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Home » May 2009 Game CommentsMay 2009 » Bloodless

Bloodless

Game 38: May 17, 2009
Red Sox2
L: Ramon Ramirez (4-1)
22-16, 1 game losing streak
WinMariners
3
W: David Aardsma (1-1)
18-20, 1 game winning streak
Highlights: The Celtics joined the Bruins in elimination yesterday. Sunday was much like last week Thursday when all three Boston teams lost. Everyday is like Sunday. Armageddon, come Armageddon. Come, Armageddon, come.

Ronny Cedeño must be well-liked by the official scorer for yesterday’s game. Or perhaps that scorer didn’t want to see the utility player dip below .200 for his batting average. Whatever the reason, Cedeño was credited with a single for what should have been a two-base error for Nick Green. The Red Sox middle infielder threw the ball higher, harder, and farther than Cedeño hit it.

With two out and first open, Terry Francona decided to intentionally walk Ichiro Suzuki so that Ramon Ramirez would pitch to Franklin Gutierrez. It was the right tactic when you compare the two hitters, but it just didn’t work out. To trot out a baseball cliché, any team has a chance to beat any other team. That’s what fans of teams expected to make the playoffs tell themselves when their favored club falls to a sub-500 crew.

Ramirez suffered his first loss of the season, but if losses could be attributed to position players, Green might be a sub-500 player.

J.D. Drew scored both of the visitors’ runs. He was the only player to score with the bases loaded in the second. The right fielder hit his sixth homer of the season in the fourth.

As for the Celtics, injuries and fatigue took their toll. Without Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe, Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis had to square off against the likes of Joakin Noah and Dwight Howard over the course of two seven-game series.

More than other sports I think basketball players rely on their teammates. Those five players together form a being of their own. The point guard is the head, putting the rest of his body in order. The shooting guard is the primary hand, poising itself behind the ball for the perfect pull-up jump shot.The small forward is secondary hand, dribbling swaths through the defense to the rim to make the reverse shot at the last second. The power forward is the upper arms and shoulders, using their strength to muscle away rebounds or launch a midrange shot. The center is the legs, forming the defensive foundation.

Take away an essential part of the body and the rest of the pieces endeavor to rise to the task. They may strive, but there is only so much a patchwork roster can accomplish. Subtracting Garnett takes away more than just the lanky arms that stretch to tip opponents’ shots or the shoulders that carry the weight of a storied franchise’s expectations. A fragment of the heart of the team was on the bench, and there just wasn’t enough to keep the blood flowing.

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