RED SOX : TAKE THREE
July 6, 2008
Here's my take on last night's game. Not our best performance of the season, yet not our worst. We weren't the only guys who left a lot of runners stranded, the Yankees did too. We also put on quite a sickening display of matching the MLB record of hit batsmen with 7 by the time the game was over. The umpires never issued any warnings to any of the pitchers and by the time the game was over, it was apparent that neither team had hard feelings toward each other. Manny was hit 3 times just on his own and given his latest state of emotions, I figured a mound charge might be in order at some point but that never happened. Which, I don't know about you guys, but I was happy to see him a little more in check of himself last night. Mariano Rivera is definitely one of the better closers in baseball. His warm-up cycle is time consuming and even he hit 2 guys last night.
We almost had a little something going in the 9th, but to no avail. We scored once in the 9th after JD would lead off with a single and Manny would reach after being HBP. Mike Lowell would then dig in and bloop one into shallow right allowing JD to score our lone run off of an RBI single. Youk would step in, be hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. All we needed to tie the game would be a deep sacrifice fly or even a base hit to win the game. We didn't see either of those happen. Coco struck out, Tek popped up a fly to first and Julio would come into the game for Alex Cora to strike out on 5 pitches. Our bats just never woke up yesterday. I just can't believe that we weren't able to benefit from a bases loaded, no out situation. We need to time the swings better and just flat out make better cuts at those balls. I saw a few nasty swings in the ninth that could've been avoided had we used more patience. The Yankees didn't win that game, I do believe. We just kind of handed it to them.
Masterson had a great night, I must say. He only gave up 2 runs over 6 innings and the Yankees left their fair share of runners stranded as Masterson got himself out of a few nasty situations. It was more or less a pitcher's duel, if you ask me. We just came out on the losing side. Now tonight our boy Tim Wakefield (5-6) takes on Joba Chamberlain (2-2). Let's take a moment to break down each pitcher.
Tim Wakefield: Wake has been pitching phenomenally only to have our bullpen come into the game to blow it for him on multiple occasions. His knuckleball has proved to be effective fluttering and dancing around many batters. This will be Wakefield's first start of the season against the Yankees. Lifetime against New York, Wakefield is 9-16 with a 5.03 ERA. At Yankee Stadium, he is 5-7 with a 3.66 ERA.
Joba Chamberlain: Personally, I think he sucks. It's taken him a lot of pitches just to be able to get out of the inning alive. I don't think he's been able to last more than 4 innings before getting the hook. I think we can take him tonight. My confidence is running pretty high right now. He does have a menacing fastball, but his pitch count tends to run up quickly. We just need our bats to wake up and we'll do just fine.
Bartolo is close to returning to the mound. Dustin Pedroia is still looking great, but we need the rest of our bats to wake up. So let's cheer on Wake tonight! Let's pick up the win on the series. Take 3, Boston!
GO SOX!!
-BoSox Hooligan - RSM™
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