Yankees Defeat Lifeless Sox (9/7/19)

After a season of playing from behind and trying to pick up the often times useless Boston Red Sox pitching staff, it seems like the offense is out of gas. During many losses this season the offense at least kept the Sox in the game but during the last week the Sox offense looks like its on its last legs. Tonight JA Happ of the New York Yankees was the latest to shut the Sox down. If it wasn't for a JD Martinez home run in the bottom of the ninth, they would have been held to no runs and just 4 hits. Martinez himself had a terrible day defensively as he committed two blunders that led to 4 Yankee runs. As it was, the Yankees took another step toward the division title as they beat the Sox 5-1 at Fenway Park.

                                        "I'M DONE WITH THIS YEAR'S TEAMMMM!!"

Travis Lakins was the opener today and DJ LeMahieu lined out to a wall climbing Mookie Betts to start. Aaron Judge whiffed and Didi Gregorius flied out to center to end the inning. Mr. Mookie greeted Happ with a single to center to begin the bottom of the first. Xander Bogaerts whiffed and Rafael Devers banged into a double play to end the inning.

Lakins returned for the top of the second inning and Gary Sanchez whiffed to start. Edwin Encarnacion flied out to center and Gleyber Torres struck out swinging to end the inning. The Sox did nothing in the bottom of the second as JD Martinez grounded out to short to start. Andrew Benintendi grounded out to short as well and Christian Vazquez whiffed to end the inning.

First out of the bullpen was Bobby Poyner and he got Brett Gardner to ground out to second to start the top of the third inning. Luke Voit flied out to center and Mike Tauchman grounded out to second to end the inning. The Sox went quietly in the bottom of the third as Mitch Moreland flied out to left to start. Sam Travis flied out to right and Brock "The Hitman" Holt flied out to left to end the inning.

The Yankees struck first against Ryan Weber in the top of the fourth inning as LeMahieu singled to left to begin. Judge whiffed but Martinez lost Gregorius' routine fly ball in the sun, allowing it to drop in for a double. Colten Brewer came in and Sanchez hit a routine pop up to Martinez....and he let it drop for a ground rule double to put the Yankees up. Encarnacion then crushed a 9,000 foot home run to ice the game. Torres lined out to right but Gardner singled. Gardner swiped second and Voit walked, but Tauchman lined out to center to end the inning with the Yankees up 4-0, game over.

                                                 Poor Martinez

Happ laughed at the Sox as they came to bat in the bottom of the fourth. Mr. Mookie lined out to right but somehow Bogaerts singled to right for his 1,000th career hit. Naturally Devers and Martinez both whiffed to end the inning.

Trevor Kelley came in to pitch the top of the fifth but Judge lined out to center to start. Gregorius lined out to right but Sanchez walked. Encarnacion hit one up the elevator shaft to end the inning. The Sox laid down in the bottom of the fifth as Benintendi whiffed badly to start. Vazquez flied out to center and Moreland whiffed to end the inning.

Hector "The Insurance Policy" Velazquez came in for the top of the sixth and Torres effortlessly doubled to right before Gardner walked. Somehow Voit whiffed and LeMahieu banged into a double play to end the inning. As usual the Sox did nothing in the bottom of the sixth as Travis flied out to center to start. Holt popped up to second but Mr. Mookie walked. Bogaerts grounded out to short to end the inning.

Josh Smith came in for the top of the seventh and Judge flied out to left to start. Gregorius grounded out to short but Sanchez walked. Encarnacion whiffed to end the inning. Devers whiffed to open the bottom of the seventh and that was it for Happ after 6 1/3 nearly no-hit innings. Adam Ottavino came in and easily whiffed Martinez. Benintendi grounded out to first to end the inning.

Mike Shawaryn came in for the top of the eighth and Torred whiffed to start. Gardner struck out swinging but Voit doubled. Tauchman grounded into a force to end the inning. Tommy Kahnle came in to pitch the bottom of the eighth and Vazquez gronded out to second to start. Somehow Moreland singled and Marco Hernande pinch hit for Travis, getting a base hit to right. Zack Britton came in to pitch and effortlessly struck out Holt. Mr. Mookie lined out to right to end the inning.

Shawryn returned for the top of the ninth and Judge flied out to center to start. Gregorius popped up to third but Sanchez was plunked. Encarnacion laughed at the Sox as he doubled home Sanchez to increase the lead. Torres singled Edwin to third but Gardner lined out to center to end the inning with the Yankees ahead 5-0.

                                                      Sox are finished

The carnage ended with at least a run in the bottom of the ninth as Aroldis Chapman easily got Bogaerts to fly out to center to start. Devers grounded out to second but Martinez crushed his 35th home run of the year to break up the shutout. Benintendi popped up to first to end the game but the Yankees had won it 5-1.

                                               Dammit


Jackass of the Night is Colten Brewer. Not that the Sox were going to score any runs and he got no help from Martinez but he still served up the 2 run jack to Encarnacion to put the Yankees up for good.

                                                  Poor Brewer the Jackass



The Good:

Mookie Betts was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Travis Lakins pitched two scoreless innings.

Bobby Poyner pitched a scoreless third inning.

Mitch Moreland was 1 for 3.

Marco Hernandez singled as a pinch hitter.

Trevor Kelley pitched a scoreless 5th inning.

Hector Velazquez pitched a scoreless 6th inning.

Josh Smith pitched a scoreless 7th inning.



The Bad:

Rafael Devers was 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.

Andrew Benintendi was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.

Christian Vazquez was 0 for 3 with a strikeout.

Sam Travis was 0 for 2.

Brock Holt was 0 for 3 with a strikeouts.

Ryan Weber took the loss with 2 runs allowed in just 1/3 of an inning.



The Ugly:

Xander Bogaerts was just 1 for 4 with a strikeout.

JD Martinez was just 1 for 4 and made several defensive blunders but hit a solo home run.

Mike Shawaryn allowed a run in 2 innings of work.




Final Thoughts:

As the season goes down the drain one can only wonder what could have been if general manager Dave Dombrowski had gotten some real bullpen help in the off-season instead of putting his faith into Tyler Thornburg and Colten Brewer. One also has to wonder what could have been if Alex Cora didn't sandbag spring training and the Sox pitchers were ready to start the season. Maybe Nathan Eovaldi, David Price and Chris Sale wouldn't have gotten hurt. All those factors are the reason the Sox are almost officially done in terms of the season. They could never go on a sustained win streak because the pitching was just that bad. The fact they had to have 2 bullpen games in a row, in September, against the damn YANKEES shows you how unprepared Dombrowski had been this season. He may not be back next year but if he is, he better learn from his mistakes. If the Sox were still in contention, Alex Cora's job would be on the hotseat as well. If they missed the playoffs by 2 games you'd have to look at the terrible start out of the gate or pinch hitting Chris Owings over Brock Holt. Either way the fact they couldn't hang with the Yankees is a microcosm of a lost season. There's no point about talking about tonight because there's nothing that can be done at this point. The loss dropped the Sox to 76-66. There's only 20 games of misery remaining. Tomorrow night the Sox and Yankees go head to head with the New England Patriots season opener for some ungodly reason. The Sox start "Slick" Rick Porcello (12-11) up against Masahiro Tanaka at 8:05 PM at Fenway Park.