Just Enough

We didn’t go into extras yesterday, but we needed every good performance we could get.  Bailey almost lost the game for us, but he closed the deal just in time; if he’d allowed one more run, we’d have been in the lately-all-too-familiar position of having to put in extra playing time after a grueling schedule of having done so too often recently already.  Fortunately, with a bit of offense and a lot of solid pitching, we didn’t have to go that route.

This was, without a doubt, one of the best starts I’ve seen from Lackey this year.  His line was fantastic, but that by itself wasn’t it.  He just seemed comfortable.  He seemed at ease, and he seemed himself.  It looked like he was in complete control of the situation at all times.  And that’s always something to celebrate in a starting pitcher.  You want your starter to be able not only to set the tone for the game but also maintain it, and that’s exactly what Lackey did.  He kept his head down and delivered, ensuring that we were in a position to bring in the W.

In total, he pitched seven innings and needed 101 pitches to do so.  That is efficiency right there; most pitchers considered aces use around one hundred pitches to get through seven innings.  He gave up only two runs on seven hits, only one of which, a double, was for extra bases.  Both of those runs scored in the first.  His second pitch of the game was hit for a single; that double then scored the game’s first run.  Then he gave up another single followed by a wild pitch and a third single that resulted in his second run.  Then he recorded three straight outs and never looked back.

Even when he couldn’t get hitters out, he made sure that he limited their productivity.  He walked only one, which means he knew exactly where the strike zone was and how to use it to his advantage.  And he struck out four.  Four strikeouts isn’t that many, but considering everything else he did right, it’s safe to say that he had no trouble ensuring that outs were recorded using a variety of methods.

And for his hard and stellar work, he picked up the win.  Uehara, who pitched the eighth, picked up a hold.  Bailey, who came way too close to blowing it completely, ultimately picked up the save.  We scored just enough runs to eliminate any detrimental effects that the two-run home run he gave up in the ninth would have had.

Our time to shine was the middle third of the game; we scored in the fifth, sixth, and seventh.  The fifth was our big inning.  Pedroia singled, Papi struck out, and Carp hit an absolutely beautiful home run to right on a changeup.  The count was 3-1, so he relaxed and let the opportunity come to him.  Gomes singled after that, Salty flied out, and Drew doubled Gomes in.

In the fifth, Ellsbury singled, stole second, moved to third on a sac bunt by Victorino, and scored on a groundout by Pedroia.  Lastly with one out in the sixth, Gomes turned on the power.  His count was 1-2, which clearly doesn’t favor the hitter, but his eye was keen enough to pick out a splitter that had gone wrong and launch it past the center field fence.

Obviously Bailey’s faltering in the ninth was cause for concern.  Ultimately, we managed to eke out a 5-4 win.  At least we kept it to nine innings this time.

In other news, this time the Bruins won in sudden death, tying the series at one game apiece with a 2-1 victory.

AP Photo

Read Full Post »

The Long And Winding Road

Well, that was exhausting.  That game was about half an hour short of lasting for a quarter of a whole day.  It was ridiculous.  There was good, but there was a whole lot of bad and plenty of ugly.

We had ourselves a huge first.  Ellsbury singled, Victorino doubled, and Pedroia singled them both in.  Papi walked, Pedroia scored on a double by Nava, and Papi and Nava both scored on a single by Carp.  Salty doubled, Carp scored on a single by Middlebrooks, Drew popped out, and Ellsbury grounded into a double play.

Lackey made two big mistakes in the bottom of the first and gave up two solo shots as a result.  Somehow it didn’t really make much of a dent.  Unfortunately, the two runs he allowed over the course of the third and fourth did.  He gave up three consecutive singles in the third, secured the inning’s first out, and then induced a force out that scored only one run.  He gave up two consecutive singles in the fourth, secured the inning’s first out, and then allowed another single that scored a run.

Two groundouts, a hit batsman, and a double into the sixth, Lackey was lifted in favor of Breslow.  But not before he hit Matt Joyce in the back.  Joyce tried to charge the mound, but Salty kept him at bay.  Meanwhile, both benches cleared, but there were no brawls or ejections, just warnings.

Breslow ended the sixth.  Miller got the first two outs of the seventh and allowed a solo shot.  Tazawa got the inning’s final out.  Unfortunately, he threw the game into extras when he issued a wild pitch in the eighth.  He had allowed a double, and it turned into a run as a result.  Mortensen got through the ninth, but we still had extras to contend with.

Pedroia led off the tenth with a walk, moved to second on a groundout by Papi, and stole third while Nava was busy working another walk.  Carp struck out, Nava moved to second on defensive indifference, and Pedroia and Nava both scored on a single by Salty.

It was small ball, and yet it was huge.  That was the game right there.  Lackey had a bad night, and the relief corps had an even worse night.  And as many runs as we scored in the first inning alone, it wasn’t enough.  We needed more.  I regret that we had to go into extras to get it.  But as long as we won, we should ultimately feel good about it.

Bailey gave up a solo shot in the tenth, but our two runs could handle it.  Two walks and one single later, he had the bases loaded with nobody out.  But then he walked in a run.  It is the worst possible way for a pitcher to allow a run because it is completely preventable and based solely on the pitcher just being bad.  And just like that, the game was tied back up at eight.

Uehara pitched the eleventh and twelfth.  Morales pitched the thirteenth and the fourteenth.

Finally, in the fourteenth inning, the game was won.  By us! Victorino singled, moved to second on a flyout by Pedroia, and scored on a single by Nava.  Papi, meanwhile, had walked intentionally; Iglesias came in to pinch-run and scored on a single by Salty.

The game lasted five hours and twenty-four minutes.  We sent out eight pitchers, two of whom blew saves (Tazawa and Bailey); Morales got the win.  It was exhausting, and without the W at the end of all that baseball, especially since we had a six-zip lead before the Rays sent their first batter to the plate, it would have undoubtedly been devastating.  But that doesn’t change the fact that we needed fourteen innings to redo something we’d already done in the first due to bad pitching.  A lineup that puts together that many runs should not need to play that much baseball just to win by two.

USA Today Sports Staff/Kim Klement

Read Full Post »

Relatively Epic

The Rangers didn’t stand a chance in this one.  Seriously.  No chance.  I thought our run total against the Yanks was epic, but it turns out that I had another thing coming.  And in this case, I am most definitely happy about that.  We scored so many runs last night that if you cut our run total in half, not only would we still have won, but that total alone would have been considered a ton of runs in most situations.

We did not waste time putting ourselves on top in this one.  Really, we didn’t.  From the very first, both literally and figuratively, we were winning and never looked back.  Nava led off the bottom of the first with a walk, followed by a single by Carp.  Then Pedroia struck out, and Papi hit an RBI double.  Then Napoli walked to load the bases, and Carp scored on a groundout by Salty.  Not exactly the response to a bases-loaded situation that we were looking for, but in the long run, we had absolutely nothing to worry about.

Iglesias led off the second with a double, and Bradley promptly followed that with a homer to right on a 2-1 count.  After that came a single by Nava, a walk by Carp, a flyout by Pedroia, a bases-clearing triple by Papi, and a successful sac fly by Napoli.  Then Salty doubled and scored on a double by Drew.  End our six-run second.

Nava doubled with one out in the third and scored on a single by Carp.  And Drew homered to right center field to lead off the fourth; Carp repeated that performance in the fifth.

Then Salty led off the sixth with a solo shot.  Drew singled, Iglesias reached on a throwing error, and both runners ended up in scoring position.  Drew scored on a groundout by Bradley, and Nava hit a successful sac fly but ended up on third thanks to a fielding error, and he himself scored on a sac fly by Carp.  A single by Salty, a double by Drew, and a bases-clearing single by Iglesias resulted in yet two more runs.

While the offense was getting busy at the plate, Dempster was mighty busy on the mound.  This, I have to say, was a quality start.  The numbers don’t lie.  He gave up a double and consequently a two-run home run in the fourth as well as a solo shot to lead off the sixth.  All told, he pitched a nice, long seven innings.  He gave up just the three runs on five hits while walking only one and striking out six.  Easily one of the best starts we’ve seen from him this year.

Mortensen came on for the eighth; he gave up a single and subsequently a two-run home run of his own.  After that he gave up two singles and a walk and was subsequently replaced by Miller, who ended the inning.  He aced the ninth.

Well, we finally won by a score of 17-5.  There was only one inning during which we did not score: the eighth.  Obviously there was no need to play the bottom of  the ninth.  In the end we racked up nineteen hits.  Thirteen of them were for extra bases: eight doubles, one triple, and four homers.  And that, my friends, is how you play baseball.

In other news, the Bruins completely knocked down the Penguins, 6-1.

Getty Images

Read Full Post »

Of All The Slugfests

I don’t like losing to the Yankees.  I’ve said that, if we absolutely have to lose, do we really have to lose to the Yankees of all teams?

It’s a little different when you’re talking about wins.  I love to beat the Yankees.  If we absolutely have to win, I’d love to just win, win, win all the team.  I’d love to win every single time we face the Evil Empire.  It feels good.  And it feels right, and it feels natural.  Especially when it’s not even close.  Then it gets really fun.

We had a baserunner in each of the two innings, but things started to get really serious in the third.  Bradley led it off with a double; Nava singled, putting runners at the corners.  Bradley scored on a double by Carp, Pedroia struck out, and Papi walked intentionally to load the bases.

And then it was Napoli’s turn.  He swung through a fastball and watched another one go by.  He fouled one off and took another one for a ball.  He took a slider for a ball and got his fifth four-seam of the at-bat.  Huge mistake.  The count was 2-2, and the Yanks were only one strike away from out number two.  But that one strike is pretty far off with a hitter like Napoli, I guess.  Especially if you miss.  Napoli is not one of those hitters who will miss it when you miss.  Last night was no exception.  The ball went over the fence in right center field.  Mike Napoli, like it was no big deal, hit a grand slam.

We had one baserunner in the fourth and two each in the fifth, sixth, and seventh.  But we didn’t score.  And our lead was very much intact by the time the eighth inning began.  By the time the eighth inning was over, it wasn’t even a game anymore.  It was The Boston Red Sox Show.

Iglesias and Bradley led off the eighth with back-to-back singles.  Then it was Nava’s turn.  In total, that at-bat comprised four pitches: two curveballs that he fouled off, a two-seam that he swung through, and a four-seam that he sent over the fence in right center field.  One swing, three runs, and almost double our lead.

Drew got in on the action with one out in the ninth, belting a solo shot also on his fourth pitch, also on a fastball, this one going to just straight-up right field.  Unfortunately, no one was on base at the time.  But Salty doubled after that and scored on a single by Iglesias, and Bradley doubled after that and scored on a sac fly by Nava.

The Yanks scored their first run one inning later.  Doubront gave up two singles and induced a  force out that put runners at the corners; the second out of the inning proved to be a successful sac fly.  Other than that, Doubront just put it on cruise control, and it was smooth sailing through six innings.  He was a master.

Tazawa, Breslow, and Uehara each pitched an inning to end the game.  In total, six members of the starting lineup had multi-hit games: Drew and Salty both went two for five, Carp went two for three, Bradley and Napoli both went three for five, and Nava went four for six in the leadoff spot.  We walked only three times but posted a whopping eighteen hits, seven of which were for extra bases: four doubles and three homers.  We left nine on base and went only five for fifteen with runners in scoring position.

And now, it is my great pleasure to proudly state the final score: 11-1.  That, folks, is just about as lopsided a slugfest as you can get.

In other news, the Bruins have officially begun our series with the Penguins.  And we are now officially in the lead! We shut them out, three-zip.  On to Game Two!

AP Photo

Read Full Post »

Ordinary

We lost again.  But we expect good outings from Lackey, so the fact that he pitched really well, fortunately, is not so surprising.  The fact that he didn’t have any run support was not great.  And the relief corps did not pitch well at all.  Basically, what I’m saying is that it’s tough to find an unexpected nice surprise in this one.

Lackey delivered yet another quality start.  Three runs on six hits over the course of six innings while walking three and striking out five.  But when I say quality start, it was barely quality.  His final line says quality, but his actual performance says not-so-much.  All three of those runs came via the long ball, which means that half of his hits were home runs, and he made three huge mistakes.

He had a one-two-three first and gave up a solo shot on his third pitch of the second.  He gave up a single and a walk in the third and two consecutive solo shots in the fourth.  He had a one-two-three fifth and issued two walks in the sixth.

After Lackey gave up those three home runs, we were down by only one run.  Ellsbury tripled on the sixth pitch of the game, and he scored on a sac fly by Pedroia.  And Nava homered on the third pitch of the sixth, launching the ball beyond the right field fence.  It was awesome.  And too little.

Miller came on for the eighth and loaded the bases with one out thanks to a single and two consecutive walks; Uehara finished the inning but gave up a home run to lead off the eighth, which doubled the Phillies’ lead in a game in which runs were already hard to come by.

And then, the ninth inning came along.  With one out, Drew walked.  One out later, Gomes singled.  Drew scored on a double by Ellsbury, and the tying run moved to third; the go-ahead run was standing at second.  There were two out, and we had a chance to win it all back.  It would be epic.  Epic like the walkoff wins we’ve had lately.

But instead, Nava grounded out on the first pitch of his at-bat.  And we lost, 4-3.

AP Photo

Read Full Post »