Another day, and another game in this 30 game stretch of baseball.
Before we talk about today's game, let's talk about what happened yesterday. Brandon McCarthy picked apart our offense like he's been doing it for ten years now. He was undeniably good, and really did a great job against the best offense in the league.
Tonight's a different story going up gainst John Lackey (11-5, 3.45 ERA). We faced Lackey once already this season as he went six innings, giving up three runs and walking five batters. I think we'll be happy with another outing like that, considering he has been stellar all season long.
It's old, reliable Tim Wakefield (14-10, 4.41 ERA) that heads to the hill for Boston. Wakefield is 6-1 in his last seven decisions, including an eight inning performance last time out against Tampa Bay.
Interesting lineup with Bill Mueller batting after Trot Nixon. No Kevin Millar, either. Here it is:
J. Damon cf
E. Renteria ss
D. Ortiz dh
M. Ramirez lf
T. Nixon rf
B. Mueller 3b
J. Olerud 1b
D. Mirabelli c
T. Graffanino 2b