A lot of stuff going on in Boston baseball these days. We’re embarking on a schedule that isn’t as easy or pushover-y as the Yankees’ (we’ve got the Cards, the D-Backs, the Astros, and the Rays, while New York has the Reds, the Pirates, the Mets, and the Rangers). And then we play the Yankees. Dice-K is starting today and is undefeated thus far (8-0 with a 2.53 ERA and 55 strikeouts). Julio Lugo’s infuriating errors are starting to add up at an alarming rate (both errors in last night’s game were throwing errors and were his, giving him 16 on the season, making him responsible for almost a third of the team’s total errors). The Red Sox wore green jerseys to honor the NBA champion Boston Celtics (a very nice gesture, I thought). And we’re forced to say goodbye to Curt Schilling, a master of the playoffs and a key to our success in 2004. We all knew it would end sometime, but it’s sad that it must end like this. Here’s to the bloody sock. Here’s to the almost-no-hitter. Here’s to 216 career wins, a 3.46 career ERA, 436 stars, 569 games. Here’s to 83 complete games, 20 shutouts, 22 saves, and 3,116 strikeouts. Here’s to all the October contests you won, Curt, and all those you would have won; there surely would have been many more. We thank you. And we salute you.
As for last night, we put up a good fight. Unfortunately, so did the Cards. We ended up losing, 4-5, which is a shame because Wakefield gave a great start. Four runs on seven hits in seven innings pitched. Another long outing from the knuckleballer. I’m telling you, he’s pitching way better than I thought he would and certainly way better than his age would suggest. Surprisingly enough, Lugo collected two RBIs last night, one of which was himself on a solo home run he crushed over the Green Monster seats, his first home run of 2008. Lowell batted in a run as well, and the fourth Boston run was unearned. One of the Cards’ runs was also unearned, and this is what I mean when I say that Lugo’s errors are starting to add up. It’s infuriating when errors like that turn into runs for the opposition, especially when you lose by a one-run deficit. That run could have made all the difference. And on a day when the Yankees lose, winning is certainly the priority, not error-making. At this point, I say Alex Cora should start at short. He’s hitting in the .300s and he’s better defensively. Mostly, the damage yesterday was done by hitting into double plays and by a lack of home runs. But, as I said, we put up a good fight, scoring one run in the bottom of the ninth and matching the Cards’ ten hits with ten of our own. The difference appears to be that we made two errors to the Cards’ one. Lovely.
The difference also appears to be that Okajima allowed one run on three hits in his one inning pitched. The hit was a solo homer by Yadier Molina. Okie struck out two, walked none, and did not show signs of the phenomenal set-up man he was last year. It’s just sad.
Kevin Cash is currently hitting at .240. He’s had eighteen hits, scored four times, and batted in six runs in 75 at-bats over 28 games played. It doesn’t seem like much until you consider the fact that, earlier this season, he was batting in the .300s. And the fact that even his current numbers are a substantial offensive improvement over Doug Mirabelli’s. Don’t get me wrong, I loved having Belli on our team when he was here. He was excellent defensively and had a good arm that he rarely got credit for. But with all the injuries we’re having, we’ll need the extra punch wherever we can get it.
We’re still in first. And we’ll stay in first. The Red Sox have experience with situations in which we have the tougher schedule and the Yankees have the easier. We’ve made it out. And we will again. I say this all the time, but I’m a firm believer in it: we have the depth to get through an entire season in first place. A lesser team with our injuries would have fallen apart like that. There’s a reason why we haven’t and why it’s impossible for us to do so.
