Scu, scu, Scutaro! Whoa oh!

The Red Sox shortstop tied the game in the seventh with a two-run homer off Mark Hendrickson. For a relief pitcher, Hendrickson is a pretty good professional basketball player. The towering reliever sparked an inferno – after the home run he walked J.D. Drew. Buck Showalter pulled Hendrickson in favor of Alfredo Simon who gave up an RBI double to Victor Martinez.

Adrian Beltre didn’t cotton well to having David Ortiz intentionally walked ahead of him and lofted a shot that landed into the first row of the left field stands. The three-run shot padded the lead and Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon paired to protect it.

Who can blame any Orioles pitcher for being terrible? They are shadowed by an odd female fan who mimics their every move as they warm up in their bullpen. One of Showalter’s first moves should have been filing a restraining order against her, but despite the oversight he has turned around the flagging organization. Thanks, Peter Angelos, for finally caring about your team. The American League East just isn’t competitive enough and now the perennial cellar-dwellers might be crawling back into competence.

Angelos had to do something to combat the ever-encroaching Washington Nationals. While franchise jewel Stephen Strasburg is on the shelf the rest of the season and slated for Tommy John surgery, Natstown fans do have Nyjer Morgan’s tomfoolery to enjoy.

Morgan makes Matt Garza look like an Eagle Scout and Delonte West appear to be a well-balanced individual. Speaking of, West will get another shot with the Celtics. Hopefully West knows that this doesn’t mean a literal shot from a gun.

Game 133: August 31, 2010
Red Sox 75-58	9	W: Jon Lester (15-8) S: Jonathan Papelbon (34)
		2B: David Ortiz (30), Ryan Kalish (4), Victor Martinez (28) HR: J.D. Drew (18), Marco Scutaro (8), Adrian Beltre (24)
Orioles 49-84	6	BS, L: Mark Hendrickson (2, 1-5)
		2B: Adam Jones (20), Felix Pie – 2 (12)

To be certain, Delcarmen has been pitching so terribly that removing him from the bullpen is a net positive, but since there was no major league piece coming in return clearly the team is geared to improving its future rather bolstering its current state. I should have been accepting of the team’s playoff chances when Kevin Youkilis went down and further inured myself to the inevitable course the season was taking when Dustin Pedroia succumbed to his foot injury, but these are the post-2004 Red Sox! Roaring back against the Yankees and also against Cleveland in 2007 has just unrealistically inflated my expectations of the franchise.

Recalling how emotional Nomar Garciaparra was about getting traded I can only imagine Delcarmen’s reaction. Nomar grew up as a baseball player in Boston just like Manny, but the latter was born and raised here was well. Good luck and godspeed in Colorado, Manny. I hear the humidor has done wonders for pitchers and it’s only National League hitters.

Speaking of Manny, another former Hub favorite has been making headlines of late. Manny Ramirez was claimed by the Chicago White Sox off waivers. His last at bat as a Dodger couldn’t have been more fitting if it were scribed by screenwriter: he was summoned to pinch hit with the bases loaded in the sixth and he was ejected after disputing Gary Cederstrom’s called strike. Perhaps the home plate umpire overreacted, but why argue balls and strikes when you know it can get you tossed?

Why have a translator when you speak and understand English?

Because your name is Manny Ramirez and all you care about is your next contract.

Game 132: August 31, 2010
Red Sox 74-58	2	L: Josh Beckett (4-4)
		2B: Bill Hall (10) HR: Jed Lowrie (4)
Orioles 49-83	5	W: Brian Matusz (7-12) H: Jim Johnson (4), Michael Gonzalez (6) S: Koji Uehara (5)
		2B: Nick Markakis (40) HR: Luke Scott (26), Felix Pie (5)

That got me to thinking about the Red Sox 2010 season.

Consider the 2004 World Championship the asteroid obliterating the plodding, lethargic negativity that dominated the landscape much like the dinosaurs. The cataclysmic occurrence may not have measured the 12.55 on the Richter scale that characterized the estimated seismic energy of Chicxulub, but it was nonetheless sizable. In the wake of Boston’s victory another ill-starred team, the Chicago White Sox, won its first championship in 88 years. And a mere three years later the Red Sox won another championship, overcoming a 3-1 game deficit against the Indians in the ALCS to trample the Rockies in the World Series.

For the Red Sox it was not possible to reuse the template for success. There was no need to rely on the lumbering sluggers in left any longer. Besides, Manny Ramirez quit on the team in 2008 and his replacement Jason Bay declined to re-sign with the Red Sox after the 2009 season. In 2010 the plan was to evolve the team to a philosophy of run prevention.

(John Lackey was part and parcel of that plan, but exactly how well he contributes remains in question. His reactions to his defenders’ gaffes certainly makes them wish to avoid errors.)

It boggles the mind to imagine how great this team could have been without the onslaught of injuries. If any two out of the essential troika of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis hadn’t missed playing time the Red Sox would be the apex predators of the AL East. Instead they are the opportunistic omnivores, snitching crumbs where they can to stockpile a modest store of wins.

In the last game of the series, on the eve of their extinction, the Red Sox could have made the bold leap from scrounger to hunter. But instead they were content to nibble on morsels of mediocrity.

Game 131: August 29, 2010
Red Sox 74-57	3	L: John Lackey (12-8)
		2B: Mike Lowell (10), Adrian Beltre (38)
Rays 80-50	5	W: James Shields (13-11) H: Randy Choate (14), Joaquin Benoit (23) S: Rafael Soriano (39)
		2B: Evan Longoria (42) HR: Carlos Pena (25), Carl Crawford (15)

But Clay Buchholz is the poster child for nervous throws over to first. His pickoffs are like Nomar’s pre-batting tics or Wade’s chicken dinners, except since they happen in-game they may cause mayhem. Pena didn’t even have a lead and Buchholz tossed over to first.

Lowell is wise the the ways of the game but at this point is so inert he has to flip to pitchers on many ground outs to his position. One game he is going to be at first and Wakes is going to be pitching and neither will make it to first in time to stop a Molina from getting an infield single. So Mikey couldn’t get to Clay’s errant throw and it gamboled through foul territory to the Rays bullpen. Carlos galloped all the way from first to third while J.D. and Mikey pawed through the equipment, chairs, and relievers that littered the area.

(Later Amalie Benjamin tweeted that the bench called for the pickoff. Sort of like how a dog owner will apologize to their neighbors when her dog does its business in their yards. But it’s not the dog’s fault, as it’s not Clay’s fault. He was just answering the call of his nature.)

J.D. got very familiar with the Rays bullpen area. Perhaps there something about the mingled scents of chewing tobacco, Bazooka, and Red Bull that compelled him to pursue Matt Joyce’s fly ball so fiercely. Drew deftly maneuvered through the furniture and bodies to snare the second out of the inning but had no chance throw Carlos out at home.

With the game knotted 1-1, Victor acted the big brother bailing out his little sibling when they got into a jam. His fifth homer as a lefty sailed into the right field seats and erased the seventh-inning mishaps.

The spirit of Grady Little stopped whittling wood or making moonshine or whatever it is up to these days to take over Tito Francona’s body in the eighth inning. In Little’s day the mantra was “Timlin in the eighth, Williamson in the ninth.” This has since been supplanted by “Bard in the eighth, Papelbon in the ninth.” This should be Tito’s motto, but instead it was replaced by “Let’s squeeze a few more pitches out of the ace.”

B.J. Upton caught hold of Clay’s hanging curve and the game was tied again. Wisps of Grady’s wisdom still collected in the corners of Tito’s mind like cobwebs. Scott Atchison, not Papelbon, pitched to Dan Johnson, the resistible force against the movable object. Thus the paradox was solved.

Great Plays We Knew We Were Making
I am remiss in mentioning Ryan Kalish’s astounding catch to end the second inning. The shot to center came ringing off of Upton’s bat, off all players. B.J. is not known for his hustle on the field, the antithesis of Kalish.

While B.J. was drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft and was much heralded, Kalish was tapped in the ninth round of the 2006 draft and thus came with somewhat diminished expectations. Perhaps that is what drives Kalish play like a hellion, throwing caution to the wind and his body about the FieldTurf.

Kalish bolted to Upton’s ball on the perfect route and gloved it with his body parallel to the ground. Rather than risking his ribs (Ellsbury take note) Kalish somersaulted sideways but missed a perfect score by a few tenths of a point by not sticking the dismount.

Game 129: August 27, 2010 ∙ 10 innings
Red Sox 74-56	2	L: Scott Atchison (2-2)
		2B: David Ortiz (29) HR: Victor Martinez (13)
Rays 79-50	3	W: Randy Choate (4-3)
		HR: B.J. Upton (13), Dan Johnson (2)

Compared to the Marlins and Pirates, the Tampa Bay franchise is the exemplar of how revenue-receiving teams should reinvest the funds they receive to improve on-field performance. As a follower of a team in the Rays’ division, however, I really would prefer that the Rays ownership were more like Bob Nutting and Jeffrey Loria.

Although I was reeling from the news that Dustin Pedroia would probably be out for the year his teammates soldiered on. Jon Lester twirled seven innings, allowed only two hits, and struck out ten. The game was in the balance in the sixth when walked B.J. Upton to start the sixth and then allowed a frozen rope off Jason Bartlett’s bat for a single to center. Upton didn’t go all out around the bases and was surprised to be waved home. Darnell McDonald fired a seed to Victor Martinez, who was in perfect position to block Upton from scoring. Unfortunately the collision wasn’t hard enough to knock off Upton’s cheesy mustache.

Lester’s command was poor throughout the game but he used his guile against the free-swinging Rays. After the out at home Lester uncorked a wild pitch to Carlos Pena that allowed Bartlett to advance to second. Pena worked a free pass but Lester battled back to strike out Evan Longoria and induce a ground out to short from Willy Aybar.

As if he were acutely aware of his battery mate’s extraordinary effort, Martinez came through with two bombs to left field. Prior to launching his second home run Martinez tarried before stepping into the box. David Price countered by taking a stroll around the back of the mound. The showdown reminded me off how another Martinez, Pedro, would toy with batters. The tactic didn’t quite work for Price.

The only other visitor to drive in a run was Pedroia’s replacement, Jed Lowrie, who dropped a single just out of reach of Bartlett in the fourth to plate David Ortiz. Soon Lowrie will be spouting off about his laser shows, except for him that means the laser pointer he uses when he is alter ego: Jed Lowrie, financial analyst.

Four and a half.

Game 129: August 27, 2010
Red Sox 74-55	3	W: Jon Lester (14-8) H: Daniel Bard (29) S: Jonathan Papelbon (33)
		2B: David Ortiz (28) 3B: Darnell McDonald (3) HR: Victor Martinez – 2 (12)
Rays 78-50	1	L: David Price (15-6)
		No extra base hits.

The Ameeker Pitch zone showed that all three of Felix Hernandez’s pitches to Adrian Beltre in the second inning were strikes, but Beltre stood in the box in disbelief. Rookie umpire Dan Bellino, who was filling in for Rob Drake, probably didn’t take kindly to Beltre’s display.

Beltre and Hernandez, friends since they played together in Seattle, engaged in some between innings smack talk. The pitcher bet that he would strike Beltre out three times and the hitter bet that he would take Hernandez deep. Bellino ejected the Red Sox third baseman because of the conversation.

Beltre tried to get Bellino to explain why he was ejected but the official wouldn’t tell him. Terry Francona joined in the conversation but didn’t get Bellino’s reasoning, either. Veteran umpire Angel Hernandez went so far as to protect Bellino, inserting himself between the seething skipper and the inexperienced arbitrator. Francona was ejected but it didn’t fire up the bats.

There’s 16 Dan Bellinos on Facebook. The first one I found had the profile picture you see to the right. I can’t tell if the same man who ejected Beltre is in the picture, but it is good propaganda.

Game 128: August 25, 2010
Mariners 50-77	4	W: Felix Hernandez (10-10) S: Brandon League (4)
		2B: Jose Lopez (24), Josh Wilson (12), Russell Branyan (16), Casey Kotchman (18), Matt Tuiasosopo (4)
Red Sox 73-55	2	L: Tim Wakefield (3-10)
		2B: Ryan Kalish (3), Bill Hall (9) HR: J.D. Drew (17)

Hitters must be like musicians, not getting into the groove of things until late in the day. Josh Beckett and David Pauley exchanged zeroes until the middle of the sixth; the Red Sox had only three baserunners over those frames and the Mariners just two.

Adrian Beltre broke the scoreless tie and nearly shattered David Pauley’s ankle in the process. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth, Beltre’s comebacker ricocheted off the former Red Sox starter and arced above the infield before dropping along the third base line. The trajectory was high enough to plate Marco Scutaro. Mike Lowell followed with a sacrifice fly to right and Daniel Nava doubled his team’s score by muscling a two-RBI single to shallow right.

Each one of those runs were of tremendous significance as Beckett surrendered a pair of home runs: a solo shot to Russell Branyan and a two-run four-bagger to Casey Kotchman. In 87 at bats with the Red Sox Kotchman hit exactly one homer on August 6, 2009. It was against the Yankees, but it was also part of a 13-6 losing effort.

Mike Lowell’s legs have officially degenerated to Molina-levels of functionality. He turns doubles to Fenway’s left field corner into singles and gets hosed at the hot corner when trying to get to first to third on a single by his teammate. Darnell “1-800-54-GIANT” McDonald didn’t mind; he was still credit with an RBI. If there can only be one good thing to come out of this injury-plagued season, let it be that McDonald has finally gotten enough exposure to garner a steady MLB job.

Game 127: August 25, 2010
Mariners 49-77	3	L: David Pauley (2-5)
		HR: Russell Branyan (20), Casey Kotchman (9)
Red Sox 73-54	5	W: Josh Beckett (4-3) H: Daniel Bard (28) S: Jonathan Papelbon (32)
		2B: Marco Scutaro (32)

If I were as clever or funny as Bill Simmons, I would write a column about how Johnny Damon is that type of girlfriend who leaves you for a richer guy living in a glamorous city. Then Mr. Moneybags dumps her and she has to move to Detroit. You offer to move her to Boston even though she is living in Detroit, but she feels so wronged by you she’d rather stay in Detroit.

People who live in Detroit don’t want to live in Detroit. If LeBron James’s hometown were Detroit, they’d be happy if he took his talent to South Beach. Brett Favre went through all those retirement shenanigans because he wanted to be farther away from Detroit (550 miles between the Motor City and Minnesota, 288 miles between Detroit and Green Bay).

As disappointed as I was seeing Damon sign with the Yankees, as disgusted I felt watching him frolic around the field when they won the World Series last year, I would not have minded him back on the team. The noodle-arm throws to the infield would annoy me as they always have, especially after witnessing Ryan Kalish’s and Darnell McDonald’s respectable guns, but by all accounts he’s great in the clubhouse. David Ortiz and Jason Varitek tried to convince him to return and they know far more about what would be good for the team than I do.

If Damon changes his mind before the 1:30 PM deadline tomorrow, I’ll just get used to rooting for him again. The team needs all the help it can get.

I somehow got used to cheering for John Lackey and he didn’t even have the any of the goodwill of 2004 that Damon does. Lackey didn’t even fulfill his role as an Angel and fold against the Red Sox in the ALDS.

Lackey had one of his best starts of the season: 8 innings pitched, 6 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, and 10 strikeouts. To be sure, the Mariners lineup isn’t an offensive juggernaut. But they aren’t a National League team, either.

I would think Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo, both products of Massachusetts, could sound out a Samoan name. They had years of practice to pronounce Mosi Tatupu. Granted, “Tuiasosopo” has a few more syllables, but it’s still shorter than “Saltalamacchia.” Orsillo never pronounced it the same way twice and Remy avoided the name as much as he could. Repeat after me: TOO-ee-ah-so-SO-po. As they said on Seinfield, “No soup for you!”

Game 126: August 23, 2010
Mariners 49-76	3	L: Doug Fister (4-9)
		No extra base hits.
Red Sox 72-54	6	W: John Lackey (12-7) S: Jonathan Papelbon (31)
		No extra base hits.

Both relievers, Daniel Bard and Felix Doubront, also stifled the Blue Jays batters, allowing just three baserunners between them. Jose Molina represented the final out of the game but was hit by a pitch with the count 0-2. The Blue Jays catcher seemed to want to make something of it, but if he thinks anyone let alone a rookie would intentionally plunk him in such a situation he needs to book some time with a therapist to discuss his persecution complex. It’s not like the name “Overbay” was on the back of his jersey.

Replacing Jacoby Ellsbury in the speed department was David Ortiz. The fleet-footed designated hitter sprinted around the horn while Vernon Wells and Fred Lewis chased after the ball in deep center. Ortiz nimbly slid into third for a leadoff triple and scored the first run of the game on Adrian Beltre’s rope off the wall. Ellsbury should be wary, not just of his ribs but also of his single-season stolen base franchise record: “Wheels Ortiz” is on the warpath.

One would think that the rain delay would deaden the senses, but such an assumption didn’t apply to Bill Hall. Adam Lind, the first batter to take the box after the delay, starched a shot to shallow left. Hall charged the missile and dove head-first just in time to glove the final out of the inning.

Hall worked the other side of the ball as well, lofting a rainbow over the wall in the fifth inning. Double rainbow, all the way across the sky. What does this mean?

Game 125: August 22, 2010
Blue Jays 64-59	0	L: Shaun Marcum (11-7)
		No extra base hits.
Red Sox 71-54	5	W: Clay Buchholz (15-5) H: Daniel Bard (27) S: Felix Doubront (2)
		2B: Adrian Beltre (37), Ryan Kalish (2) 3B: David Ortiz (1) HR: Bill Hall (17)

Jed Lowrie, when not re-reading political theory classics introduced to him as a political science major at Stanford such as On the Social Contract or A Theory of Justice, hits game-winning home runs in extra-innings games in his spare time. No offense to Lowrie, but if you put him in street clothes he would be high on the list of least likely to be identified as a professional athlete. Like other political science majors, he should be bringing a senator some coffee or toiling away on an obscure blog.

But Lowrie can swing a bat, throw leather around the diamond, and avoid slipping on home plate after launching a walk-off four-bagger and thereby suffering a season-ending injury, so he can avoid lackey tasks and carpal tunnel syndrome for a while. He’ll still have to deal with dirty looks from John Lackey, however.

Imagine if it were Lackey on the mound instead of Papelbon when Lowrie dropped a foul pop-up that would have been the final out of the eleventh?

Martinez is obsessed with touching Adrian Beltre’s head. Even as his teammates feted Lowrie at home the Red Sox catcher took the opportunity to stalk Beltre from behind. Before Beltre could unleash a celebratory pummeling upon Lowrie Martinez accosted him with multiple head rubs. Martinez was the recipient of the drubbing instead.

Catchers are at least inured to physical contact. Lyle Overbay tried to tie the game in the fourth on John McDonald’s double to center field. Another McDonald, Darnell, possesses a stronger throwing arm than Jacoby Ellsbury and was able to get the ball to Yamaico Navarro in fewer than a dozen hops. Navarro fired home to Martinez, who blocked the plate in the face of Overbay’s charge. Martinez held on to the ball and the score was 2-1 instead of 2-2 and the third out was tallied. Without this play, the game would have ended in regulation.

If that doesn’t earn you unfettered access to Beltre’s noggin I don’t know what does.

Game 124: August 21, 2010 ∙ 11 innings
Blue Jays 64-58	4	L: Casey Janssen (4-2)
		2B: John Buck (22), John McDonald (8), Vernon Wells (37) HR: Lyle Overbay (16)
Red Sox 70-54	5	W: Jonathan Papelbon (5-5)
		2B: Marco Scutaro (31) HR: Jed Lowrie (3)

The bludgeoning by the Blue Jays was made worse with visits to the booth by Bill O’Reilly and Mitt Romney. They were part of a parade of celebrities who were there to raise money for the Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, a great cause of course, but less polarizing people should have been selected. Perhaps the right-wingers were brought in to stem the red tide that dominates Friday games.

The interview with Hyde Park native Maura Tierney was less coherent than a Julian Tavarez conversation. She had a charming moment when she refused to say the name of that team from the Bronx, calling their home field “You Know What Stadium.”

Meredith Viera visited in the bottom of the fifth and jinxed a bases loaded, one-out situation with Victor Martinez in the box. The backstop tapped into a 5-3 inning-ending double play.

Tierney and Viera threw out the first pitches half-way between the mound and home plate and their respective catchers were a yard or so from home plate. Yet their flimsy efforts were more respectable than Jon Lester’s worst start of his career: 2 innings pitched, 8 hits, 9 earned runs, 3 walks, and 1 strikeout.

A bright spot was infielder Yamaico Navarro’s major league debut. The international free agent rose through the ranks based on his defensive wizardry but tallied his first major league hit in the fifth inning, a ground ball single to left field.

When Dusty Brown is one team’s leading RBI man and Lyle Overbay has a career night for the other squad chances are it’s a terrible game.

Game 123: August 20, 2010
Blue Jays 64-57	16	W: Brett Cecil (10-6)
		2B: John McDonald (7), Fred Lewis (31), Yunel Escobar (17) HR: Lyle Overbay – 2 (15), John McDonald (3), Jose Bautista (38)
Red Sox 69-54	2	L: Jon Lester (13-8)
		2B: David Ortiz (27), Dusty Brown (1)

He joins an entire cadre of wounded: Hideki Okajima, Junichi Tazawa, Kevin Cash, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Cameron, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Eric Patterson. That’s one-third of a bullpen and a good part of a batting lineup, if I charitably identify Cash as a major league batter.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that Josh Beckett has been playing injured, or perhaps he doesn’t have his endurance back. He stifled the Angels for five innings but imploded spectacularly in the sixth to the tune of four runs. In the seventh the Blue Jays poured it on for three more runs, not just off Beckett but also Manny Delcarmen.

The offensive highlights for the local nine were few and far between. David Ortiz homered in the fourth for the early lead and Adrian Beltre tagged on a sacrifice fly to plate Marco Scutaro in the eighth. The most rousing Red Sox play came on the defensive side of the ball.

In the top of the third Mike Lowell pounced on Bobby Abreu’s sharply rapped grounder before it skidded into right field. The spry veteran flipped to Beckett for the second out. Not to be outdone, J.D. Drew made an amazing grab of Maicer Izturis’s fly ball, sliding head first on the verdant turf towards the warning track. It’s rare to see grass stains on Drew’s uniform, not because he doesn’t try hard, but because he doesn’t have to.

A disappointing loss, but one who was lost now is found. Wally made his return to the booth for the Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon.

Game 122: August 19, 2010
Angels 61-61	7	W: Erwin Santana (13-8)
		2B: Maicer Izturis (13), Alberto Callaspo (22), Torii Hunter (28) HR: Hideki Matsui (16)
Red Sox 69-53	2	L: Josh Beckett (3-3)
		2B: Jed Lowrie (7) HR: David Ortiz (27)

The rousing victory roused temporary elation, but it’s just a sports team winning. There are larger triumphs to pursue.

Every year during Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon time I become melancholy when I meditate upon the people my friends and I have lost to cancer. Last night I looked over pictures of my friend’s daughter’s one-year birthday celebration, an event that people in Hawai‘i observe with lū‘au or party. The little girl lost her father to colorectal cancer.

I knew I would get along with L as soon as I met him. We were huge Star Trek fans, both majored in English literature, and got all the same geeky jokes. I never had to worry if I was being too nerdy; in fact we loved to out-geek each other. All the things that we both liked, or that I think he would have enjoyed, or would have liked to talk to him about — all are tinged with sorrow because I can’t experience them with him because of cancer.

The countless memories flit through my mind and endless specters of reminiscences that will never be: Oh, he would have liked “Burn Notice”! Man, this was his favorite Next Gen episode. There he goes again crushing on Marina Sirtis.

(Although in Marina’s current state, the crush would like be over, probably supplanted by Morena Baccarin.)

So, in my friend’s honor, and for many others close to me who have been impacted by cancer, I made a donation to the Jimmy Fund. I don’t want any more daughters to lose fathers.

Game 121: August 18, 2010
Angels 60-61	5	H: Francisco Rodriguez (2) BS, L: Kevin Jepsen (3, 2-3)
		2B: Reggie Willits (4), Maicer Izturis (12), Bobby Abreu (33), Hideki Matsui (17) HR: Mike Napoli (20), Alberto Callaspo (9)
Red Sox 69-52	7	W: John Lackey (11-7) H: Daniel Bard (26) S: Jonathan Papelbon (30)
		2B: Darnell McDonald (14), Victor Martinez (26), David Ortiz (26), Marco Scutaro (30) HR: Bill Hall (16), Adrian Beltre (23)

McDonald’s four-bagger also broke the scoreless tie. The sheer spectacle of the shot even overshadowed Torii Hunter’s sensational snare of Adrian Beltre’s fly ball in the bottom of the second. Hunter reached over the Red Sox bullpen’s wall, nearly tipping into it as he robbed the Red Sox third baseman of a homer. Beltre was so upset he ripped off his helmet, not even thinking about how vulnerable it would make him to a head rub.

Jered Weaver is the American League leader in strikeouts, no small feat for pitcher facing the loaded lineups in the junior circuit. Last night the hurler didn’t have his ace arsenal: 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts.

Four of those earned runs came courtesy of Ryan Kalish’s fourth-inning grand slam. Weaver didn’t throw a particularly bad pitch; the ball was low and away. Kalish just reached down to golf the ball into the Red Sox bullpen far out of Hunter’s reach to extend the lead and notch his first major league grand slam.

Clay Buchholz out-dueled Weaver: 7 innings pitched, 5 hits, no runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. With last night’s performance the Red Sox starter is the American League’s leader in earned run average and puns on his name.

Game 120: August 17, 2010
Angels 60-60	0	L: Jered Weaver (11-8)
		2B: Bobby Abreu (32)
Red Sox 68-52	6	W: Clay Buchholz (14-5)
		2B: Marco Scutaro (29), David Ortiz (25), Victor Martinez (26), Mike Lowell (9) HR: Darnell McDonald (8), Ryan Kalish (2)

Instead of rolling in dough I get to savor the impressive strikeout total for Daisuke Matsuzaka (just one short of his season high of nine) that was for naught. He allowed four earned runs, but two of those were the result of Manny Delcarmen surrendering a three-run homer to Michael Young in the seventh inning.

Beyond Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon the bullpen is a throng of rags and bones. Delcarmen has never been consistent and shows no signs of reversing the trend. Dustin Richardson has potential but requires polish. Michael Bowden, another young arm, is a starter being pressed into a relief role due to the relief corps’ injuries and ineffectiveness. Richardson and Bowden allowed an earned run each to push the score even further out of reach.

While the major league team enjoyed an off day the Red Sox front office was abuzz. Before the August 15 signing deadline there was a flurry of activity with seven signings: Anthony Ranaudo, Brandon Workman, Sean Coyle, Garin Cecchini, Chris Hernandez, Mathew Price, and Lucas LeBlanc.

The far future is promising and the near future is inspiring. Happy 27th birthday and welcome back, Dustin Pedroia!

Game 119: August 15, 2010
Red Sox 67-52	3	L: Daisuke Matsuzaka (8-4)
		2B: Adrian Beltre (36), Marco Scutaro (28) HR: Darnell McDonald (7)
Rangers 67-49	7	W: C.J. Wilson (11-5)
		HR: Michael Young (19)