Drewin’ It Big

We doubled in each of the first two innings but didn’t get anything going until the third, which Drew led off with a walk.  Then Ellsbury doubled, Victorino flied out, and Pedroia and Papi hit back-to-back singles that scored a total of two runs.  One pitching change later, Napoli doubled and Gomes singled for two more runs.  Middlebrooks then flied out, and Salty walked to load the bases.

So there were two out in the inning, and we’d scored four runs already.  We’ve played some games recently where we’d have been lucky to score four runs in the entire game, let alone in one inning.  We were already ahead of the game, so to speak, both literally and figuratively.  And because we’ve been pretty quiet lately, having the bases loaded with two out in an inning during which we’d scored four runs was a pretty positive sign.

It was one of those moments where you think to yourself how epic and totally awesome it would be if Drew, who was batting next, were to hit a grand slam.  And you sort of laugh it off as a joke even though you’re completely serious because it really could happen.  And then you remind yourself that grand slams are rare for most batters and most teams, let alone a team that’s been playing like ours.  Grand slams are best enjoyed when unexpected, but I think they’re always unexpected because, even when you’re thinking about them, you’re also trying to remind yourself not to get your hopes up too much because, really, what are the chances?

As it turns out, sometimes chances are good.  Drew took a cutter for a strike and a curveball for a ball.  He got another cutter, which made sense, but the pitch didn’t move properly, and it missed.  Drew capitalized big time, and the ball left the park most certainly.  On one swing of the bat, we instantly doubled our run total.  We’d scored eight runs in the third inning alone.

And, in case you were wondering, yes, it was epic and totally awesome.  Did I mention that we had four straight hits with runners in scoring position?

After that, it was like nothing happened.  We went down in order in the fourth and fifth.  Drew doubled in the sixth and made it to third on a wild pitch, but Victorino left him there with a groundout.  We went down in order yet again in the seventh.  With one out in the eighth, Middlebrooks joined the home run club.  Nava had grounded out to lead off the inning, and the first pitch that Middlebrooks received also went over the fence in right center field.  Nobody was on base, but the hitting was no less real and fantastic. Ellsbury led off the ninth with a walk, but we had already wreaked all the damage that we were going to wreak last night.

The Rays singled in each of the first two innings, but to no avail.  I guess the third was the inning in which to hit for both teams, although by comparison the Rays hardly inflicted any damage at all.  Lester gave up a single, an RBI triple, and an RBI groundout one out later.  He gave up two consecutive singles in the fourth and had a one-two-three fifth.  He gave up a double and hit a batter in the sixth.  And he gave up a single to lead off the seventh.

Uehara came on for the eighth and gave up a single and a walk that amounted to nothing.  De La Torre came in for the ninth and sent the Rays down in order.

All told, Lester gave up two runs on eight hits with no walks and five K’s over seven innings.  Pedroia, Middlebrooks, and Drew each had two hits.  We had only three walks, but we collected ten hits, half of which were for extra bases.

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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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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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Erroneous

The game lasted three hours and one minute.  When a game is short, it’s either really good and really bad.  Usually, it’s really good for one team and really bad for the other team.

Dempster gave a great start.  He was the victim of some errors, but overall he made a great start.  He pitched seven innings, which is longer than usual for him.  He gave up four runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits.  He walked only one and struck out eight.  Disregarding the unearned runs and accounting for the number of innings, the lack of walks, and the abundant strikeouts, it was one of his best starts this year.

He had a one-two-three first.  A single was his only blemish in the second.  He had a one-two-three third.  He gave up a single and issued a walk in the fourth.  The trouble started in the fifth.  He gave up a double and then balked.  He induced a popout that was more trouble than it was worth; Middlebrooks caught it in foul territory, but he collided with Ross en route.  It was so bad that the two of them had to leave the game; Ross had an injured leg, and Middlebrooks had an injured side.  It was truly, truly painful to watch too.  But what a catch.  Seriously, what a catch.  And Dempster allowed a single that Drew deflected and that scored a run.

He had a one-two-three sixth, and he gave up a solo shot in the seventh.  It was reviewed but ended up standing.  But it was close.  Really, really close.

Dempster had two baserunners reach in the eighth on errors.  Both were fielding errors by Ciriaco.  That was when Dempster was replaced by Breslow, who gave up a double, a walk, and two singles.  The latter two singles were both responsible for loading the bases.  Four runs scored on Breslow’s watch; the first two were attributed to Dempster because they were scored by inherited runners, and those were the ones that were unearned, although one of Wilson’s own runs was also unearned.  Wilson replaced Breslow and induced a force out; the runner was out at home, but that didn’t stop another runner from scoring.  Salty tried to make it a double play by firing to first, but supposedly the ball hit the runner.  John came out to argue; he wasn’t ejected, but his argument wasn’t accepted.  Wilson ended the inning shortly thereafter.  Other than a walk issued in the ninth, Wilson was right on.

Meanwhile, our hitters were doing absolutely nothing.  It was like all their strength was sapped by the walkoff win, and they had nothing left.  We mustered a grand total of four hits all night.  Ellsbury singled to lead off the first, Papi singled to lead off the second, Drew singled to lead off the third, and Salty homered beyond the Monster.  Ellsbury and Pedroia both walked in the ninth.  So all of that means a few things.  First of all, without those four hits, we would have been no-hit.  Secondly, without Salty’s homer, we would have been shut out.  Thirdly, because Ellsbury walked after Salty’s home run and because Pedroia walked after Ellsbury was thrown out in a double play, at no point during the entire game did we have a single baserunner in scoring position.

Lastly, it means that we lost, 6-1.

Boston Globe Staff/Matthew J. Lee

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Stymied

This is the first time this year that we lost the first two games of a series.  We’ve never been able to play that well against the Rangers.  We still have the best record in the Majors, but I don’t want to be in the position of dreading playing a particular team.  We should have strong showings against everyone we face.

We went down in order in the first.  We had two on in the third with only one out but didn’t score.  Salty doubled in the fourth, but we didn’t score.  We went down in order in the fifth despite a walk by Drew thanks to a double play.  We had two on with two out in the sixth but didn’t score.  We had two runners in scoring position with two out in the seventh but didn’t score.  Napoli got hit in the eighth, but we didn’t score.

I assume that, by now, you’ve guessed the pattern.

Papi led off the second with a double and scored on a single by Nava.  That was our one and only offensive highlight.  We were held to that one run and that one run only.  That was it.  Just the one run.  It’s more than zero; at least we scored something and we weren’t shut out two games in a row.  But that’s not that much of a silver lining, if you ask me.

Lackey’s start, technically speaking, was not a quality start.  It was a real grind.  Especially if his very first pitch was any indication.  It was hit for a solo shot.  That’s an inauspicious beginning if I’ve ever seen one.  He seemed to settle down, sending the Rangers down in order in the second and third.  But he got himself into a jam in the fourth and couldn’t completely pitch around it.  Thanks to a single and two walks, he had the bases loaded with two out.  He gave up a single that plated two runs and put a runner on third, thanks to a throwing error by Middlebrooks.  He gave up another walk, but fortunately the damage ended there.

He gave up two singles in the fifth and one in the sixth.  Unfortunately, our damage had already ended in the second.  It was a classic case of insufficient run support.  Lackey’s start was short, and those five innings were not shutout innings.  However, we should have been able to score a sufficient amount of runs so as to bury the total of three that the Rangers had accumulated.

Thus, Lackey was one inning short of a quality start.  He gave up three runs on six hits while walking three and striking out four over the course of five innings, not the required six.  Miller pitched the sixth, and Tazawa pitched the seventh with the help of three K’s.  Uehara pitched the eighth and wasn’t so on.  He got a strikeout to start the frame but then allowed a single followed by a home run.  Big mistake.  So instead of losing by 3-1, we lost by 5-1.

In other news, the Bruins dropped one to the Leafs, 4-2.

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