RESULT – WIN 2-1 (10 innings)
I’ve been watching baseball pretty much my entire
life and yesterday in the bottom of the 10th with the winning run on
3rd base with only 1 out, Joe Madden of the Tampa Bay Rays did
something I have never seen before in a baseball game. He called his left fielder, Matt Joyce, into
the infield to create a five man infield to try and guard a ground ball getting
through and the winning run getting in.
Jacoby Ellsbury singled after Jonny Gomes struck out, he then stole
second base and advanced to third on the catcher’s wild throw to second
base. Shane Victorino came up and Joe
Madden decided to make a 5 man wall on the edge of the infield grass. Luckily Shane hit the ball fairly hard and
the second baseman couldn’t handle it cleanly and Jacoby scored easily. First walk off of the year and it was a nice
end to a great pitcher’s duel.
Jon Lester pitched great again and seems to be
back to his 2010-2011 form. He went 7
innings, allowed only 5 hits and one earned run while striking out 5 and
walking only 1. David Price was equally
impressive as the big lefty went 6 innings, giving up only 4 hits and one
earned run, striking out 8 and walking 2.
It was truly an old fashioned baseball game with two aces going back and
forth. Third base was only touched by
three runners all game.
Andrew Bailey came on from the bullpen for the
eighth and looked like his stellar self, giving up no runs and striking out a
batter. Joel Hanrahan came on in the
ninth and again looked terrible. I’m not
a big proponent of having a closer out there in a tie game because they are
just not used to that situation but he did not look good anyway, walking the
only 2 batters he faced and was lifted for Koji Uehara who got out of the jam
by recording a strikeout then 2 pop ups.
It was a brilliant pitching performance by Uehara who is looking great
on the young season. Hanrahan’s
confidence doesn’t look too good right now and with the way Bailey’s been
pitching I could see a swap coming if Hanrahan doesn’t find it real soon. Junichi Tazawa came on in the 10th
and pitched his way out of a one out single to get the win.
There wasn’t much to write home about on the
offensive side for the Red Sox, but facing David Price will do that to
you. Shane Victorino went 2 for 5 with
the game winning RBI, David Ross went 1 for 3 with his first home run in a Red
Sox uniform. It was the only extra base
hit on the afternoon. Victorino and
Ellsbury each had a stolen base and Middlebrooks, Nava, Ellsbury and Napoli
each had one hit in the game. Dustin Pedroia
went 0 for 3 with 2 strikeouts on the afternoon. The Rays didn’t fare too much better with
Jose Molina going 2 for 4 and only 4 other players getting a hit in the lineup.
The Sox were rained out Friday night and a makeup
has not been announced. They’ll go at it
again this afternoon and have an early start tomorrow (11 a.m.) for the annual
Patriot’s Day game.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE – GAME MVP
Shane Victorino for coming up with the game
winning RBI single. In that situation
you just need to make contact and put the ball in play. He smacked the ball hard into the five man
infield and proved he still has some clutch heroics left in him.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Joel Hanrahan, who walked the only 2 batters he
faced in the bottom of the ninth to put the winning run on 2nd
base. Luckily he was bailed out by Koji
Uehara but he better be careful or Andrew Bailey will be taking over ninth
inning duties very soon.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Bottom of the tenth, 1 out, Jacoby Ellsbury at
third and Shane Victorino at the plate.
Joe Madden goes with a five man infield and Shane’s got 2 strikes on
him. He hits a shot at the second
baseman who can’t field it cleanly and Jacoby scores easily from third.
NEXT
Today, Sunday, 4/14 at Fenway Park vs. the
Rays. Clay Buchholz tries to best Lester
and get his third victory of the year.
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