Eye of the Tiger

We took 3 of 4 from Detroit this week and very easily could have taken all 4. Our only loss came on a bloop broken bat single in the bottom of the ninth off of Papelbon. We have now won 6 of our last 7 and we are now going to Minnesota for a 4 game set with the first place Twins.



Mondays game we won 6-3 even though DiceK allowed 8 walks. He stated afterwards that he is suffering from an illness that has bothered him for a week. He allowed one earned on two hits over 5 innings to get the win. His record is now 5-0 and we have won every game this year that he has pitched (7-0).

Lowell and Youk both had 2 run home runs to help out as well and Big Papi hit his sixth home too. Okajima pitched a perfect eighth, and Papelbon earned his 10th save of the year to wrap up the victory.



Tuesday's game we won 5-0 on the knuckler of Wakefield. He allowed two hits and three base runners, striking out a season-high six. It is the third straight year that Wakefield has had a shutout after eight innings. Timlin pitched the ninth, making his 1,022nd career appearance, tying him for ninth all-time with Jose Mesa and Lee Smith. It was the first time since 1900 a shutout was pitched by multiple pitchers over 40.

Manny Ramirez got his 497th homer following one by David Ortiz. Manny got his home run off of Freddy Dolsi who was making his major league debut. Manny hit his first pitch 427 feet to center for the home run. Can you imagine making your major league debut and having the first player you face be Manny Ramirez? His very first pitch in the major leagues was a home run!



Wednesday's game was heart wrenching. It was one of those games where you can't go to sleep afterwards thinking about how we had just lost. We lost 10-9 on a bloop single in the bottom of the ninth. We battled back down 5-2 and 8-4 to actually take a 9-8 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Paps gave up 2 unearned runs to take the loss and get his first blown save of the season. Actually this loss really lies with the Lugo error. Lowell got a 3 run home run and Pedroia continues to come up big with a pinch hit go ahead rbi.

Thursday's game we won 5-1 on the pitching of Josh Beckett. Beckett got eight strikeouts, including the 1,000th of his career and Kevin Youkilis hit another home run to lead us to the win. Beckett (4-2) gave up six hits and a run in seven innings and Youkilis hit his third home run in two games.

It is a sad day as we can officially say our goodbye's to Tina Cervasio.



In other news, Heidi Watney made her debut as the first lady of Red Sox Nation. Now I remember back in January hearing that Tina Cervasio was leaving and going to New York to spend more time with her family. Tina knew baseball and I always looked forward to her postgame interviews and comments. I wondered who they could get to ever replace her. I thought Kathryn Tappen would do well and then I heard they had hired a former Miss San Diego / sports anchor - Heidi Watney.

Heidi made her debut and although she appeared nervous I think she did OK. I still don't know if she will remove Tina out of our minds completely, but it will be interesting to see how Heidi does throughout the year. She needs to know this is not San Diego. It will take more than a little pretty face to keep the hearts of Red Sox Nation beating. She will have to know the Red Sox, baseball and be able to keep up with Don and the RemDawg. Simply smiling at the camera won't work, she will have to give us stats, injury updates and maybe a smile here and there too just for fun. Good Luck Heidi and welcome to the Red Sox!