Game time: 7:35 pm

Scheduled starters: Jason Johnson (3-8, 5.96) v. Dontrelle Willis (4-7, 4.05)

Miami weather: Noon observation at MIA: Wind out of the east at 6 mph, visibility 10 miles, scattered clouds at 3,000 feet, scattered clouds at 4,700 feet, towering cumulus present, broken clouds at 30,000 feet, temperature 87F, DP 71F.

Forecast: The Miami area is dominated by weak high pressure to the north. That is keeping the wind blowing in from the east right now. The high dew points in the area and presence of towering cumulus lend to possible thundershower later in the day, which is par for the course in South Florida.

We'll have to keep an eye on a tropical wave forming about 300 miles to the east. It's moving toward Florida, and is likely to bring some tropical rain later in the weekend.

It'll be in the mid 80's at game time, with an east wind between 12-15 mph. That's blowing straight in.

Anni

Since when did MLB change the Sox rivalry game from Atlanta to Florida? I think in the past, the Red Sox have usually played Atlanta.

Our "natural rivalry" team is now Philly; we played the home and home series with them. The Marlins and Tampa are "natural rivals". I think the change was driven by the Expos moving to Washington. The Expos used to play Toronto, but now the Nationals play Baltimore. That mixed everyone up. I don't know who the Braves are playing now.

Jason Johnson v. Dontrelle Willis

Well the pitching matchup isn't in the Sox favor but when has that stopped them before? Tonight will be the toughest of the series for the Sox IMO. Sox struggle against lefties.

In the spirit of keeping the winning streak rolling along, I present.....








Notable #13's in Red Sox history:

John Valentin
Lou Merloni
Doug Mientkiewicz (2004)

and TGIF, Friday is finally here.........

OFF TOPIC pretty much, and last night's game thread looks closed, but I'd like to thank ESPN for televising the Wednesday and Thursday Sox - Mets games. Otherwise, I wouldn't have seen that great game last night and Coco's phenomenal catch. Watching the win on Wednesday was nice too. I imagine ESPN opted for both games because they "had to have" the "Pedro" game on and couldn't be absolutely certain which of the two games it would be when they had to do their schedule. I looked into emailing them, but I don't care for their "disclaimer" notice.

Go Sox! Keep it going behind JJ!

*Mojo-Military Campaign Mojo-Day 13*



Before Ticonderoga, Ethan Allen was unknown outside of his native Vermont. The audacious capture of the fort, its garrison of 48 British troops, and most important of all, its cannons and munitions made Allen a legend throughout the colonies.

After a successful homestand, the Sox hit the road. The Sox certainly haven’t been quiet this last week or so. Even so, sometimes the element of surprise is needed for a succesful invasion.


The element of surprise comes in the form of recent acquisition Jason Johnson. While his track record vs. Florida appears ordinary, Jason is now with an extraordinary team. Knowing that the Sox can score runs and play killer defense, Jason will be aggressive and go after the Marlin’s hitters. Take Florida! Puh-leeeeese

About the natural rivalry thing: From '99-'02, we played home-and-home with the Braves. After we correctly claimed that was bullcrap, it changed to being half Phils, half Marlins in '03 (3 games each). In '04 it changed to half Braves, half Phils. Same in '05. And as Anni said, we did 6 with the Phils this season.

What I don't get is the order. The AL East played the NL East from '97-'01. Starting in '02, we've played, in order, west, central, west, central, east.

Let'sssss go!

[codebox]Boston Florida
------ -------

Pos Player HR RBI AVG. Pos Player HR RBI AVG.
--- ------ -- --- ---- --- ------ -- --- ----
CF Crisp, Coco 3 13 .293 SS Ramirez, Hanley 3 20 .268
2B Loretta, Mark 3 33 .321 2B Uggla, Dan 13 43 .312
1B Youkilis, Kevin 9 39 .314 1B Jacobs, Mike 10 41 .272
LF Ramirez, Manny 20 53 .298 3B Cabrera, Miguel 12 52 .343
3B Lowell, Mike 9 40 .303 LF Willingham, Josh 9 38 .266
C Varitek, Jason 7 38 .252 RF Hermida, Jeremy 2 11 .295
RF Kapler, Gabe 1 5 .385 CF Ross, Cody 0 0 .279
SS Gonzalez, Alex 5 24 .270 C Treanor, Matt 1 7 .214
P Johnson, Jason (3-8, 5.96) P Willis, Dontrelle (4-7, 4.05)[/codebox]

I'm feeling better about this game than I thought I would. Letting Johnson's first start with us come against an NL team is a big plus, IMO. And Willis will feel the pain.

Keep the streak alive!

Other than Hanley and Cabrera, that lineup pretty much gets a lot blank stares with occasional exaggerated blinking out of me.

Kind of like:

Which is only to say, I don't really know them too well. Of the two guys I know, Hanley has good speed, and Cabrera has pretty decent speed (plus the whole "able to hit the cover off the ball" thing). How much speed is in the rest of the lineup? That's the one thing that potentially concerns me, with Johnson's extreme ground ball tendencies this year.

Well, that, and the fact that Johnson has basically sucked. If he's planning to suck tonight, then we have bigger worries than the Marlins' team speed. But if we're lucky enough to get a better version of the pitcher he has been all year, then, yeah, I'm curious who else on that team can run.

You've never heard of the immortal Cody Ross?

The pitching matchup seems like a sure loss. We've got a junkyard pickup vs an All-Star type pitcher. Even with that... I've still got a good amount of confidence.

Uggla is very good, he is having a great rookie year and 7 of his 13 HRs have come in June. Jacobs is a solid player as well, I believe he was part of the Delgado deal. Not sure about speed, but either one of these guys can hit the ball out of the park.

Cody Ross had 7 rbi's in 1 game earlier this year for the Dodgers.

edit: spelling

I keep seeing "Mike Jacobs" and thinking "Mike Benjamin."

Let's hope we're so lucky tonight.

Kind of surprsing Willis's ERA is so high at home, considering it is such a big park.

Well the Sox went pretty weakly in the first. No Ortiz tonight, ouch!

OK JJ throw strikes- no walks

Great the ump wants in our pitcher's head

Well Johnson is off to a good start.

I'm starting to think Jason Johnson might really suck.

...and Manny's worst play of the year doesn't help.

Bring back Snyder...

Jeff Weaver come on down. You're the next contestant on the "Who can suck less for longer" game show.

I'm hoping this is just the first inning/trying too hard yips, but uh, yuck.

Her-mee-da, not Her-media, Announcer Boy.

It was a nice win streak.

Terrible.

Why isn't Pauley the 5th starter? He had a coulpe decent starts against the Blue Jays and the MFY.

IMO, the starters should be:
Schill
Beckett
Wake
Lester
Pauley (until Clement/Wells is better)

There's absolutely no reason to bring in a experienced head case that couldn't get shit done somewhere else.

Jason Johnson sucks.

How long do they let this guy struggle? Hopefully not long enough to put the game out of hand.

When they got him I said it was a waste of money and its looking like he is going to add nothing to this team. Obviously very small sample size but he's terrible.

**** it all, I had this horrible strange feeling started at around 5 ish this afternoon that Sox will not be able to do 13 games winning streak tonite, this blows! atleast I didnt bet anything on THIS ONE!!!!!!

Pauley had one good start against the MFY and two terrible starts against Toronto and Texas. He's still young and needs more time in AAA.

In all fairness to Johnson he has not pitched in who knows how long....Of course all good things must come to an end (winning streak). Of course it is still the first inning and if he can get out of the inning then I'm very optimistic that the Sox can score more than 3 runs....

The game isn't over just yet.

Well, not every piece of sh*t you throw against the wall is gonna stick.

Because he's not good? I mean, I know that 7.88 ERA and 2.31 WHIP is encouraging, but let's stop talking like Dave Pauley is a legitimate candidate to start for a major league team that doesn't suck.

When is Tito going to pull his Johnson?

Johnson is a tool.

He hits the number eight hitter, now FLA will clear the pitcher's spot.

This is brutal. He's either going to hit Willis or Willis is going to hit a double.

Theo's idea about infield defense helping a groundball pitcher was a good one. It just doesn't work when the first bounce of the "ground ball" is on the warning track.

It was a nice thought, now back to the phones. I would rather watch Kyle Snyder.

I think Johnson gets at least one more inning.

Ah, great quote. So appropriate.

I don't know if I agree with the Pauley assessment. Yea he was shaky, but I liked the way he carried himself.

We'll see if Johnson can keep the ball down and use that amazing defense behind him for a couple innings while we try to get a couple back off of the D-Train.

For an all Rookie team, I think the Marlins are one of the toughest teams in the NL. I think they have the best interleague record in the NL (which is not saying very much).

LOL
I know it's only one inning but this guy is a tool...I hope Theo is still looking at real starters

Isn't that a bit redundant?

damn, freaking Giambi just had his 24th jack MFY 1-0! UGH

Hate to chew up the pen against a pitcher we may not score against. Hopefully JJ can bleed slow enough to get a few? innings in.

my apologies thread policeman