There will be no sweep this time
for the Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals
take advantage of the Red Sox mistakes in Game 2 to take the win 4-2 and head
back home for Game 3 with the series tied at 1.
John Lackey was mostly brilliant
on the night but as it’s been all year long, the bats just couldn’t help him
out.
The big Texan threw 95 pitches
and had a 2-1 lead when John Farrell pulled him with 2 on and 1 out in the top
of the 7th inning. This is
when the game fell apart for the Sox.
Lefty specialist Craig Breslow
came on to face Daniel Descalso with Pete Kozma on 2nd and Jon Jay
on 1st. The sneaky Cardinals
pulled off a double steal to move the runners up a base, which was shocking as
the Cardinals were dead last in the NL in steals this year and only had 3 in
the whole postseason. Breslow then
walked Descalso to load the bases.
Up next were Matt Carpenter and
he hit a fly ball to medium-depth left field.
At Fenway, it’s going to be a close play at the plate should the runner
tag up. Kozma did tag up and tested
Jonny Gomes’ arm in left. Kozma beat the
throw that got away from Salty and Breslow who was backing him up, tried to get
the runner that was moving up to 3rd and lofted it over Bogaerts
head and into the stands allowing Jay to come home and make it a 3-2 game. There were 2 errors on the play and both
turned out to hurt badly as the Cardinals this time took advantage of fielding
blunders. Carlos Beltran would add an
RBI single a batter later to really make it hurt.
I have 2 thoughts on what
transpired in the 7th. John
Lackey was looking good, he struck out Allen Craig to start the inning, but then
gave up a walk to David Freese. St.
Louis had 3 lefties coming up for and lefty Craig Breslow was warm and up to
last night, lights out, why not bring him in?
Instead, Farrell decides to stick with Lackey against Jon Jay who has
hit .283 against righties this year and in the high .100’s against lefties. Lackey let up a line drive single to put
runners on 1st and 2nd.
Farrell then replaces Lackey.
I would have liked to see Farrell
remove Lackey with Jay at the plate. I
know Lackey had been doing well but your bullpen has been the strength all
postseason long and with 3 lefties coming up who struggle against left hand
pitching, the move should have been made.
The other thing I want to ask is,
what is Breslow doing throwing that ball to 3rd in that
situation? The runner was pretty much
there and nothing good can come of trying to get the out. He should have held the ball and attacked the
next hitter. It was a brain fart for
Breslow and I shook my head thinking what was he doing?
John Lackey really deserved
better than the loss. He went 6 and 1/3
innings giving up 3 runs (he was charged with all the runners) on 5 hits while
striking out 6 and walking 2. He showed
great command with his fastball and his curveball was once again
outstanding. He was going strong but
should have been removed after the walk in the 7th. I’ve been shocked at how well he’s pitched on
the big stage. I knew he was a gamer but
man, he’s really impressed me.
Breslow pitched 1/3 of an inning
and was only charged with 1 hit, 1 unearned run and a walk but he really didn’t
do his job last night. Junichi Tazawa
went 1/3 of an inning of no hit, no run baseball. Brandon Workman went 1 inning and worked
around a hit. Koji Uehara went 1 inning
and did what he normally does, got the side out in order.
Rookie pitcher, Michael Wacha,
matched John Lackey inning for inning and was equally impressive on the
mound. The only mistake he made all
night was a change-up to David Ortiz that he crushed over the Monster to give
the Sox a 2-1 lead. Two other rookies,
Martinez and Rosenthal closed out the game with 6 strikeouts, no walks and only
1 hit allowed in 3 innings. All 3
pitchers are 23 or younger. This
pitching staff is down right filthy.
The biggest problem of the night
was the hitting. The Sox just couldn’t
get anything going. They had only 4
total hits and were 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position while leaving 6
men on base. Mike Napoli himself left 4
in a 0 for 3 showing (he had a walk).
David Ortiz went 2 for 3 with 1
run, 2 RBI, a walk and a homer. Dustin
Pedroia went 1 for 3 with a run, walk and a double. The only other hit came from Jacoby
Ellsbury. The bottom of the order, the
6-9 hitters went 0 for 14 with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk. UGLY!
They’ll have an off day tonight
as they travel to St. Louis for games 3, 4 and 5. Game 3 will be on Saturday night as the Sox
will send Jake Peavy to the mound against rookie Joe Kelly.
Peavy was roughed up in his last
ALCS outing against the Tigers to the tune of 7 runs in just 3 innings. His postseason career has been terrible and I’m
sure he wants to come out and throw a gem.
Kelly was roughed up a bit too in
his last outing as he gave up 4 runs in 5 innings. He’s been good this year though and was 10-5
with a 2.69 ERA in the regular season.
SHAVING CREAM PIE TO THE FACE –
GAME MVP
David Ortiz. Ortiz was once again Mr. Clutch smacking a
2-run homer over the wall to give the Sox the lead in the 6th. Unfortunately they would not hold the lead
but Big Papi is locked in right now.
ELBOW TO THE FACE – GAME LVP
Craig Breslow. Breslow has been so good this postseason but
last night just wasn’t his night. He
walked a lefty to lead off the inning then made a terrible error that ended up
leading to 2 runs.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The errant throw by Breslow that
sailed into the stands to put the Cards up 3-2 in the top of the 7th.
NEXT
Saturday, October 26th, in St.
Louis vs. the Cardinals.
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