As for the game, its a new month but the same old Red Sox. In fact, these guys look worse than they did before. New addition Ed Sprague Jr failed to impress and 22 year old rookie Paxton Crawford got knocked out in the sixth inning. The biggest sin is Izzy Alcantara put on an embarrassing display of a lack of interest. He let two routine fly balls fall in for hits, committed an error and got himself thrown out in a run-down. For a guy who can hit the ball really well, looking that lazy helped cost the Sox the game against the Chicago White Sox. Jose Valentin drove in 4 runs by himself and Mike Sirotka held the Sox to just 2 runs and 6 hits in the game. The BoSox are fading fast and dropped to .500 on the season with a 7-2 defeat at the hands of the White Sox at Commiskey Park.
Sirotka got the ball in the top of the first and made the BoSox beat the ball in the dirt. Jose Offerman grounded out to short, Jeff Frye grounded out to third and Nomar Garciaparra grounded out to third to end the inning. Paxton Crawford made his ML debut in the bottom of the first and Ray Durham lined out to short to start. Jose Valentin went down hacking and Frank Thomas grounded out second to end the inning.
Sirotka cruised in the top of the second as Ed Sprague Jr made his Red Sox debut by striking out swinging to begin. Carl Everett flied out to left and Morgan Burkhart took strike three to end the inning. Crawford matched Sirotka in the bottom of the second as Paul Konerko popped up to first to start. Chris Singleton struck out swinging and Carlos Lee flied out to right to end the inning.
Brian Daubach flied out to left to open the top of the third and Jason Varitek lined back to Sirotka. Izzy Alcantara walked but Offerman forced him at second to end the inning. The White Sox struck first in the bottom of the third although Herbert Perry flied out to left to start. Tony Graffanino grounded out to short but Mark Johnson walked. Durham hit a routine pop up to Alcantara WHO LET IT JUST DROP! Not only did Johnson score all the way from first but Alcantara barely threw the ball back to allow Durham to reach second. The loafing by Alcantara bit the Sox as Valentin doubled over the heads of everyone to score Durham with another run. Thomas was intentionally walked but Konerko grounded into a force to end the inning with Chicago up 2-0.
The BoSox did try to fight back in the top of the fourth as Frye walked to start. Nomar singled to center but Sprague popped up to left. Everett moved both runners over with grounder to first and Burkhart walked to load the bases. Daubach dropped a base hit to center to score Frye but Nomar was thrown out at home to kill the rally and end the inning with the BoSox down 2-1.
The White Sox got another run in the bottom of the fourth as Singleton walked to start. Varitek tried to pick off Chris at first and airmailed Daubach with the throw, allowing Singleton to reach third. Lee grounded out to short but Perry scored Singleton with a sac fly to increase the lead. Graffanino singled but Johnson flied out to right to end the inning with Chicago ahead 3-1.
Varitek grounded out to short to open the top of the fifth and Alcantara grounded out to second. Offerman singled to left but Frye whiffed to end the inning. Crawford kept pace in the bottom of the fifth as Durham grounded out to third to start. Valentin popped up to second and Thomas walked to load the bases. Konerko popped up to second to end the inning.
The BoSox did nothing in the top of the sixth as Nomar flied out to left to start. Sprague also flied out to left and Everett grounded out to third to end the inning. Alcantara did it again in the bottom of the sixth as he lollygagged after a routine pop up by Singleton that dropped and got behind him for a single and an error. Lee then hit a routine grounder to Sprague who booted it for another error. Perry was intentionally walked to load the bases and Alcantara did manage to catch a pop up from Graffanino, but his throw home was so bad that Singleton could have ran home backwards for another run. That was it for Crawford who pitched a hell of a game but got no help from his defense. He lasted 5 1/3 innings and would be charged with 6 runs (just two earned). Rich Garces came in and got Johnson to strike out looking, but walked Durham to reload the bases. Valentin cleared the bases with a triple to center to ice the game. Thomas whiffed to end the inning but the White Sox had blown it open due to more bad defense to lead 7-1.
The Sox went quietly in the top of the seventh as Burkhart popped up to first to start. Daubach grounded out to second and Varitek grounded out to short to end the inning. Bryce Florie came on for the bottom of the seventh and Konerko grounded out to third to start. Singleton walked but Lee banged into a double play to end the inning.
Alcantara continued to give everyone a headache in the top of the eighth as he did manage to get a base hit to left to start. Offerman whiffed but Frye walked. Nomar whiffed and with a 1-1 count on Sprague, Alcantara just walked toward third base and was thrown out to end the inning. What the hell was he thinking?
Perry grounded out to first to start the bottom of the eighth and Graffanino flied out to center. Johnson flied out to left to end the inning. The BoSox did try to rally in the top of the ninth against Keith Foulke. Sprague Jr popped up to first before Everett popped up to second. Burkhart walked and Daubach singled to left. Varitek atoned for his earlier error by hitting a double to right to score Burkhart. Sox manager Jimy Williams had enough of Alcantara and sent in Scott Hatteberg to pinch hit for him. Hatteberg flied out to left to end the game. The White Sox had defeated the incompetent Red Sox 7-2.
The Good:
Jeff Frye walked twice and scored a run in four plate appearances.
Morgan Burkhart walked twice and scored a run in four plate appearances.
Brian Daubach was 2 for 4 with an rbi.
Bryce Florie tossed 2 scoreless innings.
The Bad:
Ed Sprague Jr was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and an error.
Carl Everett was 0 for 4.
Scott Hatteberg was 0 for 1.
Rich Garces allowed 2 inherited runners to score and one of his own in 2/3 of an inning.
The Ugly:
Jose Offerman was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Nomar Garciaparra was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Jason Varitek was just 1 for 4 with an error but drove in a run.
Paxton Crawford took the loss in his ML Debut but pitched reasonably well. He was charged with 6 runs in 5 1/3 innings but only 2 were earned. He allowed 4 hits and walked 5.
Final Thoughts:
Its one thing to lose a game to a better team, its another thing to lose like THIS. The Red Sox are in big trouble as now they can't do anything right. They finally get a good start by a kid making his MLB debut and they still managed to screw it up. The worst part is Alcantara is no "rookie", he's 27 years old and should know better than to loaf in the field. How many kids with half his talent would kill to be in right field for the Boston Red Sox? After the game Jimy Williams said the game was "Ugly with a capital U-G-L-Y" and Jeff Frye said they looked like the Bad News Bears out there. Ironic considering Walter Matthau died today, but the BoSox did look like garbage in this game. If it wasn't for the New York Yankees going through a rough patch, the BoSox would be so far out of first place they wouldn't be able to climb out. As it is, the loss drops the Sox to 38-38 on the season, 3.5 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for first place in the AL East. Tomorrow the BoSox look to rebound when they send Pete Schourek (2-6) out against White Sox ace James Baldwin. The game begins at 2:05 PM Eastern time at Commiskey Park.
No comments:
Post a Comment