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The languorous torture of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first inning would have been more bearable if I weren’t suffering from a lingering cold. In the time it took the Red Sox starter to load the bases I went through a half dozen tissues. By the time the Rays leadoff hitter Ben Zobrist lined a single into center to plate two runs in the fourth, the Theraflu Nighttime had unentwined the last tendrils of thought tethering me to consciousness. Did I imagine Kevin Youkilis flinging the ball right at home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi in a vain attempt to cut down Kelly Shoppach? According to my medication-addled notes, that actually happened. I was thankfully tucked away when Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez joined forces to serve their guests a generous helping of batting practice. The six runs they surrendered put the game out of reach of the local nine. Delcarmen was put on the fifteen-day disabled list with a right forearm strain after the game. Matt Garza, unlike the other aces the Red Sox recently humbled, lived up to his billing. Although he had three earned runs in his tally, two of those came when David Ortiz doubled off Randy Choate to drive...
Rookie outfielder Brennan Boesch powered the Tigers’ comeback with a 4-for-6 showing, turning what was a garden of earthly delights for the Red Sox into a patch of hellish horrors. With the score 6-1 in the sixth and victory seemingly in Jon Lester’s talented left hand, Boesch knocked in two runs with a bases-clearing triple to the right-center gap. Brandon Inge sacrificed Boesch and Detroit was back in the game, 6-4. In the eighth the Tigers clawed their way to a tie. Hideki Okajima allowed a leadoff homer to Magglio Ordonez. Miguel Cabrera walked in an impressive eight-pitch at bat and advanced to second on Boesch’s ground ball single past a diving Dustin Pedroia. Inge smoked a double to left to plate Cabrera for the tying run. The visitors squandered a scoring chance in the eleventh inning. Kevin Youkilis, who reached base five times on bases on balls, walked to start the inning. David Ortiz dropped a single into shallow left that Adam Everett gave up on and Johnny Damon failed to catch in a head-first slide. With two on and none out Adrian Beltre struck out swinging and J.D. Drew grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Drew otherwise had...
Terry Francona must have been reaching for the Maalox in the first inning when Clay Buchholz allowed the leadoff hitter Fred Lewis to reach on a single up the middle. There was some measure of relief when his youthful starter secured the next two outs, but that was quickly shattered with the crack of Vernon Wells’s bat. The home team gained the early edge and Buchholz walked Lyle Overbay, the next batter, on five pitches. Not the ideal beginning after a game that emptied both teams’ bullpens. If this game were to suddenly turn into anything resembling last night’s barnburner, Jonathan Van Every might have to toe the rubber as he did in a blowout last season. Seeing Buchholz labor through two-thirds of the lineup in the bottom half of first, I didn’t think he could endure to pitch the minimum for a decision. But Buchholz not only lasted the minimum but turned in the best performance by a Red Sox starter this season. His line of 8 innings pitched, 7 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts was only matched by his opponent Shaun Marcum’s 7 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 3 bases on balls, and...
Game 33: May 12, 2009 Red Sox4W: Ramon Ramirez (4-0)S: Jonathan Papelbon (9)21-12, 2 game winning streak Angels3H: Jose Arredondo (10)BS, L: Scot Shields (1, 1-3)16-15, 1 game losing streak Highlights: Remember the great run Shawn Chacon had with the Yankees in 2005 and how pundits predicted similar success for him 2006? Remember how he got sent to the bullpen right before the All-Star break and was replaced by Kris Wilson in the Yankees’ rotation? Guess who the Yankees gave up to acquire Chacon? Hint: he has four wins for the Red Sox this season. For some reason Ramon Ramirez never found a home with his previous major league clubs. The Rockies traded him in March of 2008 for a player to be named later despite his franchise record of 15⅓ scoreless innings to start his career. The player the Rockies acquired was Jorge de la Rosa.When Boston exchanged Coco Crisp for Ramirez, who knew that the reliever would become the key cog in the bullpen machine that chews up the ends of games and leaves befuddled hitters in its wake? The Royals traded from a position of strength (their relievers have for an ERA of 3.07 in the season...
Game 2: April 8, 2009 Rays 7 W: Scott Kazmir (1-0)S: Grant Balfour (1) 1-1, 1 game winning streak Red Sox 2 L: Jon Lester (0-1) 1-1, 1 game losing streak Highlights: Raving about Jon Lester, Tom Caron rhapsodized, “The ceiling for this guy is through through the roof!” This evening’s Eck-tionary offering was “salad,” which means a pitch that is easy for a batter to launch. Hurlers used to serve meatballs, but in these days of health consciousness and eating ethics, genetically unmodified, organic leafy greens are recommended. Lester complied by serving up some escarole tonight: he presented to his guests five earned runs over his five-course repast. The new opening montage for the game is less jaunty and jumbled. Accompanying the sleek new graphics is a reinvigorated, driving score, brawnier than the previous refrain, which was laced with the whines of a simulated guitar and peppered with the electronic flourishes of a synthesizer. I rather liked the haphazard way players popped from sides of the screen in the old sequence, so this will take some getting used to.As will talking about a Ramirez that isn’t Manny. This Ramirez, a relief pitcher named Ramon, turned heads with a...
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Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library’s Sports Temples of Boston.