Games 143-145 Sox Fail to Sweep Angels

Tuesday – September 15

The Red Sox had a golden opportunity to sweep the Angels but another wild pitch/passed ball on strike three hurt again allowing the tying run and ending the Sox seven game winning streak. But back to tonight’s game which I was fortunate to attend. Dice-K with his first start since June pitched better than could be expected going for 6 shutout innings on 3H with 5SO. Ramirez, Wagner and Bard combined for 2 scoreless innings as Papelbon gave up the lone run in the 9th. The Angels were 1 for 11 with RISP. John Lackey pitched well for the Angels and was not scored on until the 6th. David Ortiz had 2 RBIs including a solo home run in the 8th.

Final Score: Red Sox 4 Angels 1
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 4 with 1R and his 10th CS

Wednesday – September 16

This game was a see-saw affair. The Red Sox were down 3-0 in the 6th inning when they scored 5 times off Joe Saunders. The Angels came right back in the 7th with 4 runs to go ahead 7-5. Sox tied it in the 8th; Angels go up 1R in the 9th before the dramatic Sox 9th. After two outs were recorded a walk and two singles off Angels closer, Brian Fuentes, followed by pinch hitter Nick Green’s walk on a questionable call tied the game. Alex Gonzalez then singled softly to left as J.D. Drew scored the winning run in walk-off fashion. It was a most improbable Sox win. Sox starter Paul Byrd went 5.1 innings giving up 3R on 9H. The bullpen surrendered 5 runs including 3 off Ramon Ramirez. But as the saying goes, “All’s well that ends well.”

Final Score: Red Sox 9 Angels 8
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 4 with 1R, 1RBI, and 1BB

Thursday – September 17

The Red Sox seemed to be primed for a sweep when with two outs in the 7th Josh Beckett struck out Chone Figgins as the ball eluded Jason Varitek and the tying run scored. The Angels then pushed across a run in the 9th off Billy Wagner. Beckett gave the Sox 8 innings of 3R, 7H ball with 7SO. The Sox runs came in the 4th off Ervin Santana as Jacoby Ellsbury had a solo homer and Jason Bay a two-run blast. It has to be satisfying for the Red Sox to have taken 2 of 3 from the Angels especially with Kevin Youkilis, injured, and Victor Martinez, family business, both missing the first two games of the series.

Final Score: Angels 4 Red Sox 3
Jacoby Watch: 1 for 4 with 1R and 1RBI

Games 45-48 Sox and Twins with Split

Monday- May 25

With about 30% of the season behind us it is a bit baffling that the Red Sox are in first place in the AL East even if by only a half a game. If you knew that David Ortiz would have only one home run and be mired in a season long slump, if you knew that Dice-K would have 0 wins, if you knew that Jon Lester’s ERA would be 6.07, if you knew that the Sox defense would be 12th of 14 teams in the AL, if you knew that the SS position would be up for grabs with no stability – well you’d say I’ll take that 28-20 record. Today Brad Penny pitched into the 6th inning with 3R, 6H and 7K’s. With RBIs from Bay (2), Youkilis (2) and Lowell the solo homer by Jeff Bailey in the 8th didn’t seem like that big a deal in a 5-3 game. But that proved to be the winning run as Papelbon gave up a two run pinch hit homer to Joe Mauer in the bottom of the 9th. Sox hung on for the one run win.

Final Score: Red Sox 6 Twins 5
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5 with a run, a CS and a Pickoff at first.

Red Sox and all MLers wore special caps in honor of Memorial Day

Tuesday – May 26

The story of this game was Jon Lester and his typical ‘one bad inning’. With the Sox up a run in the 5th Lester gave up 5 runs with the big blow a three-run homer by 2006
MVP Justin Morneau. Twins starter Nick Blackburn yielded 8 hits but only two runs over 7 effective innings. Sox were 1 for 11 with RISP and had 8 LOB. David Ortiz returned to the line-up and was dropped to #6 in the order going 1 for 3 with a BB. Jacoby Ellsbury continues his hitting streak which is now at 21 games.

Final Score: Twins 5 Red Sox 2
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5 with 2R and a SB

Wednesday – May 27

It is painful to watch Daisuke Matsuzaka, known as the “nibbler”, pitch as today in 5innings he threw 102 pitches with 3R, 9H, 3BB, 1HBP and a whopping 4 wild pitches. So much for the MVP of the WBC who began the year injured and spent time on the DL. Twins hurler, Kevin Slowey, had 6 innings of 2R ball. The bullpen gave the Twins three scoreless innings with Joe Nathan getting the save. Jason Bay had his 14th homer the first solo shot in his last 11 homers. David Ortiz was 0 for 4 with a K and Jacoby Ellsbury continues his hitting streak which is now at 22 games.

Final Score: Twins 4 Red Sox 2
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 4 with his 21st stolen base.

Thursday – May 28

Some of the positive developments so far in the Red Sox season include Jason Varitek with 10 home runs (two solo shots today), Jacoby Ellsbury hitting .302 and playing a great centerfield, Jason Bay with 14 homers and 48 RBIs, Tim Wakefield with a 6-2 record and a 3.99 ERA , George Kottaras and his ability to catch Wake, and most importantly the best bullpen in MLB with an ERA of 2.99. Josh Beckett was excellent today going 7 innings with 1R, 3H and 8K’s. Beckett didn’t like a non-strike call in the 7th by the AAA fill-in umpire, Todd Tichener, so Tek started arguing to protect Beckett and was tossed along with Tito. With the game tied in the top of the 7th Tek hit his second homer and Sox went up 2-1. Jeff Bailey doubled and came in to score on a SF by Dustin Pedroia. Twin’s catcher and manager both argued the safe at home call and were tossed. The replay was inconclusive as the throw beat Bailey but he appeared to get his hand around the tag. We’ll take it. Okijima had a scoreless 8th and Papelbon got his 13th save. So there you have it both managers and both catchers were ejected from this game.

Final Score: Red Sox 3 Twins 1
Jacoby Watch: 0 for 3 with a HBP as his hitting streak ends at 22 games

During his 22 game hitting streak Ellsbury hit .340 with 4RBIs, 16RS and 11SB