July 28, 2011

G103: Royals 4, Red Sox 3

Royals   - 000 400 000 - 4  8  0
Red Sox  - 002 000 010 - 3  8  0
Pinch-hitter Carl Crawford nearly won the game in the bottom of the ninth with a shot to deep right field. But a possible two-run homer became the second out of the inning as Jeff Francoeur raced back to the track by the short fence, then turned quickly and reached back towards the field and made a basket catch, with a slight bobble.

Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 25 games with a home run to lead off the eighth inning. ... Jacoby Ellsbury had a two-run double in the third, knocking in Jason Varitek (single) and Yamaico Navarro (double). ... Adrian Gonzalez and Drew Sutton each had two singles.

Beckett (7-6-4-3-8, 109) was superb in six of his seven innings. But he faced nine batters in an ugly 38-pitch fourth. He walked the first two, then gave up a three-run dong to Billy Butler. Back-to-back doubles from Francoeur and Mike Moustakas brought in another run.

Hochevar (7-6-2-1-6, 103) matched Beckett, but avoided a melt-down inning. After Ellsbury's double put the Sox up 2-0, Hochevar gave up a one-out single to Gonzalez, putting runners at first and third. But Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz both went down swinging, and the Royals quickly stormed back.

The Yankees are off today, so Boston is 2.5 GA in the East.
Example
Luke Hochevar / Josh Beckett
          AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS  R/G   W- L
April    .243  .331  .380  .711  4.1  11-15
May      .287  .349  .472  .820  5.4  19 10
June     .291  .366  .472  .838  6.1  16- 9
July     .306  .383  .518  .901  6.9  18- 4
  
ERA     Team  Start    Pen
April   4.24   3.83   5.13
May     4.01   4.14   3.76
June    3.58   3.95   2.64
July    3.83   4.76   2.59

Dustin Pedroia is hitting .406 (43-for-106) over his 24-game hitting streak. He has also reached base safely (hit or walk) in 36 straight games -- .391/.463/.689/1.152 -- the longest streak in MLB this season.

63 comments:

allan said...

Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Youkilis, 3B
Ortiz, DH
Reddick, RF
Sutton, LF
Varitek, C
Navarro, SS

Gordon, LF
Maier, CF
Butler, DH
Hosmer, 1B
Francoeur, RF
Moustakas, 3B
Treanor, C
Getz, 2B
Escobar, SS

***

Extra Bases:

WEEI.com, citing a "source familiar with the matter", reports the Red Sox are very concerned that Clay Buchholz's sore lower back is the result of a more serious injury than a muscle strain. Buchholz's bullpen session was cancelled yesterday.

Crawford has a strained left elbow (bothers him more when throwing than swinging), had a cortisone injection on Tuesday night. Hopes to return to the lineup tomorrow night in Chicago.

Drew said today that his left shoulder injury (irritation in his rotator cuff) has been a problem for much of the season and he has had a series of injections.

allan said...

SoSH: Rosenthal says the Sox are taking a serious look at Erik Bedard (who is set to come off DL on Friday night).

allan said...

Crazy game -- 11 home runs at Wrigley -- on this date in 1977.

Cubs 16, Reds 15 (13)

Check out the box score for the Cubs:

Cardinal, PH-2B-SS-2B-RF
Mercer, RF-SS-2B-SS-2B-SS-2B-SS-2B-SS
Rosello, SS-2B-SS-2B-SS-2B-SS-2B-SS-2B-SS-2B

laura k said...

Laura being Tim: as soon as I finish grilling the salmon and asparagrus for tonight's Laura's Salade Nicoise I can settle in to watch this game.

allan said...

KC feed, so we have WEEI.

Muted the top 2nd because an AT&T spokesperson is being interviewed in the booth. Fucking half-inning commercial.

Jere said...

If we we today, we'll have evened up the all-time series with the Royals at 213 wins apiece. They've been ahead in the series since May 4th, 1980. Gotta end this 31-year reign!

laura k said...

A few weeks ago some Foxwoods exec had an extended in-booth ad. At work, I only have radio. Drove me nuts.

Jere said...

*if we win, not if we wee-wee

allan said...

i hope we don't piss this game away.

laura k said...

WBIT?

TMB!

Jere said...

Dewey out there...

laura k said...

Who is this in the WEEI booth now? They seem to be talking about football.

I say abolish all in-game booth "guests". All are unnecessary distractions.

laura k said...

Oh no, it's college football. BAH.

Jere said...

For anybody who missed this kid that Beckett made cry before the game.

Jere said...

Ass-ler!

laura k said...

I guess he's not Beckett's butler.

Jere said...

Don once again getting ahead of himself on the call.

But that's not an error because there's no such thing as errors anymore.

Jere said...

Should be an unearned run for Josh

laura k said...

That kid is the definition of overwhelmed. Wow.

laura k said...

there's no such thing as errors anymore.

No comprendo.

allan said...

Beckett is making me cry.

Jere said...

"No comprendo."

On defense, the scorers never want to give an E to their own guy. On offense, they never wanna take a hit away from their own guy.

allan said...

KC TV graphic:

Red Sox have 18.3% of its leadoff batters score - best in MLB

laura k said...

Jere, this is noticeably different/worse these days than in the past, in your opinion?

Jere said...

Seems to me an error used to be called an error, now it has to be egregious to even be considered.

Jere said...

Sox are 18-4 so far this month, and today on the pre-game, the host used the word "panic." Just so everyone knows how they're supposed to be feeling.

allan said...

their own guy

Official scorers are not employees of a team.

Check out total errors made in every season back 30 years or so. If you are right, there should be a noticeable (or steady) drop in errors.

laura k said...

Something tells me it's a perception thing, but maybe not, who knows. We'd have to check the number of errors per season in a league over a long period of time, to see if it dropped off a lot recently.

Jere said...

There's the kid! Crying boy was like 2 seats from the guy that got that foul ball.

laura k said...

[Independent posting here, not ganging up. :) ]

allan said...

Seems to me an error used to be called an error, now it has to be egregious to even be considered.

You're too young to be one of those "back in my day, they did things the right way" people.

Jere said...

"Official scorers are not employees of a team."

Whoever they are, they don't wanna take any heat from players. As we know sometimes these guys call the press box etc.

laura k said...

Seems to me, my whole life I've seen weird error calls, the kind that make you say, "Who's the official scorer, [player]'s mom?"

laura k said...

It's such a weirdly subjective part of the game.

Jere said...

Luke Hochevar: Warm-water hair removal device for prostitutes.

laura k said...

Warm-water hair removal device for prostitutes

ROFL

I've been trying to think of something for "something-shaver" but not concentrating on it. Very good.

Jere said...

Didn't really matter that he almost came off the bag, since the ball was rolling 20 feet away, Rem.

Jere said...

Thanks

laura k said...

Dear Fox KC, We are not interested in fans putting on sunscreen.

Jere said...

Crying boy going mainstream now, as NESN shows it again, and Don claims we will "get to know" the kid on NESN Daily tonight.

allan said...

Time for some 7th inning lightning.

Jere said...

g-dam it

laura k said...

Come on #25...

laura k said...

FUCK YEAH 25 DONG!!!!!

allan said...

PEDEY'S ON THE MOON!!!!!!!!

Jere said...

25/dong

Benjamin said...

There's a hit.

laura k said...

Your turn, Bert. b2b

Jere said...

getz off with the pitch

allan said...

KC showing that CS about 10 times. Looks like he was safe, left hand in well before FY got his glove down.

Jere said...

Remy chooses a bad time to say "I don't care what Amica says, that's a good pitch." Because then they showed Amica and it was way inside.

laura k said...

Runs, pls. Win in 9.

Zenslinger said...

I am not sure I ever looked forward to using these words, but the Oakland A's offense is on fire. They have been since the break, pounded Shields yesterday, and have jumped on Wade Davis for five runs in the first today.

laura k said...

That was not helpful.

laura k said...

OK, on base. More helpful.

Jere said...

Oh that was huge...

now here's Craw

laura k said...

Fuck you Dave Obrien truping us with that.

laura k said...

It sure sounded like the game was over, and the pitch hadn't been thrown yet.

laura k said...

Clean

Zenslinger said...

Shit.

Jere said...

Did this game really happen? This should have been a sweep, instead, a split.

Jere said...

That was so shitty, because the RF was running so fast toward the wall (making it appear it had to be gone) that he actually barely overran it, then went down for a basket catch a step or two from the wall. Goddamn that shoulda been a dong. Or if he drops it we tie the game and chaos ensues.

Jere said...

Did you hear the Fat Pussy Toad hanged himself?