BoSox Blotter

This coming weekend will be one of the best weekends this year for sports entertainment. It’s week 2 for NCAA Football, opening weekend for the NFL, NHL tickets go on sale and our beloved Red Sox visit the Bronx for 3 games which will either make it a close division race or race with a little more breathing room. This year’s scheduling has really worked to our advantage. With all the home games in September and the chance to control our destiny. What I mean by controlling our destiny is that if….if for some reason we are tied with NY going into the last 3 games of the year ( against NY ) , we can control the outcome. That’s a lot better than relying on Tampa Bay beating the Yanks so we get a playoff seat. These next three games should be the mood setter for Red Sox Nation and the last 3 weeks of the season. Here’s the lineup.

9/9 - Wells vs. Small - Somebody is going to get to Small and it’s going to be us. Our bats have been a little cool lately but we aren’t facing the Angels pitching staff here. Hopefully Manny’s day off has gave him a chance to “step” up to the plate and get involved. Don’t look for Papi to get many pitches to hit this series, unless Manny starts hitting. Look for Wells to be Wells in the place he once called home. He loves to pitch in Yankee Stadium. We should win this one, but we must get to Small early. Don’t let him think he’s good. We aren’t any other team he’s faced.

9/10 - Schilling vs. Chacon - This game is more key for the Yanks than for Schilling. Curt’s last outing wasn’t all bad. He’s coming around, throwing more pitches with consistent velocity. If he can keep that splitter down he’ll be effective. Now the Yanks don’t want to be shown up by Schilling. They know he’s not 100% and they want to keep it that way. If Schilling has an outstanding performance, or even a better than lately, it will put way too much confidence in the Sox. After all the one thing we’ve all been waiting on is Schilling to regain what he had last year. Now Shawn Chacon, I think was an outstanding pickup for the Yankees. He was good in Colorado and that’s hard. His numbers didn’t look great there, but not many pitchers have great numbers in Denver. Our probable starting 9 is 5-18 with 2 RBIs, 2 BB and 6 Ks against him. Those numbers are with Olerud starting and without Graffanino, who has never faced him. Millar also has never faced him. This year the Sox haven’t been good against pitchers who they have little or no experience against. Hopefully they defy the odds and hit like they are capable of hitting.

9/11 - Wakefield vs. R. Johnson - You wouldn’t think that Wake would be good against a power lineup like NY. But that floater just baffles them. Makes them look stupid. I love it. As for Mr. RJ, I’m very happy that Theo is our GM and he thinks about players for more than a minute. NY gave up a top catching prospect and a decent pitcher for someone who always pitched good against the Yanks……like 10 years ago! He’s still good but he isn’t the 350 K a year RJ anymore. We’ve had good success this year facing him and I don’t expect any different on Sunday. I’m predicting he gives up at least 2 homers. This could be a long bomb type day with these two starters as they are both among the league leaders in homeruns against.

The major keys to the series are:

1. Don’t let NY get to the bridge. Stay away from Gordon and Mo. Although we’ve done well against them it’s better not to role that dice

2. Manny put some fear into the pitchers. It’s time to get out of this slump.

3. Run. Posada has caught 32 while 83 have been safe. That’s not bad but I’m sure that Torre doesn’t expect Damon to run while Papi’s at the plate. Let’s keep this ailing defense on it’s heels.

And just a side note: Mark Belhorn has .150 avg with .561 OPS against Sox pitching for his career. He’s 1-13 with 6 Ks against Wells and Wakefield.

S.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 9th, 2005 at 9:35 am and is filed under Red Sox Dailies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.