For those Red Sox fans in Southern Califronia that won't get to Fenway for the big birthday party there is an event in San Diego to commemorate the event. 

Edgeware Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of Boston's Fenway Park and Pays Special Tribute to San Diego native and Red Sox great, Ted Williams.

Two-Day Special Event:
Friday evening, April 20, 2012 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 12 noon to 3:00 p.m.
4186 Adams Ave. San Diego CA, 92116

For more information visit edgewaregallery.com

"I was booing myself. It didn't work out.''

-Bobby Valentine on fans booing him.

MLB Network’s “Intentional Talk,” hosted by Kevin Millar and Chris Rose, will air live from Fenway Park on Thursday, April 19 at 5:00 p.m. ET and again on Friday, April 20 with a special 90-minute edition starting at 1:00 p.m. ET with Tom Verducci joining Rose as a guest host during part of the show.

Following the Yankees – Red Sox game on Friday, MLB Network will also air a one-hour postgame show, with Millar and Rose reporting live from Fenway. 

Aviles SS
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ross RF
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 3B
Shoppach C
McDonald LF
Repko CF

Beckett SP

Terry Francona took the high road and changed his mind about coming to Fenway Park for the 100th birthday celebration.  It would not have been right to celebrate Fenway without the manager who won two World Series Championships with the Red Sox.  Friday should be an amazing day at Fenway Park.

Red Sox relief pitcher Mark Melancon was sent down to the PawSox today after his terrible start in Boston.  Last night he gave up six earned runs without getting an out.  His ERA on the season is 49.50.   Junichi Tazawa was called up to take Melancon's roster spot.

This game was one of the ugliest losses in recent memory for the Red Sox.  Things started out pretty good but went south quickly.  Jon Lester was helped by a double play to get out of the first without giving up a run and the Red Sox took an early lead when Pedey followed Aviles' single with a homer.  If only the game ended there.

Lester got hit hard in the second and gave up four runs.  In the third he gave up a single to Cruz and walked the next two batters before he was pulled. (All of those runners would score). 

As bad as Lester's night was, Melancon's was worse.  He gave up 6 earned runs, including 3 home runs without getting an out and now has an ERA of 49.50.  Josh Hamilton's homer off of Melancon was just a few rows shy of the Red Seat.  Yikes.

Kevin Youkilis also had a terrible night and earned a golden sombrero for striking out four times.

Red Sox 3  Tigers 18  BOX SCORE

Aviles SS
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 3B
Sweeney RF
Ross LF
Saltalamacchia C
Repko CF

Lester SP

Billy Rohr's followup to his near no-hitter brought out a Fenway crowd of 25,000 (large in those days) on Friday night, April 21, and they were not disappointed. The rookie southpaw tamed the Yanks again by a 6-1 count, surrendering 8 hits, walking one and fanning six. He extended his scoreless streak to 16 before Elston Howard-still a Rohr nemesis-singled in Bill Robinson, but Boston already had a 6-0 cushion.

Dalton Jones, playing third in place of the benched Joe Foy, broke up a scoreless game in the fifth with a two-out single, followed by doubles from Carl Yastrzemski, George Thomas, and Tony Horton for a 3-0 advantage against longtime Sox nemesis Mel Stottlemyre. Jones later homered around Pesky's Pole (it wasn't yet called that) off reliever Steve Hamiliton for a 5-run lead. Rohr was later quoted in a story by the late Will McDonough as saying he feared just one batter-Mickey Mantle. "The guy's power is amazing," said the youngster, "if I'm lucky enough to stay in the big leagues for 20 years, I will never forget pitching those first three times to (Mantle) tonight." The words ring rather sad; Rohr would never win another big league game.

As a sidelight, on the same page as the Rohr story, a paragraph is written about the Harvard freshman baseball team beating BC, 7-6. The piece even contained a box score. Today a Harvard-BC game (freshman teams are long gone) woul barely have a score mentioned; the Boston sport pages were still very provincial in 1967.

The following day, the crowd dropped to a more normal 8100 on a cold, cloudy day as the Sox edged New York 5-4. George Scott, still on the bench, drove in the winner on a sixth inning pinch-hit sacrifice fly as Boston overcame a 3-1 deficit. In the fifth Mike Andrews opened with a single, Reggie doubled and Yaz's bases-loaded hit off reliever Hal Reniff knotted the count at 3. The Sox then pulled off a delayed double steal with Carl stopping before second, drawing a throwing error and allowing  Jones, who had walked, to score and put the Sox in the lead. Scotty's sacrifice fly off the immortal Dooley Womack plated the winner. Don McMahon then shut the visitors down over the last three frames to preserve the victory.

In the past, writers and fans had often charged that Sox managers didn't dispute many calls because they often slept on the bench. The next day, Williams proved that was no longer the case. In the fifth inning of the Yankee finale, Dick and Yastrzemski were ejected for questioning ball and strike calls of umpire Red Flaherty as the Sox blew a 5-1 lead and fell 7-5. "He's a bad umpire-incompetent," said Williams, who was protesting Flaherty's call on a pitch to Howard. It was a very important decision, since Elston went on to double home the tying and winning runs. The Sox had tallied 3 off starter and future author Jim Bouton, sparked by Yaz's two-run homer. Russ Gibson doubled home two more in the third off reliever Fritz Peterson, and with Darrell Brandon throwing well, Boston seemed headed for a sweep. But Bucky suddenly lost his control, walking two to load the bases and uncorked a wild pitch. After a sac fly and another pass, Jose Santiago relieved and surrendered a run-scoring hit to Jake Gibbs. With Howard up, Flaherty called a close 0-2 pitch a ball, causing Williams' outburst and ejection: Yaz's would come later. Howard then doubled in two for a 6-5 lead. The Sox didn't score again, as Al Downing came in from the pen and threw 6 scoreless innings.

"It was the first time I've ever been thrown out of a game before I cussed an umpire, " remarked Williams. According to the rules, protesting balls and strikes can merit an automatic ejection, a statute put in because of managers like Leo Durocher, who would do it for entire games.

The Sox were only 4-5, trailing the Angels by a game and a half. Sox Nation, however, knew already that there was no snoozing in the dugout.

We all know about the typical marathon four hour games versus the Yankees and Beckett taking his sweet time between pitches.  The problem is not just limited to Beckett according to a new study by FanGraphs:

You know who the slowest working starting pitchers in baseball have been since 2007? Josh Beckett (25.6 seconds between pitches), Daisuke Matsuzaka (25.4), and Clay Buchholz (25.2). They are the only three starters in the sport to take more than 25 seconds between pitches, and they all pitch for the Red Sox. Even shifting to relievers, where there’s more annual turnover and where we can see a broader selection of pitchers, we find the Red Sox as the most deliberate group in baseball, and it’s not even close. Since 2007, their relievers have taken an average of 25.7 seconds between pitches (relievers work slower in general, so the numbers are higher here), a full 1.6 seconds slower than the next slowest bullpen.

With two new pitchers in the rotation, a revamped bullpen, and a new pitching coach the Red Sox will hopefully speed things up this season.