Empyreal Environs

Joey Bats

Steven Wright took over for Rubby De La Rosa in the fifth inning. With R.A. Dickey pitching for the Blue Jays it was the first time there were two knuckleballers opposing each other since Charlie Haeger of the White Sox relieved Jon Garland on July 22, 2007 in a game that Tim Wakefield started. The Red Sox defeated Chicago 8-5 that day but didn’t come through with a victory today. De La Rosa was chased from the game by Jose Bautista’s three-run moonshot in the fifth inning. Gose had led off with a walk and Jose Reyes singled to center just prior to Bautista’s 31st homer of the season. Your browser does not support iframes. Wright lasted longer than De La Rosa, turning in five innings with two hits, no runs, one walk, and six strikeouts. He even picked off Reyes in the seventh inning. Dickey went seven innings with a line of six hits, one earned run, no walks, and four whiffs. As annoying as it is to see a team in the division have success, I still enjoy it when one who throws the butterfly ball does well. I hope this kid isn’t around when Yankee fans start...

7 September 2014 ∙ 11:33 PM ∙ September 2014 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Dickey (R.A.) ∙ Wright (Steven)

Koji-to Ergo Sum

Koji Uehara’s perfect run as closer came to an abrupt end with the crack of the ball off Jose Bautista’s bat. The ninth-inning shot tied the game 4-4. For Toronto, a win in this game was the difference between a winning and losing record. For Boston, a victory would ensure a series win instead of a split and would keep pace with the surging Orioles. After he lost the lead Uehara allowed a single up the middle to Edwin Encarnacion. Uehara sat the next two batters so that the home team had a chance to end the game in regulation. Jose Iglesias eagerly swung at the first pitch he saw and uneventfully grounded out to Josh Thole for the first out. Thole was playing first in place of Adam Lind, who left in the fourth inning with an injured back. Brandon Snyder roped a single to right and Jacoby Ellsbury walked on five pitches. With the go-ahead run in scoring position John Farrell had Jonathan Diaz pinch run for Snyder. John Gibbons pulled Juan Perez in favor of Casey Janssen. Janssen induced a grounder off Shane Victorino’s bat that should have been at least one out. Instead the ball was...

1 July 2013 ∙ 9:45 PM ∙ June 2013 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Thole (Josh) ∙ Uehara (Koji)

All Ways Jose

Embedded Red Sox Darren Oliver helped out his former team in the seventh by allowing singles to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jose Iglesias. Oliver couldn’t make it so obvious so he threw Saltalamacchia out at home on Jonathan Diaz’s safety squeeze. Perhaps suspecting Oliver’s turncoat status John Gibbons pulled Oliver in favor of Steve Delabar. Perhaps Oliver enlisted Delabar to his cause; the right-handed reliever surrendered consecutive singles to Jacoby Ellsbury and Shane Victorino, the second of which tallied the only two runs Boston would score. Pedroia congratulated Victorino for not running into a wall today. When Victorino isn’t tilting at fences he is trying to knock the ball out of the catcher’s mitt. Victorino was thrown out by who else but Jose Bautista. The right fielder clouted two home runs in the game. They were his 200th and 201st four-baggers. It seems wearing R.A. Dickey’s pants changed his luck as he had hoped. Game 83: June 29, 2013 Toronto Blue Jays40-40 6 H: Darren Oliver (5)BS, W: Steve Delabar (3, 5-1) 2B: Rajai Davis (5)3B: Adam Lind (1)HR: Jose Bautista – 2 (18) Boston Red Sox49-34 2 L: Junichi Tazawa (4-3)2B: Dustin Pedroia (22), Shane Victorino (10)...

1 July 2013 ∙ 7:42 PM ∙ June 2013 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Delabar (Steve) ∙ Oliver (Darren)

Lester’s Left Latissimus

If you say that three times in a row while clicking your heels together perhaps the southpaw will avoid the disabled list. The Red Sox roster seemed subject to some sort of perverse algebra. Just as Carl Crawford is poised to return to action Jon Lester was forced from last night’s game in the midst of a no-hitter. Since he only pitched four innings he wasn’t in line for the win; he left with one base on balls and five strikeouts to his name. Offensive support came early and from an unlikely source. Darnell McDonald’s second-inning check swing ground out advanced David Ortiz from second to third and Jason Varitek’s clanger off the scoreboard plated the designated hitter. Ice-cold J.D. Drew scorched a grounder past second baseman Aaron Hill to plate Varitek. Dustin Pedroia clouted a home run in the third inning from the clean-up spot. Ortiz looked on from the on-deck circle and seemed to question his selections for his “Bomb Squad:” Jose Bautista, Adrian Gonzalez, and Robinson Cano. Matt Albers, Franklin Morales, and Daniel Bard kept the scoreless stranglehold on the game, allowing just two hits and two walks between them. But against Jonathan Papelbon the heart of...

6 July 2011 ∙ 6:00 AM ∙ July 2011 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Drew (J.D.) ∙ Lester (Jon) ∙ McDonald (Darnell) ∙ Papelbon (Jonathan) ∙ Pedroia

Eight-Cylinder Engine

The Red Sox extended their winning streak to nine games, the longest run in the majors this season and the squad’s longest since they won 11 in a row in April 2009. Jon Lester pitched perfectly through 3⅔ innings, at which point Jose Bautista reminded everyone he was Jose Bautista with a solo shot that hit the top of the center field wall before caroming back onto the field. It was the only extra base hit and score of the game for the local nine. It was enough to make Torontonians cheer for their fellow Canadians across the continent. Of the starting nine only J.D. Drew didn’t notch a hit. He struck out four times total with three of them swinging, which provided the opposing dugout with a refreshing breeze. I confirmed the side of the dugout with Craig Robinson’s infographic on Flip Flop Fly Ball. I’m excited for his upcoming book, which promises answers to questions like, “How are World Series winning teams assembled?” and “How far did Barry Bonds walk?” Such questions are slightly more challenging than the trivia segment of the game, which was devised in response to Jerry Remy’s bellyaching about the difficulty of the questions...

13 June 2011 ∙ 8:22 PM ∙ June 2011 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Gonzalez (Adrian) ∙ Lester (Jon) ∙ Ortiz ∙ Remy & Orsillo hijinks

Fifth-Inning Fusillade

Twenty-nine year old Mike McCoy is the Blue Jays’ attempt to build a Bill Hall of their own. The utility man has played every outfield position and every infield spot except catcher and first baseman. Results are at times spectacular; his third inning web gem had him sliding on the warning track in left, snaring Yamaico Navarro’s fly ball on the backhand, and turning in time to stop his momentum with his back against the wall perpendicular to the Green Monster. Navarro got the better of McCoy in the fifth inning when his grounder slipped by the defender’s glove. The Red Sox shortstop reached third on McCoy’s gaffe and a run scored. The shaky defense unnerved Shaun Marcum. He threw three consecutive balls to Ryan Kalish and likely would have walked him if Kalish hadn’t gotten under a low and away fastball. J.D. Drew exploited Marcum’s weakness with a two-run jack over the Red Sox bullpen. While Boston is still mathematically alive, tagging Toronto with their 74th loss has eliminated the Blue Jays from the playoff picture. Jon Lester had four each of hits, walks, and strikeouts over seven innings. His pitching was not dominant but when Lester needed a...

20 September 2010 ∙ 5:13 PM ∙ September 2010 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Blue Jays ∙ Lester (Jon) ∙ Marcum (Shaun) ∙ McCoy (Mike)

John Lacking

For all the complaints about Daisuke Matsuzaka’s starts, his teammate John Lackey’s performances can be as exasperating. This past offseason’s key free agent acquisition lasted 4⅔ innings with a line of 8 hits, 7 earned runs, 6 walks, and 2 strikeouts. Lackey had so little command of the strike zone that he couldn’t even take advantage of home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg’s favorable strike zone. Had the Red Sox saved some offensive firepower from the first game Lackey could have secured his 10th win of the season, but Cito Gaston’s relief corps shut down the Boston batters for five innings. The relievers may have been aided by Kellogg’s calls. Kellogg inspired the ire of many of the visiting hitters. Seven times the Red Sox batters were called out on strikes. As the strike zone seemed to be favoring pitchers, hitters found themselves swinging at questionable pitches, resulting in five swinging strikeouts. Mike Cameron was ejected in the seventh inning for complaining to Kellogg, prompting Terry Francona to confront Kellogg. Seconds after Kellogg motioned that Francona was getting tossed the Red Sox skipper copied the motion, Carlos Zambrano-like, which proved to be one of the few enjoyable moments in the game....

11 July 2010 ∙ 8:22 AM ∙ July 2010 Game Comments ∙ Comments: 0
Tags: Bautista (Jose) ∙ Blue Jays ∙ Cameron (Mike) ∙ ejections ∙ Francona (Terry) ∙ Lackey (John) ∙ Nava (Daniel)