Game time: 7:05 pm

Scheduled Starters: Dan Haren (6-7, 3.52) v. Curt Schilling (10-3, 3.60)

Boston weather: 1 pm observation at BOS: Wind out of the south southwest at 10 mph, visibility 10 miles, few clouds at 5,000 feet, 25,000 feet broken, temperature 90F, dew point 68F.

Forecast: HOT!!! It'll be in the 80's at game time, with dew points still in the mid 60's. A lazy, hazy, hot and humid summer night...

There's a slight chance of showers in the Boston area from a disturbance associately with an upper level trough that's moving through central/eastern NY right now. It appears to be weakening as it moves eastward, and it's likely to run out of energy, and water, by the time it reaches eastern New England.

The wind will remain south/southwest, which is blowing out toward left to slightly across from first toward left.

Anni

Will the pregame be blacked out again? Haven't got a response from NESN.

*MOJO* - Robot Day 1

*Subbing for a Running Late NU*

For a team in a slump and still shaking off the rust, you need something systematic, automatic, and altogether satisfying type of mojo. Sure it can malfunction time and time again, but more often than not, robots will get their ish done with twice the efficiency. Something the Red Sox could use.

Today's robot? Well we got ourselves the "Lost in Space" robot which is known to some as "Robot" and known to others as "GUNTER" but regardless, this robot has only one simple thing ot say to tonight's starter.



"DANGER! DANGER CURT SCHILLING!"



May he give us a warning whenever any scoring threats from the opposition are close, and may he be able to get to Schilling before it's too late.

Just found out from another site that Sox fans outside of New England will no longer be able to see any Sox related programs, including pre & post game shows because MLB has decided that have too many highlights.
We'll still be able to see the actual game with MLBEI but nothing else, making the sports channels useless.
Do the peabrains at MLB actually think that they're going make us watch our home team more by this action? Boggles the mind.

[codebox] Oakland Boston
------- ------

Pos Player HR RBI AVG. Pos Player HR RBI AVG.
--- ------ -- --- ---- --- ------ -- --- ----
C Kendall, Jason 1 22 .265 1B Youkilis, Kevin 10 44 .292
1B Swisher, Nick 21 54 .263 2B Loretta, Mark 3 37 .302
CF Kotsay, Mark 6 32 .254 DH Ortiz, David 31 87 .278
DH Thomas, Frank 19 48 .242 LF Ramirez, Manny 24 65 .300
LF Payton, Jay 5 33 .284 RF Nixon, Trot 6 44 .310
SS Crosby, Bobby 8 35 .235 3B Lowell, Mike 12 48 .300
RF Bradley, Milton 3 11 .242 C Varitek, Jason 9 41 .241
2B Ellis, Mark 4 18 .223 CF Crisp, Coco 4 15 .274
3B Perez, Antonio 1 6 .092 SS Cora, Alex 0 10 .297
P Haren, Danny (6-7, 3.52) P Schilling, Curt (10-3, 3.60)[/codebox]

I do think the Sox have an excellent chance of getting back on track this evening, especially against Danny Haren, who has been 0-2 against the Sox. Haren just can't seem to to pitch well at the Fens.

Guys to watch for:

Practically the whole team has excellent numbers against Haren with the exception of Tek, Gonzo and Mirabelli.

It will be critical for the Sox to really load up on Haren, because the Sox haven't been doing much against the A's relief pitching since their arrival in Boston.

I am a bit concerned about Schill and his elbow - we are going to need him to go more than 6 innings tonight. Thankfully our quality relievers didn't see action in last night's debacle, but I would like to see Schill make it to 7. Let's hope he will have the stamina to do so.

Guys to watch out for:

Bobby Crosby Nick Swisher
Marco Scutaro
Mark Kostsay

All of these guys have respectable numbers against Schill

The Tigers Pregame show is available as is the Twins.. Not sure I understand this blackout

Let's worry about the game. Jump on these gray and green pukes. Even though he's a nice guy, I don't want to hear any more Ray Fosse gloating. Early lead, wire to wire, a SHO would be best. C'mon Curt!

In a way, I'm glad to see Cora out there, at least in terms of offense.

Good start Schill

Nice K for Schill....

Another K by Schill, so he is off to a great start. I can only hope that our offense gets back on track.

Which one?

Fay Fosse sez that the home plate ump is good with balls and strikes calls, unlike last night. No complaints when Swisher was rung up.

I like any and all K's by Red Sox pitchers. Schill looks great, which is not surprising. I just really want some runs now....

I lost my Internet connection. Everyone else too? As soon as I said the home plate ump should be good, he doesn't give a strike three to Schill he should have. Cost about five more pitches and a hit.

Hits, runs.

Kotsay. *&Y)(*&%*$

C'mon Papi!

You're my boy, Papi!

Wow, a freaking triple!

Watching Bradley butcher that play makes you appreciate what Trot does out there.

A triple by Big Papi. That is pure comedy.

Milton Bradley: meet the wall.

Ok, I like this game; much better than last night.

Go Sox!

Did Bradley really play it horribly? (for those of us subject to gamecast)

Ooh, yeah! Let's keep sticking it to Haren! Don't let him off the ropes; I want him to look like Vargas after his first fight with Sugar Shane.

Well, it was hit really hard and came off the wall pretty good, and of course you have the multi-faceted, or multi-angled wall in right that we all love in its producing an ITPHR once in a while. I wouldn't say it was a horrible play, but Trot would have made it for sure.

Well, it was a duck-hooking line drive into the corner. It was rolling and hit under the padding on the right field wall. Bradley overran the play, and was up against the wall. The ball bounced behind him and ran all the way to the bullpen wall.

Hope that explanation helps.

Unfortunately, Bradley didn't punch anyone in the stands, though. He took it in stride.



Absolutely; Trot is great at reading the bounces off the wall, and getting in front of the ball kind of like a hockey goalie when it's going to take an awkward hop. Bradley put himself in bad position, because he was facing the wall and not squared up to the ball.

That's because nobody dumped beer on him.

I guess the fans in right are really careful since the Sheffield incident.

I can run faster than Thomas.

Speaking of beer, I think I may go crack one open. Thanks, Malzone.

Meanwhile, the Mariners and the Blue Jays are in the 14th inning, tied at 6...

And honestly, that game is seeming very familiar.

Time to twist the knife, Papi!

Molina wins it with a basehit down the third base line, 7-6 in the 14th.

Toronto wins in 14.

Lowell has to be the smoothest 3d baseman I've ever seen. Maybe not the flashiest, but dang, the guy is smooth. He moves like a panther.

Yes, I was thinking particularly that he makes the play on the short hop with so much ease and confidence. Does he ever muff one?

Sweet! I can't wait to see who we're going to bean. I think that Tito oughta send Tavarez in to drill Milton Bradley. That fight could eclipse Vargas-Mosley 2.

I have flashbacks when someone bunts on Schilling. Nice play.

Edit, Fosse wants Schilling ejected. Was it any more blatant than Haren hitting Varitek?

I am very curious to see how they are going to pitch to Bradley - he was jawing at Schill for that entire at bat. He looked like a lunatic pacing back and forth there

Bradley looked kind of scary in the dugout. It is only a matter of time before he erupts....

Schill is on a roll.

Ok, I was upstairs for a while. Saw the posts about the beanball, and had to restart the inning. Gotta say, I love Schill. That was some quality drilling there.

I really wish I was watching the Mosley-Vargas fight tonight. I guess this'll have to do.

It is that time again isn't for Bradley to completely lose it. I wonder who he is going to accuse of being a racist on the Oakland squad - my money is on Bobby Crosby.

I could take him.

Hello, all! Just got back from a game at Camden Yards. Aside from having to wait for a 200-car freight train to pass before we could park and them not having any bobblehead dolls because they thought Brian Roberts was black (got a voucher, now have to go back in September, boo!), I had a great time. And my day just got better now that I see we're finally winning a game.

lol are you serious?

Looks like Bedard had another good game too

Beckett please take note: this is called pitching, much more effective than just throwing as hard as you can.

It would be nice if Clement and Wells took note of what being on the field looks like as well.

Totally serious. They got the shipment, opened it up, and found out they had tons of black bobblehead dolls of a white guy. I would have killed to be there when they made this discovery.

Oh, and the 200-car freight train? It was loaded with Waste Management cars, full of garbage. As you can imagine, it smelled like ass. For 15 minutes.

Excellent performance from Schilling, I could not have asked for more.

Offense also came through tonight too

Are we going to blame Wells for taking a line drive off the knee?

This A's defense is awe-inspiring.

Well, he is a big target.

I'm sure it was a shining moment in Roberts career too.

Well if he wasn't 300 pounds it probably wouldn't have been such a big deal considering his knees have to carry his fat ass around constantly. Wells has pitched less than 10 innings this year and made over $2M and counting. When he did pitch he was useless, I blame him for not pitching before the knee being hit. Also, right when he got hit in the knee you just knew he wasn't coming back for months. He's made of glass at this point.

Shouldn't we then be mad at Theo for signing the old, overweight Wells?

And that's the exclamation point.

We were up 6-0 already, Papi. What an A-Rod thing to do!