vs.



Though my affection for this 70 proof staple of Vod to the Face knows no bounds, Paul Byrd could kick my ass with that rockin bod. Point: Byrd. Victory is assured today.

Dude. Watermelon Burnett's FTW.

Imagining high school-aged Youkilis saying that is incredible. But no sorry, you're wrong - Citrus Burnett's is what's allowed AJ Burnett to go 15-8 with a 4.01 ERA and a 189-64 K-BB in 171.2 IP since I started drinking Burnett's, aka May 1st 2008.

Teenaged Youkilis lived on watermelon burnett's in high school. LIVED ON IT.

I'm sorry, was there ever a 9/13/08 provision for the drink of choice to be that which sustained High School Kevin Youkilis? Didn't think so. Long live citrus Burnett's.

EDIT: NM

Go Sox!

One down, 3 to go - annihilate these Jays and their delusions of a post season. Go get them Byrd (however it is you do it).

GO SOX - WIN TODAY!

It's a jewish thing.

I had no idea.

Byrd has a tattoo?

Burnett on short rest vs. flat-nose? Jays have no chance.

He got one when he went out partying with Josh Hamilton.

Red Sox

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Mike Lowell, 3B
5. Sean Casey, 1B
6. Jason Bay, LF
7. Jed Lowrie, SS
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Coco Crisp, CF

Paul Byrd, SP

Blue Jays

1. Joe Inglett, 2B
2. Marco Scutaro, SS
3. Alex Rios, RF
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Lyle Overbay, 1B
6. Adam Lind, DH
7. Rod Barajas, C
8. Scott Rolen, 3B
9. Travis Snider, LF

A.J. Burnett, SP

Casey batting ahead of Bay? Really?
Bay vs. Burnett: 4/8, HR, BB, 2 K (1.431 OPS)
Casey vs. Burnett: 13/23, 3B (hard to imagine), BB, 5 K (1.252 OPS)
I still don't get it.

Other stats vs. Burnett:
Cash 0/3, 2 BB, 2 K
Cora 0/16, BB, 5 K
Crisp 1/11, HR, BB, 5 K
Ellsbury 1/8, 3 K
Kotsay 2/7, 2 2B, BB
Lowell 4/14, BB, K
Lowrie 0/6, K
Ortiz 5/16, 2 2B, HR, 7 K
Pedroia 4/14, 2 HR, 2 BB, K
Varitek 3/11, 2B, BB, 3 K
Youkilis 2/16, BB, 3 K

The 20 games today is the most in a day since 1974. 15 games with postseason implications in one day is awesome.

I hate the damn Fox Network.

Blacked out on MLB TV - why? Is this game on national TV?

JustinTV has the Sox game now if you want to watch it
OOOps just crapped out

Incidentally, Varitek is 0/7 against Litsch, so it's not surprising he's playing the first game rather than the second. Other bad stats against Litsch:
Bay 1/6, 2 K; Crisp 1/8 (one of these two will sit, since Ellsbury is 3/7 and Kotsay (1/4) isn't playing in the first game)
Lowrie 0/3, K (Cora, at 2/4 w/2 2B, will play)
Ortiz 2/11, 2 BB, K
Youkilis 1/5, BB, 3 K

I'm getting the game on NESN. I don't think there was a pre-game show, though.

It's going to still be going when Fox's blackout starts so it gets blacked out.

I have the game on MLB tv now but blacked out on NESN here in NJ

That was a hell of an AB by Pedey.

It really was. He deserved a better fate. I was hoping he'd get one of those opposite field bloop home runs around the pole.

Pedroia moves him over, and raises Burnett's pitch count to 14.

And then Papi goes down on 4 pitches with a man on 3rd and 1 out. Fuck.

That was a shit AB by Papi.

Man on third, less than 2 outs, is like a fucking guaranteed strike out or pop up for us.

Well, best strategy now is to hit it to Rolen.

I was really hoping to see David Ortiz in today's game.

Holy Fuck that was awful.

Pedroia's hand eye coordination is insane.

Fucking pathetic show by our 3-4 hitters.

Papi and Lowell looked really bad against Burnett's curveball. 1 inning, 22 pitches, no results.

Light Gamethread crew today, huh?

Wow 2 K's looking for Byrd already

Just the hard core.

So I was at the game last night and got a pretty close look at Rolen. Between innings he was fielding balls "at third base" by standing on the grass about 5 feet from the pitcher's mound. When grounders were hit at him, he looked both clumsy and immobile. What is the deal with him? Is his shoulder still bothering him? And was last night just "one of those games" as far as fielding grounders (i.e. bad hops), or has he been like this for a while?

Byrd is solid out there so far. It is times for the length of the line up to step up. Casey, Bay, Lowrie need to get on and start moving the lne.

eh, all the important people are here.

Just keep working the PC on Burnett. He can't really go much over 100 anyway.

Plus, he is prone to the big inning, a la Javy Vazquez.

It's better this way. Don't have a page of comments every time I hit refresh.

Excellent work in the hurricane thread, by the way.

Casey's career numbers against Burnett: 13 for 23. I guess that's what finally got Casey out of Tito's doghouse, not that it helped the first at-bat.

PC is at 35 now for Burnett. We need a couple of 20+ pitch innings stat.

Pedrioa: 10 pitches
Other 6 batters: 25.

Ugh.

I love how Byrd's motion looks like it belongs in 1926. It makes me wonder if he was a prospect coming up through the Sox system right now if they'd try to change his mechanics?

Nice play Pedroia. That is a lot harder than it looks.

What a play by Pedroia!!!

Worked for Hansen.

Thank you. They're still trying to figure out the damage down there, but most of the weather watchers are feeling just a little let down: Galveston is still there

Most of it, anyway.

Pedroia's shovel toss: yet another play where it helps to be built low to the ground.

Byrd looking pretty good today, first inning aside. 3/4 against these fuckers would be phenomenal.