August 18, Red Sox vs. Yankees Game Blog

Tonight is Game 2 of a day-night double header between the Sox and Yankees.
The Sox dropped the first game and looked bad doing it, getting bashed 12-4 to fall 2 1/2 games back of the Yankees.
Tonight, it's my favorite pitcher to blog, or at least the pitcher that I seem to blog every time. Jon Lester and Sidney Ponson for the Yankees. So, as long as there isn't a rep from weight watchers or a judge from Aruba, he should make the start without a hitch.
If there was something encouraging about the afternoon game, it was that newly acquired Eric Hinske doubled all of his first three plate appearances. Can't beat that. Anyway, in my mind the Sox need to win the next four of this five game series, but three of five wouldn't be bad either.
Donald Trump is throwing out the first pitch to help raise money for the Jimmy Fund. Two people bid money in an auction to throw out the first pitch with him.

First Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Lester starts Johnny Damon off with a strike and gets him to swing at an outside fastball for strike two. Johnny tripled and homered in the first game. Don just said that Keith Foulke has been activated (finally) and Jason Johnson has been designated for assignment. Damon's having a typical at-bat, fouling off a million pitches, so Lester's pitch count should be around 100 by the third inning, I'm sure. Johnny hits a slow chopper past Lester and it's gloved by Alex Cora behind the bag, but no chance to get the out.
Here's Derek Jeter. Jeter's had a very patient at-bat and it's 3-1. Lester gets a fastball on the inside corner for a strike as Jeter gently tosses his bat, thinking it's ball four. Lester, just threw over to first and almost had Johnny, who was leaning. Lester's second in the AL in pickoffs. Jeter swings through a 3-2 fastball as Damon was on the move, he strikes out and Mirabelli's throw is so far ahead of Damon, that he doesn't even slide and Cora puts the tag on for the strike 'em out, throw 'em out double play.
Here's Bobby Abreu, who rapped out four hits in the day game. 0-2 count. Abreu drives it to center, but Coco is there waiting for it and the inning's over. 21 pitches, but at least Lester didn't give up any runs.

Youk is leading off for the Sox. Coco's been the leadoff guy over the past couple weeks, since Trot and Tek have been out and Youk has been hitting fifth. Tonight, Hinske is batting fifth and playing first, while Youk takes over at third. I like the line-up tonight, actually. 1-2 count on Youk. He rips it to third and A-Rod actually makes the catch without a problem.
Here's Loretta, who had three doubles in the first game. Billy Crystal is at the game tonight. I know this guy is a real Yankees fan, and I can respect that, but I hate how he's always parading around as one. It's so annoying. I'm sure this is how Yankees' fans feel about Ben Affleck. 3-2 count on Loretta. Outside fastball, Loretta sticks his bat out and tries to check his swing, but can't and it's strike three. Here's David Ortiz, who didn't do anything in the first game. He crushes one to deep center field to the 420 part just left of the triangle and Damon goes back and gets kind of lost, but it doesn't matter, because it's off the wall and a double for Ortiz.
Here's Manny, who cranked number 33 in the day game. The Sox were horrible with runners in scoring position in the afternoon, going a remarkably bad 0-16. Manny was intentionally walked twice in the first game. He's down 0-2 now. Line shot into right field past to the left of first and into the corner, allowing Ortiz to score and give the Sox a 1-0 edge. Woo hoo!
Here's Eric Hinske. I don't know how the Orioles held onto Ponson for so long and even signed him back as a free agent after they traded him to the Giants a few years ago. He's NEVER been good, but they just hung onto that potential tag. 2-1 to Hinske. He grounds right back to the box, Ponson, stabs at it with his glove behind him, stops it and throws out Hinske to end the inning.

Team R H E
Yanks 0 1 0
Sox 1 2 0

Second Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

A-Rod leads off the second for the Yankees. He's got just 25 homers on the season. He fouls a fastball off to even the count at 2-2. Lester goes full. Good velocity, though, 95 mph. That's hard for a lefty. Wow, just missed and A-Rod walks.
Robinson Cano is up for the Yanks, now. He missed some time, but he came back a week or so ago. Lester's ahead, 0-2. Lester's waste pitch, is truly a waste as he throws it in the dirt, getting by Mirabelli, allowing A-Rod to move into scoring position. Great piece of hitting as Cano shoots it to the opposite field down the left field line, into the corner, to score A-Rod as Cano pulls into second with no outs. Lester falls behind Craig Wilson, 3-0. They got Wilson from Pittsburg and gave up Shawn Chacon. They might as well have given up a bag of balls. He's playing first tonight. It looks like this is his labor inning. He always has at least one. Ball four. Awful. Here's Bernie Williams, who is in right field tonight, with Abreu as the designated hitter. Ball six in the dirt. He's behind 2-0. 3-1 now. He got Bernie to chase a low 2-0 fastball, but he comes back with another ball. He walks him to load the bases. Come on! We need this one tonight! They just showed a graphic siting Lester as number five on average pitches per inning pitched. Here's the back-up catcher for New York, Sal Fasano. Before he came to New York, he was with Philly, where he was allowed to let his hair grow wildly and he looked like a 70s porn star, but of course, now he's all cleaned up. He grounds to Youk at third, who goes home with it for an out and Mirabelli turns to throw to first, but loses it on the transfer. Just one out and here's Melky Cabrera, the left fielder, with the bases still loaded. 1-2 count, but it doesn't matter as Cabrera stings a cut fastball to left field, Manny fields it on a hop, but the Yankees get a run and take the lead, 2-1.
Here's Johnny. 2-0 to Damon. You can't like this. Damon hits a fly ball to center that just dies as Coco dies forward to try and make the catch, he gets some glove on it, but not enough as it rolls about two feet away from him. Wily Mo picks it up and throws it in. The runners held because of the possibility of the catch, so they only scored one run.
Here's Jeter. Strike one as he swings through a high fastball. Jeter is holding up the game. He just fouled a pitch to the first base side and it struck a fan pretty good, so he's standing outside the box, watching the fan. Okay, now he's ready. Fouls off the 0-2 pitch. Two outside fastballs and it's 2-2 now. Strike three, finally. Two outs.
Here's Abreu. He's only hitting .388 since the Yankees acquired him. He strokes it down the right field line in the deep corner, as Wily Mo gets it back in, but two runs score and it's 5-1, New York. Here's A-Rod, who began the inning with a walk. 2-0 and Lester's well over 60 pitches and he's not even through two innings yet. Finally gets a strike on a swinging changeup. A-Rod helps the cause with a pop-up to Loretta. When Wake comes back, I think they seriously have to think about sending Lester back down. This is ridiculous. Onto the bottom of the second.

Wily Mo leads it off for the Sox. He's in right tonight. Fouls off the first pitch, then fouls off another pitch that Cano runs to the stands and makes the catch just over the barrier for the first out. Why can't our fans interfere!
Here's Coco, who smacks a 1-0 pitch to left center for a single.
Doug Mirabelli steps in. He hit homers in three consecutive games over the weekend and into the early part of the week. He's been platooning with Javy Lopez, pretty evenly. 1-2 count. Wow, delayed strike call on a slider on the outside corner for strike three on a 2-2 pitch.
Alex Cora is at short tonight and he's up. He's ahead, 2-0. 3-1 now. Crisp was off with the pitch, but Cora fouls it off to run it full. Ball four. Good at-bat for Cora.
Here comes Youk. Slider on the outside corner for a strike. It looks like the ump is going to call that all night. It looks off the plate to me, but if that's what he's calling, that's what he's calling. Youk hooks it down the left field line and Coco scores as Cora moves to third and Youk stops at second. Here's Loretta. He's pretty clutch, as far as I'm concerned. Again with that outside slider! 1-2 the count. The count goes full as Ponson is way outside with the slider and Fasano slides over to block it. Papi's on deck as Loretta rips it past A-Rod at third and Cora walks home followed by Youk to cut the deficit to 5-4. Here's Papi with Loretta on second with two outs. Wow, this ump is calling everything! High strike for an 0-2 count. 2-2 now. Hopefully, Ponson gives in here. Nasty slider on the outer part for strike three and Ortiz sits down to end the inning.

Team R H E
Yanks 5 5 0
Sox 4 5 0

Third Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Cano fouls off a curveball to lead off the third. 1-2 now. Strike three as Cano swings through a fastball up and in. Good pitch. One down.
Craig Wilson steps in. Wild swing for strike one and all of a sudden, Lester can pitch again. Wilson fouls it off and the count is evened at 2-2. Chopper to Cora at short, he charges, gloves and throws out Wilson at first on the run. Two outs.
Big curveball drops in for a strike on the outside corner to Bernie Williams. Bernie grounds a high and outside fastball to Cora at short, who throws him out with ease. Inning over.

Manny leads it off with a double to deep center. Here's Hinske. He's down 1-2. Ponson misses his inside location, but the ball breaks over the plate and Hinske is called out on strikes, much to his chagrin. That brings up Wily Mo, who checks his swing, but can't and it's 1-2. He runs the count full. Good job, Wily Mo. He hits a soft liner to center on a breaking ball, but Damon gets a good jump coming in on it and makes the catch for the second out.
It's up to Coco now. Ground ball to first and through Wilson! He boots it as it goes to the corner! Manny scores and it's tied as Coco ends up on second.
Mirabelli looking to add some more and the Yankees (aren't very good) chant goes up. Swing and a miss on an inside fastball to even the count at 2-2. High fly ball on a breaking pitch, but Cabrera camps under it for the final out.

Team R H E
Yanks 5 5 1
Sox 5 6 0

Fourth Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Sal Fasano leads it off for the Yankees and waves at the first pitch for a strike. Lester gets him swinging for the out. Melky Cabrera steps in. He fouls off a pitch and it's 2-2. He rifles it back through the mound and just misses Lester's head as it goes to center for a single.
Here's Damon, who is greeted with a chorus of boos, as per normal. He raps it around the pole for a cheap two-run homer. Derek Jeter stands in. He seems to be the only guy that can't hit Lester. 2-2 count now. Jeter grounds to Loretta at second, who makes the throw to Hinske at first for the out. 2-1 to Abreu, who is 1-2 tonight. He takes the pitch the other way and it's a single to left. Lester isn't very effective against lefties and Francona comes with the hook.
Tavarez is in to save the day. I think I'd rather see Foulke. Anyway, he faces A-Rod who hits a bleeder to right field that hangs up, but Wily Mo can't get there in time as it lands in front of him in short right field. Abreu seemed to forget that there were two outs, because he held up in case it was caught...there are two outs! So, he only makes it to second and acknowledges that he screwed up. Here's Cano. Ground ball back up the box, high bouncer ricochets off Tavarez' gloe and Loretta fields behind second and throws Cano out at first. Three outs.

Ponson is still in there for the Yankees as Alex Cora begins the bottom of the fifth with a stringer past Jeter into the outfield for a single.
Here's Youk as Don and Jerry interview Donald Trump for the Jimmy Fund. Senator Dodd from Connecticut was in the booth last inning as Youk dumps one into left field to put runners on first and second. Ron Guidry makes a visit to the mound to settle down Ponson. Here's Loretta as Don and Jerry ask Trump to tell Jerry that he's fired! They asked him to do the same thing on WEEI. So, he either loves it, because it's his trademark or he hates it, because he's probably asked on a daily basis as Loretta lines it to right to load the bases. Here comes Joe Torre to ask Ponson for the baseball. Here's one of the Yankees' left-handed relievers, former UMass star, Ron Villone to face Papi with the sacks full. High fastball for ball one. The Yankees have two or three lefties in their pen, meanwhile the Sox have none. Papi fouls it off for strike one. I hate this ump's strike calling. He waits! It's so annoying. 1-2 on a called strike. Ortiz tries to turn away from an inside pitch and it hits his bat for a foul ball. Wow, just missed on a sweeping slider on the outer half of the plate for ball two. It's now two hours into this game and we're not through four innings yet. Ortiz with a check swing, produces a slow grounder to Jeter at short, he flips to Cano, who steps on the bag and throws to first, but Papi beats it and the run scores and there's just one out with runners on the corners and a one-run game with Manny up. Manny wastes no time and rips a pitch to left field on a hop to Cabrera to score Youk for the tying run. Eric Hinske steps in with Ortiz on second and Manny on first. It's 7-7 and it's the fourth inning! 0-2 on Hinske. Yikes, he strikes out swinging on a sweeping slider. Two outs and here's Wily Mo Pena. If he launches one, this place goes nuts. Strike two called and it's 0-2 on Pena. Is it too much to ask for a lead here? Whoa, inside fastball at Pena's head and Pena arches back and straightens right back to stare down Villone, who isn't looking. Waay outside to even the count at 2-2. Outside fastball that Wily Mo has to lunge for, he just makes contact and Villone fields it and makes his way to first where he underhands it to first to end the inning.

Team R H E
Yanks 7 9 1
Sox 7 10 0

Fifth Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Tavarez gets ahead of Craig Wilson 0-2, before Wilson lofts a fly ball to Manny just in front of the Monster for the first out. Here's Bernie Williams, who smacks a 1-0 pitch to center field, sending Coco all the way back, but it's off the wall and Williams has a one-out double.
Sal Fasano steps in. He lines to Youk at third, who puts his glove up to make the catch for two down. Melky Cabrera now up. If Tavarez can hold the line, that will be huge. They've just announced that they have surpassed last year's pledge total for the WEEI/NESN radio/telethon for the Jimmy Fund. It's 1-2 on Cabrera. Typical Tavarez, begging for a strike call on a check swing, he's halfway to the dugout before the third base umpire says that he held his swing. Low fastball in the dirt for ball three, but Mirabelli blocks it to prevent any movement from Williams. Ball four, high and outside, not even close. How do you walk the nine batter?
Here's Damon, who's on fire. Damon's behind 0-2. Trump is the one who put them over last year's donation figure with a $60,000 donation. 1-2 on Damon now. 2-2. Why is it impossible for this guy to challenge a hitter? Whew. He gets Damon swinging at an outside fastball.

Here's the Sox answer to Damon, Coco Crisp, facing Villone, who is still out there. Crisp is ahead, 2-1. 3-1 now. Ball four. It doesn't surprise me when you consider that Villone has thrown four days in a row for New York. Here's Mirabelli. Dougie's ahead, 2-0. Villone gets the automatic strike call to make it 3-1. Mirabelli grounds right down the third base line and it hits off the bag and, of course, E-Rod can't make the play as it goes over his back and Coco hustles to third. Here's Alex Cora. I always pull for this guy. Good sound player, who deserves success. Cora drives an inside pitch to right field and Cora waltzes home and Mirabelli goes to second with no outs. The fans in the Bronx must be going nuts wondering why Torre has gone so long with Villone, but he's finally pulling the plug now. The new pitcher is Brian Bruney. He made his New York debut last night vs. the Orioles. He was released by Arizona. Good spot to put him in. Here's Youk. He grounds to deep third where A-Rod makes the play on the back hand, sets and makes a strong throw across the diamond to get Youk and put runners at second and third with Loretta up. He hits it right on the nose to left center where Damon picks it up, but both runners score and the Sox take a 10-7 lead. Have I mentioned we're not even through five innings yet? Big Papi up and I think this kid won't come near the plate. Wow, he did go after him. 96 mph fastball down the middle past Ortiz' bat for a 1-2 count. Full count to Ortiz now. Loretta just saved Papi from striking out as he was off on the pitch and Ortiz fouled it into the mitt, but when Fasano saw Loretta going, he was getting in position to throw and couldn't hang onto the ball to give Papi another life. He draws the walk.
Here's Manny. 2-2 after Manny swings and misses a low slider. Manny grounds to the hole in short, Jeter goes to the backhand, but can't make the play as it gets by him and Melky Cabrera fields it in short left field, not far from the lip of the infield and throws a strike to Fasano at the plate, who just waits for Loretta to tag him out for the second out.
Eric Hinske now at the plate with runners on first and second. 3-1 count with Wily Mo on deck. Hinske can't catch up with a 96 mph fastball and it's 3-2. Hinske is fouling pitch after pitch. Ball four and the bases are loaded for Wily Mo. He's down 0-2. Now 1-2 as he fouls off a pitch. Strike three swinging at a low breaking ball. Inning over.

Team R H E
Yanks 7 10 2
Sox 10 13 0

Sixth Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Tavarez is still in there for the Sox to face Jeter, who stings a fastball on a hop to Loretta, who throws him out at first. Here's Abreu, who takes a curveball for a strike as Tavarez gets ahead again. 1-2 the count as Abreu fouls it off. Nasty pitch down and in that Abreu swings and misses by a foot for the second out.
Here's A-Rod as Jerry is allowing a 10-year old cancer survivor to do the play-by-play, but he backs out. He must be shy. Strike two! Tavarez has finally shown up! Weak ground ball to Loretta at second, who makes the out at first.

Bruney is still in for New York to face Coco. 1-2 the count as he fouls a pitch off. Strike three as Coco is so late on a fastball for the first out.
Doug Mirabelli now. He's behind 1-2 as well. Mirabelli also whiffs at a pitch for out number two. Alex Cora is the only hope to keep the Sox trend of scoring in every inning alive. Now, he's behind 1-2. Full count now as Cora's mixed in some foul balls for a good at-bat here. He hits it off the hands and bloops it into center field, where it falls for a hit.
Here's Youk trying to keep it going. 2-0 and Bruney looks tired and you know that Youk isn't about to bail him out. Cora's off with the pitch and it couldn't be more ideal with a breaking ball in the dirt that Fasano handles, but then loses on the transfer and Cora has the bag stolen, easily and the count it now 3-1. Ball four and here's Loretta, but he'll have to wait as Torre comes with the hook to bring in lefty former Sox, Mike Myers. Loretta's ahead 2-1. Full count now. The runners will be in motion. He drives it to center, but Johnny is there to end the inning and the Sox fail to score in an inning for the first time tonight.

Team R H E
Yanks 7 10 2
Sox 10 14 0

Seventh Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Craig Hansen is on for the Sox in the seventh. Let's see how he handles the rivalry. He faces Robinson Cano. Called strike on the outer half to the left-handed hitting Cano for a 1-2 count. Cano grounds up the middle, but Cora was pinching the middle and moves to his left, fields it and throws him out.
Jason Giambi comes up to pinch-hit for Craig Wilson. Hansen goes up and in to start for a ball. Not a bad thing. 2-1 count now. 3-1. He walks him, missing outside.
Here's Bernie Williams with one out. A double play would be nice. Hansen gets ahead with the fastball 1-2. He chops high to first and it looked as if Hinske fielded in fair ground, but it's called foul and Bernie gets another chance and takes advantage with a single to right.
Jorge Posada is now pinch-hitting for Sal Fasano. Dave Wallace pays Hansen a visit as Timlin gets going in the pen. Hansen falls behind 2-0, but at least he's missing low. Now he misses high and outside and he's a ball away from loading the bases with one out. Strike one down the middle. He lines it through the hole on the left side and all runners move up one to load the bases. Here comes Tito to bring in Timlin. We all know his track record with inherited runners, so I don't feel too good about this, but what else are you going to do?..
Here's Melky Cabrera, who has never faced Timlin. Nasty cut fastball for called strike two and it's 1-2. Cabrera has fouled some pitches off and works the count full. Great job by him so far. The crowd is up now as Cabrera fouls another pitch off. Cabrera golfs a pitch to right field that one-hops Pena, who throws into the plate, but one run scores.
Here's red-hot Johnny Damon. He's 0-12 lifetime against Timlin. Damon flies to shallow left where Manny is positioned perfectly to make the catch.
Here's Jeter, who is 3-20 against Timlin, but who cares, this guy is having an MVP year. Timlin gets ahead 1-2 and the crowd is up and loud. Misses inside and it's a full count with the bases loaded and two outs, so everyone will be moving. Jeter goes the other way down the right field line, Wily Mo is over for it, has a little trouble, but all three runs score anyway, and Jeter ends up on second with an 11-10 lead. Now, the Sox intentionally walk Abreu.
A-Rod swings and misses the first pitch outside. A-Rod rips it down the third base line and kicks off the wall just before left field and Jeter scores for a two-run New York lead. A-Rod gets to second on Manny's lazy throw and Abreu goes to third.
Here's Cano again. Cano shoots one through the right side now and two runs score to make it 14-10. This is ridiculous. Keith Foulke is now warming up. Giambi is now up again. Timlin's ahead, 1-2 now. He pops to the shortstop area where Youk makes the play on the shift.

Mike Myers is still in the game to face Ortiz. He's down 0-2. He grounds to Giambi at first, who beats Ortiz to the bag for the out.
Here's Manny. He singles up the middle for his fourth hit of the game as Torre comes out to get Myers and bring in hard-throwing Kyle Farnsworth.
Mike Lowell is pinch-hitting for Hinske to force Torre to make the move to Farnsworth, since Hinske was left-handed. It has just turned midnight and Jerry appropriately just called this a day-night-morning doubleheader. Four hours and we're still in the seventh inning. Lowell raps a 1-2 slider just over the head of Cabrera in left and knocks off the base of the scoreboard.
Here's Wily Mo, who drills a pitch right back off Farnsworth, who picks the ball up and goes to first with it for the out. He got the out, but he's done for the night. Right off his leg.
Scott Proctor is now coming in for the Yankees. He'll get as long as he wants to warm up.
Here's Coco with runners on second and third with two outs. He drills it down the right field line, but foul and just short of the pole. 3-1 to Coco now. Full count. He golfs it to center field, but Damon is there for the catch.

Team R H E
Yanks 14 16 2
Sox 10 16 0

Eighth Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Here's Keith Foulke for the Sox, making his return. Bernie is up for the Yankees and he swings and is fooled by a really good change-up to make it 0-2. Bernie works a full count before Foulke gets the called strike three on a low fast ball.
Here's Posada, who sends the first pitch he sees to right field, past Wily Mo for a double.
Melky Cabrera steps in. He gets ahead, 3-1. Full count after he fouls off a pitch. Melky fouls off a few pitches for another good at-bat. He walks him with a high fastball.
Johnny Damon up with runners on first and second and one out. Damon falls behind, 0-2 as he swings through a high and inside fastball. He skies it to left field where Manny camps under it and squeezes for the out. Here's Jeter. He falls behind 1-2 after fouling off a pitch. He fists it to first, Youk handles it on a hop and takes the bag for the out.

Proctor is still in for the Yankees and Mirabelli is at the plate with an 0-2 count. He grounds to Jeter at short, who makes the throw to first.
Alex Cora is now up and falls behind, 0-2. He pops up a really good curveball to Jeter, who makes the catch with ease. Now Youk is up for the Sox. 1-2 the count. Youk lines one back off Proctor's glove. He picks up the ball of the ground, steps and throws low to Giambi, but he picks the throw and holds the bag for the out and the end of the inning.

Team R H E
Yanks 14 17 2
Sox 10 16 0

Ninth Inning - Red Sox vs. Yankees

Abreu leads off the ninth against Foulke. 3-1 count. Full count after Abreu fouls off a pitch. Ball four. No outs and here's A-Rod. Foulkie can't find it as he falls behind, 2-0. Popped up to Lowell at third, who waits for the ball to come down and he puts it away for the first out.
Cano steps in now. He pops up a change-up high in the air in between the pitcher's mound and home plate, where Youk takes control and makes the catch for the second out.
Here's Giambi. The Yankees hit and run on a 1-1 pitch, but Giambi fouls it off to make the count 1-2. He flies to the opposite field, where Manny settles under it and makes the putout.

Mariano Rivera is now in for the Yankees. He's probably the freshest arm of all their pen. First pitch to Loretta is popped up in foul ground to Nick Green, who just came on to play first base.
Here's Big Papi to try and get something going. He crushes one to right field that lands in the Yankees' pen, but is it little too late? It's 14-11.
Here's Manny now. Ground ball to E-Rod and he boots it! Manny's on.
Here comes Mike Lowell. He falls behind, 1-2 after fouling a pitch off. Lowell drives it to right field, where Bernie hauls it in for the second out.
Wily Mo is the Sox last hope now. He grounds to the right side, where Nick Green goes to his right, gloves it, and hits Rivera on the run covering first base to beat Wily Mo. Game over at four hours and 46 minutes for a new American League record for the longest nine-inning game. Could be a new major league record for all I know.

Boston Red Sox
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
K Youkilis 3B-1B	5	2	2	1	1	0	0	.294
M Loretta 2B	6	0	3	4	0	1	2	.308
D Ortiz DH	5	2	2	2	1	1	2	.285
M Ramirez LF	6	1	4	2	0	0	0	.325
E Hinske 1B	3	0	0	0	1	2	4	.270
a-M Lowell PH-3B	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	.284
W Pena RF	6	0	0	0	0	1	7	.302
C Crisp CF	4	2	1	0	1	1	3	.276
D Mirabelli C	5	1	1	0	0	2	2	.200
A Cora SS	4	3	3	1	1	0	0	.291
Totals	46	11	17	10	5	8	21

Boston Red Sox
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Lester	3.2	8	7	7	3	4	1	95-58	4.72
J Tavarez	2.1	2	0	0	1	2	0	32-22	4.79
C Hansen	0.1	2	3	3	1	0	0	21-11	5.90
M Timlin (L, 5-3; B, 5)	0.2	4	4	4	1	0	0	32-19	3.86
K Foulke	2.0	1	0	0	2	1	0	42-27	5.29
Totals	9.0	17	14	14	8	7	1	222-137

August 9, Red Sox at Royals Game Blog

Hopefuly, the Sox can get it going tonight, but they have been much like the starting pitcher for them tonight. Just when they look like they're going to get it done, they disappoint. Josh Beckett goes tonight. He looked great for five innings and then fell apart in the sixth in his last start vs. Cleveland, but in his last outing vs. KC he was dominant. Hopefully, he can start to dominate again and pitch instead of throw tonight and set up his hard fastball with some offspeed stuff. The Sox could have gained a game on the Yankees last night, but let a 3-2 lead over the Royals slip away last night. If they don't win this series, they really have some problems, not that they don't already with the Yankees owning a two-game lead now and could be even stronger when they get their injured players back within the next month. Meanwhile, the Sox players keep going down with injuries, but unlike the Yankees have been affected by them in a negative way.

First Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Youk is leading it off tonight. He's been hitting fifth since Lowell was out with a foot injury and Coco has been leading off, but Coco's out tonight and Youk is back in the leadoff spot, where he does what he does and draws a walk on a 3-2 pitch.
Here's Mark Loretta, who was hit on the elbow with an offspeed pitch last night, but it must have hit him just right, because he was writhing in pain and there was speculation that he wouldn't play tonight after coming out last night. He flies to left on an 0-1 pitch as David DeJesus puts it away for the first out.
Here's Giant Papi, who cranked his 41st homer last night to become the quickest in Sox history to that number, but every home run he hits now, he's the quickest to that figure. He grounds to Mark Grudzielenak at second as Youk moves to second on the second out.
Here's Manny. After taking the first pitch for a ball, he sends the second pitch over the fence and onto the green like a golf shot for his 32nd home run and a 2-0 Sox lead. He also extends the A.L.'s longest hitting streak to 23 games. Here's Wily Mo, who, in my opinion, should have been hitting fifth all along, but this is the first time this season that he has. I like Ortiz, Manny and Wily Mo. He destroyed a change-up last night that landed deep in the left field bleachers just in front of the concession stand. They estimated it around 450 feet, but it looked deeper than that. 2-2 count now. Strike three as Wily Mo swings and misses to end the inning.

David DeJesus leads it off against Josh Beckett. Fouls off a pitch to fall behind 1-2. Fouls off a couple 2-2 pitches before striking out looking.
Grudzielanek steps in. He grounds the second pitch he sees to Loretta at second, who makes the play at first for out number two. Here's Mike Sweeney who was inserted back into the line-up last night for the first time after missing most of the season with an injury. He's the DH as he was last night and drives an 0-1 pitch to Manny, who makes the catch to end the inning.

Team R H E
Sox 2 1 0
Royals 0 0 0

Second Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Mike Lowell leads it off. He saw his first action for the Sox in last night's game after missing a few with a foot injury after fouling a pitch off there. 1-2 after fouling off a pitch. 3-2 now for the full count. Ball four, he walks to bring up Gabe Kapler, who is in center for Coco tonight. He's ahead 2-1 on the count. Grounds to Teahen, who boots it and everybody is safe.
Here's Javy Lopez, who the Sox acquired on Friday and was thrown right into the fire after Mirabelli became injured in a play at the plate in the first inning of Friday night's game at Tampa. He finally got his first Sox hit last night and added a double in the eighth. He fouls off the 1-2 pitch. He grounds to Mark Teahen at third, who steps on the bag to force Lowell and then fires across the diamond to first to get Lopez for a double play, but Kapler is safe at second. Here's Alex Gonzalez. He's consistently been living in the .280s now and was actually up over .290 last week. 2-1 count. Full count now. He pops up to Grudzielanek at second for the third out.

Mark Teahen leads off for the Royals. 2-1 count. Ball three to run the count full, before he flies out to Kapler for the first out. Here's the right fielder Shane Costa, who gets behind 0-2. He grounds the next pitch to Gonzalez at short, who throws to first for the second out.
Here's Ryan Shealy, who the Sox tried to acquire from the Rockies last offseason and then again this year before the trade deadline, but the Royals snared him to play first base for them. He's down 0-2. He looks at he 1-2 pitch for strike three to end the inning.

Team R H E
Sox 2 1 0
Royals 0 0 1

Third Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Youk will lead it off for the Sox. 2-1 the count. The count runs full before Youk works another walk. Here's Loretta. He fouls off the 0-2 pitch to stay alive and then flies to Gathright in center for the first out.
David Ortiz now up for the Sox. After taking a called first strike, Papi looks at three straight balls for a 3-1 count. He fouls off the 3-2 pitch, before flying out to DeJesus in left field for out number two and bring up Manny. He takes the the first two pitches for strikes. Now he's taken the last three pitches for balls to run the count full. Strike three swinging to end the Sox half of the third.

John Buck, the catcher, leads it off for the Royals. 1-2 count. He grounds to Loretta at second, who throws to first for the first out.
Angel Berroa, who pronounces his name with an 'h' sound instead of a soft 'g' in Angel. He watches the first two pitches for strikes. He swings at the third, but it gets away from Lopez, but Berroa dogs it to first as Lopez gets him at first base for out number two.
Joey Gathright now up. He's behind 1-2. Ground ball to Loretta, who throws to first for the final out.

Team R H E
Sox 2 1 0
Royals 0 0 1

Fourth Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Wily Mo Pena facing Redman here. He grounds to Teahen, who throws to first for the first out.
Here's Lowell. He walks to bring up Gabe Kapler. Strike one. Kapler lines the next pitch to center field, where Gathright cuts it off on the run, but he's pretty deep and his throw back into second isn't close as Kapler slides in headfirst with a double for runners on second and third with one out. Here's Javy Lopez. Rips a shot down the third base line by a diving Teahen and down the left field line, allowing Lowell and Kapler to score to give the Sox a 4-0 lead and a double for Lopez. Gonzalez steps in now. He strikes out for two down.
Here's Youk. He grounds weakly to second, where Grudzielanek makes the play and throws him out at first to end the inning.

Here's David DeJesus, who grounds to Loretta at second on two hops.
Mark Grudzielanek at the plate now. 2-2 count. He fouls off a pitch. Checks his swing, but it's a ball and a full count. Fastball hit right on the nose up the middle just past Gonzalez and into center field for a single to break up the perfect game with one out in the fourth.
Mike Sweeney now. Fastball just off the plate to make it 2-1. He was sitting on a fastball and lines it into left field where Manny fields and throws to third where Grudzielanek just gets his hand in on a headfirst slide to be safe, while Sweeney takes second on the throw.
Uh oh, all of a sudden, the Royals have broken through as the left-handed Teahen goes opposite field with a gapper to left center to score Grudzielanek and Sweeney to cut the Sox lead in half at 4-2 as Teahen ends up at second with one out.

*AFLAC Trivia Question* Who hit the longest home run in Kaufman Stadium history?

Shane Costa up now. He's down 1-2 after flailing at a 91-mph change-up. It'd be nice if that was 81. He swings and misses at a nasty change-up, but it's so nasty that it skips past Lopez and allows Costa to reach first and Teahen to move to third with one out.
This brings up Ryan Shealy, which could be trouble. He's get the first pitch for a strike. Next pitch gets away from Lopez, a passed ball off Lopez' glove as Teahen scores and Costa goes to second and the Royals are within one. Looks like he was expecting the fastball, because he didn't cradle that pitch at all. 2-1 as he misses outside and high with a 97-mph fastball. He grounds a 3-1 fastball on a couple hops to Lowell's left as he cuts it off, looks Costa back and throws to first for the second out.
John Buck steps in and misses a nasty curveball on the outer half of the plate for strike one. He really needs to keep batters off balance with his breaking stuff like that. Another curveball and a ground ball to Loretta and a throw to first to end the inning.

Team R H E
Sox 4 3 0
Royals 3 3 1

*AFLAC Answer* Bo Jackson, 475 feet, September 16, 1986.

Fifth Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Loretta leads it off vs. Redman and draws a walk. Here's Ortiz. 1-2 count on him. He fouls off the seventh pitch of the at-bat to keep it at 2-2 now. Weird swing and Ortiz sends a dying quail to center, but deep enough for Gathright to make the catch.
Here's Manny with a chance to give the Sox some more. 1-2 count now. He chops a grounder just past Redman with just enough giddyup to get past Grudzielanek and Berroa to squirt into center for a hit as Loretta stops at second.
Wily Mo. Here's hoping for another blast, as he takes the first pitch in the dirt for a ball. Smokes a single on one hop to left field, but hit it so hard that everyone can only move up one base to load em' up for Lowell with one out. It looks like Buddy Bell has seen enough as he pulls Redman and summons Todd Wellemeyer. The righty starts off with a low and inside fastball for ball one. Man, Lowell, slow roller to Berroa at short, he fields and flips to Grudzielanek, who catches and turns and throws to first for the twin killing and more proof the Mike Lowell could be the slowest baseball player in town.

Berroa leads it off. 1-2 count. He reaches out and pokes a fastball past Loretta and into center field for a lead-off single. Here's Gathright, who squares to bunt, but Beckett goes inside and Gathright leaves his feet to get out of the way. He squares again and it's ball two outside. Fouls off the next pitch on another bunt try. It wouldn't surprise me to see Beckett throw a curveball now. Fastball again and another fouled off bunt. 2-2 count now. This is an awful display. He bunts the 2-2 pitch to first base, where Beckett comes off the mound, fields and throws to Youk, who was holding the runner at first for the first out and Berroa moves to second.
Here's DeJesus. He lines an 0-1 pitch to Gonzalez at short, but so hard that Berroa wasn't far enough off second to get doubled off as he slides back into the bag. Two outs.
Grudzielanek now up. Nice curveball for a strike to even the count at 1-1. Another curveball, but not much bite, but enough to get a swing and miss from Grudzielanek to make it 1-2. 1-2 curveball goes 58 feet that Lopez can't block and it deflects off of him as Berroa moves to third. Ground ball to third that Youk has to get his glove down for, actually pretty reminiscent of the ball that got past Buckner...behind the bag! Youk fields and trots to first for the final out, though. Inning over.

Team R H E
Sox 4 5 0
Royals 3 3 1

Sixth Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Kapler leads it off against Wellemeyer. 3-0 count and he walks.
Javy Lopez now up. He's behind 0-2. Kapler's off with the pitch, but Lopez fouls an outside pitch out of play to the right. Third straight outside pitch to even the count at 2-2. Wellemeyer is now putting everyone to sleep with his obsession of throwing over or stepping off to keep Kapler close at first. Javy fouls another pitch off. He whiffs at an outside pitch for the first out. Gonzo steps in. He swings and misses at a 95 mph fastball that ends up near his head. Awful swing. He was just geared up for the fastball there. I'm not really sure what Kapler was thinking here, but he just took off for second Wellemeyer wasn't close to going to the plate with the pitch and he steps off and throws to second as Kap gets caught in a rundown and is run down for the second out. Maybe he just got tired of going back to first on the pick-off attempts and waved the white flag. Anyway, Gonzo just flied to Gathright in center for the third out.

Here's Mike Sweeney as Beckett is still out there. 1-2 count. Sweeney pops one high to left on a 2-2 offering and after stumbling around, Manny makes the catch for the first out.
Teahen is now up. 2-1 count. Full count now. After fouling off another pitch he slaps an outside fastball up the middle past the outstretched glove of Beckett for a single into center.
Shane Costa steps in. He pushes a bunt down the third base line and with Lowell playing deep, all he can do is watch it and hope that it goes foul, but it doesn't and he's got a bunt single. First and second with one out and Ryan Shealy up. Nasty curveball off the outer part of the plate that Lopez has to block and Shealy gives enough of a swing at to warrant a strike for a 1-2 count. Strike three! Outside corner fastball at 97 mph. Shealy didn't have a chance. Two outs.
That brings up John Buck. Another curveball in the dirt that Lopez boxes around and off of him, just far enough away from him so that Teahen scampers to third. Buck sends the 2-0 pitch to center, where Kapler hauls it in for the final out.

Team R H E
Sox 4 5 0
Royals 3 6 1

Seventh Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Youk leads it off against Wellemeyer. He sends a flair on a 1-2 pitch that hits three feet inside the right field line as Youk hustles around first for a sliding double at second.
Here's Loretta, who pokes a slow hopper to first base with some situational hitting to get Youk to third as Shealy takes care of Loretta for the first out.
Here's Ortiz, but he won't get the chance as they intentionally walk him to get to Manny. Here comes the pitching coach Bob McClure to tell Wellemeyer not to screw it up vs. Manny. Outside fastball for ball two and it's almost like he's pitching around him. Ball three outside. Ball four to load the sacks for Wily Mo. Wow. Wily Mo grounds hard to Berroa, who slides and makes the play before it heads for center field, flips to Gruzielanek at second, who throws to first to just get Pena for the inning ending double play.

Berroa to lead it off against Manny Delcarmen, who relieves Beckett after six innings. 2-1 count now. He sticks his bat out at a 2-2 curveball and it travels much deeper than it looked as Wily Mo puts it away in medium right field. Gathright steps in. He grounds it up the middle on a few hops with a defensive swing, Gonzo fields going to his left, but his throw pulls Youk off the bag, but they give the speedy Gathright a single with one out.
DeJesus now up. He's ahead 2-0. Good time for a hit and run if you're the Royals. There goes Gathright as DeJesus shows a fake bunt, high fastball and Gathright is safe at second. Fastball for strike one. 3-1. Strike two on the outside corner. Ball four low. Hopefully, they can turn two here as Dave Wallace, who just returned after hip replacement surgery, visits the mound.
Grudzielanek steps into the box. He fouls off a curveball to the right for a 1-2 count. Delcarmen throws a sharp curveball, but it's too far off the plate for a ball. Grudzielanek fouls a 96 mph fastball straight back, that Lopez can't hang onto for the third strike. Full count with a fastball up and away. Curveball on the outer half as both runners start moving and Grudzielanek grounds to Loretta at second, who has only the play at first as the runners move to second and third with two outs. Tito's seen enough of Delcarmen and brings in Mike Timlin. Everyone in the nation is crossing their fingers and hoping that Timlin doesn't serve up another gopher ball here as he has been accustomed to doing, lately. He faces Mike Sweeney, who is 1-10 against him, lifetime. Timlin asks Javy to come out. None of the Sox pitchers seem comfortable with Javy calling the game. The game is now three hours old in the bottom of the seventh at 11:10 Eastern time. Strike two as Sweeney swings through another fastball to fall behind 1-2. Timlin drops a slider in tight to Sweeney, who just fouls it off. 2-2 now. Sweeney grounds it off the end of his bat to Loretta, who throws to first to strand the Royals in scoring position for the fourth straight inning.

Team R H E
Sox 4 6 0
Royals 3 7 1

Eighth Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Lowell leads off for the Sox, facing Wellemeyer, who is still out there! He grounds slowly to Grudzielanek, who throws him out for the first out.
Here's Kapler. He's ahead 2-1. 3-1 now. Kapler fouls it off behind the Royals' dugout for a full count. Kapler chops it down to deep third base where Teahen fields it backing up and then makes a strong throw to third that skips into Shealy's glove on the pick, but he drops it after it seems like he has control and in his glove for a while. The ump rules that he didn't have it long enough, but on the replay it looks like he dropped it when he was transferring the ball to his hand. Bad call there, but a break for the Sox and Kapler. Here comes Buddy Bell to make a pitching change. Scott Dohmann is on for the Royals. They got him in that Rockies trade with Shealy. Here's Javy Lopez. He waves at an outside curveball, well off the plate for a 1-2 count. Javy hangs in there grounding the 2-2 pitch foul off of third. Sharp ground ball just past the glove of Berroa to his right as Lopez gets a single and Kapler moves to second with one out and Gonzo up. He's due. Fastball right down the middle but a bit down as Gonzo flies to deep center field for out number two, but deep enough for Kapler to move to third on Gathright's weak arm.
Youk now up. He fouls the first two pitches off and is down 0-2. Check swing, but he can't hold up on an outside fastball and it's strike three and onto the Royals' eighth.

Timlin is still in there as Teahen comes up to the plate. It looks like Craig Hansen has fallen otu of favor to come into tight games and I don't blame Tito for that. Hansen has been awful, lately. Ground ball to Loretta, who gloves going to his left and throws out Teahen at first.
Here's Shane Costa. He's down 0-2 now after a called strike at 95 mph. Great piece of hitting as the left-handed Costa takes the fastball the other way and drops it in front of Manny for a single. Ryan Shealy now up. Could use a double play here. Strike two in as many pitches as Shealy swings through. Shealy foul tips it into the glove of Lopez for strike three, but Costa steals second as Lopez was making sure of the catch.
John Buck up with two outs for the Royals, who have a runner in scoring position for the fifth straight inning. Just like last inning, Buck tops the pitch off the end of his bat and sends it to Loretta, who throws to first to end the inning.

Team R H E
Sox 4 7 0
Royals 3 8 2

Ninth Inning - Red Sox at Royals

Loretta leads it off for the Sox against Dohmann. He grounds to Grudzielanek for the first out.
Here's Big Papi looking to give the Sox some insurance. 2-1 count. 3-1 with another low and outside pitch. He fouls it off behind third base. Full count. He grounds the inside breaking ball down the first base line, where Shealy makes the play and gets to the bag.
Manny is the Sox last chance to pad the lead. Can you tell I'm nervous? Manny's behind 1-2. 3-2 now. Outside for ball four and here's Wily Mo. He's behind 0-2 after a fastball right down the middle. It's now 2-2 after the umpire assessed a ball to Dohmann for going to his mouth while on the mound. No matter, as Wily Mo, literally just waves at an outside breaking pitch for strike three. Onto the Royals' ninth.

Papelbon is on for the ninth and Coco Crisp is now in center field as Kapler moves to right and Wily Mo is out. Paps is coming off a blown save in Tampa on Sunday. He gave up a solo game-tying homer to Dionnar Navarro.
Esteban German is pinch-hitting for Berroa here and has run the count full to 3-2. He sends a fastball to the right center gap that Coco runs down, but the ball kind of rattles around off the wall and German ends up with a triple with no outs.
Gathright swings through the first pitch for strike one. I have to wonder if Mirabelli would be healthy enough to come into this game, it won't happen now, but Lopez is just so subpar defensively as Papelbon gets ahead 1-2 on a fastball. Just misses outside with a fastball for a 2-2 count. Gathright fouls off three pitches, but strikes out on a hard moving fastball down the middle as he slams his bat down on the plate.
Here's DeJesus. This is a huge at-bat here. Splitter in the dirt that Lopez keeps in front for a 2-1 count. Shallow fly ball to left, Manny gets set to throw, makes the catch, German goes from third, Manny throws home, but not in time as the Royals tie it at 4-4. Another blown save for Paps. Grudzielanek is up and was sitting on the fastball, but got the slider and swings way ahead of it. He lines the next pitch over Manny and one-hops the fence for a double. See, why I was nervous? Here's Mike Sweeney. He singles through the left side, between third and short, Manny charges, fields, but can't get the ball out of his glove as Grudzielanek scores without a throw. Awful, awful, awful The Yankees won 7-6 tonight and the Sox are three games back, four in the loss column. Ouch.

Team R H E
Sox 4 7 0
Royals 5 11 2

Boston Red Sox
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
K Youkilis 1B	3	1	1	0	2	1	3	.295
M Loretta 2B	4	0	0	0	1	0	2	.303
D Ortiz DH	4	0	0	0	1	0	2	.288
M Ramirez LF	3	1	2	2	2	1	1	.322
W Pena RF	5	0	1	0	0	2	4	.304
C Crisp CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.275
M Lowell 3B	2	1	0	0	2	0	3	.285
G Kapler CF-RF	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	.269
J Lopez C	4	0	2	2	0	1	2	.263
A Gonzalez SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.281
Totals	32	4	7	4	9	6	20

Boston Red Sox
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Beckett	6.0	6	3	2	0	5	0	103-67	4.92
M Delcarmen	0.2	1	0	0	1	0	0	21-12	4.29
M Timlin	1.1	1	0	0	0	1	0	20-14	3.19
J Papelbon (L, 3-2; B, 5)	0.2	3	2	2	0	1	0	22-15	0.94
Totals	8.2	11	5	4	1	7	0	166-108

August 2, Red Sox vs. Indians Game Blog

Well, I'm blogging a Sox game, so it must be a Jon Lester start and guess what? It is! The Indians are throwing their own rookie lefty, Jeremy Sowers.
There's panic in Red Sox Nation to begin with. It became official last night when the Sox lost and the Yankees won and Jason Varitek was placed on the disabled list. So, now it's Doug Mirabelli and a rotation of Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, David Wells, who looked awful on Monday and who the heck knows who the number five guy is and Doug Mirabelli is the every day catcher. It's going to be a struggle as Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield each get closer to becoming active and Bobby Abreu and Craig Wilson add to their offense. Yikes, strap yourselves in.

It allegedly hit 100 in Boston today, which could be true, I guess. According to my favorite weather site, it was only 98 in West Roxbury today. I just hope that none of the players spontaneously combust tonight. Julie and I were at the game last night and I didn't think it was that bad, but 100 people were taken to the hospital due to the heat. I think they just didn't want to stay and watch the Sox, because the best thing about last night's game was a crow with a bad wing, that couldn't fly. http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/08/02/fans_do_some_bird_watching/

First Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Lester gets it started with a fastball for a strike at 7:06 PM Eastern to left-handed center fielder Grady Sizemore. Sizemore rips a fastball down the right field line that rattles around the corner for Wily Mo Pena, who's in for the injured Trot Nixon and while Wily Mo figures it out, Grady (Don't call me Little), chugs into third with an easy triple.
Here's the righthanded left fielder Jason Michael's, who was actually important in the Sox trade for Crisp, because if they weren't able to acquire him from Philly, then they wouldn't be able to deal Coco to the Sox. Well, he just worked a five pitch walk, so now we have the left-handed DH, Travis Hafner, who is just a tremendous hitter at the plate. Lester's even with him at 1-1. Finally, he gets ahead with a fastball for a strike to go to 1-2. I never really noticed this before, but Mirabelli wears this chest protector that's kind of small and tight aginst his body, looking almost like a comic book hero's chest plate, especially with the red in the main part and trimmed with black or navy on the sides. Anyway, Hafner works the count full before going the other way with a line drive to left that Manny runs back for and sticks his glove up, making the catch, as Sizemore tags and scores easy for a 1-0 edge with one out.
This brings up the first baseman, Victor Martinez, who is normally a catcher, but I guess his throws are awful, so they are trying him at first. Ooh, Lester just threw over to first, but Michael's wasn't there, because he tried to steal second and Youk threw to Gonzalez at the bag for the easy out. Thanks for helping us out, Jason. 2-1 the count on Martinez. Lester runs the cut fastball inside to the righty and the count goes full. Martinez is battling here, fouling off a couple pitches. True to form the kid has already thrown 20 pitches. Yikes, Martinez just jerked the 3-2 pitch down and in fastball into the Monster seats for a 2-0 lead, so the Michael's pick-off, or technically, caught stealing looks a little bigger.
Here's tonight's right fielder Casey Blake. This kid is quickly adding his name to the list of guys that feast on Sox pitching. Rance Mulliniks, Frank Catalanotto are both on the list and Blake drives a change-up off the scoreboard on the Wall for a single as Manny plays the carom well. Nip's out to talk to the kid, who has tossed 26 pitches now.
Lester just dropped in a curve for a first pitch strike against the shortstop, Johnny Peralta, who was booed heavily for tossing some dirt at the crow when he was trying to steal third (the crow, not Peralta). The boys just reported that Tito is starting Jason Johnson again on Sunday and Kyle Snyder is now coming out of the pen. How many times can they go to this well with Johnson? Are they just hoping that because of the odds, if you run him out there enough times, then he's bound to pitch well? By the way, Blake just stole second and Peralta just knocked him in with a single to right field. 3-0 Tribe.
Here's newly acquired second baseman Hector Luna, who was obtained for the Cardinals and just turned away from a high fastball headed for his face to make it 1-2. Finally, Luna pops high to Loretta, who waves his arms to let everyone know that it's his, as if Youk, Gonzo or Wily Mo would be sprinting to his area to rob him of the catch. Three down. Finally. Oh, I said that.

Here's Jeremy Sowers, who is the anti-Lester with complete games in his last two starts. He has a 1-1 count on Youk. Youk grounds to Peralta at short, who moves to his right, backhands, and throws to first for the out. Mark Loretta steps in. Sowers misses with the fastball and again outside, 2-0. 3-0. Loretta fouls it off into the left field stands to make the count full. Ball four way inside after a couple foul balls and here comes Papi. Ever since the guy hit the walk-off three-run homer, everyone has been going nuts for him, not that they weren't before, but now everyone expects a homer EVERY time he's up, especially with men on base. ESPN's Bill Simmons even compared him to Larry Bird in terms of being a clutch player. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060802
1-2 count on Big Papi, who was just named AL Player of the Month for July after cranking a Sox July record 14 homers and tying the club record for RBIs in a month with 35 to knot him with the legendary Nick Esasky from the 1989 season. What a great sign that was, the guy has a monster season and then he gets vertigo and is useless. Ortiz struck out swinging on a pitch down and away, by the way. Manny's up and take a good rip, but it's off the handle and turns into a shallow fly to left that Michael's grabs easy.

Team R H E
Indians 3 4 0
Sox 0 0 0

Oh my gosh, the Pepsi commercial with Jimmy Fallon is back! I thought we were done with this two months ago, but it's back. Ouch!

Second Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Here's Lester after a 36-pitch first inning to face former Sox catcher, Kelly Shoppach, who just skied a fly ball to the Wall, which bounced off the top of the scoreboard and went straight up where Coco camped under the carom, but Shoppach could have run from first to second and back again with how much time he had, but he settles for a lead-off double.
Here's another player the Sox let get away, Andy Marte, the stud third baseman, who was finally called up by the Indians over the weekend. He has a 2-2 count on him now. He hits a high fly ball to Coco in center, who makes the catch and in a moment of insanity, Shoppach tags and tries to go to third. What the heck is he doing? Unfortunately for him, Coco actually hits the cut off man and Shoppach is meat at third. Two outs.
Sizemore drills a pitch to the left center gap, but Coco runs it down just before the scoreboard for the third out. Three batters, three outs, but they are hitting Lester mighty hard.

Mike Lowell leads it off for the Sox. Sowers wears number 45. He's the second rookie pitcher I've seen doing that. I'm pretty sure that Jered Weaver of the Angels does that as well. It's Pedro's number, so it doesn't surprise me that the kids would wear it. 2-2 count on Lowell. Every pitcher under 30 years old seems to wears numbers in the 60s. Lowell grounds hard to Marte at third, he makes the play and the strong throw to first for the out.
Here's one of my favorite players, Wily Mo Pena. He's down 1-2 in the count. I, actually, didn't mind so much that Trot got injured. I want to see more at-bats for Wily Mo, who just struck out swinging, whoops.
Here comes Coco Crisp. He's ahead 2-0. This would be a good count for a hit. 3-0. They just showed the misters that they have at Fenway under the concourses for the fans with the heat. They are similar to the ones they use at football games in the hot months. Full count to Coco and he takes a pitch outside for a base on balls.
Let's hope that Mirabelli can raise his .181 average here. Cleveland was 4-11 since the break before arriving in Boston on Monday. They won last night, had a game stolen from them on Monday and are winning here tonight. What the heck! 2-0 to Mirabelli. He's take a fastball on the outside corner for a strike. Mirabelli! Hits a rope the other way to right field, which one-hops the fence and goes in for a ground-rule double, which is lucky for the Tribe, because Crisp would have scored, easily with two outs.
Here's Alex Gonzalez and his .285 average. .285! 1-1 the count. This kid, Sowers, is not very big at all, kind of slight. They list him as 6'1", 180, but he doesn't seem even that solid. Come on! Gonzo just got fooled on a 2-2 curve and went too far with a check swing for the whiff. Man, another squander.

Team R H E
Indians 3 5 0
Sox 0 1 0

Third Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Lester gets Michael's to swing at a first pitch curve for the strike. He pops him up to Loretta, who puts the ball away for out number one.
Hafner comes up now. Every time this guy is up, I just expect a long ball. Instead he serves a single to center field that drops just in front of Coco.
Here's Martinez, who takes a fastball low for a 2-0 count. He grounds to third, Lowell leans down, gloves, throws to Loretta at second, who starts to jump out of the way of Hafner and make his throw at the same time, but loses the ball on the transfer and can't turn the DP. They get the out at second, though. Lester just threw a wild pitch and Martinez ends up on second. Lester, just snapped off a big curveball to get ahead of Blake, 1-2. Woo hoo! He catches the outside corner with a fastball for called strike three on Blake. Now, maybe the Sox can get a run too!

Youk, naturally, leads it off and takes strike one on the inside corner and now strike two on the inner half. Sowers drops in another close pitch on the outside corner, but it's a ball, lucky for Youk. I don't think he would have been happy after that. Of course, Youk works a full count. He only leads the world in pitches taken. Ground ball to third just off the outstretched glove of Marte, but it skips past him for a single. D.O. just mentioned that Youk leads the Majors with 62 two-strike hits. That's actually pretty impressive.
Here's Loretta. 1-1 count on him. Still even at 2-2. This could be a big inning for the Sox. Just need to crack the armor here. Loretta hits one off the handle and Peralta handles the pop-up on a couple steps back. Here's Papi. Sowers starts him off with a curveball that Papi goes flailing after and misses. He's hitting over .290 now, by the way. Foul to the left, left of the pole for strike two. Slider waaay outside and in the dirt for ball one as Shoppach has to bounce over to make the play on. Ball two. Ortiz lays off again. Nice job in this at-bat so far. He's seen all breaking pitches, except for the 0-1 fastball. Sowers throws another slider and Ortiz can't hold up his check swing, meanwhile Youk was on the move and gets throw out with ease for he strike em out, throw em out double play. These guys can't do anything right right now.

Team R H E
Indians 3 6 0
Sox 0 2 0

Fourth Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Lester starts out Peralta 2-0. Strike one one the fastball and a weak ground ball to second, where Loretta makes the play for the first out.
Hector Luna stepping in now with an even count of 1-1.
*AFLAC Trivia Question* Who made the last out in game five of the 1999 ALDS? I'm going to say Manny Ramirez as Luna lines softly to Loretta at second.
Kelly Shoppach now up. 2-1 count on him now. Shoppach checks his swing on a high fastball for a 3-1 count and fouls the next pitch off the first base side out of play for a full count. He rips it into left field and Manny runs it down to cut it off before it goes to the wall, but then runs another four strides, before turning and whipping the ball in side arm to hold Shoppach to a single. Here's Marte, still looking for his first American League hit. Lester gets ahead, 0-2. Easy ground ball to Gonzo, he gloves and flips to Loretta at second to force Shoppach to end the inning.

Answer to the AFLAC question is Omar Vizquel, who I feel, if Ozzie Smith is a Hall of Famer, then this guy is as well when he retires.

Here's Manny, who should have been batting last inning with Youk on first if he wasn't running, instead, he lines to Peralta at short, who goes to his left and stabs the ball going away from him for the out. Here's Lowell, who flies out to Sizemore for out number two.
Here's Wily Mo, who swings without a chance at an outside change-up. At least he stayed off the next one, before hitting a shot to the left center gap, that Sizemore catches on the run. He put a charge into it, at least.

Team R H E
Indians 3 7 0
Sox 0 2 0

Fifth Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

It sure doesn't feel like it's only 3-0, but that's what it is. Feels like it should be 6-0.
Sizemore leads it off. 2-1 count. Lester drops in a big curveball that Sizemore takes a big cut at and misses, then throws a fastball down and away to get the strikeout.
Here's Jason Michaels. Strike one. Lester seems much better now. Another curve for a called strike. Good cut fastball, but just missed low. Michael's sends the fastball to deep center field, but Crisp runs it down near the Sox pen.
Travis Hafner now up. Lester looks much, much better this inning as he starts with a good fastball for strike one and follows it with the same pitch, but for some reason, the ump felt this one was a ball. 1-2 now. High and inside fastball to make the count full now. This is a big pitch, I feel. A learning pitch. Fouls it off. Weak liner to Loretta and that's the inning. Nice job.

Coco leads it off as Sowers works on 22 straight scoreless innings. 1-2 the count. Ground ball to medium depth third and Marte fields and makes a long throw to first for the out.
Hopefully, Mirabelli can stay hot. Here he is. 2-1 count. He hits a bullet to third, but Marte makes the catch on the fly.
Here's Gonzo. Maybe he can get something going. Gonzo! Extends his hitting streak to seven games with a double to right center field.
A single from Youk would put the Sox on the board. Ball one. Sowers straightens up Youk with an inside fastball for a strike to make it 1-2. Ball two as Shoppach had to stand up to catch the fastball to prevent it going to the backstop. Youk fouls off the 2-2 pitch. Youk delivers with a fly ball that just hangs in the air and comes down just above the scoreboard on the Monster to score Gonzo as Youk ends up at second. This is good stuff. The Indians pitching coach Carl Willis is out there now. It's the first run in 22 2/3 innings for Sowers. Great at-bat for Youk.
Here's Loretta. Ball one outside. Loretta lines a single to center field, Youk coming around third, you can actually see him huffing and puffing as his cheeks fill up with air and he scores as the throw is muffed on the cutoff. 3-2 and here's Ortiz. You know everyone just expects a two-run jack as they all chant MVP, MVP, MVP! I can't imagine that Sowers has faced any lefty as dangerous as Ortiz in his entire young career and that's counting Jim Thome in Chicago. 1-2 count. This is big. Sowers owns him with a slider and Ortiz gives a half-hearted swing for his third strikeout, but the Sox are only down a run now.

Team R H E
Indians 3 7 0
Sox 2 5 0

Sixth Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Lester misses outside with a fastball to start off Victor Martinez. Light rain at Fenway. Those people must be in ecstasy now. Martinez dumps a single in front of Manny in left.
Casey Blake now. 1-1 count as Manny Delcarmen warms in the pen. Some of the tomatoes are now ripe in the bullpen on the plants. 1-2 as Blake fouls off another pitch. Lester comes inside with a curveball to even the count at 2-2. Blake gives it a ride, I didn't think he got all of it at all, but he got a lot, because Coco ran a mini-marathon across center field to make the catch just shy of the extended scoreboard on the wall, then he throws and hits the cutoff man, Alex Gonzalez, who runs to catch the ball, then throws on the run to Youk to double off Martinez at first. Wow! What a play! Okay, back to the game at hand, 3-1 count to Peralta. Full count and Lester gets him chasing a high fastball for strike three! Nice job, Sox. Hopefully, the momentum carries over.

Sowers is done for the night as Brian Sikorski comes on. He's another young kid and a righty to face Manny. Ball one with a fastball down and away. Manny welcomes Sikorski to Fenway with a blast that ends up in the netting next to the camera station in center field for home run number 30 on the season and an 18-game hitting streak and a tie ball game.
Mike Lowell steps in and has a 2-1 count. 3-1 now. This is why Cleveland has struggled. Their pen has been awful and they traded their closer, Bob Wickman last week. Lowell pops it up just near the Indians' dugout, where Marte makes the catch.
Wily Mo coming to the plate. 1-2 count. Wow! That's all I can say. Wily Mo just hit a rocket that hit the back wall behind the first row of seats in the Monster Seats and it ricocheted off the wall and bounced back onto the field. He lined it off the seats and it wasn't on the descent. 4-3 Sox. Here's Coco batting from the left side now. 2-1 to Coco. He takes a high fastball for a strike to run the count full at 3-2. Coco drives it deep to right on a high fly ball, but Blake camps 10 feet in front of the Indians' pen for the second out.
Doug Mirabelli now up. Curveball gets away from Sikorski and almost hits Dougie, but he turns away from it. Ball two. 2-2 now after a foul ball. Strike three as Mirabelli swings and misses.

Team R H E
Indians 3 8 0
Sox 4 7 0

Seventh Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians
Manny Delcarmen is now in for the Sox to face lefthanded pinch hitter Joe Inglett, who is hitting for Luna. 3-1 the count on a close fastball. Full count and Inglett flies out to Coco, who takes five running steps to left field to make the grab for the first out.
Here's Shoppach. 1-1 as Delcarmen misses high with a 96 mph fastball. Nice curveball. 12/6 variety for strike two. Nasty, nasty curveball that bounces in the dirt, Shoppach, swings and misses, the ball gets by Mirabelli and he runs it down and throws out Shoppach on a close play at first for the out. Marte now up, still looking for his first hit of the season. Strike two on a low fastball. The ump isn't helping Marte out at all. Swing and a miss and Marte waves at a good, sharp curveball off the plate. Inning over.

Rafael Betancourt is now on for the Indians to face Alex Gonzalez, who flies out to Blake in right field for the first out. Here's Youk, who drives one deep to left, but Michaels sets up just in front of the Monster and makes the catch for out number two.
Mark Loretta now. Strike one on a high fastball. Fouls it off for strike two. Loretta flies out to right and Blake takes care of it. Good inning for Betancourt. Onto the eighth.

Team R H E
Indians 3 8 0
Sox 4 7 0

Eighth Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Mike Timlin is on for the Sox. He hasn't pitched since Saturday. Sizemore leads it off for Cleveland and is ahead, 2-0. Timlin gets a strike with a sinking fastball. Strike two with a hard fastball. Full count. Sizemore pulls an outside fastball to Loretta on the ground as Loretta goes to his right, gathers it and throws to first for the first out.
Jason Michaels up and fouls the first pitch to third base. Strike two as Timlin blows a fastball by him. Fastball low to even the count at 2-2. Michaels rips a fastball down the left field line that bounces around in the corner and he ends up on second with one out and Hafner up. I don't like this at all. Timlin has never faced Hafner and after a meeting with Mirabelli, almost hits him in the knee with his first fastball as Hafner jumps out of the way. Second pitch is low and inside as well. 2-0. I really don't like this. Strike one, fastball. Nice, fouls it off for 2-2. No chance, whatsoever, he just crushed a 2-2 fastball deeeeep over the bullpens. 5-4 Tribe.
He starts Victor Martinez with a fastball for a strike. Strike two on the fastball. Strike three with a sinking fastball. That was big. Two outs.
Here's Casey Blake. Timlin throws a rare slider for ball one, followed by a soft line drive to Loretta for the third out.

Betancourt is still out there to face Ortiz. Fastball over for a strike. Foul ball into the left field seats. 0-2. Ball one on an outside fastball that just misses. Bounces the next pitch for ball two. You have to wonder how much pressure Betancourt feels. Wow, low fastball and Papi swings righ over it for his fourth strikeout of the night.
Here's Manny. Manny swings through the second pitch for strike two. Manny puts his easy follow through swing on the ball and drills a hard line drive to Sizemore in center for the second out. If Lowell could get on, we would see Wily Mo. Ball one outside fastball. Lowell skies it high to Martinez at first for the third out. One more shot.

Team R H E
Indians 5 10 0
Sox 4 7 0

Ninth Inning - Red Sox vs. Indians

Jonathan Papelbon is on for the Sox. He hasn't pitched since Saturday, so it's good that he's in. He gets work, plus he keeps it close. He faces Peralta, who was so late on the second pitch fastball that Mirabelli could have thrown Paps the ball back by the time the swing was over. 1-2 the count. Peralta fouls it off and I'm in shock that me made contact. 3-2 count now as Peralta lays off two outside fastballs, but then strikes out swinging on a 96 mph fastball. He's got great velocity tonight. Here's Joe Inglett. Paps falls behind, 2-0. Strike one on the fastball and he was taking all the way. He chops a two-hopper to Loretta, who gloves and throws to first for the second out. Here's Kelly Shoppach, who must have caught Paps a lot in the minors. 1-0 the count. Way outside for ball two. High and outside fastball that Shoppach swings and misses for strike one. He grounds to Lowell, who goes to his left, lets the ball come to him, gloves, throws and end of inning. Last chance coming up.

Here's Fausto Carmona on for the Indians. He gave up the walk-off three-run homer to Big Papi on Monday and starts Wily Mo off wiht a sinking fastball at 97 mph for strike one. Wily Mo swings through another pitch for strike two. He strikes out on three pitches as the bottom drops out with a slider that Wily Mo misses.
Here's Coco and he's behind 0-1 in the count. He just gets a piece of a change-up for strike two. 1-2 count. Coco strikes out badly on a slider that bounces in the dirt, but Coco swings and misses and Shoppach throws him out at first.
Mirabelli is the Sox final hope. Strike one on a 97 mph fastball on the inside part of the plate. 1-1 on a pitch that is way inside. Ball two low. A walk would be nice here. Strike two on the fastball on the outside corner. I would expect that slider again here. Yep, but low for ball three. Everyone is standing at Fenway. All of their hopes pinned to Dougie. He just fouls it off to the third base side to stay in there. He hits him on the elbow and Mirabelli takes first. Gabe Kapler is pinch-running for Mirabelli. Not bad, considering he was out for almost a year with a leg injury. Here's Gonzo. He gets hit too! First pitch, fastball on the elbow. First and second, here comes Youk. He might be thinking about the save too much here. Youk is perfect to be up right now, because he won't bail him out. He takes the first pitch for a strike. A 97 mph fastball right down the middle, but you know Youk isn't swining. Carmona misses outside with the slider. 1-1. High with another slider. 2-1 count. Inside fastball, real inside. 3-1. Youk grounds it foul past third. Full count. Ball four! He almost hits Youk near the head as Youk ducks down. Bases loaded for Mark Loretta. Carmona looks all discombobulated as his infielders come in to calm him down. Wow, almost hits Loretta with an inside fastball. He's all over the place. Shoppach heads out to talk to him. WOO HOOO!!!! Mark Loretta drives a fastball high in the air, it comes down and grabs some wall as Kapler and Gonzalez score for a 6-5 Sox win!!

Amazing. Great win for the Sox to keep pace with the Yanks.
Next blog will probably be next Wednesday.

Boston Red Sox
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
K Youkilis 1B	4	1	2	1	1	0	0	.294
M Loretta 2B	4	0	2	3	1	0	1	.303
D Ortiz DH	4	0	0	0	0	4	3	.289
M Ramirez LF	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	.316
M Lowell 3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.287
W Pena RF	4	1	1	1	0	2	0	.328
C Crisp CF	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.269
D Mirabelli C	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.186
G Kapler PR	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	.271
A Gonzalez SS	3	2	1	0	0	1	2	.285
Totals	33	6	8	6	3	9	7

Boston Red Sox
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	PC-ST	ERA
J Lester	6.0	8	3	3	1	3	1	110-67	3.59
M Delcarmen	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	16-10	4.05
M Timlin	1.0	2	2	2	0	1	1	22-14	3.20
J Papelbon (W, 3-1)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	15-8	0.50
Totals	9.0	10	5	5	1	7	2	163-99