Sloppy
| Game 45: May 17, 2008 ∙ Game 2 | |||
| Brewers | 6 | BS, L: Salomon Torres (2, 3-1) | 20-23, 4 game losing streak |
 Red Sox |
7 | H: David Aardsma (3) BS, W: Craig Hansen (1, 1-2) H: Javier Lopez (4) S: Mike Timlin (1) |
26-19, 2 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Sloppy play abounded in the second game of yesterday’s doubleheader. The number of errors looked more like a score, and even in that aspect the home team edged the visitors, 4-3. Boston is 1-0 in the alternate home jerseys this year. | |||
At first the second game of the doubleheader seemed like it would be a leisurely romp of the local nine over the haggard visitors. Mike Lowell gave his team an early lead with a two-run double in the first and another two runs via home run in the third.
The Brewers found late life, however. Corey Hart’s sixth inning solo home run nearly took out one of the light towers in left. Why do Corey Harts have issues with lights?
Milwaukee tagged on another two runs in the sixth, with Gabe Kapler in the mix with a single and a run scored. Kapler received a warm ovation in his return to Fenway, and apparently not just from the women in the crowd.
The Brewers’ seventh inning outburst owed much to Boston’s own bloopers. Craig Hansen’s woes were in part caused by Mike Lowell and Alex Cora’s back-to-back errors. Then fatigue or mental distress came into play, with Hansen uncorking a wild pitch and then allowing a two-RBI the batting stance-challenged Counsell.
It seemed the energy expended in scoring tapped the Brewers when fielding. All four of the Brewers’ mistakes proved costly. Craig Counsell’s rushed throw allowed Jacoby Ellsbury to get on base in the fifth.
Bill Hall then flubbed Kevin Youkilis’s ground ball and then flopped on the base path like LeBron James attempting to get a favorable call while Ellsbury dashed for home. Hall, the former outfielder and shortstop who now mans the hot corner, accounted for half his team’s errors and seemed a poor substitute at third even in comparison to Ryan Braun. At the beginning of the season Braun had to be moved to left field because of his poor fielding.
Knowing that Ellsbury could leg out a single, instead of playing Ellsbury’s ground ball straight on Rickie Weeks tried to angle his approach so that he could relay quickly to first. Weeks fumbled the rookie’s grounder and failed to get the first out of the seventh inning. The power of negative thinking continued with Hall’s errant throw to second that missed Weeks’s glove and skimmed into center; what could have been a double play or at the very least a fielder’s choice turned into runners at second and third with no out.
Ellsbury scored on a David Ortiz grounder and Dustin Pedroia shrewdly took third as the ball was batted behind him. He either wanted to show that baserunning smarts are not limited to NL players or prove to Alex Cora that he has been paying attention in Super-Genius Baseball class.
That heads-up tactic proved crucial as the Brewers infield was forced to play in with Kevin Youkilis at the dish. Pedroia scored the go-ahead run on Youkilis’s bloop single that dropped between Weeks, Prince Fielder, and Corey Hart, an RBI that probably would not have happened if either infielder were positioned normally.
Sloppy seconds, but we’ll take them.
