Game time: 7:05 pm

Scheduled starters: Jeremy Sowers (1-4, 6.29) v. Josh Beckett (7-0, 2.66)

The game will be on NESN.

Boston weather:

3 pm observation at KBOS: wind out of the northwest at 14 mph, with gusts to 21 mph, visibility 10 miles, few clouds at 6,000 feet, temperature 77F, DP 45F

Forecast: Play ball!

The only "factor" is the wind, which will be out of the northwest, blowing out toward right. The windspeed and gusts should settle down after sunset.

Will Big Papi play???

According to ESPN



Meaning he better be out for the sake of my fantasy team

No, per the pregame show.

Against a pitcher with an ERA in the sixes, while Papi will be missed, I don't think the offense will skip a beat.

I was at the game last night, Coco looked terrible at the plate, when he doesn't have Ortiz behind him he shouldn't be in the 2 hole.

Seeing him live gives you a real appreciation of how poor Pena is in the corner OF. I like him in the lineup more than Hinske though, and if Tito's goal is to take some wear and tear off of Manny by DHing him with Papi unavailable, so be it. I think we can sacrifice a little defense to keep the offense rolling.

I'm a little worried about Pena playing. I was at last night's game too and lucky for him not many balls were hit out to him. He bobbled a double out there last night and all his throws to the cutoff man were terrible. I assume this is more of a mental problem than anything so all I hope is that he doesn't have these thoughts in the back of his mind.

The guy sitting a few rows behind me was yelling "Wily Mo you're a bum!" and "We want Hinske" This was hilarious at the time but something like that can get in your head.

Remember the COCO CAN'T PLAY DEFENSE! THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS FOLKS! Than Francona continued to play him and now he's making great plays while getting good reads. Let WMP get time out in the field to improve himself.

Speaking of Hinske, I was at the Detriot game in which he made that great catch. I was behind him and he didn't get to a few balls that I thought he could have so I started screaming stuff like even Willy Mo could have gotten that. Than he goes out an make a spectacular catch. My point? I just want to take credit for that catch.

WOW, 2 straight days of Wily Mo? My goodness, what's gotten into Tito?

I could get used to this.

Thanks Jhonny.

Why is Coco stunned that he just made an out?

I heart Youk.

call this the curse of don zimmer:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Don Zimmer isn't ready to give Boston the American League East Division title — at least not yet.
“ I would say it's early to say that, but things better start happening awful quick because the Red Sox got an outstanding pitching staff and they've got a good team,” the Tampa Bay Devil Rays senior adviser and former Yankees bench coach said Tuesday. “ I would say at this time, it's going to be very tough for anybody, not just the Yankees, to catch the Red Sox.”
The Yankees started Tuesday tied for last in the AL East with the Devil Rays, 131/2 games behind Boston. Second-place Baltimore was 111/2 games off the pace.
Zimmer, who has spent 59 years in baseball, was Yankees manager Joe Torre's bench coach when New York won four World Series championships. He also managed Boston in 1978 when the Red Sox held a large lead in August before losing a one-game playoff to the Yankees for the AL East title.
“ Joe Torre right now is going through a stretch that I don't think he's ever had to face,” Zimmer said. “ With the pitching staff, the way it's happened. They're waiting for (Roger) Clemens at 44 years old, you don't know how that's going to turn out. One thing about Joe, Joe knows how to handle situations.”
Zimmer believes Torre will not get too up or down as the Yankees try to move up in the playoff race.
“ Joe's not going to get excited one way or another,” Zimmer said. “ Whether they can put something together, there's a lot of teams that will have to put something together to catch the Red Sox. Joe Torre is not going to do anything different than he's done in the past 12 years. We'll just wait and see how it ends up.”

Sowers reminds me of Jamie Moyer. I'm hoping he reminds Manny of him too.

I heart Beckett

That's almost as smart as Yankee fans booing A-Rod. Now if it were "C'mon Wily Mo, get your sh*t together" then I could see that because the guy would have at least been cajoling WMP into better performance.

Why root for someone on your own team to fail though? Never understood that......



I was thinking the same thing. In a man-crush sort of way, I love these days when Josh and Daisuke are pitching......

They're both soft-tossing lefties, but their tendencies are polar opposite. Sowers gets a ton of groundballs, and Moyer is predominantly a flyball pitcher.

I have a jersey question. If you are going to buy a new jersey would you get Beckett, Dice K, Youk, or Willy Mo?

Missed the first few innings... How does Beckett's "stuff" look???

That would be the order I'd go in.......

I actually just meantg looking at them (soft-tossing lefties, delivery, etc.).




Matsuzaka is under contract the longest...

Sit tight & get a Bucholtz (sp?) or Ellsbury (again, sp?) jersey.

Tek got all of that one.

Is Beckett giving Cleveland the finger?

I heart Remy.

He is cracking me up right now. She is cute, I'm still not watching that show.

She has giant teeth and he is a metro...check out the shapley eyebrows.

Hi Mish.


I also heart Tina Cervasio, so maybe I have issues there.



I never said he was cute........but those shapely eyebrows are dreamy......

Nice job by Beckett so far..only 76 pitches through 6 shutout innings is looking really nice.

yeah really nice for his first game after being on the DL

I hit through 6.

I like Beckett v.2007.

YOUK

Holy homerun. Youk is superhuman at the plate.

Hi MrNE

Damn.. I hope Youk never cools off.

You don't even need to post actual words in these game threads. You could just post blank space, and your screen name alone would be sufficient lately.

This is true..

Way to get on base WMP!

I'm liking this inning.

Lets break this s*** open!

How does Cleveland not have someone warming?

They really need to be taking 2 strikes at this point.

Or at least pop it open..gently.

Way to be scrappy, Lil Pedro!

Dammit Lugo.

If Lugo didn't suck so bad this team might win a game every now and then..... and Drew too.

Dammit Lugo.

May I join the movement to liberate the leadoff spot from Julio Lugo's control? Dang.

I don't like Lugo, I want to, but he is awefull. please someone prove me wrong

Me too....

Sizemore has looked completely lost in these first two games.

Edit: At the plate, not in the field.

3 AB for Sizemore.. 3Ks.

I'm guessing Sizemore has a hard time against Beckett..

And Peralta does'nt.

Good thing WMP isn't out there. He would have looked ridiculous on a ball hit like that

I think Pronk probably could have scored on that one. Rough inning for JD out there in right.

Can't keep a great hitter like Hafner down forever...

I also do not like Drew for 14 million we should have gotten something better

I think it's still too early to sour on Drew. He has always hit well when healthy and he is a fine defensive right fielder. Right field in Fenway will make everyone look silly occasionally.