Red Sox - 100 000 000 - 1 6 0 Athletics - 140 001 00x - 6 6 0Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-4-5-2-0, 28) faced only nine batters in his fifth start of the season. Six of those nine Athletics reached base, and five of them scored. After the game, the Globe reported that Matsuzaka had told the team he could pitch despite a sore muscle on the right side of his neck. He had been unable to throw a bullpen session before the start.
Clayton Mortensen (5-2-1-2-2, 71) was outstanding in long relief, but the Boston bats could not break through against either Jarrod Parker (6.2-6-1-3-3, 103) and Sean Doolittle (a perfect 2.1 innings).
The night started on a good note. Daniel Nava began the game with a double to right, and he scored on Dustin Pedroia's single to right. Seven pitches in, and Boston led 1-0. After that, however, only three Red Sox runners made it to second base.
There were hints of possible rallies in the fourth and seventh innings. In the fourth, Adrian Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a one-out single, and Cody Ross walked. But two ground balls led to two fielder's choices.
In the seventh, Ross walked (and Brent Lillibridge pinch-ran). Ryan Kalish singled and Boston had two on with no one out. Mike Aviles grounded into a fielder's choice and Nick Punto struck out. At that point, Doolittle relieved Parker, and the lefty reliever fanned Nava to end the threat.
Dice allowed a two-out solo homer to Josh Reddick in the first that tied the score at 1-1. He faced five batters in the second and retired none of them. Sean Smith doubled to deep left-center (the ball was catchable, glancing off Kalish's glove), Derek Norris walked, and Brandon Moss hit a three-run dong to right-center. Brandon Inge singled and Chad Pennington walked.
Mortensen walked Coco Crisp to load the bases; it was the first walk he had issued this season (54 batters, at that point). After Jemile Weeks popped out, Reddick's sac fly made it 5-1.
Nava, LFMatsuzaka is making his fifth start of the season. He allowed only one walk in his last outing, a 5.2-inning stint against the Blue Jays. ... Parker has allowed no runs or one run in six of his last seven starts. For the season, he has allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of his 12 starts. He doesn't have enough IP to qualify, but his 156 ERA+ would be 4th-best in the AL.
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Saltalamacchia, C
Gonzalez, 1B
Ross, RF
Kalish, CF
Aviles, SS
Punto, 3B
Will Middlebrooks injured his left hamstring yesterday while stealing second base in the ninth inning. There has been no word on how serious the injury is, but Middlebrooks said it "felt different" than the other times he has been bothered by the hamstring this season.
My first ever Red Sox game tonight! Also tomorrow and Wednesday. It would be many kinds of awesome if I got to see the Large Father hit #400, but all I really care about is seeing the Sox win. I have no idea what to expect. I've been to a bunch of A's games this year and they're perfectly capable of any combination of results; they have good rookie starting pitching and good hitting (when the bats are alive), but they're hopeless when the bats are asleep. Then again they've swept both the Dodgers and the Rangers at home in the last few weeks. Josh Reddick has been an unqualified success in right field and at the plate since we traded him for Bailey and might be a little extra motivated. Plus there's Cespedes who's very good in center field and regularly produces monstrous hits to left center. Still, it's just as easy to see the Sox sweeping. Critical factor is going to be whether the Sox can get a decent number of hits. If not I think we can sweep. If not, anything can happen.
ReplyDeleteenjoy the game Simon!
ReplyDeleteSure would be nice to have Youk on the team right now....geez!
Win it for Simon!
ReplyDelete***
MFY at FKR
BAL at SEA
The Youk trade seemed pointless to me before, and now it just seems dumb. Yay
ReplyDeletePatrick, I agree. It was totally pointless. It seemed like everyone expected it, he was miserable and expected to be traded, so he was traded.
ReplyDeleteHey, I have an idea. Everytime one of our mainstays is miserable and slumping, let's trade him! That should make the "blow up the team" crowd happy.
Sorry, Simon. Hope you still had fun!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the trade, but it's kinda what are you gonna do? It seemed Youk wasn't satisfied being platooned or otherwise not default starter, which doesn't help keep the hot Middlebrooks around, you got EB at first, etc. etc. Like managing that pileup in the bullpen and whatever will come in the outfield. (I feel like I'm at SoSH, except I know less.)
So, Dice couldn't throw a session before the game, but he was OKed for the start? bah.
I say dump the lot and scrabble from whomever the rest of the league DFAs. That's how we get it done!
Last night was a perfect illustration of why trading Youk was both pointless and premature. Middlebrooks got injured seven days after Youk was shipped out to the South Side. There's no way we wouldn't have been better off with him playing third base and hitting in the absence of Middlesbrooks. Instead of which we had Punto at third as well as Aviles at short.
ReplyDeleteApart from the aspect that Youk was a personal favourite of mine, I just don't seen how it benefits the Sox to trade him for two replacement-level players *and* pay 85% of his salary while he's in Chicago. It might be the salary that aggravates me the most. We needed rid of him so badly that we're giving $5.5m to a big market team who needed a third baseman immediately?
Of course, the team could not have forseen Middlebrooks getting injured a week after the trade. We all know this.
ReplyDeleteI chalk the trade up to things we know and (especially) many things we do not know. Youkilis was extremely unhappy with his role, he may have been a problem in the clubhouse, he was absolutely going to be gone at the end of this season, he was injury-prone (much greater chance of him getting hurt than WMB), and he had not hit a lick (except in short bursts) since last ASG.
One real problem is still carrying 13 pitchers, so our bench is almost non-existent. Also having only Punto as a backup sucks.
July 3, 2012 1:21 PM