If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries. [What is this?]
ALDS Game 3: October 11, 2009 Angels 7 W: Darren Oliver (1-0)S: Brian Fuentes (2) 3-0 Red Sox 6 H: Daniel Bard (1)H: Billy Wagner (1)BS, L: Jonathan Papelbon (1, 0-1) 0-3 Highlight: Despite cruising at an altitude of 39,000 feet I was able to experience most of this game thanks to Frontier Airlines and DIRECTV. The lower the plane got the less faith I had in the Red Sox winning the game. Watching the final game of the series in an Airbus A319 was a 180-degree turn from my Game 2 experience. There was no smoke, no inebriation, just the plane’s pristine interior shining in the dazzling sun. The sun was as almost as bright at Fenway as it was above the cloud deck. I boarded the plane just in time to see J.D. Drew’s fourth-inning, two-run shot bounce off the post of the camera hut in dead center. Were it Jon Lester’s or Josh Beckett’s start, a 5-1 score would seem safer. But this was Clay Buchholz’s playoff debut, and his hiccup in the sixth inning revealed his anxiety. Torii Hunter led off the inning with a double to left. Perturbed by the center fielder’s presence, Buchholz...
ALDS Game 2: October 9, 2009 Red Sox 1 L: Josh Beckett (0-1) 0-2 Angels 4 W: Jared Weaver (1-0)H: Darren Oliver (1)H: Kevin Jepsen (1)S: Brian Fuentes (1) 2-0 Highlights: In Japanese the word for “four” (shi) is a homonym of the word “death.” The Angels scored four runs; the Red Sox had four hits. I watched the game through a haze of cigarette smoke and alcohol, persuaded by my friend to go to a bar to watch the game rather than remain ensconced and alone at home. I was in a bar nowhere near New England, but there was one guy with a Red Sox cap on and another that was openly rooting for them. There wasn’t much cheering going on, however. The Red Sox didn’t hit very well on the road this season. At home the team batted .284, had .365 OBP, and slugged .498; on the road they combined for .257 batting average, .340 OBP, and .414 slugging. Boston pitchers didn’t fare very well hurling in the bottom halves of innings, either. Opposing batters had .272 batting average, .346 OBP, and .433 slugging against visiting Red Sox pitchers; when at Fenway they only attained .362...
ALDS Game 1: October 8, 2009 Red Sox 0 L: Jon Lester (0-1) 0-1 Angels 5 W: John Lackey (1-0) 1-0 Highlights: Having Don Orsillo as play-by-play man is almost like having a postseason game on NESN. Buck Martinez spoiled the effect by sprinkling in imperceptive comments here and there. Too bad Dennis Eckersley is chained to the studio desk by TBS, it could have been a complete takeover by a regional sports network. C.B. Bucknor is an umpire I have singled out in the past for his poor performance: On my birthday (May 23) two years ago Bucknor presided over a Red Sox/Yankees game with Curt Schilling and Andy Pettitte starting. Bucknor’s strike zone judgment was notably inconsistent in the 8-3 Yankees victory. He was home plate umpire in another Red Sox defeat, this one a 6-5 loss to the Orioles on August 11, 2007. Erik Bedard was openly scornful of Bucknor’s strike zone. In the course of a 9-8 loss to the Orioles on August 31, 2007, Bucknor was hit in a sensitive part of the male anatomy. He seemed to have done a competent job in umpiring this game; it was just amusing for me to...
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries. [What is this?]
Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.