August 29, 2006

G132: Athletics 2, Red Sox 1

Beckett pitched well enough to win (7-5-2-3-4, 104), but allowing two runs was too much for the current Boston lineup to overcome.

In both the second and fourth innings, Youkilis walked and Lowell singled, but nothing came of it. Youkilis doubled with two outs in the sixth and scored on Hinske's single up the middle, making the score 2-1. Hinske was then thrown out trying to steal (??) with Lowell at the plate.

In the seventh, Carlos Pena singled with one out and Mirabelli walked. But Kiko Calero got Pedroia on a grounder to first (which moved the runners to second and third) and Joe Kennedy fanned Crisp on a full count, cut fastball down and in.

Loretta walked with one out in the eighth, but Youkilis and Hinske could not advance him. After Youkilis started a 7-6-2 play that nailed Kotsay at the plate in the bottom of the eighth, Lowell, Pena and Mirabelli went down in order against Justin Duchscherer in the ninth, the last two batters striking out.

I'm sure the Red Sox will win another game at some point this year (though you won't catch me betting actually money on it), but I was actually surprised when they scored a run tonight. At 2-0 after five innings, and only four base runners through 5.2 innings, I figured we were looking at a second consecutive shutout.

Afternoon game tomorrow.

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Three Red Sox Set For Pawtucket: Trot Nixon will DH on Thursday, play RF on Friday, and DH on Saturday. ... Alex Gonzalez will play SS on Friday and Saturday. ... Jason Varitek will catch 5 innings on Friday and 7 innings on Saturday.

David Ortiz will spend tonight at Mass General.

***

Josh Beckett (5.21) / Kirk Saarloos (4.66), 10 PM

Manny Ramirez and Wily Mo Pena were sent back to Boston today for further medical examination. ... So who's our bench for two games? Kapler and Lopez. They don't add up to even one major league player. Christ.

On the plus side, the Yankees were rained out today, so we'll drop only one half-game tonight.

4 comments:

Kyle said...

I'm sorry but why are they even bothering to have Tek and Nixon rehab?? Just let them rest. We aren't going to rip off 20 wins in Sept.

Jack said...

If/When Tek comes back, if he's catching Beckett I might have to choke a bitc- I mean Tito.

allan said...

Some small part of me wants the Sox to keep losing when Varitek comes back -- to maybe shut up all this talk of how the wheels came off because Tek was out.

(Not that his absence didn't hurt, but the incessant "he's the biggest cog" bullshit is out of fucking control ...)

laura k said...

Some small part of me wants the Sox to keep losing when Varitek comes back -- to maybe shut up all this talk of how the wheels came off because Tek was out.

I feel the same way! It's ridiculous. Take one factor out of 10 or 20, point to that, and decide it's the difference?

JoS commenters have said that Manny is lucky to have such staunch defenders. Varitek and Trot are the lucky ones. They can both be mediocre and yet fans will somehow believe they're the heart and soul of the team. GWGs to the rescue.

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Gritty White Guys