Too Easy

This one was not dramatic.  It wasn’t a nailbiter.  At no point was it the least bit suspenseful.  No, we just had to deal with the fact that we were on top from the very beginning.  Somehow, it wasn’t that hard to adapt to that kind of situation.  Somehow, when we’re busy cleaning up like that, it just feels natural.

Aceves started this one, and I have to say that he did an absolutely spectacular job.  Just going in there and randomly starting a game when you’re not doing it on a regular basis is no easy task, but Aceves made it look like just that.  He pitched six innings of one-run ball, giving up seven hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.  Even that one run was the result of just one isolated mistake; Aceves missed his spot with a fastball thrown with one out in the third, and it was hit for a solo shot.  Other than that, his start was as solid as solid gets.

So was Mortensen’s seventh.  The same can not be said of the eighth.  Mortensen gave up a double to start the frame.  Then there was a fielder’s choice, and then he was replaced by Miller.  Miller gave up the second home run of the night for the Phillies; this one, though, was a two-run home run that came on a slider that missed.

Fortunately, it didn’t matter.  We were way beyond the point where another two runs would have counted for anything.  The Phillies scored three runs all game, and all three came via the home run.  Well.  We scored three runs in the first inning alone, and all three came via the home run.

First, Ellsbury singled.  Then Nava grounded out, moving to Ellsbury to second.  He took third on a wild pitch, and then on a 2-1 count, Pedroia got a bad cutter and made the Phillies pay.  He rocketed the ball right around the Pesky Pole.  And we all know how small of a guy Pedroia is and, therefore, how awesome it is to see him just unleash on a ball.  And it’s not like the ball took its time leaving the ballpark, either.  It was awesome.

Papi struck out.  And then Napoli went yard on his first pitch of the game, which was also a bad cutter.  This one went beyond the fence in right center.  And we all know the kind of power that Napoli possesses, so he just made it look so easy and so effortless, like it was the most natural thing in the world that he would be doing at that moment.

Then Drew walked, and Carp flied out.  End inning one.

We had two runners in scoring position in the second but didn’t take advantage of that opportunity.  Not that it mattered in the end.  We were back at it in the third anyway, doubling our run total.  Papi doubled and scored on a double by Napoli, who scored on a single by Drew.  Carp struck out, Salty singled, Iglesias popped out, and Ellsbury doubled in Drew.  Unfortunately, Salty was thrown out at home, but again, it’s not like it mattered in the end.

We went down in order in the fourth and resumed in the fifth.  Napoli struck out swinging to lead it off, and then Drew singled, Carp doubled, and Salty hit a bases-clearing single with a little help from a fielding error.

We took a break in the sixth and seventh and padded our lead even more in the eighth.  We had the bases loaded with two out, thanks to a single and two walks, and the pitcher to whom the Phillies had turned that inning walked in a run.  All Drew had to do was stand there, wait, and accept what was given to him.  Fantastic.

Bottom of the ninth? With a score of 9-3? I don’t think so.

Boston Globe Staff/Jim Davis

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Most Valuable Double

Lester had another questionable start.  Sometimes he goes through these phases where he’s really incredibly amazing, and then sometimes he goes through these interruptions where he’s mediocre.  Yesterday’s start was a prime example of the latter.  He gave up four runs on ten hits while walking only one and striking out eight over the course of seven innings.  So that means that he knew how to find the strike zone, but the hitters kept figuring him out.  His inability to efficiently deal with the Tribe led him to throw a total of 124 pitches.

He recorded the game’s first two outs before giving up a single followed by a steal of second and an RBI double.  He issued a walk in the third, allowing the runner to advance on a groundout and giving up another RBI double.  He then gave up another single, followed by a brilliant throw home by Gomes to save a run and gain an out.  But then he hit a batter and gave up an RBI single.

Giving up three runs in a single inning is pretty disappointing, to which Lester himself can attest, seeing as he was visibly angry about it.  But I have to say that one of his best qualities on the field is his composure, which allowed him to bounce back during the second half of his start, rallying to make quite an effort to keep the lid on the Indians.

The sixth inning was by far his best: fifteen pitches, three up, three down, all via strikeouts.  The first two were looking on cutters; the last was swinging on a sinker.  He recorded the first out in the seventh, gave up two consecutive singles, and induced a lineup.  Second base was then stolen, and Lester issued a wild pitch that allowed Mike Aviles of all people to score.

Tazawa pitched an immaculate eighth, and Bailey pitched a decent ninth.

But none of that would have mattered had it not been for our absolutely crucial rally in the eighth.  Until the bottom of the eighth, we were trailing by one.  We scored our first run in the second with two out, when Iglesias singled, moved to second on a balk, and scored on a single by Ciriaco.  Nava led off the fourth with a walk and scored on a double by Iglesias; the Tribe’s fielding error was a nice touch.  With one out in the sixth, Iglesias singled, and then Ciriaco singled as well; it was a ground ball of sorts, but thanks to a throwing error, both Iglesias and Ciriaco ended up in scoring position.  Ellsbury walked intentionally to load the bases, and unfortunately the only scoring play we could muster was a sac fly by Gomes that brought Iglesias home.

At the time, that sac fly tied the game, but like I said, Lester gave up another run in the seventh.  All we needed to do was score two more runs and hold on for the win, but we ended up scoring one more than the entire run total we’d scored to that point in the game.

The bottom of the eighth began with an out.  Then Ciriaco doubled, and Ellsbury struck out.  Carp came in to pinch-hit for Gomes and doubled in Ciriaco to tie the game back up.  Pedroia’s back-to-back double gave us the go-ahead.  The ball bounced off the Monster, and we were on top.  Anything after that, provided that Bailey held the lead in the next half-inning, was icing on the cake.  Then Papi walked intentionally, Napoli walked unintentionally to load the bases, and Nava singled in both Pedroia and Papi.

We ended up winning, 7-4.  We totaled eleven hits, five of which were for extra bases.  All of them were doubles, and two of them belonged to Pedroia, who finished the game two for four with a walk.  Iglesias and Ciriaco each went three for four.  Nava, Papi, and Ellsbury each walked twice, the three of them therefore accounting for almost all of our eight total walks.  Ultimately, it was a great game; you always want to be in a position to win from the beginning, but it’s nice to know that you can’t count us out even when we’re not.

In other news, the Rangers are done.  Finished.  Knocked out.  That didn’t take long at all.  Yesterday the Bruins won, 3-1. Quick work indeed.

AP Photo

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Homer Unhappy

We really are in the middle of quite the slump.  This team looks completely different from the one that had the best record in the Majors.  Our record is now 22-16; if we continue at our current rate, we’ll have to start winning just to stay at .500, and we all remember what that feels like.  We got swept by the Rangers; at least, at the time, we felt like the Rangers were a good match.  But Minnesota’s pitching staff has one of the lowest strikeout counts in the Majors, and Toronto’s pitchers are mediocre at best and their hitters swing at almost anything.  We are losing games we should not be losing.  Not that there’s ever a game that we should lose, but still.  Speaking of the Jays specifically, it would have been very nice to escape the series without allowing them to hit a slew of home runs.  Sure, we hadn’t been able to win by doing that, but at least we, for the most part, eliminated their chief mode of attack.

Dempster was not so fortunate.  He didn’t keep the ball down.  His heat is more lukewarm than anything else, so you can see why location would have been the key to a successful performance on his part.  He lasted only five innings and gave up six runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out three.  And he allowed three home runs.

It started in the second.  He gave up a single, a double, and a three-run home run with two out.  He gave up a solo shot to lead off the third, and he issued a walk and then allowed a two-run home run in the fourth.  It would have been worse had Victorino gotten hurt trying to haul the ball in for an out.  He tried to catch it right at the bullpen fence but fell flat-out; he left the game in the seventh with some stiffness.  Dempster gave up another solo shot in the fifth.  On a splitter.  If Dempster is anything, he’s a splitter pitcher, so the fact that he missed his spot with a splitter says something.  Dempster, overall, has been pitching very well, at least for him.  But, yes, all of his runs scored via the long ball, which is exactly how the Jays like it.

Miller came on for the sixth and gave up a solo shot on his third pitch.  After recording the inning’s first out, he gave up a single, issued a walk, and was replaced by Mortensen.  Mortensen gave up a successful sac fly followed by a two-run home run.  He had a one-two-three seventh, and Breslow had a one-two-three eighth, making him our only pitcher to not allow any runs in the game.  Jose De La Torre came in for the ninth and gave up a double, a walk, an RBI single, and an RBI double play.

All in all, that’s twelve runs.  By the time we got on the board in the fourth, we were already down by five.  Napoli answered the Jays’ power with his own, smashing a solo shot on the second pitch of his leadoff at-bat in the fourth.  And he hit it to one of the deepest parts of the park.  It was a nice piece of hitting; if only such a phenomenon were more common for us.

We didn’t score again until the sixth, when Pedroia singled and scored on a sac fly by Nava.  We went down in order in the seventh, and then Ciriaco hit a home run.  It was also a solo shot, and he also led off an inning.  It was the second pitch of his at-bat, also a fastball.  But he hit his beyond the Monster.  Either way, it was still also a nice piece of hitting that we also could have used more of.

Then Pedroia flied out, and Napoli singled, Nava walked, and Gomes got hit.  Just like that, the bases were loaded.  It was Salty’s turn to bat, but a force out was all he could muster; Napoli scored our last run of the game.  Napoli went three for four; the only other person to have a multi-hit game was Pedroia, who went two for five.  Napoli alone scored half of our runs.

So the Jays finally got what they wanted: a win via the long ball.  Dempster, a single pitcher, accounted for half the runs they scored, while the relief corps divided the other half among themselves.  The final score was 12-4; we scored less than half the number of runs that Toronto scored.  We left eight on base and were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, so our dismal streak of being completely ineffective in situations when we need effectiveness most continues.  Dempster took the loss, but it was a team effort.

In other news, the Bruins got shut out by the Leafs, two-zip.  So it all comes down to tonight.

Boston Globe Staff

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Almost

You know, Lester pitches all the time.  And I watch him pitch, and I know that he’s a human being.  But it’s kind of hard to reconcile that fact with what you see him do.  He’s a human being, but he pitches like he’s superhuman.  Like pitching is the easiest thing in the world.  Like it’s no big deal to be truly amazing at throwing one of the best cut fastballs in all of baseball.

Yesterday, we almost witnessed something spectacular.  We almost couldn’t believe our eyes even though we knew that we were watching every second of it.  We almost stared incredulously as Jon Lester tossed the second no-hitter of his career.

But forget about the no-hitter.  What Jon Lester did yesterday almost left that in the dust.  We almost saw Jon Lester pitch a perfect game.

Maicer Izturis doubled in the sixth.  There were two outs, and it was the first pitch of the at-bat: an eighty-seven mile-per-hour changeup.  The ball ended up in left field, and Lester’s no-hitter evaporated just like that.  It would have been even more painful had it come in the ninth, and there are pitchers who could tell you what that’s like.  That would have been completely devastating.  But this wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either.  It was awful.  It was the only blemish on Lester’s line for the entirety of the game.  That was the one thing standing between Lester and a perfect game.  At least, had it been a walk, he would still have been able to pick up a no-no.  But it was a hit, and both bids were crushed instantly.

Thank about that for a minute, though.  Lester faced twenty-eight batters during the game.  That’s it.  Twenty-eight batters.  That means that he didn’t give up a hit or issue a walk before that double, and he didn’t give up a hit or issue a walk after it.  It’s not uncommon for pitchers who’ve just had their no-hitter bids broken to implode.  But Lester didn’t do that.  It was like nothing happened.  It didn’t affect him at all.  To prove it, he retired the next ten batters he faced, just like he retired his first seventeen.

I’m going to take this inning by inning because I want very much to relive the moments.  Needless to say, the sixth inning was the only inning in which Lester faced more than three batters.  In the first, Lester induced two flyouts and a groundout.  In the second, he induced two groundouts and a swinging strikeout.  In the third, he induced a lineout, a swinging strikeout, and a groundout.  In the fourth, he induced two groundouts and a flyout.  In the fifth, he induced two groundouts and a popout.  In the sixth, aside from the double, he induced a lineout, a flyout, and a swinging strikeout.  In the seventh, he induced two groundouts and a popout.  In the eighth, he induced a flyout, a groundout, and a lineout.  In the ninth, he issued two called strikeouts and a groundout.  Sensing a pattern?  The Jays have homered a lot this year, but Lester never let the ball get off the ground.

He threw six pitches in the first, thirteen in the second, twelve each in the third and fourth, fifteen in the fifth, twenty in the sixth, fourteen in the seventh, seven in the eighth, and nineteen in the ninth.  To close the deal on his strikeouts, he used changeups, sinkers, and mostly, of course, cut fastballs.  His cut fastball was absolutely lethal yesterday.  It was the epitome of everything a cut fastball should be, and Lester was the epitome of everything a pitcher should be.  He put the exact amount of movement on the ball, his release point was consistent, and his command, efficiency, and control were unparalleled.

I suppose that the seventh inning is really when it starts to occur to everyone that a no-hitter may be in progress.  If the hit came in the sixth inning and if there were more afterwards, then it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal; no-hitting the Jays through six would have just been Lester being Lester, an impressive feat for any other pitcher but business as usual for him.  The fact that Lester didn’t let the hit get to him at all, in any way whatsoever, is part of why Lester’s start yesterday was so absolutely amazing.

Obviously, we won; it’s difficult not to win when your pitcher shuts out the opposing team for a full nine innings.  We got on the board until the second, when Nava walked and scored when Middlebrooks reached on a force attempt.  We turned the order over in the seventh; Ellsbury, Victorino, and Pedroia hit back-to-back-to-back singles to lead it off, scoring one.  Two strikeouts later, Nava and Salty hit back-to-back doubles, scoring three.

And that was all we needed.  It was a clean, crisp, five-zip win.  I will say this about the offense.  We had a runner on base in every single inning but clearly didn’t score during all of them and certainly didn’t take advantage of a prime opportunity to really mount a lopsided outcome.  Instead, we left fourteen men on base, and we went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Pedroia singled in the seventh.

But this is Lester’s moment now.  He threw 118 pitches in the whole game, a season high and a much-needed effort to give the bullpen the day off.  I am so crushingly disappointed that Lester didn’t get the perfect game.  So epically crushingly disappointed.  But it would be a disservice to what Lester did achieve to continue bemoaning that fact.  At the end of the day, it was a clean, crisp, five-zip win, and Lester mowed them down like grass.

In other news, the Bruins dropped one to the Leafs, 2-1.

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Grand Setback

Boy, things against the Twins have gone from good to bad to worse.

Allen Webster started, and it was not pretty.  At no point did he possess even a modicum of command or control.  He struck out the first batter he faced but then issued two consecutive walks, an RBI double, a successful sac fly, and a two-run home run.  He gave up a solo shot to lead off the second.  He then issued a walk, gave up a double, and got the inning’s first out.  After that came another successful sac fly and another RBI double.

John had no other choice.  He had to take Wilson out, but the bullpen has been overworked lately.  He didn’t have anyone else to turn to.  So he turned to a starter.  Doubront relieved Wilson, but he was not an improvement.  He issued a walk and gave up two singles and a double that resulted in four runs total.  Only one of those was inherited and therefore attributed to Wilson.

Doubront gave up a single in the third but no runs scored.  He wasn’t so lucky in the fourth.  He gave up two singles and a walk that loaded the bases.  He was fortunate to escape that jam with only one run scoring, which at least resulted from a double play.  He gave up a double to lead off the fifth; two outs later, he gave up an RBI single followed by another single and an RBI double.  Amazingly, he had a one-two-three sixth and gave up two singles after a runner got on base thanks to a throwing error by Ciriaco, all without allowing any runs in the seventh.

I suppose we tried our best to hold our own in this one.  It wasn’t a slugfest for us, but we did score a quantity of runs that I would deem sufficient to win any ballgame.  Any pitcher should be able to win with the number of runs that we scored, and the fact that we didn’t shows that the pitchers really dropped the ball this time.  Miller pitched the best inning of the game: the eighth, in which the Twins went down in order on three strikeouts, two swinging and one looking.  Tazawa came on for the ninth and ended the game similarly to how it started: with runs.  He gave up two consecutive singles and hit a batter to load the bases.  And then he gave up a successful sac fly.  Okay, so it was only one run, but still.

Ellsbury struck out to open the first, but Victorino and Pedroia then hit back-to-back singles.  Papi struck out, and Napoli walked to load the bases.  And then something really amazing happened.  It was something so beautiful and so rare that you need to watch replays of it to convince yourself that it really happened but also just to see it again.  Oh, man, it was awesome.  It was awesome, awesome, awesome.  Gomes stepped up to the plate and took a slider for a ball.  Then he got a four-seam at ninety miles per hour that he really, really liked.  He laid into it with all he had.  The ball sailed beyond the Monster, and Gomes sailed right into a mob waiting at home plate.  Ladies and gentlemen, Jonny Gomes hit a grand slam.

And then Salty doubled and scored on a single by Drew.  And that was the first inning.  We scored a grand total of five runs on two swings, and of course we scored four of those on only one swing.  I maintain that we should be able to win a game in which we hit a grand slam.  We deserve to win any game in which we hit a grand slam.  That’s the sad part.  We’d have had to score the equivalent of at least three grand slams to win this one.

With two out in the second, Victorino hit a solo shot.  The count was 2-0, and he got a four-seam that he liked as well, which he also hit beyond the Monster.

Other than that, Salty singled in the third, Ciriaco and Ellsbury worked back-to-back walks to lead off the fourth, Napoli singled to lead off the fifth, and we went down in order in the sixth.  Pedroia and Napoli both singled in the seventh, and a sac fly by Gomes brought Pedroia home.  We had a repeat performance in the eighth; Drew and Ciriaco both singled, and a sac fly by Nava brought Drew home.  Needless to say, we went down in order in the ninth.

In the end, we lost by the ugly score of 15-8.  No baseball team should lose after scoring eight runs, and yet despite those eight runs, twelve hits, and four walks, we lost to a team that scored almost twice as many runs as we scored.  We batted .300 with runners in scoring position, four of our hits were for extra bases, and let’s not forget about the grand slam.  But when your pitching staff gives up fifteen runs on twenty hits, there’s really not much you can do about that; eight runs should always be considered sufficient, and if we’d happened to score more than fifteen runs, then that’s just great.  But it shouldn’t have to be essential.

In other news, the B’s beat the Leafs, 4-3.  We now lead the series, 3-1.

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