Cafardo Mailbag: The Eenie Meenie Miny Mo Edition

Can you believe it?  It’s been more than two weeks since the illustrious Nick Cafardo graced us with the little…

Coast To Coast Tickets 5/22: Live Chat Tonight! ; Sox Look To Start New Streak

Chicago Cubs (20-24) @ Boston Red Sox (24-21) James Russell (1-4, 6.26) @ Tim Wakefield (0-1, 5.40) 8:05 PM EDT…

9/8 Online Seats Game Thread: Saving Face

Tampa Bay Rays (84-54) @ Boston Red Sox (77-62)   Matt Garza (14-7, 3.46) @ Tim Wakefield (3-10, 5.19) 7:10…

7/5 Online Seats Game Thread: The Vacation is Over

Now that the holiday weekend is over, the Boston Red Sox's will fly south to Tampa to take on the Rays, sending Daisuke to the mound once again.

6/30 Online Seats Game Thread: The Beast of the East

The Boston Red Sox seemed to have settled in nicely at home with last night's win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Daisuke Matsuzaka will try to make it two for Boston, as he goes against Tampa's Matt Garza.

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.

4/18 Online Seats Game Thread: Rays Nab Two After Rain

Within a matter of hours, the Boston Red Sox had dropped two to the Rays. Jon Lester must shake off his early season rust to avoid dropping three games to Tampa Bay within 18 hours.

Is Tampa Bay pitching overrated?

While Tampa Bay has had plenty of named talent over the last few years from Scott Kazmir, James Shields, Matt Garza and then David Price came along. This along with a top offense and elite talent has led to their recent success in the AL East. Perhaps overvalued is a bit harsh, but they have several pitching changes and again compared to their peers in the division have some flaws. Departing this year will be the presence of Kazmir at the top of the rotation, but that shouldn't be a bad thing. His walk rate was always high and with the drop in velocity it's likely the drop in strikeouts is going to stick around. He is surely not the ace of seasons before. That leaves James Shields as the team ace and that is a good start. He was the ninth most valuable pitcher in the AL last year based on pitching runs above replacement. There were some cracks in his season though as his walk rate climbed, but not an extreme amount and should regress in 2010.

6/13 G1: Afternoon delight

GAME NOTES: A special shoutout to Alex Gonzalez, who has been unbelievable since joining the Sox. He's solidified the lineup, hitting .295/.295/.511 with 4 HR and 11 RBI in 24 games. Walks? Who needs walks? Gonzo also stole his first base since 2006 -- when he was with Boston.