Cubs - 000 000 100 - 1 5 1 Red Sox - 000 210 20x - 5 12 0Wakefield was supremely economical, throwing only 35 pitches through the first four innings (and 64 through six), sending the Cubs back to the dugout almost as soon as they reached the batters box.
Wakefield allowed a leadoff single in the third, and then erased the runner with a double play on his very next pitch. A strikeout/wild pitch put a man on in the fifth, and a leadoff single in the sixth was stranded at third. In the seventh, two doubles brought Chicago a run, and cut Boston's lead to 3-1.
Alfonzo Soriano was the potential tying run at the plate, and Terry Francona wasted no time, replacing Wakefield (6.2-4-1-0-3, 75) with Daniel Bard, who fanned Soriano to end the threat. Bard then pitched a perfect eighth, before Jonathan Papelbon closed it out. Bot allowed a two-out double, but he had a four-run lead, and there was little to worry about.
Wakefield received credit for his 194th career win, and #180 in a Red Sox uniform. He needs 13 more wins to set a new Boston franchise record.
Adrian Gonzalez went 4-for-4, and scored twice. It was the 20th time in his career Gonzalez had four hits in a game, though only the second instance of doing in four trips to the plate. The other 4H/4PA game was for the Padres on June 28, 2006, which was also the only other time beside tonight that Gonzalez had four hits, and no RBI. (Mike Cameron played CF for San Diego that day.) Bert went 4-for-6 in the first game of the Cubs series, on Friday.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered in the fifth -- his 3rd dong in his last four games -- and Kevin Youkilis cracked a stand-up, two-run triple into the triangle in the seventh.
Russell is a 25-year-old left-hander (and son of former Red Sox pitcher Jeff Russell) who debuted with the Cubs last season, pitching in 57 games out of the bullpen. He gave up 10.1 H/9 and was below league average in allowing runs (4.96 ERA, 88 ERA+).
This season has been a mix of starting and relieving for Russell. Looking at his game log, he has made six appearances in May, throwing 83 (his last start), 11, 1, 15, 9, 39 pitches. Only two of his six May games were for more than three batters.
AL East: Mets/Yankees and Rays/Marlins at 1 PM.
Abraham sez: "Russell is a spot starter, taking the place of an injured Matt Garza. He threw 39 pitches in relief on Friday and may only be able to go 2-3 innings today."
ReplyDeleteEllsbury, CF
ReplyDeletePedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Youkilis, 3B
Ortiz, DH
Lowrie, SS
Cameron, RF
Crawford, LF
Saltalamacchia, C
Fukudome, RF
Barney, 2B
Castro, SS
Ramirez, 3B
Pena, 1B
Baker, LF
Soriano, DH
Castillo, C
Johnson, CF
Aceves broke Byrd's face!
ReplyDeleteit won't be long before they are wearing those little league helmets with the face gear...
How long into the game before Valentine calls Orel an idiot?
ReplyDeleteLast week Orel had to preface a statement to Bobby by saying
" Bobby I know there is no black on the plate, but that pitch got the very last part of white" paraphraseing of course...
Because it irks Valentine when people say that pitch caught the black.......He is flippin nuts..
Listen from 3:20 - 3:40 where Orel Hershiser explains the science behind a theory known as "word-of-mouth." Sooooo profound. Maybe Orel can also explain how sunburns happen...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahAz4c2H3Sw
Evolution of the batting helmet:
1) hat
2) hard shell
3) hard shell (one ear flap)
4) hard shell (two ear flaps)
5) hard shell (two ear flaps with face mask)
6) hard shell (two ear flaps and full beekeeper grid)
--future--
6) hard shell (two ear flaps with beekeeper grid and UV visor)
7) Virtual Reality helmet
So:
ReplyDeleteNYM - 030 000 000 - 3 11 1
MFY - 100 000 80x - 9 13 1
FKR - 022 000 000 - 4 7 0
FLA - 000 000 000 - 0 3 1
MFY ---
FKR ---
BOS 1.0
TOR 2.5
Gotta keep pace, get back to 0.5.
Hopefully Wake won't maim anyone tonight.
ReplyDeletedid espn miss the first pitch of the game?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure. I try my best not to look directly at the screen when the games are on Fox or ESPN.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure either, but I do remember them saying, "here we go" so I would guess that was the first pitch.
ReplyDeleteSix pitches, really? Hey guys, it would be nice to make this guy work some.
ReplyDeleteSo that was some implosion last night, huh? We were driving home, turned on the radio, it was 3-1, and before we got to our house ten minutes later or so, it was 5-3, opened the door, turned on the TV, and it was 8-3, and so on...
ReplyDeleteLooks like Wake is on tonight.
It was Keystone Kops during that inning. I haven't been watching baseball as long as some fans, but I can't remember a more comically inept inning.
ReplyDeleteBases loaded, no outs and my husband says, "Oh no" because he knows how I will be complaining if they don't score here.
ReplyDeleteBut, no problem..they're scoring.
My Internet connection is cruder tonight, but the game's on TV. And we've got a run!
ReplyDeleteHe's getting hot...a towering shot!
ReplyDeleteSalty should bat right-handed all the time.
ReplyDeleteNot much chatter here tonight, so I will just say
ReplyDeleteSALTY!!
Been doing work for the firm's top partner, so ....
ReplyDeleteI should be back soon.
SALTY DONG!
Wow, Bert, 3 for 3!
ReplyDeleteGood job by Wakefield. With a guy on second and no one out, I thought for sure this would be the "big inning."
ReplyDeleteHi commenting from the train just to see if I can
ReplyDelete"as you see, the ball missed the glove...."
ReplyDeleteLooked like it hit his glove to me.
Slow comment game. These announcers are acting like the game is just interrupting their conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm back.
ReplyDeletewakew - 64 pitches thru 6!
ReplyDeleteYay - BARD!
ReplyDeleteI like Wake.
ReplyDeleteI notice when a knuckleball floats a little too close inside, the Cubs don't seem to actually move out of the way so much as they spin in place.
ReplyDeleteAnd that hit by Pena was scary.
Wake still has five years to catch Hoyt Wilhelm.
ReplyDeleteI just had a Dwight Evans flashback, watching him catch that ball in front of that short wall.
ReplyDeleteI think it is time to take him out though.
ReplyDelete30mph pitch differential between Wake and the bard. Maybe they getting him now?
ReplyDeleteWell, Tito ain't fucking around tonight.
ReplyDeleteNice job Timmy
ReplyDeleteHow many more Ws does Wake need to get to 200?
ReplyDeletewake: 24 batters, 75 pitches
ReplyDeleteaverage of 3 pitches per batter!
193 wins total
ReplyDelete179 for red sox
Could be 194 soon. Assuming no repeat of last night. The current score is not reassuring.
ReplyDeleteSteal, Pedroia, steal!
ReplyDeleteGonzalez is AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteWho needs Victor Martinez after all?
:)
Amy is very fickle.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait until Bert gets comfortable with his new team and starts hitting for real.
ReplyDeleteTRIPLE SOAKED WITH SWEAT!
ReplyDeleteYOUK! OK, we seem to have things under control.
ReplyDeleteYOUUUKKK!!
ReplyDeleteThis stuff about revenge makes me crazy. Did Aceves intentionally hit Marlon Byrd? What does this teach about sportsmanship? And these asshole announcers condone it all.
ReplyDeleteJust got home - second Sunday in a row with no ESPN game on TV here. It looks like Rogers lost the rights to TSN. Which means MLB Audio only on Sunday nights.
ReplyDelete"Revenge" otherwise known as "pitchers taking care of things", it's as old as baseball.
ReplyDeletethere is a strange relationship with annc. and beanballs. they love to get all high and mighty about the good of the game and how someone could get seriously hurt, but they also laugh about how mean ol' bob gibson was (or drysdale) and talk in awe about how he'd hold a grudge for years and drill guys.
ReplyDeleteSo apparently the Cubs manager thinks the hit to Byrd's face was intentional. What makes the "retaliation" seem not so manly, but more like kids pretending to be manly, is the idea that hitting another player on the backside somehow evens the score vs a guy who is out for weeks with facial fractures. Touche, Quade, Touche.
ReplyDeleteEvery once in a while everyone acts like people are killed every day from being HBP.
ReplyDeletewow - shulman sounding a lot like jon miller (unknowingly, i think) when he said salty "has a home run tonight, too"!
ReplyDeleteDon't make Amy hate Schulman too!
ReplyDeleteJust because it's old as baseball doesn't mean I have to like it!
ReplyDeleteThese announcers weren't being high and mighty about it at all. They were loving it.
I just think that trying to hurt another player is just wrong. Injuries happen, but throwing AT someone...just not right.
Fireworks going off here for Victoria Day. No Cody to console.
ReplyDelete(Although Tala wasn't so crazy about going outside, I had to convince her. But once out, she barked at the fireworks.)
The current score is not reassuring.
ReplyDeleteSo what was the score when you typed this? Just curious. :)
i didn't necessarily mean tonight, because i did not hear them. i mean generally.
ReplyDeleteafter a certain amount of time goes by, bad things often become cute (corking bats, some beanballs, scuffing balls, other forms of cheating, etc.)
i have yet to figure how what the exact # of years is.
Of course you don't have to like it. I just mean that the players expect it, the managers expect it, everyone in the game expects it.
ReplyDeleteThe game doesn't exist to teach lessons about sportsmanship, that's just something adults say to kids.
score was 3-1, i believe.
ReplyDeleteNostalgia is a funny thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Amy. It's not as much about sportsmanship to me, I just don't get it. It seems like a childish and stupid thing to do to. You hit me so I've got to hit you back.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, 1...2
Yes, 3-1. THe score when everything went berserk last night.
ReplyDeleteBaseball may not exist to teach sportsmanship, but practicing it isn't such a bad idea.
ReplyDeleteCome on, Laura, as someone who abhors war and violence, you can't really think an eye for an eye is a good thing, can you?
Much of what we fans do is pretty childish, too.
ReplyDeleteChildish? Us? NEVER! :)
ReplyDeleteBot is pretty robotic, eh.
ReplyDeleteDIRTY WATER! Good game!
ReplyDelete3!! The water is dIrty again.
ReplyDeletei would rather players sort it out themselves than have umpires issuing warnings/ejecting players when nothing has really happened.
ReplyDeleteDon't drink the water!
ReplyDeleteCome on, Laura, as someone who abhors war and violence, you can't really think an eye for an eye is a good thing, can you?
ReplyDeleteSorry to say, I don't abhor violence in all circumstances. War, yes. Violence, it depends. Often but not always.
But more to the point (IMO), I cannot think of a little harmless HBP as "an eye for an eye". When you use the word revenge to describe HBPs, it seems so overwrought to me.
I just can't put a pitcher grazing some guy in the wallet in the category of revenge and violence. Plays at the plate are more violent than that.
I don't cheer about it and hope to see it, but I don't hope not to see it, either. It's just there, like managers yelling at umps and players sliding to take out the second baseman.
I agree, I'd let the players sort it out. However, the book of unwritten rules is stupid. There's no concrete anything. So players take offense based on their own interpretation of this non-book. Usually, making a mountain out a molehill when they're having a bad day.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope MLB doesn't become like the NBA or NFL where the refs control the outcome with arbitrary fouls, holding penalties, and "behavior rules."
Perhaps we could also institute uniform violations like the NFL. But why stop there?
Celebrate after a HR... take the run off the board.
Pitcher fist pumps after a strikeout - EXCESSIVE CELEBRATION: runner on second base as a penalty.
Or maybe we could throw flags on the managers for arguing calls: add or subtract balls/strikes based on the behavior of the coaches.
The whole unwritten rule thing is stupid, but MLB does have uni violations and behaviour rules, eg helmet throwing.
ReplyDeleteNot sure you are still following this, Laura,but I just want to respond to your comment. I agree that violence is sometimes appropriate---in self-defense or defense of others. But I cannot understand deliberately throwing a ball at a player for no strategic reason other than revenge. Taking out the second baseman is a strategic move---preventing him from being able to make an out. Same thing with rough plays at the plate. But there is no strategic gain from throwing a 90 mph missile at the body of a batter. I can see throwing inside to move a batter who is crowding the plate, but just to hit him because another pitcher accidentally hit one of his teammates? Pointless.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't consider managers yelling at umps violent at all. I don't like it when they start pushing and shoving each other or when players starting swinging at each other, but let them all yell and curse as much as they want.
Anyway, we will just have to agree to disagree on this one!
Hi Amy, yes, I was reading. We've been around this before - probably the last time there was a bench-clearing brawl or an intentional HBP! Good to hear your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWell, we may be repetitive, but at least we are consistent!
ReplyDeleteHe needs 12 more wins to set a new Boston franchise record
ReplyDeleteDoesn't 12 more tie the record of 192 with TCM and Young? He needs 13 more wins to set a new record.
I was thinking the record was 191.
ReplyDelete