The Sox Blog

With two of the top pitchers matched up and anything else to do, I decided to burst back onto the WaveNation scene after an extended absence to bring my running diary of this afternoon’s Sox game against the Padres. Josh Beckett(10-1, 3.14 ERA) vs. Jake Peavy (9-1, 1.98 ERA). Should be a good one.
Top 1st
4:08 Why is Pedroia off today? Where is he? I guess it is easy to lose a 5’7” guy. Cora HBP, so I’ll stop complaining till later.

4:10 Peavy to Oritz: see ya with an elevated 95 mph fastball. There is a reason he has lead the NL in ERA 2 of the last 4 years

4:12 11 pitch inning after Manny grounds out to short. This could be a quick game and therefore a good way to ease back into the ‘Nation.

Bottom 1st
4:16 Josh Beckett: 1.59 ERA away from Fenway (the most hitter-friendly ballpark not in Philadelphia). 1.59 just letting you know that is pretty good.

4:18 Beckett gave Michael Barrett the pitching equivalent of Carlos Zambrano’s sneaky left hook. And the result is the same: sit down Barrett.

Top 2nd
4:23 Peavy just had to cover first on a grounder by JD Drew and it looked like he might have rolled his ankle falling down after touching the bag…kidding but let’s hope.

4:26 Khalil Greene and Russell Branyan just collided on Tek’s short flair on the third base line. Tek ended up with a triple, albeit the weirdest triple I have ever seen. Peavy raced to third but couldn’t get there in time as both left infielders were in the outfield. He has been doing quite a bit of sprinting thus far.

4:29 One word: Julio Lugo. Hitless in his last 23 at bats.

4:31 Some things never change. 0 for his last 24, Peavy strands Tek on third.

Bottom 2nd
4:36 Beckett K’s Greene for his third strikeout of the afternoon. He has the curveball working folks, watch out.

4:37 Whoops spoke too soon, a single up the middle by Branyan erases any hope of a no-no.

4:39 Inning over, no biggie.

Top 3rd
4:42 First pitcher vs. pitcher match up of the afternoon, love these (Beckett grounds out to third though).

4:46 Pitch 50 by Peavy with Crisp on first and one out. Hopefully many more to follow and a quick hook.

4:50 Alex Cora base hit, now its 1st and 2nd one out with Ortiz at the plate. I no longer am upset at Cora for replacing Dustin, but I still think he should play instead of Lugo everyday until the Orioles forget how bad Julio is and make a move for him.

4:53 Pa-pi, Pa-pi, Pa-pi. Amid chants for the Big Poppa, Mr. Clutch singles home Coco.

4:55 Sac-fly for Manny, Cora scores, Sox lead 2-0. That will probably be enough for Beckett today.

4:58 Blum botches JD’s dribbler, now two on two outs with Lowell ready to bat. Warning: the flood gates are at a critical stage, prepare for a breach.

4:59 Lowell flips one to right field and Papi wheels home, scoring on a nifty slide to make it 3-0 Sox.

5:01 Tek flies out to deep left, but the damage is done.

Bottom 3rd
5:06 Blum singles to right, then Peavy bunts him over to second. Let’s see how Beckett does here.

5:09 Lugo with another errant throw with Blum on third, yet Papi flashes some leather and picks it out of the dirt. Inning over people.

Top 4th
5:12 Aflac Trivia Question: Who are the last to pitchers to win the NL Triple Crown? I have no idea, I am going to guess Smoltz and Dwight Gooden. That is so wrong I am sure.

5:14 Beckett gets his second hit of the year. So sweet. Pitchers should be able to hit though, as 95% of them hit through high school, and many players change positions in college. P.S. Rem Dawg just said Beckett batted .508 with 11 dingers his senior year of high school, which is Manny-esque. Hooray for baseball players that actually resemble athletes!

5:18 Peavy sneaks out of another jam. Damn you and your cut fastball!

Bottom 4th
5:22 Beckett just K’ed Gonzalez on a curve in the dirt. Beckett is dirrrty.

5:23 I missed the answer to the Aflac Trivia Question. Thank god for Google.

5:25 Randy Johnson in 2002 and Dwight Gooden in 1985. 1 out of 2, not bad but I should have known Johnson.

5:27 Beckett gets Blum to fly out, inning over. He knows he is on cruise control right now, and doesn’t care who else finds out.

Top 5th
5:31 Manny with a little line drive single to left, and Drew singles behind him to start the inning.

5:36 Lowell pops out and Tek strike out. That means our hopes rest on the shoulders of Lugo. I’m just going to move on and go to the bottom half of the inning. I know how this is ending, I’ve seen Lugo bat before.

5:38 Lugo (.194 average) grounds out to short to end the inning.

Bottom 5th
5:42 Blum and Kuzmanoff are on to start the inning (I had flipped the golf on my bad). Rem Dawg says it was a walk to Kuuzmanoff then a single, and since I don’t think he has gone crazy yet, I am going with that (although that air guitar video from a few weeks ago might say otherwise).

5:45 Pinch hitter Terrmel Sledge (sick name) rips one to right center, two runs score, 3-2 Sox with a man on second, no outs.

5:48 Runner to third on a grounder to Ortiz.

5:54 After a long battle, Beckett gets Adrian Gonzalez to chase a 3-2 curveball out of the zone to end the inning. Lets go offense!

Top 6th
5:56 Royce Ring in to pitch. Where does San Diego get these guys? The random name generator in Madden?

6:00 Cora on again after singling up the middle (2-2, HBP, BB). I hear Baltimore is real nice Julio.
6:02 Ortiz K’s on three pretty good pitches, but almost gets himself ejected again.

Bottom 6th
6:09 Ho-hum inning for Beckett as he retires all three batters through the air. I guess they were thinking curve.

Top 7th
6:14 Manny walks after fouling a few pitches off. The fourth ball was close but Man-Ram was half way down first before the umpire could decide if it was a ball or strike. And believe me, it was real close to a strike.

6:18 No soup for Drew, then Lowell grounds into the 6-4-3. I guess the Sox will take a one run lead to Beckett-Okijima-Papelbon. It feels nice to say that.

Bottom 7th
6:22 Ba-bum, ba-bum, BA-BUM, BA-BUM, BA-BUM. That was my heart as I watched Beckett hang one to Blum. It fell just short of a homerun and into the glove of Manny Ramirez at the warning track. The deep fence hurts the home team here.

6:28 105 pitches and Beckett is done with the 7th.

Top 8th
6:32 Linebrink makes a huuuge mistake to Varitek, or just great hitting by Tek as he hits 3-0 hanger for a homer over the centerfield fence for a two run lead. It was a lefty homer for Tek. I believe earlier this year I said Tek should stop batting from the left side as his bat looked slow. I will now eat my words with a side of broccoli.

6:35 Instead of pinch hitting for Beckett and bringing Okie in for the 8th, Terry has decided to leave his starter out there to hit with Julio on first and no outs.

6:37 Beckett almost had a perfect bastard play, pulling the 0-2 bunt back and slapping it up the middle. However Linebrink thought otherwise and stuck his glove up, somehow snagging the ball and doubling off Lugo at first. A game of inches folks.

6:39 Coco pops out to end the inning. LET’S GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS RIGHT NOW WATSON!!!

Bottom 8th
6:43 After Barrett flies out on the first pitch, Beckett strikes out Adrian Gonzalez on the curve for the third time.

6:45 A fly out after a Mike Cameron double. To the ninth if dinner isn’t served before then.

Top 9th
6:48 Trevor Hoffman in. Why waste him, ain’t you heard of Papelbon?

6:50 Well that was quick. Two fly outs and a Man-Ram K. I guess this guy is decent if you want 500 career saves.

Bottom 9th
Beckett is gone put here comes Pap.
6:57 Papelbon- with a full count goes upstairs for the strikeout on Russell Branyan. He had no chance, really, it was a mere formality to throw the three balls.

6:58 Rem Dawg and I think a like “he had no chance on that fastball” after Paps K’s another.

7:00 See ya on the grounder. Sox win.

Perfect timing as dinner was just brought to the table. Have a good one folks.