Schilling was superb (8-5-1-0-6), Ortiz and Manny both drove in three runs and the game was a blow-out before Keith Foulke tossed some ugly BP in the ninth (including, yup, a Show Pony 2-run shot into the Monster Seats, which cut the score from 9-1 to 9-3; that's clutch, baby!).
Schilling allowed only five hits -- and three of them came with two outs in the third inning, which led to one run. The other hits were singles in the fifth and seventh.
One note on ESPN: Good god, they suck. Dave O'Brien and Rick Sutcliffe all but declared the Red Sox season over in the first inning when third base coach DeMarlo Hale did not send Mark Loretta from second on Manny Ramirez's single to short left. It turns out that Terrence Long overran the ball, but Hale could not have known that, and should not have expected it.
The ESPN guys said over and over how the Red Sox had blown the play, how their fans were "stunned" at the run not scoring and how the club had egg on their faces. ... And yet every intelligent person would have seen that Hale had made the correct call -- Long touched the ball well before Loretta reached third base, he was charging it and the play was in shallow left -- at Fenway. Not a long throw home, in other words.
The only reason I could see why Sox fans were "stunned" at the decision is that our old third base coach would have waved him in no matter what. And while stunned (perhaps), we were also thankful our 3B coach had a brain.
By the way, once Boston had taken the lead -- it turned out their season was not in jeopardy, after all -- and Hale wisely held runners at third on two occasions in the third and seventh innings, which lead to Manny Ramirez driving both of them in, both O.B. and Sut said absolutely nothing.
There was also some sweet fielding. A 6-4-3 DP ended the fifth as Alex Cora (who also went 3-for-4) moved to his right, gloved the ball and threw to second off-balance, Loretta turned a tough pivot and Kevin Youkilis scooped the ball out of the dirt. Yook also started a nifty 3-6-3 DP to end the seventh.
***
Curt Schilling (4.17 ERA) has been in a slump, allowing six home runs and 11 runs in his last two starts. On May 10, Schilling gave up eight hits and six runs over five innings to the Yankees -- Boston's only loss to New York in four games this year. He has been studying tape of his performances in the 2001 World Series in preparation for what he called "Super Bowl Monday". Schilling does have a 2.14 ERA in three home starts. In his last two starts, Chien-Ming Wang (3.79 ERA) has allowed three runs (two earned) in 16 innings against Oakland and Texas. On May 1, Wang pitched five innings (5-6-3-4-0). Boston won that game 7-3. ... Manny Ramirez (4-for-7) and Ortiz (4-for-6) have done well against Wang.
The tabloids can be so mean.
11 comments:
But Wily Mo has bailed us out big-time on the Crisp issue. Thank goodness it's not Willie Harris/Dustan Mohr playing out there every day. .327/.374/.505 is not an easy "replacement" to come by.
The Sox have played .500 ball when DiNardo pitches. Certainly not the long-term solution, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. I do hope Wells does not suck when he comes back.
I really don't think Theo would take back Arroyo and give up Pena, even as things have turned out so far.
yo, jeter got in hootchie-drag for snl and was damn funny. i'd say that takes balls.
other than that, i hate his cocky, gum-smackin ass. but yeah..sayin ;p
News from the Globe:
Wily Mo Pena was scratched from tonight's game with a wrist injury. Willie Harris will play CF.
David Riske was activated and Abe Alvarez was sent back to Pawtucket.
Francona confirmed that David Wells will pitch on Friday against Tampa Bay.
Schill = 0 hits, 3K's in two innings.
Too early to hope? I mean, 16 wins and a 4 ERA isn't the end of the world, espeically after last year, but...to have the ace, that would be sweet.
what the gd hell is foulke's problem?
back to back homers, gives up 4 runs..man oh man.
curt was so awesome. i documented every one of his pitches, lol. he mixed em up well ;D
Yup. As Sutcliffe said in the 9th, "I've been saying it since opening day, no lead is safe if you've got Robinson Cano."
He also said: "The Yankees and Red Sox finished last season with the exact same record, but the Yankees won the division because they won one more game."
Anyone wanna start firericksutcliffe.blogspot.com?
You'll never run short of material.
I'm not sure that last night's outing proved to be anything more than a bump in the road for Foulke. His record is 2-1 with 8 holds. Prior to last night, he'd pitched 23.1 innings, giving up nine runs (2 HR) and had struck out 19 while walking only 3. At one point, he actually had a better K/BB ratio than Papelbon. While I would agree that he's not yet in 2004 form (and may never be unfortunately), I wouldn't classify his recent outings as "false positives" given the numbers. It may not always be pretty but at least he's getting the job done.
Sutcliffe has to go. After that appearance in SD...how can ESPN keep him on staff?
I'm writing a letter to ESPN on this. How many times did those guys mess up? They even said, there is a hit for Johnny Damon in the 9th when it clearly want NOT Johnny.
What happened to Orel Hersheiser? He did one of the Sox games with Cleveland on ESPN and he was great.
I talked about Sutcliff and O'Brien on my own blog today. Check it out.
Yes, they truly suck.
Or how about that garbage about how Lowell wouldn't take third on the sac fly because it would be disrespectful to Bernie given the score? I mean, come on! He didn't take third because he couldn't do it safely, weak arm on Bernie or not. How goofy can you get.
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