http://www.yardbarker.com/content/player/360 Recent articles about John Lackey en-us Dropping into the Yard to weigh in on two of the big trades this week - Manny to Dodgers and Tex to the Halos. No real way to replace Manny, he's one of the best hitters in the game. I'm definitely glad he's out of the AL, the guy owned me. Glad to see him go, will not miss facing him. I could be throwing my best stuff and he will square up on it. The guy is amazing. I guess it was time for them to part ways. Jason Bay is solid but there really isn't a way to replace Manny. It's awesome getting Big Tex. He can swing it for sure. Got to face him several times when he was with the Rangers and was amazed at his talent. Getting a hitter the caliber of Mark is a perfect fit into this lineup. Can't wait to see the damage he will do the next couple of months. We all know what type of player this guy is so we were all ecstatic when we heard the news. At the same time, tough to see Kotch go. He was rock solid over at first base and is going to be a good player for a long time, but as you all know you have to give up something good to get that in return. I like the move. Tex is an impact player. The long ball can change the game in a heartbeat and that's what he is capable of. He drives in runs like crazy too. Impact player for sure. Thrilled to have him. With the bats and the pitching it doesn't seem like we have any weaknesses. We just need to stay healthy, focused and consistent. Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:52:10 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/299820 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/299820 Amidst all the trade deadline madness, pitchers around the majors had some terrific performances. John Lackey took a no-hit bid into the 9th while Doug Davis had a perfect game spoiled in the seventh. They weren't the only ones to have pitched well either as teams continue to look for deals to help themselves in the race down the stretch. Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:30:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298817 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298817 Boston fans have known for years that Manny Ramirez isn't exactly a cheetah on the basepaths. He can turn it on when he wants to but rarely does he want to. No example of this is better than the one from Tuesday's game where John Lackey almost no-hit the Red Sox. Manny hit a ball down the left field line that Chone Figgins fielded at the deepest point in the infield. Figgins made a desperation throw and then laughed when he saw Ramirez get called out by a few steps. Either Mr. '2004 World Series MVP' didn't think Figgins would get to the ball or he didn't think that he'd be able to be safe on the play. Whatever the reasoning, it was enough to convince him not to hustle it down the line and it kept John Lackey's no-hitter going. Last night on ESPN, Baseball Tonight decided to take a closer look at the play. They timed how long it took Ramirez to get down the line that night and how long it took him to get to first base last night. Check out the numbers.. Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:02:04 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298789 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298789 Angels 6, Sox 2 WP: Lackey (9-2) LP: Buchholz (2-6) SV: None HRs: BOS-Youkilis (18); LAA-Anderson (10) Summary: The Red Sox nearly suffered the ultimate indignity of being no-hit at home last night, if not for Dustin Pedroia's single with one out in the ninth inning off Angels starter John Lackey. One batter later Kevin Youkilis' homer broke the shutout, [...] Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:31:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298110 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298110 Angels 6, Sox 2 WP: Lackey (9-2) LP: Buchholz (2-6) SV: None HRs: BOS-Youkilis (18); LAA-Anderson (10) Summary: The Red Sox nearly suffered the ultimate indignity of being no-hit at home last night, if not for Dustin Pedroia's single with one out in the ninth inning off Angels starter John Lackey. One batter later Kevin Youkilis' homer broke the shutout, [...] Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:31:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298110 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/298110 John Lakcey and his 7.00+ ERA walked into Fenway Park and nearly no-hot the Red Sox last night... the party pooper? Dustin Pedroia, with one out in the 9th. Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:19:11 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297991 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297991 It was around 9:15pm, sitting in Grandstand Section 19, row 6, seat 17, when the tunes of Neil Diamond engulfed the stadium. "Good time's never seemed so good….so good! so good! so good!" Sure, good time's have absolutely never seemed so good, especially when your boys are in the midst of being no hit by one of the ugliest men in baseball, John Lackey. If it wasn't for Pedey, the Sox may have hit the lowest point of the season thus far. [...] Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:09:20 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297959 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297959 The double-coup the Angels pulled on Tuesday was easily one of the peaks of the baseball season. First, things got exciting when reports in the morning said the Angels were warming to the idea of acquiring Mark Teixeira from the Braves. Later in the day, the dream became reality and the Angels all [...] Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:00:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297877 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297877 About an hour before game time, it was announced that the Angels had traded for Mark Teixeira, finally acquiring that big bat that was missing to complete a good offense. It only got better from there. John Lackey was two outs away from throwing a no-hitter, and the Angels won their seventh-straight game against the Red Sox, [...] Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:06:06 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297841 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297841 Sending this one in from Boston. Nice to get a win at Fenway tonight. Made a run at a no-hitter but really just wanted to win the game. The no-hitter would have been nice, but whatever, we're about winning games. It's probably a good thing I gave up a hit on a curveball which is probably my best pitch. If I'm going to lose it I want it to be on my best pitch. I can sleep on that. One of the keys tonight was that I was throwing strikes a lot early. I was really challenging guys. My fastball was locating pretty well all night and I kind of mixed in my breaking stuff later on in the game. The first pitch strikes were definitely significant. I was challenging guys with my fastball early on and pretty much throughout the game. I was lucky enough. Some guys hit balls at people and things just kind of kept rolling for me. I was asked how this compared to the one hitter I had against Oakland and I would say I had better stuff that night. I definitely had a better breaking ball that night, had a lot more strikeouts so I guess my stuff in that one was more dominating, you'd say. Happy we got the win tonight. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:04:44 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297822 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297822 John Lackey hasn't faired well against the Red Sox... Boston is hoping that continues tonight as the attempt to beat the Angels for the first time in six tries... Clay Buchholz will start for the Sox. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:01:40 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297525 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297525 Cle 11 FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Indians 2 0 0 2 2 0 1 3 1 11 14 0 Angels 0 2 0 3 5 2 2 0 x 14 19 2 TV: FSN West LAA 14 Recap | Game Trax | Box Score | Play by Play | Depth Chart | Head-to-Head | Cleveland Indians BATTER GAME SEASON AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SB CS TB BB K LOB AVG OBP SLG G Sizemore CF 5 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 1 2 3 .272 .377 .544 D Dellucci DH 5 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 3 .225 .293 .386 B Francisco RF 5 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 .284 .346 .459 J Peralta SS 5 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 .267 .311 .488 S Choo LF 4 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 .252 .349 .449 R Garko 1B 5 2 3 4 0 0 1 0 0 6 0 1 3 .243 .317 .359 A Marte 3B 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 .186 .233 .278 a-C Blake PH-3B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .287 .364 .464 S Fasano C 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 .300 .391 .350 b-J Carroll PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .274 .351 .345 A Cabrera 2B 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 .186 .282 .249 Totals 41 11 14 11 3 0 2 0 0 23 3 9 21 - - - a-flied out for A.Marte in 8th b-singled for Fasano in 9th BATTING 2B: D Dellucci (14), B Francisco (21), S Choo (11) HR: G Sizemore (25, 8th inning off O'Day 0 on, 1 out), R Garko (8, 4th inning off Lackey 1 on, 0 out) RBI: G Sizemore (56), D Dellucci (33), J Peralta (52), S Choo 2 (23), R Garko 4 (49), A Marte (4), S Fasano (1) 2-out RBI: D Dellucci, R Garko 2, A Marte, S Fasano Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: D Dellucci, B Francisco, A Marte, C Blake, S Fasano, A Cabrera Team LOB: 10 Scoring Opportunities: 5/17 FIELDING DP: A.Marte to A.Cabrera to Garko PITCHER GAME SEASON IP H R ER BB K HR PIT B-S BFP ERA Opp AVG A Laffey (L, 5-7) 4.0 12 8 8 2 2 0 77 31-46 25 4.23 .281 T Mastny 1.1 3 4 4 2 2 1 34 17-17 9 14.90 .348 J Lewis 1.2 4 2 2 0 2 0 35 14-21 9 4.71 .288 J Rincon 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 15 7-8 3 6.15 .284 Wild Pitches: A Laffey Hit by Pitch: A Cabrera (by J Lackey), D Dellucci (by D O'Day), B Francisco (by D O'Day) Ground Balls: A Laffey 11, T Mastny 1, J Lewis 3, J Rincon 1 Fly Balls: A Laffey 4, T Mastny 3, J Lewis 2, J Rincon 1 Los Angeles Angels BATTER GAME SEASON AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR SB CS TB BB K LOB AVG OBP SLG C Figgins 3B 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .269 .368 .317 C Kotchman 1B 5 1 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 .289 .331 .433 E Aybar SS 5 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 2 .286 .315 .402 V Guerrero DH 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 6 .283 .342 .484 J Rivera RF 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 .248 .313 .376 R Willits RF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .185 .308 .231 H Kendrick 2B 5 3 4 3 3 0 0 0 0 7 0 1 1 .341 .361 .514 G Anderson LF 4 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 .266 .305 .398 G Matthews Jr. CF 3 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 2 .233 .311 .346 J Mathis C 5 2 4 6 1 0 1 0 0 8 0 0 0 .228 .304 .389 Totals 42 14 19 13 7 0 1 0 0 29 4 7 20 - - - BATTING 2B: C Kotchman (24), E Aybar (11), H Kendrick 3 (23), G Anderson (15), J Mathis (5) HR: J Mathis (8, 5th inning off Mastny 3 on, 0 out) RBI: C Kotchman (48), E Aybar (25), H Kendrick 3 (32), G Matthews Jr. 2 (36), J Mathis 6 (34) Runners moved up: E Aybar, J Rivera, G Anderson2 2-out RBI: C Kotchman, E Aybar, H Kendrick 2, J Mathis 2 Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: C Figgins 2, V Guerrero, J Rivera GIDP: E Aybar Team LOB: 8 Scoring Opportunities: 7/19 FIELDING E: J Lackey (3), J Rivera (3) DP: PITCHER GAME SEASON IP H R ER BB K HR PIT B-S BFP ERA Opp AVG J Lackey (W, 8-2) 5.0 8 6 6 2 5 1 99 32-67 27 3.02 .245 J Speier 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 12 4-8 3 5.09 .248 D O'Day 1.1 3 4 4 0 1 1 30 12-18 9 3.89 .285 J Arredondo 1.1 3 1 1 1 2 0 27 9-18 8 1.33 .186 F Rodriguez (S, 42) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0-1 1 2.18 .176 Intentional Walks: G Anderson (by A Laffey) Ground Balls: J Lackey 5, J Speier 0, D O'Day 2, J Arredondo 1, F Rodriguez 1 Fly Balls: J Lackey 7, J Speier 2, D O'Day 3, J Arredondo 1, F Rodriguez 0 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:56:25 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294838 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294838 The Cleveland Indians lost a good old fashioned offensive battle against the Los Angeles Angels. Ryan Garko's big day wasn't enough to overcome the struggles of the Tribe pitching staff and starter Aaron Laffey. Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:27:00 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294587 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294587 Buchholz v Lackey... Beckett v Saunders... and Wakefield v Weaver... possible ALDS preview... ??? Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:44:45 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292267 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292267 Screaming Sports' Billy Smith checks in on some of the mega-hyped offseason stars, as well as the not-so-hyped offseason stars. Who is living up to it? Who isn't? And who is coming out of left field? Billy has all of those answers for you. Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:32:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292099 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292099