I just got off the links, shooting a horrible round by any standard. It seems the rest of our trusted sortie are still out on the course. Sorry for the late game thread; the good news is Boston is leading the Seamen 2-0 in the fourth. Comment away.
Sorry For The Delay: Sox-M’s Late Gamer
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Pickoff to end the 4th… must have been a double steal?
Well, the bad news is that Sox have left a ton of base runners again already. Manny grounding into an inning-ending DP in the second with the bases loaded.
Definately not an offensive show by the Sox so far.
Manny with a solo shot to left center
Once again, the Sox begin the game by quickly loading up the bases in both the 1st and 2nd, and come away with two runs.
I think we’re seeing the downside to the Jamesian bias toward high on base percentage: It’s great to draw a lot of walks, but you need batters to drive those runs in, too.
In other words — more slugging is needed from this lineup.
(Still 2-0 after four.)
Batista has thrown a lot of pitches but I’m not sure that getting to the M’s bullpen will help us. Probably will have to rely on our own pitching to keep the lead.
And as I’m typing away, Manny hits one out. 3-0 Sox!
Would have been a lot nice to have seen that happen in the 2nd inning.
Wouldn’t you know it, while I’m typing Manny puts another one out of the park. There’s some slugging… But with no one on.
Batista at 96 pitches through five.
Beckett’s at 71 through four, he could use a quick inning.
And Beckett gets the 1-2-3. Now for some more runs, not another nailbaiter if please.
And a quick inning it is! 9 pitches, bringing Beckett to 80 through five. Good news, maybe he can go a full seven today.
Double off the wall by JLug (heh).
Add one more gaffe to the long list of Sox’ stupid baserunning errors. Lugo picked off second.
This team is a frustrating compendium of the braindead and the unclutch.
Quick reference back to this thread:
http://yanksfansoxfan.typepad.com/ysfs/2007/08/running-scared-.html
And Ibanez hits it well but fortunately not well enough. Runners at the corners with one out … Nailbiting time.
Burke singles to right on the first pitch scoring a run.
3-1
Beckett at 97 pitches. One more or Oki in the 7th?
Beckett can go another inning, but the question is whether they want to… I worry about this game tightening further, with the Sox offense seeming so anemic.
Maybe time to go to Oki or Gagne.
I like the thought of Gagne, Oki and then Paps. The R-L-R thing to me seems better.
Papi steals 2nd?
Papi steals second!!!
Did some kind of freeze “lazer” hit all of the Mariners and let him steal?
Eight-pitch at bat for Manny but he strikes out. Maybe J.D. Drew can contribute at the plate for a change.
Drew with an RBI triple!!
Shocker.
JDre triples, 4-1… (!)
And Drew does contribute. Triple!
Drew’s RBI totals by month:
April 8
May 9
June 15
July 8
Not exactly what we paid all that money for.
Lowell reaches on an infield single knocking in Drew. 5-1
Despite my well-aired frustrations with the team as of late, I am not willing to write off Drew. In fact, he appears to me to be a smooth, natural ballplayer, and I think he’s going to come around and please a lot of people down the road. I hope the Sox don’t bail on him a la Renteria (not that Coco wasn’t worth it, the more he plays like his old self the more it seems like it was the right move), I think the chances of Drew adjusting to the AL and being very productive are very high. Though I was skeptical of the deal (and honestly he hasn’t done a whole lot to justify the price tag), I like the way he plays — no nonsense. I am prepared to be vilified for that comment, too.
I am not sure how I feel about Drew. I know that we are not getting what we paid for him so far this year, but I know the league change and lately the surgery with his child have got to be affecting him.
I would love for him to get on a massive hot streak and start tearing the cover off the ball.
Beckett’s back, with Oki warming.
2 gone as Suzuki grounds out and Crisp nabs Vidro’s line drive.
SF, I agree with you. Let’s give him some more time. Considering he went along on the road trip in spite of his son’s troubles, it’s nice he got that RBI.
Single chases Beckett at 107 pitches, here comes Okajima to protect the lead.
My son was in the hospital last year with some sort of virus at the age of 19 months, I spent basically 72 hours at the hospital with him, I couldn’t have imagined being anywhere else. I can’t fathom what it must be like to be away from your kid for an extended period of time, considering it sounds like what Drew’s son is going through is far more severe. I honestly feel for the guy and his family, I don’t care how much money he is making. It HAS to be a factor in his performance, even if he’s unwilling to make any excuses.
Oki gets it done with a flyout, Manny makes a nice catch.
Does Oki come back for the eighth? I’d guess so, but haven’t noticed him being used for four outs.
Cora leadoff double to start the eighth.
Cora doubles, Lugo safe on a sac bunt with the late coverage at first, Coco sac fly brings in Cora, and Youk doubles to make it 7-1. Nice.
Well, I was wrong earlier. Getting to the M’s bullpen certainly did help us this time.
I agree SF, it has to have been eating at him on top of the injuries also.
Don;t get me wrong, I was not slamming him, just making a realationship between the money and the RBI totals. There are other things the guy is doing to help the team.
Ah, sweet insurance runs.
Tizzle rips one off the second baseman, squibs into right field, and Youk hustles around from second, making it 8-1.
Cora and Lugo are the only two without a RBI now.
Now Manny drills one the opposite way near the corner, not sure how Ortiz didn’t score on that one. First and third, one out.
Top four in the lineup 6-14 with three walks and 5 RBI. Not bad, considering Manny’s GIDP early in the game with the sacks full.
Drew up again with speedsters Papi and Manny at the corners, 1 out… But he Ks after a long at-bat.
Lowell up with a chance to truly bury Seattle here, though this one is already feeling “done” (no jinx!).
And there’s Drew, hot on the heels of my faith in him, whiffing with a fluffy RBI right in front of him. Good at-bat, though, nine pitches.
>>not sure how Ortiz didn’t score on that one.
And he stole second today. Maybe he has been hiding his “speed” game.
Lowell walks. Bases loaded for Tek.
Tek flies out to right
Delcarmen in — makes sense, no point using up Oki’s arm on an 8-1 lead.
Tek does it with mirrors for me. I have no clue how he hits .270. My memories fail to conjure up many instances where he has gotten hits, but clearly my memories are deceptive, majorly so.
Nice running grab by JD for the third out of the inning.
Did anybody see a replay of Coco almost getting run over by the Mariner Moose on his car? Must have been a scary scene.
Would there be any kind of compensation if a player gets taken out by the opposition’s mascot? Has it ever happened? (Maybe the Philly Phanatic beating somebody up?)
Ok, there are 51 games left to the season after this one. Assuming we win 30 of them (not out of the question…), the yanks just have to lose 16 of their 51 games and we’d win the division for the first time in a million years. This relaly could happen!
Game over. For a moment I thought Synder was trying to make it interesting.
3 out of four in Cleveland not too long ago, now 2 out of 3 in Seattle … that’s not too shabby against pretty good opponents.
Frustrating stretches in all of the Seattle games though. In spite of today’s decisive win a little more timely hitting would be appreciated.
Good series win. On to LA, just win that first game, keep things going. Schill tomorrow, should be very interesting and telling.
Re: SF’s memory of Tek.
I see your point, but then again, I’m sure you were watching last night. His 2B felt like the first 2-out w/runners on hit we’d had since the, I dunno, Monroe Administration.