THE DRAGON’S DEN

Big League East Race Is Now Underway!!

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 22:00:33 -0400

As we get closer to the the All-Star break the Sox and Yankees are only separated by one game and the Rays are not far behind while getting hot themselves in the tough AL East. The Sox have been doing a great job over the past few weeks winning series after series until this weekend when they lost 2 tough one run games to the improving Mariners. But, if the can continue to win each series they will be in great shape the rest of the season. The one thing I think they might need during the second half is another bat in the lineup depending on how Mike Lowell comes out of the break. It still would be great to add some pop to their offense and there should be some good players available. One guy I have really been impressed with lately is Jacoby Ellsbury. He is getting stronger and has turned around some 95+ fastballs taking several into the visitors bullpen at Fenway. He is developing into a serious threat at the plate and with his speed will play havoc with opposing pitchers. Big Papi looks much better and look for him to have a solid finish. I think John Smoltz is really going to have a good second half also which is going to make an already deep staff even better. Nick Green has really come a long way since the beginning of the year becoming very solid defensively at short and getting his share of key hits. The Sox need to take advantage this week of their schedule before the break when they welcome the A's and Royals into Fenway. Don't get me wrong every team in this league is tough but the Sox are a much better team then the A's and Royals.

It should be a great final 3 months of the 2009 season but I believe the Sox pitching staff is much better than the Yankees or Rays and should carry them to the AL East Division Championship. However the games still have to played on the field. Hope you all had Happy July 4th weekend and please remember our troops across the globe.

Braves see Green! Beckett tosses Masterpiece!

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:21:31 -0400

Josh Beckett quickly got back on a roll Saturday tossing a 5 hit complete game shutout and Nick Green went walkoff Sunday in the bottom of the ninth helping the Sox finish the home stand 4 and 2 and winning their third straight series in interleague play. They now go to Washington and Atlanta for the final week of interleague play. With their success against the National League I'm sure the team is sad to see it come to an end. It looks like Big Papi has his mojo back leaving the yard 6 times in his last 33 at bats. Even better he is swinging the bat with authority once again. Nick Green is getting more and more comfortable at SS each day and continues to hit very well. Well, I guess we found out how the Sox were going to handle the starting pitching situation with John Smoltz returning this week. Dice K seems destined for an extended stay on the DL with shoulder weakness. I'm sure a lot of people are thinking this is a made up injury but, in my opinion, from watching him pitch lately he certainly doesn't look like the same Dice K I saw the last 2 years. His fastball has no finish on it and he threw a lot of braking balls in the dirt. I think the WBC classic took it toll on him. It is nice that the Sox have the luxury to allow one of their key players to take the time to get himself back to 100%. As they say, you never have too much good pitching. Meanwhile, the Sox have opened up a 4 game lead in the AL East. With this pitching staff I can't see any long losing streaks. I'm looking forward to watching Smoltz's return Thursday in the Nations Capitol. Out for now.

Sox miss chance to sweep Phillies

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:33:12 -0400

It looked good for a while Sunday afternoon with Sox ace Josh Beckett taking a 4-1 lead into the fifth but he gave up 4 runs to fall behind 5-4. We still had a chance when Beckett lead off the top of the sixth with a big fly to tie the game at 5-5. Then everything fell apart in the seventh when Beckett and then Daniel Bard got roughed up for six runs and the Sox couldn't recover. For Bard it was his first subpar outing this year so I guess it was a welcome to the big leagues sent by the Phillies. All in all winning 2 of 3 in their house was pretty good.

Jon Lester had another outstanding performance in game one going seven giving up one run and fanning 11. The game ended up going 13 innings when the Phillies tied the game in the bottom of the ninth at 2-2. For some reason Papilbon wasn't used to close the game even though he only used 9 pitches to save game one the night before. But the Sox hung tough and pushed across 3 in the 13th lead by a key base hit by Ellsbury.

In game two Saturday the Sox battered the Phillies pitchers around to win 11-6 over coming a long rain delay and another bad outing by Dice K. Jason Bay crushed a long bomb in the first to get the offensive assault started and even Julio Lugo had a great day going 4 for 5. The bullpen came up big again but they used Papilbon in a non save situation in this game with the possibility he might be needed Sunday. Why would you use him in this game and not Friday night? I'm a little confused. Ok, the Sox are back home on Tuesday for 3 games with the Marlins then a weekend against the Braves with the DH back in play. See Ya!! Smoltz is looming!!