Scutaro's slam helps Red Sox sweep the Angels

It's time for everyone to jump back on the Boston Red Sox' bandwagon.

They're still seven games behind the Yankees and five behind the Rays for the wild card but at least now, it looks like August and September will be competitive as they went 6-4 on their West Coast trip and wrapped it up with a nice 7-3 win and a sweep of the Angels yesterday afternoon in Anaheim.

Josh Beckett (2-1) was solid in his second start back from the DL. Beckett went seven innings, allowing three runs (all earned) on five hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

In a game that both Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon were promised a day off, Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings respectively.

Just before the series finale began, the Angels (52-52) found out starter Joel Pineiro was scratched with an oblique injury (which will keep him out 6-8 weeks). The Red Sox (58-44) caught a big break by facing five Angels relievers but for most of the contest, it didn't seem like they'd fully take advantage of that.

Adrian Beltre and Bill Hall hit solo homers in the second for the early 2-0 lead.

Bobby Wilson and Reggie Willits were both credited with RBI singles in the bottom of the second but they didn't deserve them since Boston fielders made mistakes on both plays. Jeremy Hermida, who is brutal in the field, hesitated on Wilson's liner to left and Hall lost Willits' pop-up in the sun.

Maicer Izturis hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to give Los Angeles a momentary 3-2 lead but Kevin Youkilis tied it up with a solo homer in the seventh.

Finally, Marco Scutaro (3 hits, 2 walks, career-high five times on base) came through with one of the biggest plays of the season: he hit a grand slam off Fernando Rodney with no outs in the top of the eighth.

Eric Patterson (3 hits, run) also had a good game hitting out of the ninth spot.

Boston comes home and gets a three-game set beginning tomorrow against the sinking Tigers.

Lackey nearly throws no-hitter, Sox almost suffer worst loss in years but end up winning in 13 innings

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Friday, July 23, 2010
Lackey nearly throws no-hitter, Sox almost suffer worst loss in years but end up winning in 13 innings


To nobody's surprise, John Lackey has largely been a disappointment for the Boston Red Sox so far this season.

Last night though, he was on and he nearly threw a no-hitter. Lackey went 7.2 innings before giving up a hit and left with a 6-1 lead after eight innings (2 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts). Game over right? Not so much with this car crash version of the Sox.

Boston (54-42) gave up five runs in the ninth to the awful Mariners (37-59) but somehow recovered to win 8-6 in 13 innings after Safeco Field thanks to Eric Patterson's two-run double.

Milton Bradley had walked, stolen second base, moved over on a grounder then scored in the second on a passed ball so Seattle had a 1-0 lead without a hit. It was crazy that they almost got no-hit after that.

Bill Hall gave Boston a 2-1 lead in the third with a two-run homer and David Ortiz (2 hits) drove in Marco Scutaro (2 hits, 2 RBIs) with an RBI single.

J.D. Drew added to the Red Sox tally with a two-run bomb in the sixth and Scutaro notched a solo shot in the seventh.

Manny Delcarmen completely melted down in the ninth against Seattle's pathetic lineup. Delcarmen gave up four runs (three earned), two hits and a walk; he didn't record an out.

Franklin Gutierrez cut it to 6-3 with a two-run homer and Casey Kotchman notched an RBI double. Jack Wilson grounded into a fielder's choice, allowing Bradley to score but then Hall threw away the relay to first and the tying run scored. With that, Jonathan Papelbon blew the save.

Hideki Okajima (3-2) pitched his best game of the year, getting two scoreless innings in the 11th and 12th, including wiggling out of a bases-loaded, one out jam in the 12th.

Ramon Ramirez pitched a clean 13th, with a strikeout to get his second save of the season.

So this game went from a revelation from Lackey, to the worst loss in years and then finally, an incredible win when it looked over.

Josh Beckett returns tonight and faces Jason Vargas, a quality lefty.

Same old Dice-K

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Dice K's pitch count gets way too high early, he can't hold a lead and the Sox end up losing a game they had firmly in their grasp.

I've said before that Matsuzaka is the most unpredictable player in MLB but you have to admit that he's good at racking up insane pitch counts and blowing leads.

Last night in Tampa was an especially ugly one as the Sox (49-34) led 5-1 going into the bottom of the fifth but eventually lost 6-5 to the Rays (49-33).

Dice-K went five innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts.

One of the most frustrating parts of the loss was the fact that Boston had gotten Rays starter Matt Garza (4 earned runs, 7 hits) out after just three innings. No surprise though, Tampa's bullpen is better than Dice-K and our god-awful middle relievers (Ramon Ramirez).

The Red Sox also wasted a career night by utilityman Eric Patterson who is filling in for Dustin Pedroia. Corey Patterson's little bro had two solo homers and a double.

Carl Crawford (3 hits) put the Rays up 1-0 in the first with an RBI double.

Boston answered with four two-out runs in the top of the third. Patterson hit his first homer, Kevin Youkilis had an RBI triple, Adrian Beltre had an RBI single and Bill Hall (2 hits) had an RBI single.

After Patterson's second blast in the fourth, Boston's offense was completely silenced.

Tampa Bay scored two in the fifth on Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly and Crawford scored on Kevin Cash's passed ball.

John Jaso tied it up with a two-run single in the sixth and Jason Bartlett produced the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Rafael Soriano (who somehow didn't make the All-Star team even though he's 22 of 23 on save chances) worked the ninth for the save.

Felix Doubrant gets his second start for Boston tonight against Jeff Niemmann. Coupled with a Yankees win last night in Oakland, the Red Sox are 2.5 games behind New York and half a game behind Tampa Bay. They can't afford a slide going into the All-Star break even though they're completely decimated by injuries.