Must sweep has become a battle not to get swept as Curt Schilling takes the mound tonight looking to turn things around for the Sox against Runelvys Hernandez and his 8.54 ERA.
Schilling will attempt to become the first pitcher in the major leagues to reach 15 wins this season when the Red Sox attempt to salvage Thursday's finale of a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals.
Hernandez has allowed at least one home run in each of his 11 starts this year and has posted a 14.21 ERA in losing his last three outings.
K.C. Sweep?
Sox - Royals Preview
Can you say "Must Sweep"? The Red Sox need to beat up on the Royals this week, and they throw the right starters out there to do it. Jon Lester (3.59 ERA) vs. RHP Luke Hudson (4.67) tonight, followed by Josh Beckett (5.00) vs. LHP Jorge De La Rosa (8.59) tomorrow and Curt Schilling (3.78) vs. LHP Mark Redman (5.38) on Thursday.
Here's a look at the Royals' top hitters and pitchers by VORP:
Player AVG OBP SLG VORPOn July 21, the Sox had a 3 1/2-game lead over the Yankees in the American League East. The next day would have been Wakefield's regular start, but he'd been placed on the DL. The Sox started Kason Gabbard that day, and the Sox lost that afternoon and the next day as well. That started a 6-9 stretch that has dropped them two games behind the Yankees in the division. They also are tied for the wild-card lead with the White Sox and are a half-game ahead of the Twins.
Mark Teahen .275 .353 .507 17.2
David Dejesus .297 .371 .449 14.8
Esteban German .318 .428 .376 11.6
Mark Grudzielanek .286 .328 .392 10.0
Emil Brown .285 .347 .433 8.4
Player IP BB9 SO9 RA VORP
Jimmy Gobble 66.3 3.39 7.73 4.75 10.2
Joe Nelson 25.3 3.20 7.11 2.84 9.4
Joel Peralta 48.7 2.77 6.29 4.44 9.3
Mark Redman 110.3 3.51 3.83 5.47 8.0
Elmer Dessens 54.0 2.17 6.00 5.17 5.8
While Boston visits KC, followed by a series at home against Baltimore, Chicago plays the Yankees and then the Tigers. The shoe's on the other foot the following week, however, as Boston plays New York and Detroit while Chicago has a 4 game series against KC.
As The Pitching Goes...
While the bullpen has received a good deal of heat in the aftermath of back-to-back shaky efforts in losses to the Devil Rays, Sox starters have also struggled, with a 3-7 record and 6.00 ERA over those 15 games. No starter other than Curt Schilling (twice) and Josh Beckett (once) has won in that time, and only once has a starter gone as many as seven innings (Schilling in last Friday's 3-2 win over Tampa Bay). That has had a ripple effect on a pen that is showing the strain of a heavy workload.
The bullpen (3-2, 5.63 ERA in that stretch) hasn't been able to bail out the starters with any consistency. Whether it's the kids -- Craig Hansen (6.75 ERA in seven appearances, scored upon in three of his last four), and Manny Delcarmen (12.60 ERA in six appearances, scored upon in four) -- or the old reliable, Mike Timlin (9.53 ERA in six appearances, an alarming 4 home runs in just 5 2/3 innings), the pen hardly offers safe refuge.
One bright spot? Since July 1, Rudy Seanez has an 0.79 ERA in 11 1/3 innings over 6 appearances. The only earned run he gave up over that period came in a 2 1/3 inning outing.
Help On The Way?
Doug Mirabelli should be back mid-week after an aggressive treatment schedule kept his sprained ankle from getting more serious. Mike Lowell should be back in the lineup the next time the Sox take the field with the medical staff working overtime on his left foot. Even Keith Foulke is getting some good news, throwing well in Pawtucket. His next test will be back-to-back games and, if he passes without problem, he’ll be in the Red Sox bullpen for their weekend series at Fenway.
"I may throw six straight forkballs and see what they do, or three straight curveballs, whatever. Hopefully this doesn't go on my bubblegum card, but I want to get stretched out, because when I go back I want to have the ability to give him two or three innings if he needs me."
First to 40
David Ortiz became the first player to reach 40 home runs this season, but Tampa Bay out-homered the Red Sox 4-1 to take a 7-6 victory in 10 innings.
Ortiz has six homers and 14 RBIs in his last 10 games and is on a pace for 59 home runs, which would obliterate the team record of 50 held by Jimmie Foxx from the 1938 season.
Only two other Boston players -- Carl Yastrzemski (1967, 1969-70) and Manny Ramirez (2001, 2004-05) -- have hit 40 or more homers in three different seasons.
Ramirez extended his career-best hitting streak to 22-games with an eighth-inning single.
Dioner Navarro's solo homer Jonathan Papelbon completed a two-run eighth that tied it at 6. Papelbon entered with one out after Travis Lee's homer against Mike Timlin.
Papelbon, who blew his fourth save in 34 chances, has allowed runs in only four of 49 appearances. His ERA rose from 0.49 ERA to 0.64.
dropped two games back for the first time this year.
Red Sox starter Jason Johnson, who lost his previous seven starts, gave up two runs and three hits in six innings.
Tons of Runs?
Jason Johnson faces J.P. Howell in today’s game, which figures to be a slugfest: Howell’s opponents have a.370 OBP and a .448 SLG for his career. He's given up 9 hits in 3 2/3 innings so far this season.
Johnson had a 5.96 ERA with the Indians, and while the Sox thought that groundball pitcher like him would improve in front of their stellar infield defense, he’s actually been worse with for 
"I've played that side of the infield my whole life," he said. "It's just another 10 feet."
He’s hitting .305 / .386 / .432 for the Pawsox.
Verducci v. Abreu?
Tom Verducci has criticized the Yankees' acquisition of Bobby Abreu:
While Abreu's numbers have been declining, he's not the complete choke artist Verducci describes. He cites 61 at bats close and late and says Abreu wimps out in "run-scoring situations." Abreu is batting .286 / .429 / .440 and those numbers all get better with runners on, with runners in scoring position, and with runners on and 2 outs.Abreu has hit five home runs on the road since the 2005 All-Star break. His slugging percentage has gotten worse with every month this season (.550, .471, .404, .313). Yankees fans will chafe at his penchant for not going all-out for balls in right field, especially anything remotely close to the walls, and for his refusal to hit aggressively in run-scoring situations. It should be alarming that Abreu has whiffed once in every three at-bats in close and late situations (20 in 61 at-bats) while hitting .230. He's the kind of hitter who is happy with a walk in run-scoring situations, which sometimes leads to looking at third strikes.
Carmona Blows It Again
Tigers 4, Indians 3 - Ivan Rodriguez hit the winning two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off struggling reliever Fausto Carmona to give host Detroit a victory over Cleveland.
With Placido Polanco on first, Rodriguez connected on Carmona's first pitch for his ninth homer. Carmona (1-7) has blown all three of his save opportunities since the Indians traded closer Bob Wickman to
Crawford Owns The Sox
With all of the talk going into yesterday's game about how David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez own the Devil Rays, Gordon Edes says that if you projected Carl Crawford's 15 games against the Sox over a full year, he'd hit .365 with 54 home runs, 119 RBIs, and 97 stolen bases in 97 attempts. Crawford is 23 for 63 with 9 stolen bases, 5 home runs, and 11 RBIs against the Sox this season. Obviously sample size is an issue, but how about this:
Crawford, who turned 25 yesterday, has as many hits by his 25th birthday (749) as Ted Williams did. Only six players have stolen more bases than Crawford (202) before turning 25. Only one player in the last 65 years (Garry Templeton) had more triples than Crawford (65).
Speaking of Manny and Papi:``It's never comfortable," D-Ray's manager Joe Madden said. ``I don't care who you've got out on the mound. Those guys. They're freaks. They are. If you throw a strike and they can reach it, they hit it hard.
``Ruth and Gehrig. Batman and Robin. I don't know. They're like the best combo in the history, maybe, of the world. Peanut butter and jelly. Chocolate and red wine. They're the best. They're the best I've ever seen. We got the ground ball to short, my goodness. It was uneasy. Very uneasy."
Bring Back Huckaby?
Javy Lopez is 0 for 9 in two games, including two strikeouts and two double plays.
With one out and the bases loaded in the ninth last night and the Sox down, 8-5, Lopez grounded to shortstop, as he had in two previous at-bats, to start a game-ending double play .
``When I see the shortstop again, I'm like, `No, that cannot be happening again,' " Lopez said. ``It seems like I've been hitting fungoes to the shortstop all night. Oh, well. Tomorrow's a different day."
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