Wang stomps Sox in Fenway

via d.yimg.com

Chien-Ming Wang made the Red Sox his whipping boys last night.

I always give credit where credit is due. The player that deserves the only credit from last night is Wang who shut down the Sox to the tune of just 2 hits and one run over 9 innings of work.

Wang has a strong arsenal of pitches, but usually not everything of his is on. Last night, everything was on. The most impressive thing may have been his fastball which hit 95 consistently. Sox batters didn't look ready for that.

Unfortunately, Clay Buchholz goes completely overlooked but he handled the Yankees lineup pretty well last night. His curveball was on and he painted the corners for most of the night. Buchholz ended up throwing 99 pitches over 6 innings, but only surrendered one run. He walked 3 and struck out 3.

The offense obviously wasn't there last night. But the man that stepped up -- AGAIN -- was JD Drew. Drew hit a dinger in the fifth inning to finally put the Sox on the board. Coco Crisp had the only other hit for the Sox.

I'm not really worried about the offense. I'm more worried about the bullpen. Mike Timlin let this game get out of hand in his first outing of the season. Timlin gave up 2 runs and only recorded one out.

Timlin looks like he doesn't have much left. I think he'll battle it out through the rest of the season, but I can't see him pitching in 2009. His tank is running on empty and I think we saw a glimer of that last night.

Hideki Okajima looked good, but only worked two batters. Javier Lopez came in, struggled, but didn't give up a run. Then my bullpen sleeper Mr. David Aardsma came in to keep it close. He surrendered a run, but he was throwing heat and got the last 4 outs for the Sox. Aardsma could develop into the Sox's 7th inning guy.

Sox look for revenge today at 3.

Comment of the Game:

"Chein Mein has no wang" - BoSox415 (Had to use this one...)

P.S. Sean Casey looked pretty good last night...