Series Wrap-up: Mariners @ Red Sox
Solid starting pitching wasn’t enough this series for the Red Sox. They ended up dropping two of three against the Seattle Mariners in a series that saw the Sox bats silenced when they had runner’s in scoring position. Throw in a little bit of disaster from the new scapegoat in Boston, Bobby Jenks, and the Red Sox just about saw themselves get swept away from a Mariners team who is playing some good ball of late.
Friday night saw Daisuke Matsuzaka square off against the Jeff Vargas. Dice-K was the better of the two starters as he only surrendered 1 run through 4 innings on 3 hits. He had to leave the game in the fifth inning due to some tightness in his right elbow. Manager Terry Francona admitted after that the language barrier was an issue and part of the reason he took Dice-K out. None the less, the Sox were leading 4-2 at the time. Matt Albers pitched 2 solid innings before giving way to Bobby Jenks. Enough said. Sox lose 5-4, thanks to Jenks 1 inning, and 2 earned runs. The hard part about this loss is that the Red Sox played well enough to win. They built up an early lead after giving up 2 in the first, only to lose it at the hands of Mr. Jenks.
After suffering a difficult defeat the night before, it appeared that depressing mood carried over into Saturday’s game. John Lackey was very effective, going 6 strong innings and only giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. The problem was the offense took the night off against the big right hander, Doug Fister. The Red Sox managed 7 hits against Fister, but that didn’t matter any. The Boston bats couldn’t bring home a single run, dropping the game 2-0. The team was 0-11 with runners in scoring position. A similar display of poor hitting we’ve seen all too often to start this season.
So, after dropping the first two games, all the Red Sox had to do was go out on Sunday and beat the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, Felix Hernandez. To make the challenge even more daunting, the Sox were starting Tim Wakefield in place of an ill Clay Buchholz. Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. Wakefield was brilliant, only giving up 2 hits in 5.2 innings along with 1 earned run. The Sox were able to get to Hernandez, tagging him for 6 hits and 2 runs through 7 innings, despite striking out 10 times. Cue the drama; Wakefield leaves with a runner on and the Red Sox leading. Who enters the game? Bobby Jenks. After giving up a base hit, uncorking a wild pitch and then walking three straight batters, before you could get a Fenway Frank, and adult beverage and an ice cream, the game was tied 2-2. Thanks Bobby. So then again, cue the drama. Bottom of the ninth, Lowrie triples, 2 outs and in steps the other Boston scapegoat this year, Carl Crawford. As my counterpart, Rick Meegan wrote, “a new month, a new Carl Crawford.” Red Sox win on Crawford’s single, 3-2.
Series Monstah’
Relief pitcher Matt Albers is the latest Series Monstah’. Albers appeared in 2 of the 3 games this weekend and he once again proved the Red Sox were smart in keeping him in the ‘pen at the start of the season. He pitched a total of 4 innings, gave up 1 hit, walked 1 and struck out 1, all the while, not allowing a run. He did so when the Red Sox needed him to have a clean inning the most. He’s quietly making a case to be the go to man out of the pen, just before Daniel Bard and Papelbon.
The Last Word:
Despite dropping 2 of 3 to Seattle, there appears to be a lot happening for the better with these Red Sox. Jarred Saltalamacchia collected a multi-hit game on Saturday and not to mention Crawford’s heroics on Sunday. Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz, while not smashing home runs, they are producing run scoring doubles and singles. Jonathan Papelbon has been lights out so far as evidenced by another dominating inning of work on Sunday. So just when you thought that Sunday’s game was going to start the month of May the way April did, these Red Sox found a way to win. These Red Sox showed emotion when Crawford sharply hit one up the middle to win the game by completely mobbing the All-star left fielder. These Red Sox showed they have each other’s back and are sticking together, even through the difficult times. These Red Sox appear to have righted the ship and are sailing towards calm waters and W’s.
On Deck:
After sweeping a four game set from the Angels in LA, the Red Sox will welcome that same Angels ball club to town to begin another 4 game set. The series kicks off Monday and for more on that series, look for my Series Snapshot.
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