July 2, 2006

G79: Red Sox 4, Marlins 3

Only five hits for the Sox in this one, but three of them were solo home runs: Youkilis (leading off the game), Varitek (leading off the 2nd) and Ortiz (with two outs in the 3rd). The other two hits were singles: Manny in the 1st and Kapler in the 8th.

Lester battled through five innings (5-7-2-3-3, 99). Tavarez pitched a solid sixth, but Tito had to bring him back for another inning. He should have quite while he was ahead after the scoreless frame. Sure enough, just like clockwork, Miguel Cabrera bashed a solo home run to tie the game at 3-3. After a walk, Timlin came in. An error and another walk gave the Marlins a bases-loaded, one out situation. But Timlin got out of it, with two infield pop-ups.

Boston took a 4-3 lead in the top of the 8th and Delcarmen was in for the home half. He retired the first two hitters on seven pitches, then Papelbon was brought in to face Cabrera. He got him on a 3-1 grounder to short and then closed it out in the 9th.

I wish Tito had gone with Delcarmen, Timlin and Papelbon for the final three innings instead of pushing his luck with Tavarez. Pulling MDC and bringing in Pap for Cabrera was obvious, perhaps, but an excellent move. Even then, it sounded like Papelbon was pitching around him . Maybe Francona didn't trust MDC enough to not make a mistake in that situation, but I thought bringing him in after Timlin rather than earlier in the game was a sign of growing confidence.

Also: Toronto lost this afternoon, so they fall 5 back. ... Let's go, Mets!

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Winners of the "Be Dan Shaughnessy" contest!

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Kevin Youkilis is back at the top of the lineup and playing third base, as Mike Lowell starts the day on the bench. Coco Crisp is batting 7th. Alex Cora is at shortstop, hitting 8th.

Jon Lester (2.95) / Josh Johnson (2.20), 1 PM

Lester held the Mets to two runs and four hits over five innings on Tuesday. ... Johnson picked up his third straight win in his last start against the Devil Rays. He has a 2.09 ERA in his last three starts.

Doug Mirabelli, on ending the team's 17-game errorless streak: "We set a record? I didn't know that. And I ended it? Sweet. Got to be remembered for something." (Coco Crisp also said he didn't know about the record: "I knew we'd gone some games without making an error, but I didn't know what the record was. I thought it would be a lot higher than that."

Boston leads both New York and Toronto by 4 games.

6 comments:

allan said...

I agree completely. Any scoreless inning from him is found money.

It felt like the same thing we had with Timlin a couple of years ago.

I guess someone will have to hit another solo HR.

Anonymous said...

Prefaced by the disclaimer that I'm not a student of Taverez's mechanics (I normally just cover my eyes until he leaves the mound), his delivery seemed to have had a pronounced lurch to the left with each pitch.

It was almost as if he was slinging it 3/4 from the side as he fell toward first base. Regardless, the guy still scares the shit out of me - too bad his meatball to Cabrera deprived Lester of a chance at the W.

laura k said...

(I normally just cover my eyes until he leaves the mound)

That's my method, too.

allan said...

Any high-leverage innings that Tito is going to give to Tavarez should go to Delcarmen.

Foulke is still a super huge question mark. ... Hansen is coming around, though.

Did one of the Marlins TV guys say at one point: "Sit down, Red Sox fans"?

Oh, Bite me!

My response?

"You're fuckin' A right it doesn't bother me."

laura k said...

I wonder if they were told to cool it with the Red Sox fans and get behind the Fish. Because the other day (Friday's game) they were good and very balanced.

Anonymous said...

If Hansen hadn't closed the game in mop-up duty the nigh before, is there any chance that we would have seen (BS,2) Tavarez yesterday?

Great job by Timlin cleaning up the 7th, though he screwed up in boxing out Youk on the sac bunt that put two aboard with no outs. Delcarmen was strong in the 8th and was bringing some major gas and movement on his pitches, though I liked Tito's decision to bring in Pap to pitch to Cabrera after he had taken Jules deep to tie the game.

With Lopez as the left-on-left specialist and everyone more or less accounted for in their roles (Johnson a big TBD), it leaves the dynamic duo of Tavarez and Seanez as the two Kerosene Kids in the 'pen...not a pretty picture.

I'd rather see Delcarmen and Hansen eating middle inning opportunities...as Tito recently said, "they're here to stay", a proclamation I can't imagine can be said about Punch & Rudy.