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Tuesday's press notes

Media notes for the Fourth of July, courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. department . . .

DATE OPP. BOS TIME RED SOX STARTER OPPOSING STARTER TELEVISION
Tues., July 4 at TB 4:15 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling (10-2, 3.54) LHP Casey Fossum (3-3, 5.03) NESN
Wed., July 5 at TB 7:15 p.m. RHP Jason Johnson (3-9, 6.22) RHP Tim Corcoran (2-0, 1.17) NESN
Thurs., July 6 at TB 7:15 p.m. RHP Tim Wakefield (6-8, 3.90) RHP James Shields (4-1, 4.39) NESN
Fri., July 7 at CWS 8:35 p.m. LHP Jon Lester (3-0, 3.08) LHP Mark Buehrle (9-5, 3.86) NESN
Sat., July 8 at CWS 1:25 p.m. RHP Josh Beckett (10-4, 4.59) RHP Freddy Garcia (10-5, 4.72) FOX
Sun., July 9 at CWS 2:05 p.m. RHP Curt Schilling RHP Jose Contreras (8-0, 3.54 +today) NESN
*** ALL-STAR BREAK ***
---All games broadcast on 103.7 WEEI-fM and the Red Sox radio network and the Red Sox Spanish-language radio network---

WHY MUST YOU SHUT ME OUT? The Red Sox last night began their 4-game set at Tropicana Field with a 3-0 loss to Scott Kazmir and the Devil Rays…this stop in St. Petersburg represents the middle leg of Boston’s 10-game, 3-city trip against the Marlins (2-1), Devil Rays (0-1) and White Sox (3 games, Friday-Sunday)…today is game No. 81, the midway point of Boston’s season . . . The Red Sox last night endured their 3rd shutout of the season, also losing 3-0 to Seattle April 15 and 6-0 to Texas on May 12, both of which were at Fenway…last night marked Boston’s first shutout loss on the road since September 11, 2005 – a 1-0 loss to Randy Johnson at Yankee Stadium . . . Despite their status as one of only 3 clubs with 50 wins this year, the Red Sox are the only club in all of baseball yet to record a shutout in 2006…the 2002 Montreal Expos (46-41) are the last club with a winning record and no shutouts by the All-Star Break…the 1996 Baltimore Orioles (46-39) are the last to do so in the A.L. . . . The Red Sox last entered the Break without a shutout in 1996 when they were 36-49, the only occurrence in the last 47 seasons beginning in 1960.

NEVERTHELESS: Despite last night’s loss, the Red Sox have won 14 of their last 16 games beginning June 16, going from 1.0 game out in the A.L. East at the start of this stretch to their current 4.0-game edge on the Yankees in the division . . . The Red Sox have held sole possession of first place in the A.L. East for the last 16 days…the Sox have been in sole possession of or in a statistical tie for first place in the division for 80 of 91 days in 2006 . . . The Red Sox have a 4.0-game lead in the A.L. East for the 3rd day in a row, matching their largest margin of the season…the Red Sox were last more than 4.0 games up on August 17 (4.5) and August 13 (5.0) in 2005.

JUST KAZ: Scott Kazmir’s complete-game 2-hitter was the best thrown at the Red Sox since Jason Schmidt’s complete-game one-hitter June 20, 2004 at San Francisco . . . In the last 10 seasons beginning in 1997, the Red Sox have had a complete-game 2-hitter (or better) tossed at them 9 times…8 of those games have come on the road…here’s a breakdown of those 9 games:

DATE OPPOSING PITCHER SOX HITS BY WHOM SCORE
July 3, 2006 @ TB’s Scott Kazmir 2 Gonzalez, Ramirez L, 0-3
June 20, 2004 @ SF’s Jason Schmidt 1 Youkilis L, 0-4
September 2, 2003 @ CWS’s Bartolo Colon 2 Nixon, Kapler W, 2-1
August 11, 2003 @ OAK’s Tim Hudson 2 Garciaparra, Ramirez L, 0-4
August 16, 2002 @ MIN’s Joe Mays 2 Damon, Baerga L, 0-5
September 2, 2001 vs. NYY’s Mike Mussina 1 Everett L, 0-1
August 8, 2000 @ ANA’s Ramon Ortiz 2 O’Leary, Lansing L, 1-2
September 3, 1997 @ MON’s Carlos Perez 2 Valentin, Cordero L, 0-1
May 13, 1997 @ KC’s Tim Belcher 2 Vaughn, Valentin L, 0-9

HAPPY 4TH! The Red Sox today play on the road on the Fourth of July for the 4th season in a row…Boston has dropped its last 2 Fourth of July affairs and aims for its first win since a 10-3 pounding at Yankee Stadium in 2003, a game that featured 7 Red Sox homers…prior to this 3-game losing streak, the Sox won 5 straight Independence Day contests from 1999-2003…Boston is 87-62 (.584) all-time on the Fourth of July . . . Additional memorable Fourth of July moments in Red Sox history include a single-game club record 8 homers on July 4, 1977 vs. Toronto at Fenway…6 years later, Dave Righetti no-hit the Red Sox on July 4, 1983 at Yankee Stadium.

PICKING UP THE PACE: Heading into the halfway point of the club’s season today, David Ortiz leads the American League with 75 RBI and ranks second in the league with 26 homers…he is on a 162-game pace for 152 RBI and 53 home runs, which would shatter his career high of 148 RBI set in 2005 and break Jimmie Foxx’s 68-year-old club record of 50 homers in 1938.

PITCHING IN: Tonight’s starter Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett have each reached 10 wins this season, one of 2 pairs of teammates to reach 10 victories in the majors this season (Detroit’s Kenny Rogers and Justin Verlander also have reached double digits in victories)…Schilling and Beckett are just the 3rd pair of Red Sox teammates in the last 60 years each with 10 or more wins by the end of July…they join Roger Clemens and Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd in 1986 and Clemens and Mike Boddicker in 1990 (research: Elias Sports Bureau).

STILL STREAKING: Alex Gonzalez enters the day with a 12-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in the A.L….Gonzalez’s run trails only the Dodgers’ Nomar Garciaparra’s 15-gamer for the longest active tear in the majors.

STAR STRUCK: With the announcement of All-Star teams 2 days ago, the Red Sox are now scheduled to face 3 All-Star pitchers in 7 days leading up to the All-Star Break: Tampa Bay’s Scott Kazmir last night, and Chicago’s Mark Buehrle on Friday and Jose Contreras on Sunday.

2006 SEASON: The Red Sox and Devil Rays meet 19 times in 2006, 9 times at Fenway Park and 10 times at Tropicana Field…the clubs have played 11 times thus far, with the Sox holding a 7-4 edge.

ALL-TIME: Boston leads the all-time series 95-48…the Sox are 53-20 at Fenway Park and 43-28 at the Trop . . . The Sox are 6-1-1 in 8 season series since the Rays joined the American League in 1998, losing only in 1999…the clubs split 12 in 2000 . . . Boston has won the last 5 season series (2001-2005), winning at least 12 games vs. Tampa Bay each year from 2001-2005…the Rays are the only team against whom the Sox have won each of the last 5 season series (2001-2005)…since 2001, the Sox are 76-30 against the Rays.

DEFENSE RECORD: Despite a pair of errors Saturday and Sunday, the Red Sox recently set a new major league record by playing 17 games in a row without an error from June 11-30 . . . Boston surpassed the previous major league record set by the St. Louis Cardinals July 30-August 16, 1992…on Thursday, the Red Sox broke the American League mark of 15 previously held by the Rangers from August 4-19, 1996…Boston’s last error had occurred June 11 vs. Texas (Kevin Youkilis in the first game of a doubleheader)…the Red Sox cleanly handled 668 chances between errors.

PREVIOUSLY ON 24: Jonathan Papelbon Sunday set the Red Sox single-season rookie saves record with his 25th save, breaking Dick Radatz’s mark of 24 saves as a rookie in 1962 . . . Not yet the All-Star Break, Papelbon’s 25 saves already tie for the 10th most by a rookie in major league history, only 12 shy of the record set by Seattle’s Kaz Sasaki in 2000.

Posted by Art  at 12:42 PM | Permalink

Stat package

Some interesting statistics, courtesy of the Red Sox' P.R. department:

RUNS BY INNINGS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 EXTRA INN. TOTAL
Red Sox 54 57 44 43 39 75 39 58 30 5 445
Opponents 52 50 42 42 42 35 50 40 21 6 380

WINNING AND LOSING MARGINS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
RUNS WON BY 12 8 11 5 2 5 1 4 0 2
RUNS LOST BY 6 4 7 4 1 3 3 1 0 1

PITCHING BREAKDOWN
W-L-S ERA IP H R ER BB SO HR
Starters 36-25 4.77 474.0 487 266 251 160 365 69
Relievers 14-5-27 4.12 234.0 227 114 107 85 186 28

CATCHING BREAKDOWN
CS SBA CS% PB PICKOFFS
Bard 1 13 7.7% 10 0
Mirabelli 4 18 22.2% 9 1
Varitek 8 33 24.2% 1 0

STARTS BY BATTING ORDER (W/L record following no. of starts)
1st: Youkilis (55, 35-20), Crisp (22, 13-9), Stern (2, 1-1), Nixon (1, 1-0)
2nd: Loretta (73, 46-27), Cora (5, 3-2), Youkilis (2, 1-1)
3rd: Ortiz (78, 50-28), Nixon (1, 0-1), Youkilis (1, 0-1)
4th: Ramirez (76, 47-29), Nixon (2, 2-0), Youkilis (1, 1-0), Lowell (1, 0-1)
5th: Nixon (48, 33-15), Varitek (21, 12-9), Lowell (7, 3-4), Youkilis (4, 2-2)
6th: Varitek (39, 29-10), Lowell (32, 19-13), Pena (4, 1-3), Snow (3, 0-3), Mirabelli (1, 1-0), Youkilis (1, 0-1)
7th: Lowell (33, 23-10), Pena (9, 5-4), Mohr (8, 3-5), Nixon (7, 5-2), Crisp (7, 6-1),
Youkilis (5, 3-2), Snow (3, 3-0), Mirabelli (3, 2-1), Kapler (3, 1-2), Cora (2, 0-2)
8th: Pena (18, 12-6), Gonzalez (10, 7-3), Mirabelli (9, 5-4), Crisp (9, 6-3), Cora (7, 5-2),
Harris (6, 4-2), Youkilis (5, 3-2), Bard (4, 1-3), Nixon (4, 2-2), Mohr (2, 1-1), Stern (2, 2-0), Kapler, (1, 1-0), Snow (1, 1-0), Varitek (1, 0-1)
9th: Gonzalez (53, 33-20), Cora (10, 6-4), Harris (4, 2-2), Bard (2, 0-2), Stern (1, 1-0),
Mirabelli (1, 1-0)

STARTS BY POSITION (W/L record following no. of starts)
C: Varitek (61, 41-20), Mirabelli (14, 9-5), Bard (6, 1-5)
1B: Youkilis (66, 39-27), Snow (7, 4-3), Ortiz (7, 7-0)
2B: Loretta (73, 46-27), Cora (7, 4-3)
SS: Gonzalez (63, 40-23), Cora (17, 10-7)
3B: Lowell (74, 46-28), Youkilis (6, 4-2)
LF: Ramirez (76, 47-29), Harris (2, 1-1), Youkilis (2, 2-0)
CF: Crisp (38, 25-13), Pena (20, 13-7), Mohr (10, 4-6), Harris (7, 4-3), Stern (5, 4-1)
RF: Nixon (63, 42-21), Pena (11, 5-6), Kapler, (4, 2-2) Harris, (1, 1-0), Mohr (1, 0-1)
DH: Ortiz (72, 44-28)

OUTFIELD ASSISTS (10)
Nixon ............................4
Ramirez.........................3
Harris............................1
Crisp .............................1
Stern.............................1

PICKOFFS BY PITCHERS (5)
Wakefield.......................2
Lester............................2
Schilling ........................1

EJECTIONS (0)
None

BUNT BASE HITS (9)
Cora..............................3
Crisp .............................3
Loretta ..........................1
Ortiz .............................1
Gonzalez........................1

MULTI-RUN INNINGS (117)
2 Runs ........................ 57
3 Runs ........................ 34
4 Runs ........................ 18
5 Runs ..........................4
6 Runs ..........................3
7 Runs ..........................1
8 Runs ..........................0

GO-AHEAD RBI (79)
Ortiz ........................... 21
Ramirez ...................... 11
Nixon............................8
Youkilis ......................... 8
Varitek ..........................7
Loretta..........................7
Lowell ...........................6
Gonzalez .......................5
Pena .............................3
Mirabelli ........................1
Stern ............................1
Mohr.............................1

GAME-TYING RBI (44)
Ortiz .............................6
Lowell ...........................6
Youkilis ......................... 6
Loretta..........................5
Nixon............................4
Varitek ..........................4
Gonzalez .......................3
Ramirez ........................3
Cora .............................2
Stern ............................1
Kapler ...........................1
Pena………………………………….1
Beckett……………………………..1

2-OUT RBI (177)
Ortiz ........................... 31
Ramirez ...................... 22
Varitek ........................ 22
Youkilis ....................... 21
Loretta........................ 21
Nixon.......................... 20
Lowell ......................... 15
Gonzalez .......................6
Crisp.............................6
Pena .............................4
Kapler ...........................3
Cora .............................3
Stern ............................1
Mohr.............................1
Snow ............................1

HOME RUNS HIT OVER
THE GREEN MONSTER (21)
Ramirez ........................6
Youkilis ......................... 4
Lowell ...........................3
Gonzalez .......................2
Mohr.............................2
Loretta..........................2
Crisp.............................1
Kapler ...........................1

BALLS HIT OFF
THE GREEN MONSTER (28)
Lowell ...........................6
Ortiz .............................5
Loretta..........................4
Youkilis ......................... 3
Gonzalez .......................3
Ramirez ........................2
Mohr.............................1
Nixon............................1
Kapler ...........................1
Varitek ..........................1
Mirabelli ........................1

INFIELD BASE HITS (40)
Crisp.............................8
Pena .............................7
Varitek ..........................4
Youkilis ......................... 3
Cora .............................3
Lowell…………………….3
Loretta..........................3
Nixon............................2
Gonzalez .......................2
Stern ............................1
Mohr.............................1
Ortiz .............................1
Kapler ...........................1
Clement…………………1

Posted by Art  at 12:36 PM | Permalink