June 28, Red Sox vs. Mets Game Blog

I am changing up the format tonight, so you will have to read from the top to the bottom as opposed to the bottom to the top and it will be under just this post.

They just played a video montage of all of Pedro's great moments with the Sox with a pretty good song behind it, but I don't know what is was, some song by a woman and it was kind of melancholy to listen to, but the lyrics fit perfectly.
Oh, one of my favorite commercials is on! It's this old man, who has been a Yankees fan since 1933, but he met Jonathan Papelbon and thinks that he's the All-American boy, so now he roots for Papelbon and the Red Sox and at the end of the commercial they took away his Yankee cap and replaced it with a Sox cap! You have to love that.
Still waiting for the first pitch here as I contemplate whether I start dinner now or not. BTW, the Celtics traded away their number seven pick tonight for Portland's Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff. The C's also included Raef and Dan Dickau. Yes, they got out from under Raef's contract!

First Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Where available if you select the "SAP" button on your TV set this telecast will be in Spanish. Buenos Noches Amigos!
Beckett gets the leadoff guy, shortstop Jose Reyes to fly to left center to Coco.
Beckett just got the catcher Paul La Duca to pop up to Youk for out number two.
The center fielder Carlos Beltran just grounded out to Loretta at second on the first pitch as Beckett throws just eight pitches.
Here comes Pedro to take the mound. Pretty much a full standing ovation. Last night, they played a video montage following the end of the first inning and before the beginning of the second and Pedro watched it and the crowd got pretty whipped up and then he stepped out of the dugout and the place erupted for him. I couldn't believe it. They went nuts!

Youk takes a first pitch strike from Pedro and then Youk singles over short on the next pitch!
Here comes Loretta, who has a 10-game hitting streak going. Right now, Pedro's hitting 85 on the gun with his fastball. I didn't realize he had lost so much velocity, but ball two was just 86. Loretta singles to right on a 2-1 pitch to extend the streak to 11 and Youk goes to second!
Big Papi just grounded back to Pedro, Pedro makes the play, but then looks to third and doesn't throw it, then looks to second and doesn't throw it and has to go to first to make it second and third with one out. He's really rattled by this whole situation of pitching against his former mates.
He just threw a 1-1 fastball at 91 mph to Manny, so I guess he can dial it up when he needs to. 3-1 to Manny and he walks him, fastball outside to load the bases for Trot. Trot just hit a fly ball to the track in center field on a change up and Youk scores the first Sox run to make it 1-0.
Here's Tek. Pedro just dropped in a side-arm curveball at 73 mph to make it 1-1 to the Captain. Tek fouls it back to make it 2-2. Tek grounds a squeaker up the middle that just gets through into center field to plate Loretta to give the Sox a 2-0 lead. First and second with two outs.
Mike Lowell at the plate. Wow! Two nights in a row! The Mets' rookie left fielder just blew a fly ball that came down just in front of the wall and just popped out of his glove to give the Sox a 4-0 lead! Lowell stands on second as Coco steps in. Last night Milledge totally lost track of the ball in the wind and it landed beside him for a Manny double (would have been a triple for any other player, who hustles). Coco just grounded to Jose Valentin at second to finally get out of the inning. Pedro's thrown like 30 pitches already.
Teams R H E
Mets 0 0 1
Sox 4 3 0

Second Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Carlos Delgado leads off the second for the Mets and waves at a 2-1 fastball away from Delgado to even the count at 2-2. Beckett makes Delgado look pretty bad with an 85 mph change up on the outer half.
David Wright, who has just mashed this year in the NL is up. Ground ball to Alex Gonzalez' right, stabs and throws for the out.
Here's Jose Valentin. I can't believe this guy still has a job in major league baseball as Beckett gets him swinging to end the inning :-)

Gonzalez leads it off. NESN just showed a great stat. In Pedro's 15 starts this season, he's allowed just five first-inning runs. Tonight: FOUR A-Gon grounds out to Reyes at short.
Already back to the top of the order as Youk digs in. 2-2 to the first baseman. Pedro goes full with a breaking ball well of the plate. Wow, Lasting's Milledge is awful! Youk just hit a fly ball to left-center (more left than center) and Milledge just stood there, while Beltran ran all the way from center and had to dive to make the catch. I can't imagine the vets are liking this kid too much right now. This is the same guy, who after hitting his first major league homer a few weeks ago, was slapping five with fans after he scored and his teammates killed him for it.
True to form, Pedro just came too far inside to Loretta and hit him on the hand. Didn't look too serious.
Pedro just got Ortiz to hit into the shift with a ground ball to deep second base as Valentin (pronounced Valenteen) throws to Delgado to get the final out.
Teams R H E
Mets 0 0 1
Sox 4 3 0

Third Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Oh, NESN gimmick time. Ron Darling from the Mets broadcasting team has just changed places with Jerry Remy for this inning. Remy is now with Keith Hernandez and Gary Cohen and Don Orsillo is with Darling. You might remember that both Darling and Hernandez were on the '86 Mets.
Wow, Beckett just punched out the right fielder, Endy Chavez with a cut fast ball that cut from the inner half of the plate to the inside corner to get the lefty for out number one.
Ramon Castro, the catcher, just watched a 1-2 fastball that just missed the outside corner to make it 2-2. Beckett misses with a curveball for a full count, but his bender looks pretty nasty tonight. Castro must have been sitting on a fastball, because he just drove it back up the middle into center field on a line.
Here's Milledge, let's see what he can do with the bat. Two games at Fenway and two errors. He came into the game without an error on the season since being called up from Norfolk at the end of May. I should mention that Ron Darling is a local boy from Millbury, MA. Beckett just blew a 95 mph heater past Lastings and just froze him with an overhand curveball for strike three and out number two.
Reyes takes a fastball for a strike to make it 0-1. Beckett looks so good right now. Great velocity, great curveball and the one change I saw him throw was very good as he gets Reyes to ground into a fielder's choice as Loretta flips to Gonzo at second to end the inning.

I'll probably jinx them here, but the Sox haven't made an error in a club-record 14 straight games and the AL record is only 15 straight by Texas in 1996.
Manny leads it off for the Sox. Another little known Ron Darling note. He was in the movie "Shallow Hal" with Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow, which is hilarious, by the way. It's 2-2 on Manny right now as he fouls off a pitch. He just pulled the previous pitch just foul of the pole down the left field line. Manny ropes a change up down the left field line for a double and this outing really reminds me of the one when Pedro got owned by the Yankees at the Stadium when he called them his Daddy.
2-1 count to Nixon. Nixon lines it to center as Manny cruises around third base to score as Beltran's throw is off the mark on the third base side of the plate. 5-0 BoSox.
Here's Tek with Trot on first. 1-1 the count. Tek rips a single to right field just inside the bag at first to get Nixon to third. 56 pitches for Pedro in the third inning with runners on first and third and no outs.
Mike "I'm all about anything double" Lowell just sent a ground ball to Reyes as he dives to his left and shovels the ball with his glove to Valentin to turn the double play as Nixon socres to give the Sox a 6-0 lead. Man, Darling is going on and on about how the Mets haven't played a team as good as the Sox all year and that the Sox are head and shoulders above the Blue Jays, who they just finished playing.
Pedro just missed with a 3-2 offspeed pitche to issue a free pass to Coco.
Here's Alex Gonzalez, who has been red-hot with his average all the way up to .266 and as I'm writing he does it again! Two-run homer into the Monster Seats. Second straight night. He drilled a pitch over the Monster seats last night and the Sox now lead 8-0 and Pedro looks so hittable and if anyone had any doubts, I would say that the NL has a lot to do with Pedro's success as the crowd gives the slow "Peeeedro, Peeeedro" chant to taunt him. Guess the fuzzy reminiscing is over for Petey.
He strikes out Youk to end the inning, though.
Teams R H E
Mets 0 1 1
Sox 8 7 0

Fourth Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Lo Duca leads it off for Mets as he flies out to Crisp, who takes a few steps back, just short of the track. Remy's back with Don now and now Don can act like his dopey self again, instead of being all serious and polite to Darling.
Beltran skies a fly ball to Trot, just next to the Pesky Pole in right and after a few steps with a tricky wind, he makes the catch for the second out.
AFLAC Trivia Time! Who are the three Red Sox players, who have been named the All-Star Game MVP? I'm going with Clemens in '86, Pedro in '99 and let's just say Yaz for another one. I know that Lynn hit a grand slam in '83, but that was with the identity crisis Angels (California at that time).
Here's Delgado with a 3-1 count on him. Yikes. Just sat on a fat fastball and crushed it into the stands just behind theMets' pen. 8-1.
Beckett collects himself and gets David Wright to ground to Gonzalez at short, who throws him out to end the inning.

The Who must be hurting for money. They must lead all of Rock and Roll with most commercials using their music. Just saw a car ad with "Magic Bus"

Wow, Pedro's done and here comes Darren Oliver, who was awful when he pitched for the Sox a few years ago. Only the sixth time in Pedro's career he has given up eight or more runs in a game. Whoops. Mark Loretta to lead it off. Just fouled off a 1-2 pitch. You can tell that Don Orsillo really missed Remy while he was in the Mets broadcast booth. He is just lost without Remy as Loretta fouls another one off. Finally, another ball to Loretta and it's 2-2. Fouls another pitch on a slow curveball. AFLAC Answer. Yaz, Clemens and Pedro. Yes! Yaz won it in 1970. Loretta just blooped a soft grounder to short on a full count as Reyes throws him out. They just showed Pedro striking out five All-Stars in the first and second innings of the '99 All-Star Game.
Oliver looked pretty impressive striking out Ortiz on a 1-2 cut fastball.
Here's Manny. Wouldn't surprise me if he went deep here. So much for predictions. He just hit a big two-hop groundball to third and Wright throws him out to end the inning.
Teams R H E
Mets 1 2 1
Sox 8 7 0

They just showed the Ricoh copier commercial. I actually think those are pretty clever. This was the one where the guy needed to make the copies by noon and needed to make 100 of them and he set it for 100 at 11:50 and it takes nine minutes to copy. "I like to push the envelope" he says. I know, but it's not quite Richard Pryor, but there are no jokes from Dan Roche anymore either.

Fifth Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Jose Valentin leads it off by hitting a high popup to third that starts foul and blows back fair for Lowell to squeeze it for the out.
Endy Chavez gets a rare hit for the Mets, but he was hitting over .400 against Beckett, so what do you expect? Hit number three for the Metropolitans as Ramon Castro comes up. 95 mph fastball to even the count at 1-1. Castro fouls off a pitch and the count remains at 1-2. Beckett gets him swinging as Tek hangs onto the foul tip for the second out.
Here's Lastings Millidge. No damage done after the hit as Milledge hits a weak fly ball to Nixon in shallow right.

Here's Trot to lead it off. Trot grounds sharply down the first base line, but Delgado leans down as he moves to his left, scoops it and beats Trot to the bag for the first out.
Tek steps in from the right side vs. the lefty Oliver. 2-2 to Tek and he fouls it back. This is mind boggling, but Oliver looks pretty good as he strikes out Tek swinging at a high curveball off the plate.
Here's Lowell, who has that in-between grey/dark goatee going on. He should just dye it one color or the other. He's like a skunk up there witht that beard. 2-2 the count. Lowell hits it high to left, but the wind knocks it down as it falls just short of the wall and.....Milledge catches it!
Mets 1 3 1
Sox 8 7 0

Foxwoods has brought back their commercial where the chip flies all over the room and then the woman finds it as it falls in front of her and she picks it up and says, "Ah, my lucky chip!" and tucks it into her dress. That's a good one.

Sixth Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Reyes just hit a soft little flair that landed a few hops in front of Loretta...this kid's fast....Loretta just barely threw him out!
Here's the catcher, Lo Duca, although tonight, he's the DH. Beckett just beemed him on the arm with a 1-1 count to put him on first base with one out.
Carlos Beltran steps in. First pitch is down for a ball. He's made easy work of Beltran as the center fielder pops a foul to third for Mike Lowell to put away.
Carlos Delgado comes to the plate and grounds the first pitch weakly to Beckett. He steps and throws and that's the Mets half inning.

Coco leads it off and just dropped a two hopper in front of Reyes as he comes across the diamond, fields it on the short hop, has trouble getting it out of his glove, then finally gets it to first like a shot put and Coco beats it by a step.
Here's Gonzalez with a 1-2 count. Fouls it off to stay alive. Slow curveball way off the plate for ball two. Gonzo checks his swing on a slow curve and runs the count full. Great at-bat as Gonzalez works the walk to put runners at first and second with no outs and Youk coming up.
Slow curveball for ball one that just went off the end of Castro's glove for a passed ball as the runners move up a base into scoring position. Youk blooops it into center field as Beltran was helpless to do anything and Coco scores to give the Sox a 9-1 advantage.
Loretta stands in and fists one in the air to Valentin at second for the first out.
Here's Papi, who has kind of struggled tonight. The struggles continue as he got under that pitch, but it's a fly ball that deep enough to center to score the run from third as Gonzalez comes in with the 10th Red Sox run.
Manny steps in and takes an inside pitch to make it 1-2. Ooh...he waves at a slow pitch to strike out and end the inning.
Teams R H E
Mets 1 3 1
Sox 10 9 0

Seventh Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

As is customary when the Sox get a big lead. Tito just put in some of the "B" team with Willie Harris in left and Gabe Kapler in right. David Wright leads it off by grounding to Lowell at third, who throws him out to keep Wright hitless in six at-bats in the series for the first out.
Jose Valentin hits one deep to right to give Kapler his first action and Kapler keeps going back and back as the ball just keeps on sailing into the pen for a homer as the Mets pull to within 10-2.
Endy Chavez just grounded to Alex Gonzalez for the second out and here's Castro to try and extend the inning with and 0-2 count. Beckett Ks him with a nasty 2-2 curveball to get out of the inning. He's really rolling right now. Onto the Sox seventh as everyone stretches.

Here's Chad Bradford in for the Mets. Of course, he has great numbers for the Mets. You might remember that the Sox traded Jay Payton to Oakland to get him last year and he was good just to get righties out. What a waste of a trade that was. Gabe Kapler leading off the inning. Bradford gets Gabe to ground out to first.
Tek is up for the Sox with a 2-1 count on him, make that 3-1 and he walks him to bring up Lowell. The third base ump just warned the Mets bench about Bradford not coming to a complete stop. I'm surprised he didn't just call a balk on him. 1-2 count as Lowell takes it way outside to even it up at 2-2. Lowell grounds to third for his second twinkilling of the night. Come on Mike! Luckily it's 10-2 and I can't get too upset.
Teams R H E
Mets 2 4 1
Sox 10 9 0

Eighth Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

Here's Beckett to start the eighth vs. Lastings Milledge. Strike one, nasty curveball for strike two and nastier curveball for strike three. Milledge didn't have a chance.
Reyes just flew out to Willie Harris in left for out number two.
Beckett starts Lo Duca wtih a ball. Lo Duca takes the next pitch the other way into the right field corner as Kapler sprints over with his high red socks and slides to cut the ball off, hops up and throws to second as Lo Duca chugs in for a two-out double.
Here's Beltran as he fouls off a 2-0 pitch. He just fouled off another pitch to even the count at 2-2 and Mr. Met and Wally the Green Monster have both taken up residence in the booth just above Don and Jerry as Jerry wonders how Mr. Met got on the plane from New York with his huge baseball head. Beltran fouls off another on on a full count. Another foul. Ooh, big swing, but Beltran fouls it back against Tek's chest protector. He fouls a 95 mph fastball off as Beckett uncorks pitch number 103. The fans are all up on their feet looking for the strikeout as Beltran fouls it off his foot. Fouls another one off. Another foul! Are you kidding me!? He's fouled off seven straight pitches. Here's the 13th pitch of the at-bat, change up outside for ball four. Here comes Tito to pull Beckett after 7 2/3, who leaves to a standing ovation.
Here's one of the Sox newest pitchers. The lefty, who was acquired from Chicago for David Riske, Javier Lopez, not to be confused with the Orioles' catcher. He comes in to face the power-hitting lefty, Carlos Delgado and throws a strike to get ahead at 1-2. Evens at 2-2 with that side-armed delivery. His delivery is so hard for lefties to pick up, because he comes from the extreme left side as he slips a fastball by Delgado's swinging bat for strike three! Good pick-up, Theo.

Pedro Feliciano is now pitching for the Mets. It thought this guy was an opera singer or something. He must be moonlighting when he's not singing.
Coco leads it off from the right side against the southpaw as he takes a 3-1 pitch outside for ball four. Here comes A-Gon. This guy is now hitting .269! Who would have thought he would be even close to .270!? Fouls off a couple 0-2 pitches before slapping his bat out there to catch a Feliciano pitch and fly out to right field for the first out.
Here's Youk with Coco on first. Youk singles to center to push Coco up a base as Loretta steps in with one out. Feliciano, the best Pedro of the night so far, starts him off with two strikes. Feliciano comes in with a curve on the outside corner, but the ump didn't think it caught enough of the plate, so it's 1-2 now as Loretta fouls off a pitch. Loretta gets under it and flies out to deep left center field, where Beltran makes the catch.
Doug Mirabelli is pinch hitting for Ortiz as he takes a first-pitch ball. Dougie swings through a 2-0 pitch to make it 2-1. Fastball in on the hands ties him up as he pops up foul to Delgado at first for the final out of the eighth inning.
Mets 2 5 1
Sox 10 10 0

Ninth Inning - Red Sox vs. Mets

And it's Manny Delcarmen to pitch the ninth for the Sox, facing David Wright. Here's the 2-1 pitch...blew a 96 mph fastball by a swinging Wright for strike two. Strike three with a high fastball. Jose Valentin with one of the two runs on a solo homer. Flies out to deep left field as Willie Harris puts it away in front of the wall.
Endy Chavez won't let the game end, however, as he drives a pitch into the corner in left for a double. Here's Castro to try and keep it going. Delcarmen drops a nasty curve in for strike two to get ahead 0-2. Castro hangs tough, working three balls as any one of them could have been called a strike, they are just off the plate. 3-2 pitch, outside corner strike three! Game over! 11 straight for the Sox, longest streak since '95 and Beckett gets win number 10!

Final: Red Sox 10, Mets 2

Boston Red Sox
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
K Youkilis 1B	5	1	3	1	0	1	0	.318
M Loretta 2B	4	1	1	0	0	0	4	.317
D Ortiz DH	3	0	0	1	0	1	2	.264
a-D Mirabelli PH-C	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.154
M Ramirez LF	3	2	1	0	1	1	1	.302
W Harris LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.163
T Nixon RF	2	1	1	2	0	0	1	.330
G Kapler RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.455
J Varitek C	3	1	2	1	1	1	0	.256
M Delcarmen P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
M Lowell 3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	.307
C Crisp CF	2	2	1	0	2	0	1	.292
A Gonzalez SS	3	2	1	2	1	0	1	.268
Totals	31	10	10	7	5	4	16

Boston Red Sox
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Beckett (W, 10-3)	7.2	5	2	2	1	7	2	106-69	4.64
J Lopez	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	5-3	2.08
M Delcarmen	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	15-10	4.76
Totals	9.0	6	2	2	1	10	2	126-82

I'm not sure of my next game blog, so I'll have to keep you posted. Sorry I wasn't so quippy tonight, I think I am still disappointed that I wasn't at this game. My connection at MLB let me down! :-(
Oh well.