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| Male
19 years old
SAUGUS, MA |
Cowbell Up
What a mess. You could not have scripted a scenario more awful going into the start of this series. The Red Sox are now losers of their last five straight games and have dropped a whole three and a half games out of first place. Their largest margin out of first place since 2006. We could sit here and play the blame game and point fingers at the bullpen for imploding by giving up six runs in the seventh inning or blame Jason Varitek for being 3 for his last 48 (.063), but the simple fact is that baseball is a team orientated game. Games are not won and lost by just one player.
Our main concern right now should be the fact that the Red Sox are heading to Yankee Stadium for a four game series and the red hot Rays are taking on the Royals who have lost their last two games. If the Red Sox don’t wake up and start playing some serious baseball in the Bronx, this division race could get out of hand all sorts of fast.
You have to give credit where credit is due. The Rays just simply outplayed the Red Sox in every aspect of the game. They capitalized on every single mistake that the Red Sox made, that’s just what teams that are playing really well do. The Red Sox just couldn’t cash in on golden opportunities, thus resulting in ten runners being left on base. Scott Kazmir is a notorious Red Sox killer but tonight he was very beatable. He lasted just five innings and gave up four runs.
The only problem was that Daisuke Matsuzaka once again struggled with his control. Matsuzaka threw 49 pitches in the first two innings and walked five batters over five innings of work. The most astonishing stat would be that he only gave up two hits and just one run, that one run being a runner put on base via the walk.
The offense of Dustin Pedroia wasn’t enough to put the Red Sox over the top to try and avoid the sweep. Pedroia has raised his batting average an incredible 50 points on his recent offensive rampage to raise his average to .311. Pedroia collected four hits Wednesday night and was a single shy of the cycle. In the top half of the eighth inning with just a single to go, Pedroia hit a rocket into the gap in left-center and instead of holding up at first for the cycle, he cruised into second to put himself in scoring position. Of course the way things have been going as of late, he was stranded at second and could have stayed at first for the cycle and it would not have made a difference.
The seventh inning was torture to watch as the bullpen meltdown came full circle. Seventh inning, 38 minutes, 4 pitchers, 63 pitches, five hits, three walks, six runs, one big mess. Manny Delcarmen was first to take the mound in the seventh and the first three batters all reached base on hits. It was on to Craig Hansen next and he could just not find the strike zone. Hansen threw thirteen pitches and just four for strikes, needless to say it was not a good outing. He walked the first two batters he faced, the second walk forced in a run and up came maybe, just maybe Rookie of the Year to be, Evan Longoria. Longoria cranked his twenty-first double of the season into the gap, two runs score, there goes the lead.
David Aardsma was next to come on and was good for getting the first out of the inning followed by intentionally walking Dioner Navarro to reload the bases. Javier Lopez then came on and struck out pinch-hitter Gabe Gross. Just as soon as things started to look up, Jason Bartlett delivered the big blow by lining a single back up the middle plating two more runs. The Red Sox would score two runs to get within one run but poor managerial decisions in the ninth inning would seal their fate.
With one out and the coldest hitter on the team at the plate and one of the slowest runners on the team at first, manager Terry Francona called for a hit and run. Lowell took off, Varitek fouled off the pitch, they got away with it. Very next pitch, Francona calls for the same play, Varitek to nobody’s surprise swings and misses and Mike Lowell is gunned down at second by a mile killing the Red Sox rally.
The Red Sox have not won a game at the Trop all season long but luckily for them they won’t return until September. The focus now turns on the New York Yankees as the Sox head to the Bronx for four games. The rotation is set up perfectly for the Red Sox to break out of their losing streak with Jon Lester taking the ball for game one and Josh Beckett toeing the rubber for game two. Justin Masterson is penciled in to pitch game three but sources say that Clay Buchholz will be called up from triple-A Pawtucket to get the start for that game. Closing out the four game set will be the knuckle-baller Tim Wakefield who has pitched phenomenally in the last month or so.
-Jared Carrabis
-CARRABIS 13
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