David Ortiz hit two home runs: #38 leading off the fourth -- which cut the Tampa lead to 2-1 -- and #39 leading off the eighth -- which broke a 2-2 tie. Not a walk-off, but still clutch.
Manny Delcarmen pitched a quick eighth inning (Travis Lee singled to right and was thrown out at second by Gabe Kapler (sounded like very poor baserunning by Lee)) and Jonathan Papelbon pocketed his 30th save with a perfect ninth.
In Baltimore, the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 as Dumbo hit a ninth inning tie-breaking homer. Toronto lost and fell to 9.5 GB.
***
Curt Schilling (3.84) / James Shields (5.43), 7:15 PM
Mike Lowell's left foot remains sore, so Alex Cora gets the nod at third. ... Javy Lopez is with the team, but will get his first start tomorrow night. ... Lineups:
Crisp, CF Hollins, CF
Loretta, 2B Crawford, LF
Ortiz, DH Cantu, DH
Ramirez, LF Lee, 1B
Youkilis, 1B Norton, RF
Pena, RF Navarro, C
Cora, 3B Upton, SS
Mirabelli, C Perez, 2B
Gonzalez, SS Zobrist, 3B
Boston has lost three of their last four games against Tampa Bay, though they lead the season series 8-6. ... Last Sunday against the Angels, Schilling allowed six runs and 10 hits in five innings. He has a 4.27 road ERA in 2006. Schilling has faced the Rays four times this season. IP H R BB K
0419 H 6 6 1 1 7
0430 A 6 6 3 1 9
0527 H 7 8 4 0 7
0704 A 7 9 4 0 7
26 29 12 2 30
Shields held the Yankees to four runs in seven innings, but took the loss. He started against the Red Sox on July 6 at Tropicana Field (5-4-5-3-5). Boston won that game 12-5.The Yankees (Johnson, 5.07) are in Baltimore (Chen, 7.07).
looks like lopez is gonna get to start tonight as, un-frikken-believably, mirabelli got injured on a play at the plate (good play tho for the last out of the inning)
ReplyDeleteKudos to the O's for rolling over and playing dead for the Yankees as always.
ReplyDeleteNot so fast, right now they're tied in the 8th.
What would we do without Big Papi? I will stick ice picks in my ears if I have to suffer through another "insider expert" debate about DH's not deserving the MVP. Here's to Wells keeping it rolling tomorrow nite with a good start and maybe the whole offense decides to bash.
ReplyDeleteOn the Lee play in the 8th, guess what was just about the first thing out of Jerry Trupiano's mouth after Lee was tagged out?
ReplyDeleteHe said it was right out of the "Manny Ramirez school of baseruning".
Trupe, you are a fucking idiot and an annoyance. And a piss-poor announcer. How about you spend the winter trying to learn the difference between a popup and a home run. A clue: if you are unsure, watch the outfielder.
Dick.
redsock, on the Lee play, Kapler made a fantastic backhanded grab of his liner in right-center, then took about 4 steps before setting and unloading a bullet to 2nd. Remy opined that it had double written all over it and Lee was shocked to see the ball at 2nd. If Trupe described it like you said, he truly is a a-hole
ReplyDeleteThe radio guys absolutely said Kapler made a great play to cut it off -- but were surprised that (a) Lee did not slide (was he deked by Gonzo into thinking there was no play?) and (b) when he got to the bag, he seemed to wander off, not really like he was rounding for third, but something quite bizarre.
ReplyDeleteTrupe made the Manny comment before they discussed the play. He said it right after the out was called.
Lee may have hesitated rounding first, but then picked up steam and then may have panicked into an in-between, half-slide thing when he sensed the ball beating him. It did not look in real-time, nor did Remy suggest, that any bonehead running was involved. Didn't see any signs of a Gonzo deke, but that's a thought. But any gratuitous Manny base-running blunder bullshit is totally out of order.
ReplyDeletegod, why do they need to diss manny? why even do that, when we have the national media to do that.
ReplyDeleteso lame.
anyway, the best part of the game for me tonight was schilling. you could see the determination in his face. he always has an air of being the toughest he can be for his team, for us, when we need him the most :)