HankHillRedsox's Boston Celtics fan blog

  J. Lester and the Sox traveled to Baltimore last night to play the Orioles in what would be the Lester show. He has been amazing in his last 6 starts he hasn't giving up no more than 3 runs and has 4 wins and 48 strikeouts, Awesome!

Last night would be no different, Lester pitched 7 scoreless innings with 8 k's and allowing only 5 hits, so was deffinitly in the works for another win just as long as his offense stepped up for him. The Sox only had scored 1 run in their previous 2 games. Not tonight, JD Drew who was moved and now hitting in the #1 spot went 3-5 leading the game off with a triple and later hitting a homer and was just a double shy of the cycle(maybe we should leave him at lead off)!! After the lead off triple, Pedroia would knock him in on a base hit and the Sox would lead 1-0 before Lester even started the bottom of the 1st.  That would be all the support he would need. Even though the Sox would add 3 more runs in the 4th with everyone in the lineup helping like Variteck who went 2-4 with a run and RBI and Ellsbury who was 1-3 with a run and 2 stolen bases-- Sweet.  The offense seems to be comming back around. 

Continue reading "Lester Amazing Again"

Boston Red Sox; Inter-league Play Begins with the Red Sox heading to Philly to play World Champion Philadelphia Phillies!

With last years champs in town facing what I believe to be this year's champs (the Red Sox) I think we should have a good series and a good game and last night we had a battle. Even though the Sox are 11-2 versus the Philly’s since 2005!

Lester came out of the gate like he did last game and put down the hammer; he has struck out over 10 people in each of his last 3 starts.  Last night would be no different; he pitched an amazing 7 innings, 111 pitches, 2 hits, 1 earned run and 11 strikeouts, sweet!

Meanwhile our offense did its thing getting 11 hits and in the 4th inning Youkilis would hit a solo homer -- his 11th of the year to tie the game after the Phillies had taken a one run lead and that would be the last lead they would have.  Because J.D Drew hit his 9th home run of the year in the 5th inning to give Lester a 2-1 lead, and the way he was going, that would be all he needed, and it looked that way, but didn’t end that way.

Continue reading "Lester Strikes Out 11 and Doesn't Get Decision, But Sox Win in Extar Innings"

The Boston Red Sox; Lose 2 out of 3 from the Central 1st place Texas Rangers but the Sox are still in 1st In The East!!!

  Today Dice-K and the Sox came out looking a little off for the first time in June!! Like I stated in a previous blog, if the Sox pitching is healthy they can take it all, and they had been proving that every game but today, Beckett and Lester almost threw no hitters this week, Wakefield and Penny(besides his last start) have been looking great and Dice got his 1st win since coming off the DL last week, but he didn't look that great today, a little off-- Hey you can't win them all!!!

   The Sox need Dice looking back to his old self, throwing in the low 90s, throwing over 90 pitches, only allowing a run or 2, instead today we went 5 innings giving up 10 hits and 5 earned runs and he would get the loss 6-3!! The the way that our hitting is going and having everyone contributing the Red Sox are a hard team to beat!! The exception weas yesterday's game when the Sox had only had 4 hits all game and never were able to get Dice the lead. Dice just looked uncomfortable.

Continue reading "Is Big Papi Back on Track?"

Boston Red Sox; Jon Lester has another amazing start!!!
  Lester was awesome and pitched like Beckett the other night, LIGHTS OUT!! Last night it was Texas at Fenway and Lester came out and took out the Rangers, hittless for 7 innings.  I thought he was going to get a no-hitter once the 6th inning came and went and Lester just was painting the corners and striking people out left and right, ending with 11 strikeouts and just was pitching great.
  Lowell hit a solo shot in the 2nd to give the Sox the 1-0 lead. Then in the 5th Mr. David "Big Papi" Ortiz lead off with is 2nd homer of the year, Finally!! and Boston goes nuts Oritz went 2-3 so maybe the Big Man is comming around?!!  Pedroia would knock in Ellsbury and the Sox would go on a tare from there with every starter either having a hit or a run and left the 5th up 4-0!!  Thats all they would need even though they would tack on 4 more making it 8-0!!!

Continue reading "Lester Pitches a 2-Hitter for Rex Sox Win"

Lester was awesome and pitched like Beckett the other night, LIGHTS OUT!! Last night it was Texas at Fenway and Lester came out and took out the Rangers, hittless for 7 innings.  I thought he was going to get a no-hitter after the 6th inning--Lester was painting the corners and striking people out left and right, ending with 11 strikeouts. he was on fire!
  Lowell hit a solo shot in the 2nd to give the Sox the 1-0 lead. Then in the 5th, Mr. David Big Papi Ortiz led off with his second homer of the year, hallelujah, and Boston went nuts. Ortiz went 2-3 so maybe the Big Man is coming around?!!  Pedroia would knock in Ellsbury and the Sox would go on a tear from there with every starter  having either a hit or a run and left the 5th up 4-0!!  That's all they would need even though they tacked on 4 more runs making it 8-0!!!

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox: Another Amazing Start by Lester"

Beckett Pitches 6 1/2 innings of Hitless Ball, But Tigers still make it interesting!
Sox came out last night looking ready to go and wanting this win. The Sox were on a mission to beat the Central Division's 1st place team, the Tigers!!  They started off like that to-- Pedroia led off the game with a hit, then JD Drew would hit his 200th career home-run and the Sox took an early 2-0 lead. The score would remain like this because Beckett was lights out!!  It wasn't until the 5th inning when the Sox would score 2 more runs making the score at 4-0 and Beckett still hitless and looking like a machine!!  Then in the 7th inning with 2 outs, Beckett faced C. Granderson and with a 1-2 count Beckett went for the corner of the plate and Granderson slapped it to right field for the Tigers' 1st hit of the game and ending Beckett's no hitter!!!  He would strike out the next batter, so after 7 innings the Tigers were down 4-0 and the Sox heading up to bat and this is when the game got even more interesting. The Red Sox came out in the top of the 8th like they were pissed for blowing the no hitter (even though it was no ones fault, that's just baseball) and would go through the entire line up with the Sox adding 6 more runs  making the score 10-0!!!! Every Red Sox starter ended with at least 1 hit including Big Papi who hit a 2-rbi double, so maybe this new lineup is working, scoring 10 runs and having 13 hits, solid!!  So you would think its over now, but like I said Detroit wanted to make it interesting and when Beckett came back out for the 8th then things ended up getting a little rough. B. Inge of the Tigers led off with a double off Beckett (only 2nd hit and that's all he allowed) then he would hit the next batter, and then the errors started. On a double play ball Pedroia missed Green leading to Detroit's 1st run and men at 1st and 2nd. So Francona came out and took out Beckett bringing in Bard. Beckett went 7.2 innings and only gave up 2 hits. He would still be charged for 2 earned, but he had 9 strikeouts- -Sick!!! Bard would have a little trouble, his 1st pitch was hit to Lowell and he would fumble the ball for another error and another run. Now with the score 10-2, still in the 8th with bases loaded when Granderson again does damage and hits a triple scoring 3 more, but then Bard was able to stop the bleeding after 5 runs were scored and 3 errors all in that one inning!!! Now with a 10-5 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th, somehow Sox relievers would give up a hit and 2 walks loading the bases, a little scary let me tell you. It was 10-0 now it's 10-5 and the Tigers had the bases loaded!! The next Sox reliever, Saito, comes in with the bases loaded and he would be able to close the door and give Beckett the Win he deserved. Final score: Sox 10--Tigers 5.  Meanwhile the Yankees lost, so with our win we move into a tie for first place with NY, Sweet!!! Beckett has looked like his old self for last 3 starts and the Sox are looking good taking 2 out of 3 so far with game 3 tonight.  Come on Sox get the Sweep, you can do it.  

Continue reading "Boston Back in First Place"

Dice-K gets 1st Win of the season and Francona records his 500th win with the Sox!!!
Dice pitched very good last night, allowing 6 hits but only 1 earned run and leaving Detroit looking hopeless. After the third inning the Sox had a 3-1 lead which they would only build on as the game went on-- leading to Dice K's first win in 2009(if he wins 17more in a row he will have the same record as last year 18-3, not likely, but headed in right direction) which is exactly what the Sox needed, A healthy Dice!!!
 Last night Francona switched the lineup again, he had Pedroia(1-4 with RBI) in leadoff, followed by Drew (2-5 a RBI and a run), Youkilis(0-3 RBI), Bay"Watch"(1-5 with another homer), Lowell(0-5), Big Papi in the 6 spot (1-5), striking out 3 times and hitting into a double play. What do we do with our Big man?? It's just sad to see. The bottom third of the lineup went to V-Teck(2-3), Ellsbury(2-3) and last was Green who went hitless. So not a bad lineup, but I'm still confused about Papi hitting sixth, besides that the Sox came up with 9 hits and 5 runs-- Sweet and then our bullpen going 3 innings of domination, until Papelbon came out to close it in the 9th. Next thing you know the bases are loaded, the tying run is at the plate, with nobody out and Papel has already thrown 24 pitches? Not to worry --because than his eyes lit up and he looked like he said to himself- "I am not blowing this for Dice"- then Mr. Papelbon struck out three in a row ending the game and giving the Sox a 5-1 win. So not the most entertaining game until Papelbon made it a little scary, but a win is a win(30-22), still 1 game out of 1st behind the Yankees-- and its the Yankees who we play next week!!!  Anyway the Sox rematch the Tigers tonight at 7:05 with Beckett going against Gallaraga. This should be a good one, see you there Sox-Nation!!

Continue reading "Dice K Gets First Win and Francona Gets 500th"

Yesterday the Red Sox came out gunning for this win. K. Youkilis hit a round tripper in the top of the 1st inning to get the Sox going. After Toronto was able to sacrifice a run in, in the bottom of the first to tie the game 1-1,  J. Lester went into a zone and just shut them down.

Meanwhile every Red Sox player had either a hit or a run and Youk hit a second homer,on fire!!!! Then Lester got more back up with Pedroia and Bay who also hit bombs giving the Sox a nice lead. Lester went six and only allowed 3 hits and that 1 earned run leading to his 4th win of the year, but I think this was his best performance yet. Masterson then came in and he gave up a homerun to A. Rios but no big deal when we're leading 8-1, and ending with the Sox winning 8-2 and moving a half game to first behind the NY Yankees!!! So this was a big win today to avoid the sweep and to have Lester on top of his game. The one question still linguring is, what about Papi? What do we do? He was 1-5 in this game though it was a deep hit to center being a double, but for the last 14 games he is averaging .125, 3 RBIs, 2 runs in 48 at bats. This is NOT the Papi we know and love. Something has to be done, benched, traded, sat down and talked to, anything, what do you think Sox Nation, just log in and let me know what the Sox should do about our Papi!! Sox have today off so see you Tuesday when Dice K and the Sox go to Detriot and face Rick Porcello. Go Sox!

Continue reading "Boston Red Sox Avoid Sweep; Half Game from First"

The Red Sox went into Minnesota and lost the first and third games of the series and won the second; and then we took the fourth, so not bad for playing the Twins at their house. Four game series are always tough, especially away games because our relievers and everyday players don't get a night off.   Well, yesterday Beckett didn't need a day off; he came out steaming with his hat pulled down extra low looking really determined, and he was.  Beckett struck out the side in the first inning; he was steaming and looking nasty, then came out looking the same in the second and struck out Kubel, but then J. Crede hit a bomb of a home run.  I was shocked and started to get worried after that bomb, but that seemed to annoy Beckett even more and then he just closed them down fo

Continue reading "Split Series for the Red Sox, but Still in First Place"

The Red Sox went into Minnesota and lost the first and third games of the series and won the second; and then we took the fourth, so not bad for playing the Twins at their house. Four game series are always tough, especially away games because our relievers and everyday players don't get a night off.   Well, yesterday Beckett didn't need a day off; he came out steaming with his hat pulled down extra low looking really determined, and he was.  Beckett struck out the side in the first inning; he was steaming and looking nasty, then came out looking the same in the second and struck out Kubel, but then J. Crede hit a bomb of a home run.  I was shocked and started to get worried after that bomb, but that seemed to annoy Beckett even more and then he just closed them down fo

Continue reading "Split Series for the Red Sox, but Still in First Place"