Walk off Homer at Fenway by Kevin Youkilis in bottom of 13th inning.

[wilheim]

Kevin Youkilis hit his 13th. HR of the season (he hit his 12th in the 7th inning earlier) with a man on off Cardinal reliever Mike Parisi to give the Red Sox a lone win by a score of 5-3 in an exciting 3 game series between the long time rivals.

Today's game had it all incuding a clutch pinch hit double by The Cards Adam Kennedy in the top of the 9th off ace closer Jonathon Papelbon to tie the game at 3-3. Papelbon now has 4 blown saves on the season against 21 saves.

The Cards won Game one 5-4 Friday night and won game two 9-3 on Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinals outplayed the Red Sox in their own back yard and came very close to sweeping the series. Excellent performance on their part and a good reason to continue this interleague baseball in future seasons.



wil.

 

[Illini]

Saw the first two games in person. Very impressed with your city, Wilheim.

Go COD-NALS!

 

[whalewager]

STL rl folks are weeping

 

[wannabewhale]

Frustrating weekend for the Sox. Today was a great example of lack of focus by the Sox.
Papelbon gives up the hit to Miles. Okijima is a SHELL of what he was last year. Terrible At bats by Youk/Tek and Cora in extras. The Cards gift wrapped it by putting Parisi in.

 

[wannabewhale]

Wil lives in Beantown??

 

[wilheim]

wannabe whale

Wil lives in Beantown??
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Born and raised there but live with my wife who is Costa Rican now in her country.


wil.

 

[TomBrady#1]

Wil lives in Beantown??

Once you live here, you always remain loyal to our teams. Wil, is from the heart of Boston and is a die hard BOSTONIAN from another country. He has his Celtics hat and Red Sox shirt on as we speak.


Nice win and big win! Go Sox!

 

[wannabewhale]

That is what I thought. We always go to Boston once a summer to see relatives--I love it. Baseball-beaches--dog races...

 

[wannabewhale]

Once you live here, you always remain loyal to our teams. Wil, is from the heart of Boston and is a die hard BOSTONIAN from another country. He has his Celtics hat and Red Sox shirt on as we speak.


Nice win and big win! Go Sox!

Cmon that was a LUCKY win. There is something missing from this team--I think it is heart. With so many guys hurt there have been so many diff lineups. I am missing Papi!!!
I am stoked Timlin is on the DL as he would have blown this game...

 

[TomBrady#1]

Cmon that was a LUCKY win. There is something missing from this team--I think it is heart. With so many guys hurt there have been so many diff lineups. I am missing Papi!!!
I am stoked Timlin is on the DL as he would have blown this game...

Your are right. This team is different. Time will tell on how good.

 

[bigtendominator]

Born and raised there but live with my wife who is Costa Rican now in her country.


wil.

How do you view American Sports, is the majority of it via computer or a slingbox. I am sure you get certain sports programs, NBA Finals, Super Bowl, WS, but what about the daily games?

 

[wannabewhale]

Sox that are troubling to me this year:
Tek
Okijima
Dice K
SS position
Timlin
Papelbon at times

 

[TomBrady#1]

Sox that are troubling to me this year:
Tek
Okijima
Dice K
SS position
Timlin
Papelbon at times

And Ortiz as was mentioned too. Plus no Schilling and a few more too....It is going to be interesting and the Sox have their work cut out for them. it is never easy in baseball.

 

[wannabewhale]

Schill--why cause he cost us $8 mill for nothing--LOL.
Pitching has been ok for what they have gone through--Masterson has been solid.
All that being said they are tied for the most wins in all of baseball AND 5 games ahead of the Evil Empire!!!

 

[TomBrady#1]

Schilling because he was still a pitcher last year that was effective and ate up innings. Bucholz has not performed as well as hoped though he is still very young.

 

[wannabewhale]

Think they need to get him some more innings

 

[wilheim]

Considering the injuries they still are the only team in the AL with 47 wins (Cubs have 47 in NL). and are in first place. They need to dump Mike Timlin - a warrior who has gone past his time and establish who is who in the set-up corps. Despite today's blown save Jonathon Papelbon remains as good a closer as any in MLB.

I am hoping Craig Hansen can find his command consistently and grab the set-up job in front of Papelbon.

Righty Manny Delcarmen has good stuff and has finally settled down of late and is as good of a righty reliever as their going to find on the market at this point. He struck out both batters he faced today and is not going anywhere.

Lefty Hideki Okakima is not as consistient as he should be as a lefty out of the pen but again there is nothing better available right now. He has had four bad outings (if you count today - 4 hits but no runs in 1.2 innings) in June. Hopefully he will regain his form soon or the Sox are going to have to find a reliable lefty reliever somewhere, never easy..

Righty David Ardsma has been very steady with just one bad outing in June while mopping up in an 8-0 loss to Seattle back on June 6th. his ERA is .260 in 31 appearances.

Righty Javier Lopez gave up a run yesterday and gave up two hits today but got the win and has a .251 ERA in 35 appearances. Still a bit of a question mark.

Botttom line is Timlin cannot be relied on and has to go but hats off to him for the gutsy five years he has given the team before this season.

A reliable lefty has to emerge, hopefully Hideki or an import and anyone of the rightes mentioned above needs to grab the set-up job by the throat and make it theirs by pitching well.

Craig Hansen was outstanding today, striking out three in 1.2 perfect innings of relief in a tight game. Like I said with some coaching to improve his command he could be the guy given the heater he has.

Starting pitching will improve when DiceK gets back on track and a regualar #5 starter is established. Josh Beckett, Jason Lester, DiceK and Tim Wakefield are set, Clay Bucholtz is in Pawtucket and pitched 1 hit ball for 5 innings on Friday. He is due to comeback for the #5 spot. Hopefully rookie Justin Masterson can become the spot starter and long man in the pen - time will tell.



wil.

 

[billhill999]

Schill--why cause he cost us $8 mill for nothing--LOL.
Pitching has been ok for what they have gone through--Masterson has been solid.
All that being said they are tied for the most wins in all of baseball AND 5 games ahead of the Evil Empire!!!

I think the Sox gave Schilling this year as a reward for 2004 and 2007.

Be careful of our evil umpire, winners of 8 out of last 10, should take 2 out of 3 from Pitt, the lineup is finally in tact, (A-Rod was out for a month, Posada is over the shoulder problem, Giambi thinks it's 2003 again, Jeter is hitting again, Damon has been getting on base like crazy, and Abreu finally has gotten over his fear of fences.
Once Cano starts hitting we'll score seven runs a game on a regular basis.
Mo is immortal, but Girardi needs to use Veras in the eighth, not Farnsworthless.

5 game lead in June, pffft, not concerned,

 

[BadCo]

Well i could give a shit about any team really this point in my life but was a big Bosox fan today as needed the at least 2 run walk off and got it.

Usually those only happen against me.

 

[wannabewhale]

Good analysis--I have HATED Timlin for years.
Was very pleased with Hansen today--agree a lefty is needed as Okijima has not been good.
Here are problems with starters:
DiceK-think his control has been poor with all thise walks--8-0 record was deceiving and this outing was crap. Wake is either Great or getting shelled. Now another injury and there is trouble