As for the game, Red Sox starter Brian Rose has been pretty inconsistent so far this season. Every start fans hold their breath to see if he'll deliver. Going into the season Juan Pena was supposed to be the 5th starter but the injury to him left the door open for Rose. Tonight Rose looked like the pitcher they thought they were getting when they drafted him. Rose outdueled Worcester native Tanyon Sturtze to defeat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 at Fenway Park.
Rose took the mound in the top of the first and didn't give an inch. Ray Durham grounded out, Jose Valentin flied out and Frank Thomas grounded out in short order. The Bosox struck first in the bottom of the first. Sturtze got the start after Jack Parque was suspended for the brawl he was in last week. Jose Offerman, Trot Nixon and Brian Daubach hit three straight singles before Nomar Garciaparra brought Jose home with a sac fly. Troy O'Leary banged into a double play to end the inning with the Bosox up 1-0.
Magglio Ordonez grounded out and Paul Konerko struck out to begin the top of the second. Chris Singleton grounded out to end the inning. Sturtze found his groove in the bottom of the second. Carl Everett struck out, Jason Varitek flied out and Jeff Frye grounded out in short order.
Carlos Lee flied out to open the top of the third. Greg Norton popped up and Mark Johnson flied out to end the inning. 9 up,9 down for Rose. The Sox got another run in the bottom of the third. Wilton Veras walked and moved to second on the force by Offerman. Nixon popped up but Daubach doubled home Veras to give the Bosox a 2-0 lead. Nomar flied out to end the inning.
The no-hitter was snapped when Durham doubled to lead off the top of the fourth. Valentin sacrificed him over to third and Thomas brought him in with a sac fly. Ordonez doubled but Konerko flied out to end the inning. The Chisox had cut the lead 2-2. The Sox got the run back in the bottom of the fourth. O'Leary flied out but Everett stepped up and belted a solo home run into the Chicago bullpen to give the Bosox a 3-1 lead. Varitek singled but Frye bounced into a double play to end the inning.
Rose fed off the lead in the top of the fifth. Singleton looked at strike 3, Lee flied out and Norton grounded out in short order. Veras singled to open the bottom of the inning but Offerman bounced into Boston's third double play of the game. Nixon flied out to end the inning.
Johnson flied out but Durham continued to be a pain in the ass to Rose by tripling in the top of the 6th. Valentin lashed a ground ball and Durham was caught going home but made it back, allowing Jose to reach first on a single. Thomas hit another sac fly to score Ray to make it 3-2. Ordonez never got a chance for an rbi as Varitek threw out Valentin trying to steal second to end the inning. Kelly Wunsch replaced Sturtze who pitched pretty well as an emergency starter. Daubach struck out, Nomar flied out and O'Leary whiffed to end the inning.
At 84 pitches, Rose could have come out for the 7th but Sox manager Jimy Williams decided to go with the bullpen the rest of the way. Tim Wakefield got the call first and ran into some trouble. Ordonez flied out and Konerko popped up but Singleton singled. Lee doubled to put the go-ahead run at second but Wakefield struck out Norton to end the inning. White Sox manager Jerry Manuel brought in Keith Foulke to pitch the bottom of the seventh. Everett popped up but Varitek walked. Frye whiffed completely on a hit and run and Varitek was easily thrown out at second to end the inning. Why the hell would Williams call for a hit and run with Frye at the plate against Foulke? Oh well.
Wakefield returned for the top of the eighth and got Johnson to pop up. Durham grounded out but Valentin worked a walk. Rather than let Wakefield finish the inning, Williams made a gold medal sprint to the mound and waived his arms frantically to bring Bosox closer Derek Lowe into the game. Thomas hit a seeing eye single to put the tying run at second but Ordonez grounded into a force to end the inning. Veras singled off Foulke to begin the bottom of the eighth and Offerman sacrificed him to second, but both Nixon and Daubach whiffed to end the inning.
Lowe came back for the ninth for yet another multiple inning save. Konerko singled and was replaced by pinch runner Josh Paul. Singleton sacrificed Paul to second but Lee grounded out to third, leaving Paul at second. Norton walked to set up the force as Herbert Perry pinch hit for Johnson. Sure enough, Perry grounded one to Veras who stepped on the third base bag to end the game. The Sox had won 3-2.
Hero of the night is Brian Rose. He tossed 6 innings of 2 run ball and didn't allow a baserunner in 4 of the 6 innings. The 2 runs came on 4 hits and no walks while striking out 2.
The Good:
Jose Offerman was 1 for 3 with a walk, raising his batting average to a whopping .212. Brian Daubach was 2 for 4 with an rbi. He's hitting a red hot .344 right now. Carl Everett was 1 for 3 with a run scored and rbi coming off his 11th home run of the season. Jason Varitek was 1 for 2 with a walk. Wilton Veras was 2 for 2 with a walk and a run scored. Tim Wakefield tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Derek Lowe picked up his 8th save of the year with 1 1/3 scoreless innings. His ERA stands at 0.87.
The Bad:
Troy O'Leary continues to slump by going 0 for 3 with a strikeout, hitting just .234 so far. Jeff Frye was 0 for 3 and it hitting a lusty .176 so far.
The Ugly:
Trot Nixon was just 1 for 4. Nomar Garciaparra was 0 for 2 but drove in a run.
Final Thoughts:
Its about time, Rose. Pedro Martinez can't do it all himself, he needs other starters to stepped up and thankfully Rose was up to the task this time. Rose says going for daily jogs with Pete Schourek and Rheal Cormier and Derek Lowe has helped. I don't care if he runs through the streets of Hong Kong being chased by CIA agents as long as it works.His effort was much needed although Jimy Williams can't continue to burn Lowe and Wakefield for multiple innings. I know knuckleballers can do that sort of thing and Lowe has a rubber arm, but save the 6 out saves for August and September when they really count. The offense was lacking and Troy O'Leary looks lost out there. What's the matter with him? Its not like he's hurt or anything. At least Jose Offerman is dealing with a nagging hamstring, but what is up with O'Leary? The win put the Sox at 17-11 on the season, 3 games behind the New York Yankees for first place. Tomorrow night at 7:05 Pete Schourek (1-2, 3.19 ERA) goes up against the undefeated James Baldwin (5-0, 2.97 ERA) in Game 2 of the series.
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