To the untrained eye, this pitch may look like a perfectly placed strike- what should have been the third strike to end Navarro's at-bat in the 8th. But to homeplate umpire Dan Iassogna, this is a ball.

Despite the odd strike zone, Clay Buchholz still managed to turn in a masterful performance - and the Sox lineup failed to back him up with a masterful performance of their own.

Silver lining of last night's loss: Youkilis broke Stuffy McGinnis's nearly 86-year-old major league record for most consecutive errorless chances (1,700) by a first baseman. Youkilis' total now stands at 1,701, plus he holds the major league record for most consecutive games without an error for a first baseman at 205 and counting.

image credit to RedSoxInIsrael from SoSH

vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays 1:40 pm Tropicana Field - Tampa, FL SP: Josh Beckett vs. James Shields tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Use the comments to this entry as your own personal Gameday open thread. These open threads have been fun so far - so I'll keep 'em up as long as y'all are interested in having them.

Yesterday was bizarro day in Tampa. Josh Beckett fanned a career-high 13 batters, but made a throwing error to first. Eric Hinske stole a base. Even weirder, Manny Ramirez stole a base. James Shields stymied the Sox lineup. The Sox bullpen didn't suck the lifeforce out of the game... the Sox bats did. And the Rays swept the Sox for the first time ever. I know the Rays had Cowbell Day on Saturday-- did their promotions department schedule Opposite Day for Sunday and forget to tell us about it?

Caroline suggested in the gamethread that maybe the whole team just needed to put the off-day today to good use, and everybody get in a nice long nap. I figured what was good for the goose gander was good for the gander goose, and took a little respite from blogging today myself.

We'll find out if the Sox took Caroline's advice and snoozed themselves back to normalcy when they meet the Jays tomorrow night -- but in the meantime, I'll leave you with this gem of a video clip. It's a mini blooper reel for the month of April- with special apperances by Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Coco Crisp, Tito Francona, Justin Masterson, and (of course) Josh Beckett.

Per his own mandate, Jonathan Papelbon is no longer allowed to use (or attempt to use) the word "repertoire", since he clearly can't even pronounce it... let alone spell it.

For the first time since 2003, the Sox did not open the season with the second-highest payroll in baseball-- they came in at fourth, behind the Yankees (of course), Tigers and Mets.

That slight increase in frugality did not stop them, however, from putting together an expensive collection of walking injured on the DL. With the addition of Sean Casey last week, the Sox DL payroll checks in at a combined $22.8M ($24.3M if you count Mike Lowell's signing bonus): Curt Schilling ($8M), Mike Lowell ($12M + $1.5M signing bonus), Alex Cora ($2M) and Sean Casey ($0.8M).

That means the Sox' DL payroll is higher than the payroll for the entire Florida Marlins ballclub ($21,836,500). Somewhere, Jeffrey Loria is laughing and laughing... as he rolls around in his piles of money.

Of course, even in DL spending, the Yankees lead the pack-- with the recent addition of Jorge Posada, the Yanks DL payroll tips the scale at $26,170,748: Jorge Posada ($13.1M), Carl Pavano ($11M), Wilson Betemit ($1.165M), Brian Bruney ($.0725M), Sean Henn ($397,448), Jeff Karstens ($0.3933M) and Humberto Sanchez ($0.39M).

figures source: Cot's Baseball Contracts

Every Tuesday, I'll post a discussion topic or question for everyone to think about and then discuss in the comments section. Tuesday is always one of the most difficult days of the week to get through - you don't have the afterglow of the previous weekend's fun any more, and yet you're still days away from the next weekend. This should give us something fun to do to pass the time.

Tuesday Curveball - Week Seven It's been awhile since we've had one of these, but I thought it was time to kick them off again. Who wins your Red Sox MVP Award for the month of April, and why?

As always, you don't have to be a fan of the Red Sox to get in on the discussion. All baseball fans- even Yankee fans- are welcome.

vs. Toronto Blue Jays 7:05 pm Fenway Park - Boston, MA SP: Jon Lester vs. Roy Halladay tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Use the comments to this entry as your own personal Gameday open thread. These open threads have been fun so far - so I'll keep 'em up as long as y'all are interested in having them.

Not long after Kevin Youkilis garners near-unanimous support here as the Sox MVP for April, he goes out and proves us all to be the geniuses we are with a walkoff RBI, snapping the Sox losing streak and defeating the Jays (and Doc Halladay) in the process. I love it when we're right.

Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention Mike Lowell's return from the DL, or Dustin Pedroia's scrappy-gutsy-gamer-grinder defensive stop in the 9th, or Jonathan Papelbon's door-slamming close performance.

But above all of that, the story of the night had to be the virtuoso pitching by Jon Lester. Or, rather, the complete and total assimilation of Jon Lester by the Borg Of Kickass Awesomeness that is Josh Beckett. Below, I give you video proof- the hallmarks are all there: the Southern accent (you're from Washington state, Jon), the executing pitches mantra. If Jon shows up next week wearing hemp necklaces and rolling his eyes at stupid questions from reporters, I won't be the least bit surprised.

Manny Ramirez took full advantage of the off-day on Monday, and went down to Bristol, CT to film two different ESPN Sportscenter commercials. Joe Haggerty talked with the ESPN folks, and they wouldn't divulge very much information, but they did give him a few details about the day:

*SportsCenter anchors Jay Harris, Karl Ravech and Boston's own Steve Levy were also featured in the sports.

*Spots will run at some point during the 2008 season.

*"Manny arrived right on time and was thoroughly professional throughout the shoot," said Seth Ader, ESPN senior director of ESPN Marketing. "He worked well with our anchors, and proved to be an excellent actor. To steal a phrase describing another baseball slugger, Manny was a 'Natural.'"

And someone better make sure Jonathan Papelbon doesn't hear about Manny's "natural" and "excellent" acting abilities. Papelbon's already got a big enough head about acting in commercials as it is, we don't need him dueling with Manny over who has the better commercial. (Everyone knows Dustin Pedroia's stellar Pleats-In-Cleats performance for Sullivan Tire wins, hands down.)

vs. Toronto Blue Jays 7:05 pm Fenway Park - Boston, MA SP: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Dustin McGowan tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Use the comments to this entry as your own personal Gameday open thread. These open threads have been fun so far - so I'll keep 'em up as long as y'all are interested in having them.

Sometimes, the best description is no description at all.

What's better than a walkoff win? TWO walkoff wins in a row!

vs. Toronto Blue Jays 7:05 pm Fenway Park - Boston, MA SP: Tim Wakefield vs. AJ Burnett tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Use the comments to this entry as your own personal Gameday open thread. These open threads have been fun so far - so I'll keep 'em up as long as y'all are interested in having them.

The Sox lost this way last night-- but they 'Lost' in a whole 'nother way on Wednesday night as well, when the team made yet another appearance on ABC's "Lost". I gave up on Lost a couple of years ago, but I'm presuming this stuff below might well constitute a spoiler to those of you who still watch, so:

SPOILER ALERT!

The Red Sox have cropped up to factor in to the plot of Lost on numerous occasions- most assuredly because Carlton Cuse (a writer and executive producer on the show) is a rabid Sox fan. Jack Shepherd and his father (characters both written as Sox fans) often said, "That's why the Red Sox will never win the World Series" when talking about fate -- the irony of which had an even bigger impact when Jack was shown footage of the Sox winning the 2004 World Series as proof that the show's bad guys had contact with the outside world.

The Red Sox popped up as a major plot point again back in March when a tape containing crucial information gets pulled out of a vault to reveal... it's labeled "RED SOX" (and the characters indicate that the original content -- presumably a Sox game -- was taped over). I don't think it's at all unrealistic that a Sox fan would keep a VHS tape of a game locked away in a vault like the precious cargo it is.

Wednesday's episode once again featured the Sox - this time by way of a newspaper headline of the team being swept by the Yankees (along with Jack muttering about "A-Rod" under his breath).

Eric Wilbur and Big League Stew have competing theories over what series the headline refers to (Eric points to August, 2007; BLS thinks it's August, 2006), and what the significance of all of this is. I just find it amusing that even fictional characters are as annoyed by A-Rod as those of us in the real world.

Continue reading »

vs. Tampa Bay Rays 7:05 pm Fenway Park - Boston, MA SP: Clay Buchholz vs. Edwin Jackson tv/radio: NESN - MLB.TV - WRKO

Use the comments to this entry as your own personal Gameday open thread. These open threads have been fun so far - so I'll keep 'em up as long as y'all are interested in having them.

The Powers That Be seem intent on jinxing Manny Ramirez with that giant "496" in the outfield at Fenway (take it down, guys- that's what teams like Seattle or San Francisco do)-- so I thought I'd counteract that bad mojo with some vintage Manny Being Manny video.