Kuzul

After a career that seemed to be built on toughness and durability, all of a sudden, Boston Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis is becoming a major question mark health-wise.The Red Sox announced their lineup early Tuesday afternoon, and for the third straight game, Youk was scratched due to what's currently being called back pain, and nothing more.Youkilis has struggled out of the gate thus far, hitting just .219 with two HR and nine RBI. Last year, Youkilis posted the lowest batting average of his career (.258) with 17 HR and 80 RBI, missing 42 games during the season with an assortment of injuries, including the final two weeks of the season during which the Red Sox completed their spectacular freefall, losing the AL wild-card slot to the Tampa Bay Rays on the final day of the regular season.While there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Youkilis' slow start ...

Daisuke Matsuzaka is making good progress as he works to return to the Boston Red Sox after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June. Matsuzaka's first start was not particularly impressive, but he rebounded nicely Saturday afternoon.In his first rehab game last week with High-A Salem, he allowed three runs in four innings and threw 57 pitches. On Saturday he took the mound for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and looked dominant.Matsuzaka threw 74 pitches in 4.2 innings. He allowed three hits, one earned run and struck out seven, while only walking two.His only run was on a long fly ball that was misplayed and resulted in a triple. He responded by striking out the next batter, but was pulled when he walked the following.The only negative of the outing was that 30 of his 74 pitches were balls. In his first outing he threw 57 pitches and 17 balls.It was another step in ...

Everyone, myself included, appears to have been consumed with the idea of adding a player or changing things up for this Red Sox team.However, I realized something last night watching the game against the White Sox. Fans have to look around and realize that this team is quietly winning games and have managed a five-game winning streak.Granted, these are games they are supposed to be winning. The Minnesota Twins are certainly no Texas Rangers. The White Sox are not the Detroit Tigers.Last night Daniel Bard went seven strong innings giving up seven hits and three runs. Not bad for your fifth starter.Thursday night saw Felix Doubront go six innings and giving up five hits and three runs.The fact that the bottom of your rotation only gave up six runs in 13 innings over two games is pretty good in my opinion. The offense did its job as well, scoring 20 runs ...

With the Boston Red Sox's bullpen basically still in shambles, moves need to start being made. The Boston relievers are among the worst in the league statistically, and Daniel Bard's week in the bullpen might not be a permanent move.So who should Boston pursue for more help? Mike Gonzalez.According to MLB Trade Rumors, Mike Gonzalez will be signing a contract within the next 10 days, and he was linked to Boston during the offseason. About a month ago, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe tweeted that the Red Sox had been monitoring Gonzalez. Gonzalez, a crafty left-hander, appeared in 56 games last season between the Baltimore Orioles and the AL champion Texas Rangers. Combined, Gonzalez compiled a 4.39 ERA in 53.1 innings of work while striking out 51 and walking 21. Boston currently has two left-handers in the bullpen in Franklin Morales and rookie Justin Thomas. Morales has a 6.00 ERA in ...

To the delight of many Red Sox fans across Red Sox Nation, we heard an announcement in the eighth inning of last night’s meeting against the Minnesota Twins: Daniel Bard was warming up in the bullpen.As it was stated after the debacle—to put it extremely lightly—on Saturday, Daniel Bard was going to be made temporarily available out of the bullpen. Bard has made it clear: he wants to start, and this move will not involve back-to-back games nor will it push back his next scheduled start against the Chicago White Sox on Friday. "Temporary" appears to be the operative word.But with one out and a runner on in the bottom of the eighth inning last night, in came our savior to squash any potential go-ahead effort by the Twins. And here came the biggest decision that Bobby Valentine has had to make since the regular season started: who comes in to close ...

One of the opening weekend highlights of the ongoing TriBeCa Film Festival in New York was Saturday's outdoor screening of the new documentary Knuckleball!, which tells the stories of (to date) the last two professional pitchers to use the dancing, dazzling knuckleball as their primary weapon, Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey. What made the evening special was a clinic that the two hurlers, along with famed practitioners Charlie Hough and Jim Bouton, conducted for kids just steps from the film seating at the World Financial Center. The knuckleball is a "pitch born of desperation," or so said all four of the pitchers prior to the screening, though not in so many words.  That may be true, but the long careers enjoyed by Wakefield, Dickey, Hough, Phil Niekro, Wilbur Wood, Hoyt Wilhelm and other knuckleballers attest to the value of harnessing this tantalizing pitch, even when it can't really be harnessed. "No ...

On the heels of an utterly humiliating loss at home to the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox find themselves in the middle of a trade with the Chicago Cubs.So, while Theo Epstein may not have been involved in the 100 year anniversary of Fenway Park, his name is linked to the team on this historic weekend.The Boston Red Sox have sent Michael Bowden and a player to be named later to the Chicago Cubs for center fielder Marlon Byrd and cash (via ESPN).Numerous questions come to mind; however, the two most pressing are:"Is this a desperation move?""Will Jacoby Ellsbury be out longer than expected?"Addressing the first one, it seems hard to say no considering how absolutely terribly the team has played this weekend.The loss at home on Friday followed by an insanely unpredictable finish to Saturday's game leads one to think that general manager Ben Cherington and Co. ...

It seems as though Theo Epstein has finally found a suitor for struggling veteran outfielder, Marlon Byrd. Reported by ESPN Chicago, Byrd is apparently shipping up to Boston. The trade is reported as "imminent" and may be officially announced at any time now. This deal would mark the first major in-season trade for Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer's administration in Chicago as well as Ben Cherington's first in Boston.Byrd, a 35-year-old center fielder, has struggled this season, much as he did at the end of his 2011 campaign, after a hit-by-pitch sidelined him with a face injury midseason.He only has three hits in 43 at bats thus far, all of them singles. Ben Cherington will hope a new environment will help Byrd turn around.With Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford on the disabled list, as well as Jason Repko injuring himself on Friday, Boston is in dire need of outfield depth. As ...

“Whatever the Yankees bring up as far as having success, you can easily knock it out by saying we knocked you out after being 0-and-3. The one the Boston Red Sox were able to get from the Yankees was probably the most painful ever, I think, in any sport to the Yankees fans.” Pedro Martinez, the Boston Red Sox management, Red Sox players and Red Sox fans just don’t get it. Listen carefully. The loss to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS is the 14th-worst in New York Yankees history. Nothing is worse than losing the World Series. No, getting there and losing is not better than not getting there at all. The Yankees have lost the World Series 13 times. It is not easy to rank the pain created by those defeats, but some hurt worse than others. Until 2001, the most agonizing was the 1960 loss to the ...

The Red Sox suffered the worst collapse in baseball history last season. This statement has been uttered so many times that it has become cliché. Contrary to popular belief, chicken and beer didn’t cause the team’s horrific end to the season. It was a lack of urgency and cohesiveness amongst the players that led to the team missing the postseason. Terry Francona was the scapegoat for the fiasco. Ownership kicked Francona out of town in particularly ruthless fashion because he had “lost control of the clubhouse.” Francona was known as a player’s manager who would never throw one of his guys under the bus. This made him beloved by fans and players alike, but it is also why many believe Red Sox players took advantage of the freedom he afforded them. When Francona’s contract was not renewed this offseason, the thought was that the team would go after someone who ...