How Sweep It Is

When was the last time you experienced a three-hour rain delay? You could fit an entire baseball game into that period of time.  Wow.  That’s what I call a delay.  But it was a great game, and I’m glad we got to see it through to the end.  Not that we had anything to lose if we hadn’t been able to do so.  We won after nine, and we would have won after seven-plus.

Middlebrooks scored the game’s first run when he went yard in the second.  He got a slider and then three straight changeups; the last one ended up, like Saturday’s home runs, beyond the fence in right center field.  Quite the powerful and positive note to start on.

With one out in the next frame, Victorino walked, moved to third on a single by Gomes, and scored on a force attempt by Pedroia.  That was a gift.  That ball was a double play waiting to happen, but an exceptionally aberrant throw put it in the outfield.  With one out in the fifth, Pedroia, Papi, and Napoli hit back-to-back-to-back singles, scoring another run.  Nava actually made it back-to-back-to-back-to-back, but no further runs scored, and Middlebrooks and Salty provided two quick outs, Salty grounding out on only one pitch.

We scored the game’s last two runs in the ninth, the only inning during which we scored more than one run.  With one out, Gomes walked, and then Pedroia went yard on a fastball, the third one of that at-bat and the fourth pitch overall.  This time, the ball went beyond the fence in left field; I guess it’s good to have some variety.  Either way, it was two runs on one swing.

Lackey had himself a great start in the meantime.  His first four innings were literally perfect; he didn’t give up any hits or issue any walks.  But his third pitch of the fifth was hit for a double, and then he hit a batter, got a strikeout, and a run scored on a force out.  But at least we got an out out of it.  The inning then ended on a groundout.  He then threw a perfect sixth.  So it was just the fifth that was problematic, and even the fifth wasn’t that problematic, if you think about it.  He only allowed one run, and it wasn’t even earned, because the only reason why the runner advanced to first on the force out was because Ciriaco made a throwing error.  In the end, that double was his only hit.  And he pitched through six rather than five, so it was definitely a quality start, and I’d say it’s a start we can be proud of.

In total, Lackey threw eighty-four pitches and probably would have pitched even longer had it not been for the rain delay.  He ended up striking out five and, of course, didn’t walk anyone.

Miller pitched a perfect seventh, and Uehara gave up a double, a walk, and a single to load the bases with two out but pitched himself out of it, ending the eighth unscathed.  Tazawa pitched an almost-perfect ninth, giving up a single but no runs.

The final score was 5-1.  It turns out that none of our runs were scored with nobody out, but I’m glad we’ve shown that we can handle the pressure.  By the way, we just swept.

In other news, we find ourselves up in the series, two-zip; the B’s took the second game from the Rangers, 5-2!

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Distribution

Okay, so Buchholz didn’t almost throw a perfect game.  But he did pitch well enough to have gotten the win.  The fact that he didn’t wasn’t his fault.  Just like the offense should be expected to carry a pitcher who throws a complete-game shutout, so too should the offense be expected to carry a pitcher who limits the opposition to only two runs over eight innings.

Buchholz had a one-two-three first and second.  He gave up a walk and a subsequent RBI single in the third.  He gave up two singles that resulted in another run in the fourth.  Other than a walk in the fifth and a single in the eighth, that was it for the Jays yesterday on Buchholz’s watch.  He threw 101 pitches, yet again exhibiting his brutal efficiency.  He was aggressive and wasn’t afraid to go after the strike zone.  All in all, it was a masterful performance.  He should have gotten a win; he didn’t deserve a no-decision.

But at least he didn’t pick up the loss.  That was all Tazawa’s fault.  Tazawa came in for the ninth and gave up a solo shot on his sixth pitch.  His fastball was great, but this was a slider.  He threw a slider, and he missed.  He missed big.  Our only response in the bottom of the inning was a double by Middlebrooks.  But he never made it to home plate.  It was just awful.  There was no justice for Buchholz yesterday.  No justice whatsoever.  It is the job of the relief corps to inherit a situation that they do not make worse.  That is their function.  If they inherit a lead, they’re supposed to keep it intact.  If they inherit a loss, they’re supposed to keep a lid on it so that the offense can turn things around.  But they are not supposed to lose ballgames.

In fairness, however, we should have been able to score a sufficient number of runs so as to make that solo shot inconsequential.  After all, Tazawa gave up a solo shot; that’s only one run.  The reason why it lost us the game was because, at the time, we were tied with the Jays at two.  Had we been leading, that home run simply would have tied it up, and we would have gone into extras, and then it would have been possible that we would have won in the end.  Even better, had we been able to score more than three runs, then we would have won in nine, all else being equal.  So I think it’s fair to say that losing, in this case, was a team effort, Buchholz excluded.  (Although you could make an argument that, if Buchholz hadn’t allowed any runs whatsoever, then Tazawa could have allowed the solo shot and we still would have won.  And then it becomes a consideration of relative standards, that is, what one thinks is the threshold that acquits a ballplayer and places the blame elsewhere.)

Anyway, the game essentially came down to a pitcher’s duel, which we lost when, not coincidentally, we changed pitches.  Like the Jays through eight, we were lucky to score two runs at all and spent most of the game behind by two.  We didn’t get on the board until the eighth.

We had some opportunities.  Victorino and Pedroia hit back-to-back singles in the first.  Middlebrooks doubled and Drew walked in the second.  Pedroia and Papi hit back-to-back singles in the third.  We had absolutely no opportunities in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh.  Ross led off the eighth with a walk and scored on a triple by Ellsbury.  Victorino struck out, but Ellsbury scored on a fielding error.  Pedroia reached on that error and stole second, and after Papi struck out, Napoli was walked intentionally.  But the rally ended when Gomes struck out looking.

So we lost, 3-2.  We left eight men on base, went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position, and have lost seven of our last nine games.

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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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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.

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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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