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.

AP Photo

Read Full Post »

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.

AP Photo

Read Full Post »

Swept

You know, it actually got to the point where I kind of forgot what it felt like.  I forgot what it felt like to be completely shut down by another team over the course of multiple games played on multiple days.  It’s like when we all forgot what sweeping other teams felt like when we were mired in the abysmal dross that was last season.  Now I remember.  Getting swept is not fun.

This time, it was Lester who didn’t deliver.  Actually, to be fair, he did deliver.  He gave a quality start.  He gave up three runs on five hits over six innings.  He walked three and struck out seven; needless to say, his cut fastball wasn’t as formidable as usual.  It didn’t have the same nasty bite on it that it usually does when he’s really on.  He had a spectacular first and second during which he sent the Rangers down in order.  Even his third inning, during which he gave up a solo shot, was otherwise great.  He made a mistake on a cutter, and the batter figured it out, but other than that, he was spotless.

He gave up a double and a walk in the fourth.  He gave up a walk and a single in the fifth.  And he gave up a single and a home run in the sixth, this one on a sinker.  So as you can see, it became increasingly laborious for him as the game went on.  He ended up throwing 115 pitches, seventy of which were strikes.  It was just one of those days.  His starts usually comprise less than three walks, less than six hits, less than three runs, more than seven strikeouts, and more than six innings.  Not yesterday.  Lester’s ERA is now 3.30.

But seriously, it wasn’t that bad.  It wasn’t even bad at all.  Lester gave up three runs.  If that had been the extent of the damage that the Rangers had been able to inflict, then the game could have potentially had a very different outcome.  Even if the Rangers scored more, the game still could have had a different outcome if we had been able to score more than we did.

By the time the Rangers scored their first run in the third, we were already up by three.  So by all accounts, it seemed like we could have at least ended the series with the dignity of not having been swept right out of Arlington.  With two out, Pedroia singled, and Papi unleashed on a 3-1 fastball.  The ball ended up beyond the right field fence, and we ended up with two runs just like that.  His hitting streak is now at twenty-five.

In the very next frame, after Carp struck out, Ross hit his second pitch of the game for a solo shot.  Both pitches were sliders around the same speed.  He took the first one for a ball; he sent the second one beyond the left field foul pole.  It was awesome.  You had the veteran slugger slugging, and you had the comebacker slugging as well.  Better still, you had the comebacker becoming the fourth player in the history of Rangers Ballpark to smash one into the club tier.  Things had looked good.

After we went down in order in the third and the Rangers scored their first run, things still looked good.  Neither team scored in the fourth or fifth.  We went down in order in the top of the sixth; for the most part, the two pitchers were involved in a duel of sorts.  Both ended up giving up three runs; Lester’s two-run home run tied the game at three.  And that’s the way it stayed through the seventh, which Uehara pitched.  It’s the way it stayed through the eighth, despite the fact that we walked twice and that it took the services of both Tazawa and Miller to get through the bottom of the frame.  And that’s the way it stayed through the top of the ninth, when Ross walked, Drew singled, and one out quickly turned into three.

But that is not the way it stayed through the bottom of the ninth.  Mortensen came out and was all business.  He struck out his first two batters and looked solid.  Then he gave up a single and issued a wild pitch, which is something that can happen when a sinkerballer sinks too low.  In and of itself, that wouldn’t have done anything to shake the tie.  Mortensen then intentionally walked Lance Berkman.  Still, the tie was intact.  It was the single he gave up to Adrian Beltre of all people that did us in.  He threw five straight sliders to Beltre; when he singled, the count was 1-2.

The final score was 4-3.  It was the first time we got swept this year, and we now have to share the best record in the Majors with the team that swept us.

AP Photo

Read Full Post »

The Odds

Lester had his first bad start in a while.  It was probably his worst start since last year.  But it was one of those bad starts where a bad start by Lester is a great start for most pitchers on most teams.  It wasn’t a quality start, but comparatively speaking, it would only be considered a bad start if we were to lose.  It’s funny how that works.

The Jays struck first.  Lester began with a groundout on three pitches, a sufficient start indeed.  But then he gave up a walk followed by an RBI double.  Neither team scored in the second, but Lester had a horrible third.  He gave up a single, hit a batter, and issued a walk.  Then Salty tried to lessen the load by picking one off, but it only served to allow a run to score, as the throw was erroneous.  It was an awful, awful play to witness.  Awful.  Two quick outs later, Lester gave up another RBI double.

He had a one-two-three fourth and a two-run-homer fifth; Lester gave up a single to lead it off, got an out, and threw a big mistake of a fastball.  And he had a one-two-three sixth.

All told, Lester lasted six innings.  He gave up six runs on six hits while walking two and striking out five.  So his strikeout count was low and his hit count was high.  He threw one hundred pitches, which is his usual count after at least one inning more.  Basically, he had trouble finding the strike zone.  That didn’t turn into a high walk count; it just turned into a handful of hits and runs and balls.  So it’s like I said.  Great game if you win or if you’re used to a lot worse.  Not-so-great game if you’re Jon Lester.

We were down by four by the fourth, when we finally scored.  And we scored in a big way.  Papi was first up.  He took a ninety-four mile-per-hour four-seam for a strike.  Then he got a ninety-five mile-per-hour four-seam and took the cover off it.  Or at least that’s what it looked like would happen when he unleashed his epic swing on it and buried it in center field.  Then Napoli struck out; you’d think it would have been him who continued the rally.  But it was Carp, who’s been quietly having quite the offensive stretch.  He took an eighty-four mile-per-hour splitter for a ball and then crushed an eighty-nine mile-per-hour slider for the second solo shot of the frame.  His ended up beyond the fence in right center field.

The fifth began with back-to-back singles by Drew and Ellsbury; one out later, Drew scored on a single by Pedroia.  Gomes got in on the power action in the sixth; with a 2-2 count, Gomes got a two-seam he liked and unleashed, sending the ball out to left center.  It was all Papi again in the seventh; after Drew struck out, Ellsbury singled, Nava reached on a force attempt, and Pedroia walked.  Papi then hit a bases-clearing double.  It wasn’t a home run, but the effect was remarkably similar.

At the time, this allowed us to pull ahead, and things were looking good.  But then Tazawa pitched the seventh and didn’t do so well himself.  The first two outs of the inning went well, but then he issued a walk followed by a home run of his own that, at the time, put the Jays back on top.  See, this is exactly what I’m talking about.  How often have I said that relievers should be wary of making mistakes when we’re winning because, at some point, it’s bound to happen when the game is on the line.  Last night, the game was on the line.  The odds of Lester and Tazawa both having mediocre performances during the same game were obviously pretty close to nonexistent, but during such a long season, at some point everything happens.  And it happened yesterday.

Twice.  Hanrahan came back.  But it wasn’t good.  He gave up a single, a successful sac bunt, and another single deflected by Pedroia, which allowed the runner to score.  Meanwhile, we’d been coming up empty since the seventh.  Seven runs should be more than enough to win any game, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the damage done by the pitchers.  We lost, 9-7.  So much for our five-game winning streak.

In other news, the Bruins lost to the Sens, 4-2.

Getty Images

Read Full Post »

Good Badness

Lester had one of his worst starts this year.  He only lasted five and two-thirds innings, and he gave up three runs on six hits while walking six and striking out only five.  This start pushed his ERA over 2.00; it’s now 2.27.

Lester gave up two walks and a single in the first.  He gave up another walk in the second.  He had a one-two-three third.  He gave up two singles and a home run in the fourth; that put us down by three.  He gave up another walk in the fifth.  He gave up a double, walk, and single while recording two strikeouts.  And then he was replaced by Tazawa, who recorded the final out of the sixth.

Objectively speaking, Lester’s start really wasn’t that bad.  He made one mistake, which resulted in the three-run home run.  Other than that, he was just very inefficient and didn’t have his usual control or command.  He had substantial trouble finding the strike zone, and his walks reduced his efficiency.  So that’s how stellar a pitcher he is.  There are pitchers out there whose best day doesn’t even come close to Lester’s start last night.

Tazawa secured the first two outs of the seventh and allowed a double followed by a single, which scored a run.  Miller then came in, finished the seventh.  Uehara came out for the eighth and gave up a solo shot before getting through the rest of the frame with flying colors.  Bailey had a fantastic ninth; three up, three down, all via the swinging strikeout.

The A’s scored in three innings: three runs in the fourth, one in the seventh, and one in the eighth.  We only scored in two innings, and we barely scored enough to compensate for the runs allowed by the relief corps.  But the fact is that we got through it, so we picked up the win.  Still, as long as the relief corps gives up runs late in the game, I will continue to make note of the fact that no good can come of it, win or no win.

Before and after the fourth and fifth, we had no scoring opportunities or rallies to speak of.  But those were some great innings.  It began modestly enough with a groundout by Pedroia.  Then Papi and Napoli hit back-to-back doubles that resulted in our first run.  Gomes walked but was out at second thanks to a force by Middlebrooks that still put runners at the corners.  In the end, it didn’t matter where anyone was standing; Drew hit a bases-clearing triple.  The frame ended with a strikeout by Ross.

Ellsbury led off the fifth with a single, stole second, and scored on a double by Victorino.  Pedroia singled, and runners were again at the corners; Victorino scored on a single by Papi.  After a pitching change, Napoli got hit to load the bases.  Nava came in to pinch-hit for Gomes and singled in Pedroia.  Then we went down in order.

Half of our ten hits were for extra bases.  Pedroia went two for five, Papi went two for four, and Nava was a perfect two for two.  Papi played an essential role in our rallies; it’s so good to have him back.  We also had two walks to our credit en route to a 6-5 win.

AP Photo

Read Full Post »