Tonight's game was all around basebawful for the Boston Red Sox. They had no bats, no luck, no gloves and no closer. The game itself was a washout that did more harm than good in the long run. Sox starter Ryan Dempster did all he could to keep the Red Sox in the game but Minnesota Twins starter Scott Diamond pitched like he had a legitimate diamond in his ass. When all was said and done, the Twins came away with a 6-1 win at Fenway Park.
Ryan Dempster (2-3, 2.93 ERA) was the hard luck loser in this one although he hardly pitched like one in the top of the first inning. Jamey Carroll grounded out to first before Joe Mauer and Josh Willingham struck out swinging. Diamond matched Ryan in the bottom of the first inning. Jacoby Ellsbury legged out an infield single but Shane Victorino flied out and Dustin Pedroia bounced into a double play to end the inning.
Justin Morneau greeted Dempster with a single in the top of the second inning. Ryan recovered to get Trevor Plouffe and Ryan Doumit to fly out before punching out Chris Parmalee to end the inning. David Ortiz greeted Diamond in the bottom of the second with a single to extend his hitting streak. He was erased on the Mike Napoli force but Jonny Gomes flied out. Will Middlebrooks struck out to end the inning.
Dempster cruised in the top of the third inning. Wilkin Ramirez grounded out and Brian Dozier struck out before Carroll grounded out to end the inning. Stephen "PU" Drew led off the bottom of the third but was stranded when David Ross popped up. Ellsbury popped up as well and Victorino grounded out to end the inning.
Dempster ran into some trouble in the top of the fourth inning. Mauer singled and Willingham walked. Morneau grounded into a double play and Plouffe grounded out to end the inning. The Sox could do nothing in the bottom of the fourth. Pedroia and Ortiz grounded out and Napoli popped up to end the inning.
The tide turned sour in the top of the fifth. Doumit doubled and advanced to third on a balk by Dempster. Ryan then got Chris Parmelee to pop up behind home plate. Unfortunately neither Will Middlebrooks nor David Ross called each other off and they collided.
The good news was Middlebrooks made the catch but the bad news was Ross left the game limping, replaced by Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Ramirez singled home Doumit to give the Twins the lead. Dempster recovered to strike out Dozier and Carroll but the Sox lost Ross and the lead, 1-0. The Sox failed to answer in the bottom of the fifth inning. Gomes flied out before both Middlebrooks and Drew grounded out to end the inning.
Dempster breezed through the top of the sixth as Mauer popped up, Willingham grounded out and Morneau struck out to end the inning. Diamond kept cruising in the bottom of the sixth as Saltalamacchia struck out before Ellsbury and Victorino flied out to end the inning.
Middlebrooks had to leave the game and Pedro Ciriaco took his place in the top of the seventh. Plouffe struck out but the Twins knocked in some insurance when Doumit homered off the top of the Monster to give the them a 2-0 lead. Parmalee grounded out and Ramirez flied out to end the inning. Aaron Hicks took over in center as Diamond continued to shut-out the Sox. Pedroia flied out as both Ortiz and Napoli grounded out to end the inning.
The wheels fell off in the top of the eighth. Dempster came back for the 8th inning and got Brian Dozier to hit a ground ball to third....unfortunately the ball was bobbled by Ciriaco and Dozier reached first. Dempster got Jamey Carroll to ground to the exact same spot.....right under the glove of Ciriaco. Back to back errors on a guy who wasn't even supposed to be out there if it wasn't for the injury to Middlebrooks. John Farrell lifted Dempster for Craig Breslow who managed to pour gas on the fire. Joe Mauer doubled home Doumit and Josh Willingham walked to load the bases. Justin Morneau and Trevor Plouffe hit back to back singles to give the Twins a commanding 5-0 lead, both of Dempster's runs were un-earned. Farrell had seen enough and brought in rookie Alex Wilson to stop the bleeding. As if their bad luck couldn't get any worse...it did. Wilson got Doumit to hit a grounder to Napoli who fired home to Saltalamacchia at home only for the umpire to get in the way of the throw back to first. What should have been umpire interference was another error and another un-earned run. John Farrell came out to argue and probably said this quote below but to no avail:
Now the game was 6-0 and completely over. Wilson managed to get Parmalee to fly out and Hicks to line out but the damage was done with 4 runs (3 un-earned). Josh Roenicke came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th, Gomes flied out and Ciraco completed the big donut by striking out to go along with his back to back errors. Drew grounded out to end the inning.
Wilson returned for the top of the ninth and struck out Dozier to begin. Carroll grounded out but Mauer walked. Willingham flied out to end the inning. The Sox avoided a shutout in the bottom of the ninth when Saltamacchia took his frustations out on Twins reliever Josh Roenicke by blasting his 4th home run of the year into the Monster Seats. Ellsbury walked but the potential rally was snuffed out when Shane Victorino hit into a double play. Dustin Pedroia walked but David Ortiz flied out to end the game. The Sox fell to 21-12 with the loss.
Jackass Of The Night honors goes to Pedro Ciriaco. His back to back errors opened the flood gates for the Twins and when he got an at bat to redeem himself....he struck out.
THE GOOD:
Jacoby Ellsbury was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Stephen Drew was 1 for 3.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia belted his 4th home run of the year after coming in for Ross.
Alex Wilson pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief.
THE BAD:
Shane Victorino was 0 for 4.
Mike Napoli was 0 for 3
Jonny Gomes was 0 for 3.
Will Middlebrooks was 0 for 2 before leaving the game.
David Ross was 0 for 1 before leaving the game.
Craig Breslow poured gas on the fire, allowing all inherited runners to score plus 2 of his own.
THE UGLY:
Dustin Pedroia was 0 for 3 with a walk.
David Ortiz was just 1 for 4.
Ryan Dempster deserved a better fate, he allowed 4 runs to take the loss but only 2 of them were earned and he pitched into the 8th inning. He struck out 8 twins as well.
Final thoughts:
What the hell is Pedro Ciriaco doing on the team anyway? If Ben Cherrington wants to justify Stephen Drew's 9.5 million dollar contract by keeping him the starting shortstop, fine, but you mean to tell me Jose Iglesias can't do any better than Ciraco in the utility role? I don't recall Iglesias playing hot potato with groundballs at any point last year or even this year. If they want to keep Drew, fine, but if Ciriaco can't hit or field then what good is he? I understand and respect he was their little engine that could last year, but that was a different team in a different situation. Last year was a lost cause and this year they're actually in contention. That means every win and loss counts in the era of the double wild-card and they can't afford to have errors lead to costly runs. Also, with Harahan and Bailey out....Tazawa is closer. Thank Magus they didn't go to Alfredo "The Vulture" Aceves but can Tazawa handle the 9th inning? Bailey thrived in the 8th but seemed shaky in the 9th, hopefully Tazawa can avoid a similar fate. Like I said yesterday, close situations can be avoided if the Sox bats simply produce. Speaking of which, the injury to Ross leaves the door for Ryan Lavernway to come back and maybe he'll do such a good job that general manager Ben Cherringon will ship out Saltalamacchia for some batting help, primarily against left-handed pitching. Which brings me to the biggest flaw in the Red Sox as a whole, the inability to hit left-handed pitching. Derek Holland, JA Happ, Andy Pettite and Scott Diamond totally dominated the Red Sox as did Toronto reliever Brett Cecil. They brought in Johnny Gomes to hit lefties and he hasn't been able to do it consistently. If they have any legitimate pennant hopes, they NEED to find another bat that's capable of hitting lefties. I know they're keeping Gomes because he's good for the clubhouse, but if he's not getting the job done he will need to be replaced. Tomorrow Alan Webster goes for the Sox hoping to build on his first start against Kansas City. The Sox remain a game in front of the Orioles and winning the next 2 games of the series would be nice.
No comments:
Post a Comment