July 13, Red Sox vs. Athletics Game Blog

It's the first game of the second half of the season, although, the Sox have played 86 games and 81 would be the midway point, but the All-Star break is considered the halfway mark.
Jon Lester starts for the Sox tonight. The young lefty has perfected the art of pitching out of jams. While, I like that the kid doesn't get rattled in those situations, I don't like that he gets into them or that sometimes his control gets him in trouble. You would have to think that if he keeps pitching on the edge like this that it's just a matter of time before it comes back to get him. Anyway, the game is set for a 7:05 start, but it's looking more like 7:10 or a few minutes later. The Yankees signed Sidney Ponson, who was released by the Cardinals. I thought the Sox trading for Jason Johnson was desperate, but this is pretty bad. Johnson has been shipped to Single A Wilmington, by the way. Manny just ran onto the field all by himself, as has become customary now. The knee looks fine, funny how he's recovered, despite missing the All-Star Game because of it.

First Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Jason Kendall, the catcher, leads it off. One of the rare catchers in baseball, who is a leadoff hitter. I think Craig Biggio also did that when he caught for the Astros. First pitch is a strike for Lester, as is the second. Wasted the 0-2 and now another ball for 2-2. This guy is less likely to hit a home run than Jerry Remy when he played. He's fouled off a couple pitches on 2-2. Grounds a curveball to Lowell at third, takes a quick hop and throws to first for the out.
NESN is giving us some camera shots from the Hood Airship. Here's the first baseman Nick Swisher, who had a great rookie season last year and is pretty much the team's best power hitter this year. 1-1 the count. Ground ball to Gonzalez at short, double pump and throws him out by plenty. Here's the left fielder Bobby Kielty. I'm kind of surprised he's hitting third, but I guess he was pretty hot going into the break. Lester's behind with him, 2-0. He has thrown a lot of pitches in his outings and hasn't really gone deeper than five or six innings. Gets a strike on the 3-0 count with a fastball. He walks him. I hate two-out walks!
Here's Frank Thomas, who just filed suit against the White Sox doctors. First pitch strike with a fastball letters high. D.O. informs us that big Frank is hitting just .152 against lefties, which is pretty significant. 2-1 count. Misses with the curveball. Please, not another bases loaded situation. Full count after the Big Hurt fouls it off. Thomas keeps fouling off pitches as Lester's pitch count goes to 23. Thomas rips a line drive that stays about five feet off the ground the whole way and one-hops the wall, as Kielty goes to third. Here's Mr. Impatient. Jay Payton. All, he had to do was hang in with the Sox a couple more weeks last year and he would have been playing full-time for Nixon, but he had to whine and cry like a little baby and put Tito in a bad spot. As, I'm bemoaning him, Lester gets strike one, then goes up top as Payton swings to put it on the pike and misses and then strikes out in three pitches on a curveball in. Lester does it again! Sox coming up.

Esteban Loaiza is on the hill for the A's. I can't believe the White Sox traded this guy for Jose Contreras. Anyway, Youk just grounded to Antonio Perez at third, who throws him out. He's in for Chavez. If anyone wins the gold glove over Lowell and would be deserving, it's Chavez.
All-Star Second Baseball Mark Loretta with a 1-2 count now. Fouls one off. I hope the Sox do the same number on Loaiza that they do on every pitcher. Make this guy work. Darn, looks like Loretta was looking offspeed, because he just struck out on a fastball that was just off the plate, but he was so far behind it.
Big Papi is up. The A's shift is kind of weird. The third baseman is playing right of second base, where the second baseman would play in double-play depth and the shortstop is playing in his normal position. Usually in the shift, the third baseman is still the only infielder to the left of second base, but not here. Anyway, Papi walks on five pitches and only the 3-0 was even close.
Here's the ailing Manny Ramirez, I hope his knee holds up. Loaiza evens it at 1-1. His fastball has some pretty good movement on it, catching the outside corner, starting outside but tailing in. He also works so fast, I'm just trying to keep up with the guy writing this! Manny drills a 2-1 pitch over shortstop for the Sox first hit and Ortiz moves up to second.
Here's Trot. This guy was hitting around .335 about 10 days ago, but is now at .311. I guess going 0-9 in a 19-inning game will do that to you. He combined to go 0-17 with Varitek in that game. Perez make the play at third moving to his left to cut the ball off and throws Nixon out at first.

Teams R H E
A's 0 1 0
Sox 0 1 0

Second Inning - Red Sox vs. A's

The shortstop Bobby Crosby leads off the second. This kid has received so much hype. The A's were supposed to not really care that they let Tejada get away because this kid was ready to come up. He was hurt last year, and I can honestly say that I've never really seen him play, so it's hard for me to judge, but I just don't see what all the fuss is about. Oh yeah, Lester just struck the kid out looking on a fastball.
Mark Kotsay, the center fielder is up. This kid turned in a huge performance in the College World Series the year he was drafted. We have a 3-1 count here as Kotsay just sits on the fastball and drives it right past Lester and into center field for a single.
The second baseman, Mark Ellis now up. He's having a terrible year, but he's no Mark Bellhorn. Lester goes 2-0 on him. Fastball for a strike to make it 2-1. He serves a low fastball that floats into left field and that's how Manny plays it...he just floats over and in to make the catch for the second out.
Here's Antonio Perez in the nine hole, playing third. Lester gets a strike to start him off. He's wearing Carney Lansford's number four. That's an insult to Carney! Ball two. 2-1. 43 pitches already! Come on! Fastball down and away for a strike. Full count. Ball four and two men on. Jason Kendall already up the second time in the game now. Nice curveball. I love that his curveball handcuffs righties the way it does. 1-1 now. Kendall goes the other way, but it's to Youk at first, who takes it himself as Lester continues to try and lead the league in stranding runners on base.

Tek leads off for the Sox. He's at .232 on the year. Let's hope he doesn't go below .230, that would be sad. 2-1 count. Great change up from Loaiza for the second strike, before Tek grounds the next pitch to Crosby, who takes one step in, gloves it on the descending hop with one hand, transfers and throws him out at first.
Mike Lowell taking a fastball to make it 1-2. 2-2. I hope Loaiza pitches all nine. At this rate, this game will be over by 8:45, but Lester needs to have a few 10-pitch innings. Lowell fouls off another pitch. Full count. Uh oh. Mike Lowell is in the middle of a power surge, just lifted a breaking pitch over the monster to give the Sox a 1-0 lead. His first career hit vs. Loaiza in 11 at-bats. Here's Coco, he wastes no time in showing his futility at the plate, grounding a five-hopper back to the mound on the first pitch and Loaiza throws him out.
1-1 to Gonzalez now. He's up to .284 on the season! Who needs Edgar, Nomar or the OC? It's 3-1 now. He's really cut down on his strikeouts too. They just showed a graphic. 27 Ks in April and May, just 11 in June and July and he's hitting .363. Not bad for your nine-hitter.
Here's Youk. 2-0 to Youk. Let's put money on it that this goes at least five pitches. 2-1. 3-1. I'm smelling walk. 3-2, full count. Did I call it? How many does he foul off now? One so far. Do I know this kid or what? Ball four. He's an on-base machine and leads the league in pitchers per plate appearance.
Two outs and two on for the Sox and Loretta. Starts him off with a curveball for a strike on the outside corner. Fastball at the knees and the outer half for strike two. Wow. Strike three on three pitches. Loretta doesn't whiff all that often either.

Teams R H E
A's 0 2 0
Sox 1 1 0

Third Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Nick Swisher leads it off taking the first pitch for a strike. 2-1 now. 3-1. I hate when he does this. See ya later. Swisher connects off a fastball that Lester leaves up and just barely makes it into the first row of the monster seats. Tied at one now.
Here's Bobby Kielty. His red beard is striking. It's like orange. Don't really see that many guys in baseball with an orange beard, but his last name is Kielty as he grounds to Lowell at third, who throws to first for the out.
Frank Thomas, taking an inside looping, sweeping curveball for a ball. 3-1 now. Come on! This drives me nuts! Especially, because this kid has good stuff. He walks him. Three walks already.
Jay Payton up now. Lines a curveball to Manny on one hop in left for a single to push Thomas to second with one down.
Crosby fouls the first pitch straight back. Crosby grounds to Gonzalez' right, the fields and throws to second all-in-one motion and Loretta turns it over to Youk at first for the twin killing. Many, A-Gon gets rid of that ball as fast as anyone I have ever seen. Lester bailed out again.

We're just an hour into this game and already, three Red Roof Inn commercials! They must have paid their bill, because Red Roof Inn had taken about three weeks off. Now, they're back with a vengeance asking, "How low can you go?"

Ortiz just ripped a pitch down the right field line that skipped into the stands prior to the Pesky Pole. Here's Manny with a 2-1 count. Dangerous for a pitcher. 3-1, the danger level just went up. I think it's at red right now. Fouls it off. Full count. Manny hits a slow grounder to second, where Ellis throws him out, but he gets the job done, moving Ortiz to third with Nixon up.
Ball one. 2-0. All we need is a fly ball here. Should get that on 2-0. Nixon delivers with a shot near the base of the Wall, closer to the corner, and despite a throw from Kielty that takes 17 hops to get to second, Nixon settles for a single.
The Sox playing some National League baseball now, Nixon takes off on the first pitch and Varitek hits it to the vacated hole at second as Nixon takes third for first and third with an out and Mike Lowell up. The A's pitching coach just came out to tell Loaiza to knock it off and the home plate ump was out pretty quick to break it up, but I'm not sure that anyone noticed him because he's about four feet, nine inches tall. "Hey kid get off the field, oh, whoops, sorry blue".
Lowell grounds into the hole, Crosby with kind of a slide/dive to make the play to his right, turns and gets the out and second and no chance for the double play as Nixon scores to give the Sox a 3-1 lead.
Crisp jumping on the first pitch, swinging from the left side, smacking it off the base of the wall as Kielty does three spins trying to figure out how to play the Wall and the ball finds his hand on the ricochet as Crisp slide into second with a double and Lowell moves to third.
Now Gonzalez hits the first pitch as well (these guys are killing me trying to keep up) and flies to right field. Whew. Sox up 3-1 after three.

Teams R H E
A's 1 4 0
Sox 3 6 0

Fourth Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Let's hope that Lester can have a clean inning here. *AFLAC Trivia Question* Excluding Oakland, who is the last AL team to have back-to-back Rookies of the Year?
Mark Kotsay leads it off as he helps out Lester, fouling off the 2-1 pitch to even it up. Oooh...Lester just misses outside with a fastball, but nevertheless (is that one word?), he goes to a full count. Eh, single to left field. Ugh!
Mark Ellis now. Expect a double play. Heard it here first. Lester's ahead at 1-2 and evens the count with a high fastball. Shocker, the count runs full. So much for calling the twin killing. He walks him. No outs and two on, but Antonio Perez is here to bail us out. He showed bunt, but Lester almost hit him on the foot with a fastball, so 1-0 instead. 2-0 now as Tek goes out to talk to the kid. Just give me five innings at this point! 2-1 as Perez was hoping for the walk. Swing and a miss for 2-2. The A's have the dumbest logo with that dopey elephant holding a bat in its trunk, while balancing on a ball. Who came up with calling it a trunk, anyway? No other animal has a trunk. Strike three! Lester gets him.
Here's Kendall. 2-0 count. Are you kidding me? Get ahead just once! Guess what everybody? Yep, you guessed it. Ground ball to Lowell, fields it, steps on the bag, takes two minutes to set himself and throws across the diamond to throw out Kendall for the double play and the end of the inning and Lester does it again. The new Houdini. Screw David Blaine. Anybody can sit in a block of ice for a week, try getting out of bases loaded and two-on jams every time you have an appearance.

Youk leads it off and has a 2-2 count. 70 pitches for Loaiza, who must be trying to keep up with Lester, because he has 87, already through four, as Youk fouls off another pitch. Youk takes a tough pitch for strike three, down and in on his knees.
Mark Loretta trying not to strike out here. Ball one, it's a start. 2-0! Woo hoo! 3-1. This is more like it. Ball four on a curveball well off the plate. *AFLAC Trivia Answer* The Seattle Mariners with Kaz Sasaki in 2000 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 as the ROY.
David Ortiz with a 2-0 count. It looks like he's going to be unintentionally, intentionally walked a lot in the second half. Maybe not. Two tough pitches later and it's 2-2. Ball three. Loretta off on the pitch, but Papi fouls it off. I was wondering if he would be running. I like that :-) Ortiz strikes out looking at a fastball on the outside corner, but Loretta steals the bag on a high throw to second. Hopefully, Manny can get him in here. He is an RBI machine, afterall. Awe...soft liner to Ellis at second. Inning over.


Teams R H E
A's 1 5 0
Sox 3 6 0

Okay, it's official. The Ford commercial with that American Idol guy has officially reached "let's not beat a dead horse" status. Just like all of the other commercials on these games! Oh my gosh...it's on again! Twice in one commercial break!


Fifth Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Nick Swisher leads it off. Okay, cross your fingers, rub your rabbit's foot, get your horseshoe out and let's hope for a 1-2-3 inning here. 3-1 count. He walked him. Must have been a some other foot that I had.
Kielty is up. Weak pop-up to second base, sounds like he broke his bat as Loretta puts it away for the first out.
Frank Thomas takes the first pitch for a ball. He is easily the only line-backer type player I have ever seen play, except for maybe Dave Winfield, but Thomas is a mountain at the plate, just huge! 2-2 count after he fouls off a pitch. His thighs are bigger around then a lot of women's waists. Full count and he flies to Nixon in right for two outs.
Payton steps in. It's pretty much guaranteed that he'll reach. I mean, there's only one guy on base right now. Fouls off the first pitch, which was number 101 for Lester. Miracles never cease as Manny takes care of a shallow fly to end the inning and now Lester qualifies for a win if the Sox can hold on.

Nixon leads off for the Sox and hits a little roller to Swisher at first, who feeds to Loaiza covering the bag at first for out number one.
Varitek now up. Probably relieved that he's gotten his hit out of the way. He could finish the night 1-4 and it would raise his average. 2-1 count. 3-1. He walks! Yes!
Mike Lowell to the plate. Can't you just sense a double here? (or a double play) 2-0, I'm thinking double again. Lowell, pops up a 2-1 pitch to Ellis at second for the second out.
Here's Coco, flapping the fingers on his top hand against the handle of the bat with a 2-0 count. He's got some dirt on his shirt from the slide into second and takes ball three. Ball four on the 3-1 pitch. Runners on first and second with Alex Gonzalez up. He doesn't have a hit yet, so look for it here. Gonzalez rips pitch number 104 to left, falling fast, but Kielty makes the grab, chest-high, coming in.

Teams R H E
A's 1 5 0
Sox 3 6 0

Sixth Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Craig Hansen is in for the Sox. He's one of the few guys that had normal work on Sunday in the marathon game. 95 mph fastball. On Sunday, I don't think he was hitting higher than 91. Strike two. He just missed with a fastball on the outside corner to even the count at 2-2. Oh yeah, Bobby Crosby is up. Full count. Crosby lofts one into left field that floats long enough for Manny to trot in and sticks his glove up to grab it out of the sky as he almost overruns it for the first out. Mark Kotsay at the dish now. Hansen is proving to be the anti-Lester with two strikes right away. 2-2 as Kotsay fouls off the pitch. Full count on an outside fastball. Kotsay sticks his bat out at a sinking fastball, hops past Hansen, who gave a thought to barehanding it, but let it go on to Gonzalez, who throws him out at first. Two dead.
Mark Ellis swings through a high 95 fastball to become the third hitter to start off 0-2. Ellis hits a soft, little liner back to Hansen for the final out of the inning. 1-2-3! Yippee!

The A's also have a new pitcher for the sixth with right-hander Chad Gaudin facing Youk. 2-1 pitch and Youk pops it up on the infield, the pitcher, the catcher and first baseman all going for it as it straddles the first baseline and Gaudin knocks into Swisher, but makes the catch.
Loretta skies the first one high behind home plate and Kendall is all over the place trying to make the catch, but it falls behind him and they give him an error. Loretta takes advantage on the 1-2 pitch and lines it to right field where Payton slides to make the catch, but traps it on the warning track closer to the pole and Loretta gets the single.
Here's Ortiz. He starts him off 0-2, ball one now. Gaudin throws to first and the ball hits off Swisher's glove, but stays in the infield as Ellis is there, so no damage. Papi works the count full. Loretta's off with the pitch and ball four to Ortiz on a pitch way outside.
Here's Manny. First pitch strike on the outside corner. That fastball was a ball and Manny actually complained, something he never does, but you couldn't blame him on that one. Manny looks pretty serious in there as he grounds a curveball foul of third base for a 1-2 count. He does a great job to foul off an outside pitch that could have been called either way, but based on the first pitch, you can't take the chance. Another foul. Manny gets under a slider and pops it up to short where Crosby squeezes it for the second out.
Ken Macha tells Gaudin to hit the showers and it looks like he'll bring in a lefty for Nixon as the American Idol guy croons for Ford again! Back-to-back Red Roof Inn commercials! At least they were different ones.
Here's Brian Halsey, the former over-hyped (aren't they all?) Yankee prospect, in to face Nixon. Lefty on lefty action. Ball one with a big, looping curveball. Ball two. I'm feeling good about this. Halsey is swallowing hard, but evens the count at 2-2. I still like Nixon's chances. Full count. Good swing, but grounds out to Ellis at second base, who tosses to first.

Teams R H E
A's 1 5 0
Sox 3 7 0

Seventh Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Hansen is still in there and throws his first first-pitch ball to a hitter. Antonio Perez lines the next pitch through the hole on the left side for the A's first hit since the fourth inning.
Here's Jason Kendall. Fundamentally sound, Kendall uses and inside-out swing to go the other way and it drops in for a single to put runners on first and second. Hansen always does this! Has a good inning, then will give up at least a run. I'm scared. Here's Nick Swisher batting left-handed now. Fouls off the first pitch. Hansen's velocity appears to be down again, his last two pitches were 92 and 93, respectively, as Swisher grounds to Gonzalez, who has to charge and makes the play and throws him out, but the runners both move into scoring position. One out and Tito summons Delcarmen to replace Hansen on the mound.
Delcarmen will face Kielty. Wow, ground ball to Loretta's glove-side and he took his eye off the ball as the ball goes right under his glove and into right field and both runs score to tie the game at 3-3. Instead of 3-2 with two outs and a runner on third, it's 3-3 with a runner on first and one out and Frank Thomas up. Thomas hits a screamer to Lowell at third, who catches it on a line for the second out. Strike one to Jay Payton. Big hop ground ball to Gonzalez, who fields it even with his face and throws to first for the out.

Justin Duchscherer is on to pitch the seventh vs. Varitek. This kid was an eighth round pick of the Sox, who they traded to get Mirabelli from Texas in 2002. 1-2 to Varitek. He grounds off the end of the bat to Crosby at short, who throws him out.
Mike Lowell will try and get something started now. This bothers me to no end. Whenever Orsillo refers to a pitcher's earned run average as "nifty"...A nice flip by a shortstop to the second baseman behind his back is nifty, an earned run average is not nifty! 2-2 count. Fly ball to center where Kotsay camps under it for the out.
Coco hoping to get something started with two outs. He's ahead 2-0. Takes a slider over the outside corner for a 2-2 count. Full count. Ball four.
Here's A-Gon, who I still say is due. Starts him off with a strike. Fouls off a pitch with an off balance swing to get in the hole at 0-2. Crisp is off on the 1-2 pitch, it's a curveball outside and Coco gets his hand just barely in before the tag on the head first slide for the stolen base, but Gonzalez flies out to Payton in right to end the inning.

Teams R H E
A's 3 7 1
Sox 3 7 1

Eighth Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Delcarmen is still in the game to face Bobby Crosby and falls behind 3-1. Lowell is amazing...Crosby just chopped a ground ball to third, Lowell, runs in on it, fields it on the in-between hop and throws him out on the run.
Here's the left-handed hitting Kotsay. He sends a chopper to Lowell at third, who handles it easy and throws him out for the second out.
Ellis swings at the first pitch and fouls it straight up where Tek just turns and waits for it to come down, squeezes and the inning's over. Nice work.

Kiko Calero is now pitching for the A's to face Youk. You might remember this kid from the '04 World Series, when he pitched for the Cardinals. He was dealt to the A's in the Mark Mulder trade. 1-2 pitch to Youk right near the stands in foul territory just past the tarp, but Swisher can't make the play as it goes off his glove. His second chances results in a fly ball to center for the first out. Hopefully, Loretta can make up for the costly error here. 1-2 count. He misses outside with a slider to even the count. Another fly to center as Kotsay puts it away. Looks like it's up to Mr. Clutch. 2-0 count. If you're Calero, you just pitch around him and take your chances with Manny here. Papi, as has been the norm all season, swings on 3-0 and singles to right field.
Here comes Manny. Let's hope the three days off result in a happy fan base. Awful. Manny just reaches out and tops a grounder to second. Ellis fields it and throws him out. Onto the ninth in a tie ballgame.

Teams R H E
A's 3 7 1
Sox 3 8 1

Ninth Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

Mike Timlin is on to face Antonio Perez and starts him off with a strike. Foul ball for 0-2. Perez works the count full after three balls outside of the zone. Perez, drives the next pitch to left field, sending Manny back, back, back and glides out there with his glove out to make the catch. Jason Kendall now up. 0-2 the count. At least Timlin's getting ahead of these guys. Kendall fouls it off his leg and that hurt. Kendall grounds a curveball to third, Lowell snags on the backhand and throws to first as Youk digs it out for the second out.
Nick Swisher now up. Power threat. Swisher sends a 1-0 fastball right over Timlin's shoulder for a single to center. Here's Bobby Kielty, who fouls the first pitch off for strike one. He hits a nubber in front of the plate, Tek fields and throws to first to end the inning.

Calero is still out there for the A's to face Nixon. He's ahead 2-0. Slider misses low for 3-0. Calero comes back with two strikes, before missing low with a fastball for the walk.
Here's Tek with Nixon on first and no outs. Willie Harris now pinch-running for Nixon. His days are numbered as Wily Mo gets closer to being activated. Tek squares to sacrifce bunt, but takes a ball. Willie Harris, if you might recall earlier in the season, getting thrown out on a steal attempt when Nixon was at the plate in a rally situation, just got picked off of first for the first out and Tito just made a mental note to have Theo pack this guy's bags ASAP! 2-0 to Tek. He takes a slider in the dirt for ball four.
Mike Lowell stepping in. The A's closer, Huston Street, is now coming into the game. He won the Rookie of the Year award last year. First pitch he sees, he lifts to left field, but it's shallow and Kielty makes the catch.
Coco Crisp is the last hope for the ninth. 2-1 count. The A's have already walked nine Sox batters tonight, but none have come around to score. 2-2 now. Full count on a close pitch. Tek will be off with the pitch. Inside fastball that darts back over the plate to set Coco down looking. Extras again for the Sox.

Teams R H E
A's 3 8 1
Sox 3 8 1

Tenth Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

As you might expect, Gabe Kapler is in right for Nixon and Jonathan Papelbon is now in the game to face Frank Thomas. Paps seems unaffected by the 50-odd pitches on Sunday, throwing a pair of 95 mph fastballs to Thomas, but they are both balls. 2-1 now. Two more strikes and Paps strikes him out on a 96 heater. Here's Jay Payton. I'm sure he would like to do something in this park and he bloops one off a slider into shallow center for a hit.
Here's Bobby Crosby. Fastball for a strike. Crosby hits is sharply to A-Gon's right, he knocks it down, but that's all he can do. First and second with one out and Mark Kotsay up. Paps is ahead 1-2. Long fly ball to left-center field, Crisp tracks all the way to the wall and makes the catch in front of the wall for the second out. It's up to Mark Ellis now, who takes a high fastball for a strike. Oooh..in on the hands and he fouls it back for an 0-2 count. I would say he has no chance of making contact here. In on the hands again and he pops up to Gonzalez.

Street still in the game for the A's as Alex Gonzalez leads it off. 0-2 count. Strikes him out on a 1-2 slider down and away.
Back to the Sox top with Youk coming up. 0-2 to Youk. He grounds it right down the third base line, where Perez was playing flush with it to prevent a double, he fields it and throws out Youk at first. Mark Loretta with another chance to atone for the error. Street gets ahead 0-2 again. He chops it to third and Perez plays the short hop right at him and throws him out. Onto the 11th.

Teams R H E
A's 3 10 1
Sox 3 8 1

Eleventh Inning - Red Sox vs. Athletics

I guess Tito is afraid of burning Papelbon out after the weekend, because Julian Tavarez is on in the 10th. He takes on Antonio Perez, who is hitting .103 for the season. He starts off ahead, 0-2, as Perez fouls off the first two pitches. Fastball backs up Perez for strike three on the inside corner. Kendall takes his turn now as Perez still argues the call with the umpire. He pulls a breaking pitch down the left field corner for a double on an 0-1 pitch.
Nick Swisher now. At least Tavarez is staying ahead of the hitters, throwing a first pitch strike here. Huge call on a 2-2 pitch. Swisher checks his swing and is called out on the appeal to the third base umpire. Two outs. Here's Bobby Kielty, huge at-bat here. The fans are really on these guys now. You can here a few different guys really getting on them with choice comments. Kielty serves a low change-up off the Wall for an RBI single to score Kendall to give the A's a 4-3 edge. It will be interesting to see if Street is still in the game for a third inning. Kielty just stole second. His first of the season as the count moves to 2-1. Frank Thomas rips a single past Lowell at third into left field and Kielty's stolen base becomes really big as he scores to make it 5-3. So, the Loretta error really hurts now as well.
Jay Payton bounces it to Loretta at second, who throws him out at first for the final out. The Sox need two to tie with the heart of the order coming up.

Former Sox lefty Scott Sauerbeck is on to face Ortiz and has a full count. Papi fouls out to third base as Perez makes the catch.
Ken Macha brings in the righty, Kirk Saarloos to face Manny. He fools Manny on a 1-1 pitch and the Sox left fielder grounds weakly to Perez, who cuts in front of Crosby to field and throw out Ramirez.
Gabe Kapler now batting. 1-2 count. Kapler fouls off a few 2-2 pitches. Full count now. The fans are all standing. Hoping. Ball four and the Sox have a chance with Tek representing the tying run at the plate. Swing and a miss at the first pitch. 1-2 count as Tek swings through a change-up. Another change-up low for ball two. I'm not sure how it happened, but Varitek just got enough of the bat on the ball to send a ball up the middle to score Kapler, who had moved to second on defensive indifference. Now, Tek is the tying run on first and Mike Lowell is the winning run at the plate. Strike one. Strike two looking. Lowell grounds it back to Saarloos. He makes the grab and throws him out at first.

Next blog will probably be next Wednesday.

Boston Red Sox
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
K Youkilis 1B	5	0	0	0	1	1	0	.292
M Loretta 2B	5	0	1	0	1	2	2	.303
D Ortiz DH	4	1	2	0	2	1	1	.281
M Ramirez LF	6	0	1	0	0	0	4	.303
T Nixon RF	4	1	1	1	1	0	4	.310
W Harris PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.159
G Kapler RF	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	.355
J Varitek C	4	0	2	1	2	0	0	.236
M Lowell 3B	6	1	1	2	0	0	4	.304
C Crisp CF	3	0	1	0	2	1	1	.269
A Gonzalez SS	4	0	0	0	1	1	5	.279
Totals	41	4	9	4	11	6	21

Boston Red Sox
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Lester	5.0	5	1	1	5	3	1	103-54	2.89
C Hansen	1.1	2	2	1	0	0	0	28-17	4.85
M Delcarmen	1.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	16-10	3.28
M Timlin	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	16-11	2.51
J Papelbon	1.0	2	0	0	0	1	0	18-12	0.57
J Tavarez (L, 1-3)	1.0	3	2	2	0	2	0	23-14	4.84
Totals	11.0	13	5	4	5	6	1	204-118