Game 1: John Smoltz (1-2, 5.40) @ Kevin Millwood (8-7, 3.46) Scouting Report: Red Sox: Smoltz closed out the first half by earning his first victory since April 17, 2008 -- a span of 450 days. The 42-year-old righty tossed five innings of one-run ball against the Royals on July 11 at Fenway Park, striking out a season-high seven. In one career appearance at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Smoltz recorded a three-out save. Rangers: Millwood allowed four earned runs over six innings against the Mariners in his most recent start on July 11. He has run into a rough stretch, seeing his season ERA steadily increase to 3.46 from 2.64 over his past three starts. Manager Ron Washington decided to give Millwood some more time to rest -- he will be going on eight days after his last start. Millwood entered the All-Star break atop the American League in innings pitched and only one-third of an inning behind Adam Wainwright for the Major League lead. He has thrown 110 pitches in 13 of 19 starts this season. Game 2: Josh Beckett (11-3, 3.35) @ Tommy Hunter (1-1, 2.35) Scouting Report: Red Sox: Beckett earned his 100th career victory on July 12, firing a three-hit, complete-game shutout against Kansas City at Fenway Park. The 33rd active player to reach that plateau, he allowed just three hits to the free-swinging Royals. A native of Spring, Texas, Beckett is 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA and a 23/4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in four career starts against the Rangers. Rangers: Hunter earned a tough-luck no-decision after throwing six shutout innings against the Mariners last time out. That was his second-longest outing of the season. In four consecutive outings this season, he has allowed three runs, two, one and no runs. Hunter is 1-2 over five starts with a 5.81 ERA over 26 1/3 innings pitched in his career at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. This season, however, he's posted a 3.18 ERA over 17 innings there. Game 3: Tim Wakefield (11-3, 4.31) @ Vicente Padilla (7-5, 4.67) Scouting Report: Red Sox: The 42-year-old knuckleballer capped a first half to remember on July 8 against Oakland with his 11th victory, becoming the oldest pitcher ever to hold at least a share of the league lead in wins at the All-Star break. He is unbeaten in his past seven starts, going 4-0 with a 3.57 ERA. In 33 career appearances against Texas, including 26 starts, Wakefield is 10-15 with a 5.98 ERA. Rangers: Padilla allowed five earned runs over seven innings against the Twins on Friday. His outing was once again a tale of contrasts: Padilla needed 61 pitches over his first three innings and 45 over his last four. Over nine home starts this season, he is 3-4 with a 6.00 ERA and opponents are hitting .338 (73-for-216) against him. Friday's outing was the second time Padilla has lost in his last three outings. He has pitched at least six innings in 10 of his 13 starts and seven innings for the sixth time this season. In seven games -- six starts -- against the Red Sox in his career, Padilla is 2-3 with a 4.84 ERA over 35 1/3 innings pitched.
Smoltz looking good so far, he needs to step up with the way Buchholz threw the other day. If he struggles over the next few starts that might be it.
that's the way it goes. he lines it at someone, or it finds a gap. usually heartbreaker when he's 0-4.
Thank you, Theo, for letting the Yanks have Teixeira and going for the "value" of Smoltz and Penny. ETA: Can you imagine if the Sox had Teixeira at 1B and Youk at 3B instead of Lowell? Scary. As a Yankee fan, may I just again say, "Phew! Thanks, Theo!"
Um, no. Penny has had a couple bad starts that skew his overall numbers, but he generally has gone 5/6 innings with about 3 runs, which is just fine out of a 5th starter. He's made 18 starts, and basically had 3 bad ones where he gave up 18 ER in 10 2/3 IP. Taking those out he's had an ERA of 3.78 over his other 15 starts. Smoltz meanwhile has had 5 starts, and only one was close to good.
