Sox and Dawgs to return

On September 18, Ian Bethune shut down his popular blog, Sox and Dawgs, leaving a semi-cryptic message on a blank white page. Today, he twittered that he will be returning to blogging soon.

I have never met Ian, but I do know that Matt O'Donnell, founder of Fenway West, has thanked him publicly for numerous links from his site to Fenway West.

For more about Ian Bethune and Sox and Dawgs, read Batter-up with Bruno.

Is this the same team that beat the Yanks 22-4?!

Dice-K hurled 104 pitches in 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, 2 runs, while striking out 7 Indians in his final tune up before the ALDS begins. Since returning from the DL, his record stands at 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA.

Ellsbury swiped #69 (3B no less) and was caught on his 2nd attempt at stealing third. The Sox had most of their usual starters in the lineup today after getting the day off yesterday. Only Drew and Papi were out today, with ‘Tek behind the dish, V-Mart at 1B, Youk at 3B, and Lowell at DH. 8 hits brought in 6 runs.

The Chinese New Year’s Bullpen Dragon was manned by Wagner, Ramirez, Bard, and Saito: 3 IP, 3 H’s, 1 BB, 0 R’s (total for the crew.) No position players pitched for the Sox today.

Sox Win 6-2 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Indians	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	8	3
Red Sox	1	0	3	0	0	0	2	0	0	6	8	1

One other score of note: TBY 13, NYY 4 BOX SCORE
At first I thought that NY was resting all their regular starters, but no, that was not the case. Why couldn't Sabathia pitch like that last week. Grrrrr............

Halladay flattens PawSox

Today’s Sox line-up looked more like the Pawtucket Red Sox starting 9 than Boston’s normal starting line-up. All the regular position starters except for Papi and Gonzie had the day off to rest, as the Sox have qualified for the playoffs. Halladay had a no hitter going through the fifth when Joey Gathright singled. It took Halladay all of 100 pitches to dispense the Sox, allowing three piddly hits, walking two, and striking out six in his shutout performance. His opponent on the mound for the Sox was the elder statesman Tim Wakefield, who did not fare so well. In his shortest outing of the season, Wake gave up 7 hits and 5 runs.

Auditions were being held for the postseason bullpen roster: Cabrera, Richardson, Delcarmen, Jones, Okajima, and Brown. Wait a minute- Brown? Brown who? Catcher Dusty Brown was the third position player to be used as a relief pitcher this season by the Sox, Nick Green and Jonathan Van Every preceding him, setting a record in the process. Brown actually made it through the 9th inning allowing only 2 hits and 1 run, which was better than Francisco Cabrera and Manny Delcarmen. Cabrera gave up 3 runs in his 1 inning, Delcarmen gave up 3 hits and 2 runs. Yes, another disaster for MDC, but will it spell doom for Manny’s playoff spot? And what of Wake’s poor showing in his last game of the regular season as well? These are questions that won’t be answered until the last playoff spot has been determined (Twins or Tigers) and New York decides which playoff schedule they prefer.

The glowing embers of tonight’s Roadhouse burning down include Richardson and Jones who each pitched scoreless innings, and Joey Gathright. Gathright went 2 for 4 and made a diving catch that would make Coco Crisp and Jacoby Ellsbury proud.

PawSox Lose 0-12 BOX SCORE

Sox & Yanks '09 matching postseason caps

Thanks to Lisa Swan of The Faster Times for pointing out that the Red Sox and the Yankees postseason caps are nearly identical, except for the 'B' on the Sox caps and the 'NY' on the evil caps. The only other difference is the Yankees hat says 'Division Champs' and the Sox caps read 'Wild Card Champs'. But as you learned in my previous post, it don't mean a GD thing until you win 11 more games after the first 162.

No worries

Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald says the Sox' slide means little, everything gets reset back to zero. He tells of the last weeks and mediocre performances of previous World Series' winners, including the 2004 and 2007 Sox World Series winning teams. He says "hot doesn't mean squat"; and cold doesn't necessarily equate with mold.

The Red Sox aren't worried, just the fans and the bloggers, I guess.

The cork is stuck!

Somebody go find a corkscrew that works so we can open the champagne! Is somebody from da Bronx slippin’ some SUCK into the Sox’s Gatorade or what?

Buchholz gave up 5 home runs, and 8 runs, 4 of them in the 1st inning. Tonight’s bullpen conga line consisted of Ramirez, Saito, Wagner, and Papelbon were mostly effective in slowing down the runaway train that Buchholz unleashed- 4 IP, and only 1 run. Y’see, the BJ’s took off to an 8-2 lead by the time the bottom of the 8th inning arrived when the Sox mounted a 5 run attack which brought them to within 1 run of tying, hence Papelbon’s appearance in the top of the 9th inning. The Sox had men on 1st and 2nd, 2 outs, with Youk at the plate. You can’t write a better script. Unfortunately the author of this drama must have been Canadian. Youk looked at a called 3rd strike.



Sox Lose 7-8 BOX SCORE

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Blue Jays	4	1	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	8	11	0
Red Sox	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	7	14	1

Fernando Cabrera Gets Called Up to Boston, v. 2

Fernando Cabrera has been recalled up to Boston again for the final week of the season, as reported by Chad Finn of Boston.com.

Cabrera was the closer for the Pawtucket Red Sox after Daniel Bard got called up. In 52.2 innings, he compiled 22 saves, a 1.71 ERA, and a 1.18 WHIP. In his previous stint with the parent club, he pitched 4 innings in 4 games, allowing 2 runs.

I had a chance to meet with Cabrera back in July when I was back east. You can read the interview with him here.