5/8-5/11 - Goin North with the Jay Birds

[Drury77]

Now 6-1 thru 6 innings

[AutomatedTeller]

as a sox fan, I have to admit - I'm spoiled.

The Sox haven't been *bad* in 40 years - they have been mediocre, but never bad.

I have sympathy for jays fans. Not enough to not enjoy the Sox winning, mind you. But I do have sympathy.

[ingagi]

Great game for Sawks! Nice to see Manny hitting. And a good effort by Dice-K too. So who expected Toronto to be so bad so early??

[AutomatedTeller]

Red Sox

1. Julio Lugo, SS
2. Kevin Youkilis, 1B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Manny Ramirez, LF
5. J.D. Drew, RF
6. Mike Lowell, 3B
7. Coco Crisp, CF
8. Doug Mirabelli, C
9. Alex Cora, 2B

-- Tim Wakefield SP (3-3, 2.11)

Blue Jays

1. Alex Rios, RF
2. Adam Lind, LF
3. Vernon Wells, CF
4. Frank Thomas, DH
5. Troy Glaus, 3B
6. Lyle Overbay , 1B
7. Aaron Hill, 2B
8. Sal Fasano, C
9. John McDonald, SS

-- Roy Halladay SP (4-1, 3.59)

IN other news, yankees got trounced, 14-2. wang gave up 7 runs and the pen lit the fire for 7 more.

[Zen653]

Yesterday's Co-MVPs:





Yesterday's LVP:

[Drury77]

What will the phsyce of the Jays be tonite?? After finding out that they've lost Ryan for the season with Tommy John surgery.

Halladay has always pitched well against us, but maybe the Sawx can finally give Wake the run support he deserves.

[AutomatedTeller]

I'm hoping the Sox get to Halladay. I'm not real happy that the Sox have got him 3 times already. On the other hand, they have missed Burnett completely.

Not that it really matters, but so far the Sox have lost games to Santana, Felix Hernandez, Halladay & millwood - 4 excellent pitchers. The Yankees have missed Santana, Hernandex and Millwood in their series vs. those teams.

[AutomatedTeller]

Sox with the early run for Tim!

[AutomatedTeller]

Nice play by the Sox to get out of a big jam

[Drury77]

And with one out in the 3rd inning the Sox have scored 7 runs, and have also batted around. Lowell with a 3 run shot

[AutomatedTeller]

wow. I didn't expect a sweep with Halladay on the mound. yeah, it's only the 5th, but right now, the Jays look like the Sox did last august.

[AutomatedTeller]

big game for the Sox.

Put the Yankees behind another game, probably puts the nail in the Jays coffin, gives Wake a winning record (all star appearance, finally?)

[AutomatedTeller]

that was fun

[Zen653]

gives Wake a winning record (all star appearance, finally?)

I sure hope so, but he'll need to keep this up for at least one more month. Plus managers seem to select the guys with the highest number of wins, and Wakefield only has a modest 4-3 record. I just hope they overlook that and recognize his outstanding ERA: an AL-best 1.79! This could all unravel with one or two bad starts, so the pressure is still on for Wakefield. Beckett, on the other hand, is probably a shoo-in for an All-Star appearance (which would be the first of his career as well.) With 7 wins, and maybe another 3-8 tacked on by the All-Star break, the managers who vote for the reserves won't care about his ERA (which is currently quite good anyway.)

Last year, there were 9 starters on the American League All-Star team and 4 relief pitchers. Here are the top 9 starters by ERA thus far:

1. Tim Wakefield, Boston, W(4-3), 1.79 ERA
2. Dan Haren, Oakland, W(3-2), 1.89 ERA
3. Gil Meche, Kansas City, W(3-1), 2.15 ERA
4. Kelvim Escobar, Los Angeles, W(4-1), 2.21 ERA
5. Chad Gaudin, Oakland, W(2-1), 2.40 ERA
6. Josh Beckett, Boston, W(7-0), 2.51 ERA
7. John Lackey, Los Angeles, W(4-3), 2.60 ERA
8. Andy Pettitte, New York, W(2-1), 2.72 ERA
9. Justin Verlander, Detroit, W(3-1), 2.83 ERA

With just 2 wins apiece, the managers might be tempted to leave off Gaudin and Pettitte, which would bring us to the next group of pitchers, including James Shields (3-0, 3.10 ERA for Tampa Bay), Curt Schilling (4-1, 3.28 ERA), Johan Santana (4-1, 3.40 ERA), Nate Robertson (3-2, 3.43 ERA) and C.C. Sabathia (5-0, 3.45 ERA.) Jim Leyland gets to pick a few players entirely on his own, and I assume he'd go with Tiger Nate Robertson from this second list. It's tough to ignore C.C Sabathia's perfect 5-0 record for a first-place team, so I think he gets the nod too.

The situation with the closers is currently a bit easier, the top 4 would be:

1. Todd Jones, Detroit, W(1-1), 13 saves, 2.65 ERA
2. Al Reyes, Tampa Bay, W(1-0), 10 saves, 1.20 ERA
3. Jon Papelbon, Boston, W(0-0), 10 saves, 1.46 ERA

And then one of Francisco Rodriguez (0-2, 10 saves, 2.76 ERA), Houston Street (2-1, 9 saves, 2.65 ERA), Joe Nathan (1-1, 8 saves, 2.87 ERA) or J.J Putz (0-0, 7 saves, 1.23 ERA.) I'd lean towards Putz because of the ERA but this can, of course, all change dramatically within the next month.

Yesterday's Co-MVPs:





Yesterday's LVP: