Games 146-148 - Red Sox Sweep Orioles

Friday – September 18

The Boston Red Sox finished their season series with the Baltimore Orioles with a record of 16-2. Sad to say I attended one of those losses. You remember the one with the Sox up 10-1 at Camden Yards before the rains came and a lengthy delay ensued. The O’s came back to win 11-10 as the bullpen imploded! But back to the present as Clay Buchholz won his 6th game of the year with 6IP, 1R and 5H. Bard, Okajima and Papelbon each contributed a perfect inning. Kotchman, Bay (solo homer) and Ellbury each had an RBI.

Final Score: Boston 3 Baltimore 1
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5 with an RBI and a SB his league leading 62nd


Saturday – September 19

The Red Sox belted out 17H good for 11R as Josh Reddick, Brian Anderson and J.D. Drew all homered. Reddick and Drew each had 4RBIs. Jon Lester although not as sharp as usual now has 14 wins as he went 6 innings with 3R and 10H allowed. With the score 11-3 Manny Delcarmen pitched to four batters in the 9th recording no outs and giving up two solo homers. Delcarmen’s decline month by month is alarming as his September ERA has soared. Ramon Ramirez came in to finish the game.

Final Score: Boston 11 Baltimore 5
Jacoby Watch: 1 for 5 with 1BB

Sunday – September 20

The Red Sox scored in each of the first four innings including a 3 run 1st. With the Sox up 7-0 in the 4th the Orioles got 2 runs off Daisuke Matsuzaka. He went 5.1 innings with 5SO, 3R and 8H as his starts continue to be very encouraging. The bullpen with Ramirez, Okajima and Saito gave the Sox 3.2 scoreless innings. Both Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury had solo home runs with 3 RBIs each. Mike Lowell was the DH today and had 2RBIs. Victor Martinez continues his hot hitting and now has a 19 game hitting streak.

Final Score: Boston 9 Baltimore 3
Jacoby Watch: 3 for 4, 2R, 3RBIs, 1BB and a SB

Games 134-137 - Boston Takes Only One in the Four Game Series With Chicago

Friday – September 4

Paul Byrd was knocked around in this outing as the White Sox scored 7R on 10H in just 2.1 innings. In relief Junichi Tazawa was ineffective as the Chisox tacked on 5 more runs in his 3.2 innings. Meanwhile the Bosox could do very little with Freddy Garcia. They did manage 9H of which eight were singles as Tito substituted liberally. Only SS Alex Gonzalez played the whole game.

Final Score: Chicago 12 Boston 2
Jacoby Watch: 0 for 3

Saturday – September 5

White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd was dominant as he was working on a perfect game with 2outs in the 6th when Nick Green singled. Floyd also had 11K. With Tim Wakefield on the mound for the Red Sox Chicago put up 4R on 6H in his 6IP.

Final Score: Chicago 5 Boston 1
Jacoby Watch: 0 for 4

Sunday – September 6

Jon Lester had another brilliant outing as he shut out Chicago on 4H with 8K through 7IP. Billy Wagner gave up a solo homer in the 8th. The Red Sox offense was provided by Mike Lowell, 2R homer in the 4th and Victor Martinez 3R homer in the 9th.

Final Score: Boston 6 Chicago 1
Jacoby Watch: 3 for 4, 2R, 1BB and a SB

Monday – September 7

Josh Beckett gave the Red Sox seven decent innings yielding 3R on 6H. Carlos Quentin had a two-run homer off Okajima in the 8th inning. The Sox could do very little with Mark Buehrle. They did get 8H including a Pedey double but scored only once as the White Sox take 3 of 4 from the Red Sox. Amazingly his was Buehrle’s first win since July 23rd when he recorded MLB 18th perfect game.

Final Score: Chicago 5 Boston 1
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 4 with 1R and 1SB his 60th of the year.

Games 128-130 – Red Sox in Sweep of Blue Jays

Friday August 28

The Boston Red Sox completed their home-stand with a very satisfying record of 7-3. Josh Beckett was ineffective for the third start in a row as he gave up 5R with 5BB in only 5IP. He continues the disturbing trend of giving up home runs – 12 in the month of August with the ML record being 13, ugh! The Red Sox came from 3 runs down to tie the game in the 4th inning and then when down by 2 in the 5th inning Jason Bay slammed a two run homer to again tie the game. The Sox scored the game winning run in the 8th as the win went to Okajima (5-0) and the save to Papelbon his 31st of the year.

Final Score: Boston 6 Toronto 5
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 3 with an RBI and 2BB

Saturday August 29

Clay Buchholz was the story of this game. He gave the Red Sox 8.1 innings of 1R, 3H ball including 9 K’s. It was by far his best outing in some time. Ellsbury had 5TB and Martinez had a huge 2-out RBI as he walked with the bases loaded for what turned out to be the winning run. Alex Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia, 3 for 4, also had RBIs. Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 32nd save.

Final Score: Boston 3 Toronto 2
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5 with 1R scored

Sunday August 30

Going for the series sweep the Red Sox sent Paul Byrd to the mound for his first start since September ’08. Not only that but he faced Toronto ace, Roy Halliday – a match in which few would have predicted the results. As Byrd gave the Sox 6 shutout innings with only 3H allowed, Boston managed single runs in each of the first four innings off Halliday, including a solo homer from Rocco Baldelli in the 2nd . The Red Sox added 3R in the 7th off reliever Shawn Camp and won handily as the pen, Delcarmen, Wagner and Saito, contributed three scoreless innings. It was former closer Billy Wagner’s, he of 385 saves, Sox debut. Wagner is coming off ‘Tommy John surgery’ and has not pitched in over a year. He struck out the side while giving up a single in the 8th inning. It was an impressive outing.

Final Score: Boston 7 Toronto 0
Jacoby Watch: 1 for 4 with 1R scored

Games 118-120 – Red Sox Sweep Toronto

Tuesday August 18

Since the debacle in the Bronx the Red Sox are 4-3. Tonight Josh Beckett had his first rough outing in some time. Some will say that he missed Jason Varitek (neck injury) behind the plate. But hey, Victor Martinez caught two Cy Young winners in Cleveland, CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee. Beckett was staked to leads of 4-1, 5-2 and 7-3. All of which he coughed up. The Blue Jays tied the game in the 6th inning 7-7. The Sox broke through with 3 runs in the 8th and Daniel Bard gave up 2 runs in the bottom of the inning. Jonathan Papelbon got his 29th save with 1.1 innings of scoreless ball. Big Papi, 3 RBIs, homered as did Jason Bay.

Final Score: Boston 10 Toronto 9
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs

Wednesday August 19

It is a rarity when Doc Halliday only lasts 5 innings. His line was 103 pitches with 5R, 4ER, 8H and 7SO. In the meantime Clay Buchholz had his best outing of the year. In 6 innings he gave up only 1 run on 6 hits. Oki, Ramirez and Saito each contributed a scoreless, hitless inning including 6SO. Jason Bay had a two-run homer while Ortiz and Martinez had solo shots. It was a very satisfying and not so expected win.

Final Score: Boston 6 Toronto 1
Jacoby Watch: 1 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and a BB

Thursday August 20

The Red Sox go for the sweep with Jon Lester taking the mound. Off to a bit of a shaky start in the 1st inning Lester had the bases loaded with no outs on a single, double and walk. He induced Ron Barajas to hit into a double play and then struck out Kevin Millar. The damage was limited to one run scored. At one point Lester retired 11 in a row. He gave up only 3 hits in 8IP and faced only 27 batters. J.D. Drew had two home runs driving in 3 runs while Victor Martinez had a solo homer. It’s now back to Fenway Park for a three game series with the league leading NY Yankees. Red Sox are 6 ½ games off the pace.

Final Score: Boston 8 Toronto 1
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5

Games 102 -104 – Weekend Sweep in Baltimore

Friday July 31

The Red Sox gave John Smoltz a three run lead which he gave back in the 3rd inning. Sox go up one in the fifth but the Orioles get two more runs off Smoltz in the 6th inning on an Aubrey Huff two run homer. In the Red Sox 7th Youk answered with a two run shot. Ramirez, Okajima and Papelbon contributed three scoreless innings as the Sox take the opener. John Smoltz has not impressed as his ERA is 7.12 and he is not locating his fast ball. Patience may be getting thin in Red Sox Nation.

Final Score: Sox 6 O’s 5
Jacoby Watch: 3 for 5 with 2R , an RBI and a SB

Saturday August 1

This game belonged to Josh Beckett as he was brilliant. Through seven shutout innings he allowed 6H and had 5 K’s. The Orioles were 0 for 7 with RISP. Pedey and Youk both had solo homers with Youk going 4 for 4 as he is out of his recent slump. Victor Martinez had his first game as a Red Sox and contributed an RBI. He came to Boston at the trading deadline from Cleveland for Justin Masterson and two minor leaguers. Rookie Josh Reddick up from AA ball started the game in RF and moved to LF when Jason Bay left with an injury. He had two doubles in four at bats. Okajima and Bard each had a scoreless inning as the bullpen continues to shine.

Final Score: Sox 4 O’s 0
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5 with 1R, 1BB and a SB his 48th of the year


Sunday August 2

Today’s game was a major slugfest as the Sox scored a season high 18 runs including seven over the first three innings. J.D. Drew had a bases clearing double in the 1st innings driving in three runs. After he scored on a single by Mike Lowell he left the game with a groin injury. The news for Clay Buchholz was not pretty as he gave the Orioles six runs in the 3rd inning to bring them within a run. The Sox then scored a whopping seven runs in the 4th inning with Josh Reddick and Victor Martinez both contributing run scoring hits. In fact Martinez was 5 for 6 with 1R and 4 RBI’s as he is off to a great start for the Sox. Buchholtz now with an eight run lead could not survive the 5th inning as Adam Jones led off with a homer and Buch was lifted with two on and none out. Among the 23 hits for the Sox Youk was 3 for 4, Pedey and Lowell were both 3 for 5. Ortiz 0 for 5 was the only one to go hitless.

Final Score: Sox 18 O’s 10
Jacoby Watch: 2 for 5 with 4R and 2BB