6/1 Online Seats Game Thread: John Kicks Off June

After a rough first month of the season, May went the Boston Red Sox's way, to say the least. John Lackey will look to carry the momentum into June, as Gio Gonzalez and the Oakland A's head to town.

5/30 Online Seats Game Thread: End of May Matinee

Well at least we know the Royals didn't sweep. With the month of May drawing to a close, Jon Lester will take the mound for the Boston Red Sox to face Bruce Chen in the last game of a troubling series against the Kansas City Royals.

5/29 Online Seats Game Thread: Sox Drop Two To KC

(1-5, 3.57) and (6-3, 3.07). One of those lines belong to Clay Buchholz and the other belongs to Zack Greinke... and it ain't the one you're expecting. After dropping two now to the struggling Royals, the Boston Red Sox will send Buchholz out there in a duel of the young guns.

Trying to value pitch calling

On May fourth I asked the question, Should Jason Varitek be the Starting Catcher? Not much has changed as at the time I noted "In 146 IP thrown to Martinez the staff has a K/BB of 1.64, but when Varitek has caught in 83.6 innings the staff has thrown a 2.35 K/BB." That trend has largely continued as Varitek has saw more time, so how much is the difference worth? Some things to keep in mind is that this is a skill we really can't value before the catchers catch the same pitchers. We knew Victor Martinez was not the best catcher, but how could anyone know for sure his pitch calling would raise these questions. So this is more of an exercise done in retrospect and would help decide how to approach Martinez this offseason.

This is what a straight pitch looks like

If you ever wondered what a nearly perfectly straight fastball looks like Bill Hall showed us Friday night. He threw 11 pitches and the average horizontal movement was about -2 inches, which is basically straight with about 10 inches of "rise". His location was good down in the zone and always fun to watch a position player give pitching a shot. Last year we had Nick Green throw and now Hall, but let's hope we don't see it again soon.

5/ 28 Online Seats Game Thread: Wake Takes Mound Yet Again

In baffling fashion, the Boston Red Sox top some of the league's best on the road, and then proceed to drop a home game against the Kansas City Royals. Tim Wakefield will have to use his experience to get this new look Red Sox to take it one game at a time, as they take on Kyle Davies tonight at Fenway.

a favorable schedule and then inter-league or uneven play

Last week, I wrote…

“It should be about 2011 since the Olde Towne Team got too far behind over the last forty plus games, which has contributed to them having such a small shot at the postseason. Hence, it would be prudent to plan and act, if nothing drastic occurs, for next year at the trading deadline.”

The Red Sox winning five in a row on the road against the N.L. Champs and the A.L. East leading Rays is not “drastic.“ But it close enough for the folks on Yawkey Way to also work on a buying plan for July.

5/27 Online Seats Game Thread: Boston Homeward Bound

After completing a clean sweep of the league leading Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox might be a bit tempted to look past the fledgling Kansas City Royals, as they head home after a lengthy road trip.

The intangible benefit of Pedroia

The Sox lineup, as always, is a meat grinder. They have four players in the top 20 in the American League in pitches seen per plate appearance (P/PA) and Pedroia ranks seventh at 4.27 (behind Youkilis who is fourth at 4.36) through 217 plate appearances (Victor Martinez is 11th at 4.12, J.D. Drew 13th at 4.11 while Marco Scutaro is 33rd at 3.92). Pedroia is also second in the league in total plate appearances at 217, behind only Denard Span of the Twins at 218, and leads the league in total pitches seen. Factoring in the entire majors, Youkilis ranks ninth and Pedroia 19th in P/PA.

Sitting in the No. 2 hole in the Sox lineup, Pedroia pesky plate appearances have a ripple down effect. Take for instance last Thursday when Boston beat Minnesota 6-2 on the strength of Jon Lester's nine-strikeout complete game. Pedroia was 0-3 with a walk and a run against the Twins and Francisco Liriano and was instrumental in knocking Minnesota's wily lefty out of the game after 4.2 innings with five earned runs on five hits and three walks. Pedroia was in the midst of a 4 for 39 slump at the time that spanned from May 12 to 23 before putting up three hits against the Rays on Monday.

5/26 Online Seats Game Thread: Sox Top at Trop

As the Boston Red Sox continue their success against top teams, they will have to carry their momentum as John Lackey squares up to take on Matt Garza in the Trop.