Jon Lester is unbeatable; Tampa Bay series preview.

The Red Sox big right hander Jon Lester cannot lose. He's been pitching out of his mind of late. Jon Lester hasn't given up more than 4 ERs since May 26th. With an offense like the Red Sox have knowing you only have to score five runs to win a game is a great feeling.

Lester takes the mound for the first game in the Tampa Bay series and I know since I decided to write this article on Lester that he will undoubtedly give up eight runs over three and third.

Tonight's matchup: LHP JON LESTER BOS vs. RHP ANDY SONNANSTINE

The Red Sox and the Rays appear to be headed in totally different directions. The Rays have decided to send their ace to the Angels for basically nothing, and they're going to try to win the wild card with the likes of prospect Wade Davis, Sonnanstine, Price, Garza, Niemann, and Shields. Other than tomorrow nights Garza vs. Beckett matchup I'm not too worried about Tampa. They're going to be playing some very tough teams down the stretch and the Red Sox are starting to click at the perfect time.

Look for tonights game to be a close game with Jon Lester throwing in another quality start. I expect Lester's line to be something like 7 IP 5 H 3ER 8K's 3BB

J.D. Drew should play a big role in deciding tonight's matchup. A win will put Boston well on their way to securing the Wild Card.

When is Alex Gonzalez good?

The Red Sox recently picked up Alex Gonzalez and I've heard a lot of scuffling from Reds fans. A few Reds fans told me, if you're expecting the same Alex Gonzalez you had in 2006, you're going to be extremely disapointed.

A-Gon's range has decreased substantially and his plate appearances have been awkward. So what did the Red Sox brass see in Alex Gonzalez? Allow me to ATTEMPT to break this down.

Alex Gonzalez IS clutch believe it or not. He is hitting .320 with runners in scoring position with 26 of his 29 RBI's coming with runners in scoring position. He's also batting .273 with 10 of his 29 rbi's with runners in scoring position and two out.

With a few games under his belt the Rogers Centre has been good to Alex Gonzalez. He's hitting .363 in 11 at bats (4 for 11). Against American League pitching Alex Gonzalez is hitting a solid .305 (18-59). Take away the Rangers and the Yankees from the AL, he's batting a remarkable .410. Fortunately for Alex Gonzalez he's only got three games left against Yankees pitching (not counting a possible playoff matchup). Compare these numbers to his numbers against National League pitching, where his average is just plain AWFUL (42-221) thats .190 for those who care.

I don't really want to get into Alex on the defensive side of things. His UZR/150 is lower than Nick Green's (4.0 to 4.9), Green has a stronger arm, etc. I still think Alex Gonzalez can be very valuable to the Sox. He's no ADRIAN Gonzalez, but he might be just what we need to win the Wild Card.




Last nights picks I went 3-3 bringing my season record to 17-11. (.607)

Todays picks are...

Rays will beat the Jays
Phillies will beat the Pirates
Braves over the Padres
Cubbies over the Nationals

If only there were more players like Will Clark..

Today is August 24th 2009. I lost one of my best friends on this day back in 2000. He happened to be the biggest fan of Will Clark. Why ? I have nooo idea, I remember him having his rookie card and his autograph etc. I would always say.. why WILL CLARK?.. Maybe it was because he was voted the most clutch hitter in the majors in 1990. Maybe it was because he was a career .300 hitter. I'm not really sure, I never thought of Will Clark as a world beater. But hey...

There is no reason why people gravitate to certain athletes. For me it was always Dana Barros of the Boston Celtics. Granted he wasn't the most talented athlete on the face of the earth but he was solid in his own right. Then i fell in love with Bill Mueller the quiet 3rd basemen when he was with the Sox (who can forget Mark Loretta). I'm sure someone out there has an athlete that they enjoyed watching regardless of skill. You just felt they were the type of player you could simply respect for playing the game the way it was meant to be played. Anyways in my tribute to my lost friend, I wanted to bring back a really solid ball player, Will Clark. Go ahead and leave a dinger and share with me a favorite player you had who probably will never make it to the hall of fame.

National League All-Star 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
American League All-Star 1994
MVP of the 1989 National League Championship Series
Two-time National League Silver Slugger Award at First base (1989 and 1991).
1991 National League Gold Glove Award at First Base.

AL Wild Card Update

I was lucky enough to be featured on Firebrand AL check it out. http://firebrandal.com/2009/08/21/al-wild-card-update.html

The longer the Rangers stick around the more I feel like they’re here to stay. With the way Ian Kinsler is swinging the bat he throw the team on his back and carry them into October. With a 27-28 record on the road, the Rangers really need to pull things together down the stretch. The Rangers have 26 road games left, including three games at the New Yankee Stadium, four games in Anaheim, and a big three game series against the Rays in Tampa. It doesn’t get any easier at home either with three games series versus the Mariners, the Angels and the Rays.

You know how I know the Tampa Bay Rays aren’t here to stay ? They can’t beat the O’s. Last year if Tampa had been down 5-1 and then Ben Zobrist hits that same home run the Rays will come back and win this game in extras. This year, it’s not shaping up that way as the Rays have fallen back in the AL Wild Card to four games behind the Red Sox. Be careful counting these Rays out with Scott Kazmir heating up in his last four starts going 3-0 with a 3.26. They are also hitting .312 with a pitching E.R.A of 3.00. This upcoming series against Texas is going to be huge, Tampa has a dominating 40-20 record at the Trop, either way, a Rays sweep, Rangers sweep, any mix in between this race is far from over.

The Red Sox are looking at the month of September with inconsistant pitching, the Red Sox bats have finally come around with 14 HR’s in 7 days. Ortiz is on fire bombing 3 HRs in his last 4 games, Drew with two dingers last night and V-Mart showing Sox fans how great of a leader he can be. Varitek has been sitting more and more, which means he’ll be fully rested when/if we need him in October. Pitching is a whole different ball game, the Sox have a combined 4.50 ERA over the last 7 days tying them for 18th in the MLB. The good news for the Red Sox is that their competition will hopefully be beating each other up in September and early October, the Rays start a series with the Rangers tonight. Then the Rays have six games left with the Bronx Bombers, six games with the Rangers, and six games against the Red Sox. The Red Sox will have their hands more than full tonight with the Bombers in town. It appears that Penny has lost his swag and Pettite is turning things up a notch. It’ll be interesting to see if the Red Sox can take the first game of this series against a red hot Yankees team.

One thing is for certain, the team that wins the wild card this year will have most definately earned it.