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Matsuzaka puts up more zeroes; Hansen struggles

Daisuke Matsuzaka threw five no-hit, shutout innings in Sarasota, Fla., today against the Cincinnati Reds. Coming off his most impressive outing of the spring, last week against Pittsburgh, Matsuzaka struck out six Cincinnati batters. But he also had control problems, walking five.

Jonathan Papelbon added a perfect sixth, but reliever Craig Hansen had a rough day. He gave up five runs while getting only two outs in the seventh inning. Boston trails Cincinnati, 5-0, in the eighth inning.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 3:35 PM | Permalink

Baseball today: Monday, March 26

A locally tinged spin around the baseball world . . .

BLOGDOM AT ITS BEST: Say what you will about Curt Schilling's entry into the blogosphere -- the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy did just that today -- but there'll be items there that real fans will find absolutely fascinating. Skip down to the March 23 entry to read Kevin Millar's response to Schilling's earlier pitch-by-pitch account of Millar's at-bat against Schilling in last week's exhibition game. Beyond the jokes and good humor, they both give great insights into the pitcher-hitter battle. And may give you pause the next time you're ready to scream in frustration when a hitter never takes the bat off his shoulder as he looks at strike three right down the middle of the plate.

HOW LUCKY CAN YOU GET? If your names are Manny Ramirez and Bobby Abreu, plenty. (Well, maybe more like a little instead of plenty.) Protrade.com has determined, based on context neutral statistics, which players hit better than would have been expected in 2006 and Ramirez and Abreu are among them. So is ex-Red Sox prospect Hanley Ramirez (protrade.com) . . . They've also figured out who the unluckiest players in '06 were. The only Red Sox or Yankee on the list is Jason Giambi (mlb.com).

GENTLEMEN, START YOUR ENGINES: Kevin Kernan is first out of the box in the race to see who can start the building of public pressue on the Yankees, Red Sox and Astros to go get Roger Clemens. (New York Post) He won't be the last.

AILING EMPIRE: Suddenly, the Yankees are woefully short of starting pitching (New York Daily News), at least for the moment, which leads to a phrase that was unthinkable just a few days ago: Carl Pavano, potential Opening Day starter. (New York Post)

MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY: Mariano Rivera responds to Jonathan Papelbon's kind words with some kudos of his own (New York Daily News)

GET IT RIGHT: After straightening out the Red Sox, Virginia-based author Howard W. Rosenberg now attempts to get the Yankees to fix an error regarding the number of captains they've had down through the years. (New York Times) Let's see if the Yankees are as gracious as the Sox were in accepting Rosenberg's findings.

OLD FRIENDS: Aaron Sele will start the year in the Mets bullpen (mlb.com) . . . David Wells is happy in San Diego, and unworried about the recent diagnosis that he suffers from adult-onset diabetes (San Diego Union Tribune). . . It's only a line in a Houston Chronicle notebook and not worth a whole link, but Scott Sauerbeck, who spent two unproductive months as a member of the 2003 Red Sox, has accepted a minor-league assignment from the Astros . . . Similarly, a line in a Tampa Tribune notebook says that Rhode Island's Rocco Baldelli should be sufficiently recovered from his hamstring injury to be back in the lineup Tuesday . . . The news isn't as good for ex-Sox farmhand Freddy Sanchez, who'll be starting the season on the disabled list (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) . . . Worth reading: A Chronicle story on Astros shortstop Adam Everett, Sox property oh so many years ago, who thinks he can take the no-hit out of the good-field/no-hit tag (Houston Chroncle) . . . Byung-Hyun Kim is back in the bullpen (mlb.com) . . . Wade Miller will be the Cubs' fifth starter. (Chicago Tribune)

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:13 AM | Permalink