May 26, 2006

G46: Red Sox 8, Devil Rays 4

Excellent pitching performances from Julian Tavarez and Rudy Seanez. ... Really!

Tavarez was the long man after Wells was injured and threw only 27 pitches in 2.1 innings (3 hits, 2 runs) and got credit for the win. Seanez followed up his nice two-inning stint against the Yankees on Wednesday with 1.2 scoreless innings tonight. The Sox did need Jonathan Papelbon to get the final out, though.

David Ortiz's three-run double in the fifth turned the game around, wiping out Tampa's 1-0 lead. That rally was started by the bottom of the order, as Wily Mo Pena and Alex Gonzalez singled off Scott Kazmir.

Boston got three more in the sixth (two on Mike Lowell's 7th home run -- he also singled and doubled) and that was pretty much that. (Ortiz picked up his 4th RBI in the eighth.)

Everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Gonzalez ended the night with three singles and a .227 batting average, only 10 points behind Jason Varitek (.237).

11:05 PM -- It's raining in the Bronx and the Yankees are hoping to bat in the bottom of the ninth. Kansas City has a 7-5 lead.

***

Dustan Mohr was sent down to make room (!) for David Wells.

Looking at the lineup, it's time to move Varitek down to #7 or so until he gets his average over, say .240:
Youkilis, 1B
Loretta, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, LF
Varitek, C
Lowell, 3B
Nixon, RF
Pena, CF
Gonzalez, SS
He should not be batting fifth.

13 comments:

allan said...

Wells got drilled in the knee by a line drive in the top of the 5th. He was taken out of the game.

Anyone have news from the broadcast?

allan said...

Right knee, apparently. Couldn't put any weight on it.

That might be the end of his career.

thatdietcokegirl said...

holy shit. i can't believe that just happened to wells.
this is the kind of crap that makes me believe some things are fateful. of all places, he's hit right on his bad knee. gd it.

;//////////

thatdietcokegirl said...

remy just said, he didn't wanna jump to conclusions but this might be the last time we see david wells come off the mound at fenway. or something.

allan said...

Initial report on Wells's right knee is a deep contusion. No initial evidence of a break, per WEEI and NESN.

allan said...

Also, from Will Carroll's Under the Knife column, this week at BP:

"Sources tell me that Wells' knee is nowhere near 100%, but he's going to try and push through it for a few weeks to see if it gets better and if he can contribute. He's hoping to make a decision on how far he goes around the All-Star Game."

That decision may be made a bit sooner.

allan said...

SoSHer reports (after Foulke was pulled after the Crawford blast):

NESN showed Foulke having some words with a fan a few rows behind the dugout... when Foulke entered the dugout, he slammed his glove against the back wall...

Zeke Hunkaburning said...

Tavarez was the long man after Wells was injured and threw only 27 pitches in 2.1 innings. . . ???

what are you talking about? Wells went 4.1 innings and threw 41 out of 53 pitches for strikes. He was doing fine until the line drive hit him. It is not at all clear to me that it hit him in the right leg. I saw the replay several times and I thought it hit him in the left knee. I could be wrong as it's hard to tell on the TV. I know Remy said it was his right knee, but he's said a lot of dumb things lately.

Latest reprots have it as a "deep contusion" and not affecting his ongoing knee problems, and also say it was on the right knee.

I still think it was the leg he pushes off from which seemed to come across his body in his follow through as the ball reached him.

Ouch, it hurt to see that. I like Wells a lot, and I was hoping he could contribute some wins.

He was looking good. A rough god goes rolling.

The Couch Potato said...

Those were Tavarez' stats, not Wells, and it was Boomer's right knee, unless he's got some weird kind of body dyslexia and grabbed the wrong one as he hit the dirt.

Anonymous said...

Foulke's shit storm in the dugout after being pulled in the 8th had me wondering who was the real subject of his wrath - the heckler behind the Sox dugout (Johnny From Burger King, where have you been hiding?!) or Francona for giving him the hook after the HR to Crawford.

The ball hadn't even settled into the seats before Tito came bounding up the dugout steps, unceremoniously pulling Foulke with nothing more than an extended hand requesting the pearl. Holy shit - was Tito channeling Earl Weaver last night?!

There was no quick pre-hook intercession with The Nip, no "OK, now go get the next guy" exhortation from The Skip, no any impending match-up involved in the decision. Instead, Tito brought in another RHP, Seanez (a good job on this evening), and in doing so confirmed to all in attendance and scoring at home that Tito had seen enough of #29 after just one hitter (the hottest one in the park, as Remy commented).

Even as a charter member of the KFOASL (Keep Foulke on A Short Leash) Society, the quick hook by Tito was highly uncharacteristic for a guy whose reputation as "a player's manager" often bites us all in the ass (for those just tuning in, see games 2 & 3 of the recent NYY series).

You could tell Foulkie was more than a little pissed, and perhaps rightly so. However, much like the stock market, better to sell to quick than too late, and maybe there was a message to the entire staff implicit in Francona's decision (perhaps with some directives from upstairs?) that his boys will all be on shorter leashes from this point forward.

It will be interesting to watch...

Peter N said...

I just hope that the very recent lack of location is not because Foukie's knees are acting up. He can and has been effective as the bridge, with Timlin, to Paps. And we need him. Hopefuly tonight, 8 innings of Curt equals one inning of relief by Paps, resulting in yet another consecutive save. Go! Tonight..

Peter N said...

And it was definitely the right (wrong) knee. Without a doubt. I wish I was wrong.

Zeke Hunkaburning said...

So, I'm convinced it was Well's right knee, but I'd like to see the replay again. I need a new tv. I've been wrong before and will be again, I suppose.

I haven't heard any updates yet, and they are doing all the tests today. Hopeing for the best for a highly entertaining and gutsy ballplayer.

Y-T speculated interestingly about Faulkies tantrum and Tito's quick hook, again, was that a quick hook on Beckett (101 pitches by a 25 year old when he let Schill throw, what, 130 something). Maybe some orders are comming down from on high from the GM formerly known as Boy Wonder, as he speculated.

Schilling should be pumped up sky-high going for number 200. I hope he slept last night and isn't too cranked up. These are the games we should win, and a sweep would be nice.

Yeah, and another consecutive save for the real boy wonder!