just hit a triple.

Now, back to Bobby Jenks. Tim Wakefield had pitched 5.2 innings and had allowed only 3 hits, 1 run and 1 walk while striking out 3 Mariners. Wake left the game in the 6th inning with a man on 1st and the Red Sox holding 2-out 2-0 lead. Jenks. Jenks' 6th inning: single, wild pitch, walk, walk, walk, before finally getting the final out. 

Salty and Wake combined to catch Chone Figgins trying to steal 2nd base, not an easy thing to do.

Jenks leaves the game tied 2-2. Albers and Papelbon pitched 3 scoreless innings, before Crawford earned a tiny bit of of redemption.

Sox 3 Mariners 2 BOX SCORE

Red Sox drop another one

Despite John Lackey pitching 6 innings and allowing only 2 runs, Doug Fister of the Mariners went better- 5.2 IP and didn't allow any runs. Salty had 2 hits and in scoreless relief Oki went 1.2 IP and Wheeler went 1.1 IP.

Red Sox 0 Mariners 2 BOX SCORE

Sox starting lineup vs. Mariners 04.30.11

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. J.D. Drew, RF
7. Jed Lowrie, SS
8. Carl Crawford, LF
9. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C

SP -- John Lackey

Saturday night at 7:10 ET at Fenway Park

Jenks- This year's Gagne?

In 2007, the Eric Gagne Experiment went terribly awry. That was the experiment in which Gagne, an elite closer with the Dodgers and Rangers, came to Boston and nearly cost the Red Sox 2007 playoff hopes when he blew 3 save opportunities before being relegated to mop up duty. Needless to say, he did not make the post season roster.

Fast forward to 2011, and it appears that Bobby Jenks is taking Gagne's place in the current version. 

Dice-K pitched to 1 batter in the 5th inning before leaving the game with tightness in his elbow. He had allowed only 1 ER up to that point. Matt Albers pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief. Jenks came in to pitch the 7th with a 1 run lead. He gave up 3 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs, which garnered him a BS and a L for his efforts. Okajima and Bard each pitched a scoreless inning.

Jenks' line for this season is pretty ugly so far. In 10 games, he has 8.1 IP, 1-2 W-L, 8.64 ERA, 1 BS, 2.16 WHIP, .324 BAA, 405 SLG, and .419 OBA.

Mike Cameron hit 2 HR's.

Red Sox 4 Mariners 5 BOX SCORE