Garrett Anderson was 4-for-4 with 5 RBIs - AP
Garrett Anderson went 4-for-4 with 5 RBIs to help lead the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim past the Boston Red Sox in front of 44,260 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. The loss for the Red Sox coupled with a Tampa Bay Rays win leaves the Red Sox a ½ game back in the AL East.
The struggles continued for Clay Buchholz - Getty Images
Clay Buchholz struggled again in his second start back from his exile in Pawtucket. He worked 4 2/3 innings giving up 8 runs (4 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks while fanning just 2 batters. David Aardsma worked a 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk. Javier Lopez worked 2/3 of an inning allowing 3 runs on 4 hits. Mike Timlin went 1 1/3 innings and Craig Hansen worked the 9th striking out 2.
The hitters managed just 5 hits off of 3 Angels pitchers. Dustin Pedroia and Manny Ramirez had two each while Kevin Youkilis had the other. Manny and Youk each hit a home run with Manny’s being a solo shot and Youk’s a 2-run shot.
The struggles for Buchholz began in the bottom of the 1st inning when he had trouble finding the strike zone.
After Chone Figgins flew out to start the inning, Casey Kotchman doubled and came into score on a Macier Izturis double. Vladimir Guerrero followed that with a single to score Izturis to put the Angels up 2-0. Torii Hunter then worked a walk and then Anderson singled in Guerrero from second to make it 3-0 Halos.
Kevin Youkilis connects on a 2-run home run - Getty Images
Ramirez led off the second off Angels starter John Lackey. He got Mike Lowell to fly out and then left a pitch out over the plate to Youk, who smoked it down the line to left for a 2-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.
Buchholz had actually settled down, similar to his last start, as he worked 1-2-3 innnings in the 2nd and 3rd.
Ramirez tied the game up at 3 when he led off the 4th with a solo home run the opposite way on a first pitch fastball. This would be the last time the Red Sox touched home plate while at-bat.
Anderson responded with a solo home run to lead off the bottom half of the inning to put the Angels back in front 4-3.
The Angels put this game away in the 5th inning with 4 runs.
Kotchman reached on an infield single with 1 out in the inning. Buchholz then walked Izturis and got Vlad to ground out although Vlad was able to move the runners up a base. Hunter was able to reach on an Alex Cora fielding error on a slow roller to bring in Kotchman to make it 4-3. Anderson followed that with a single to score Izturis to chase Buchholz from the game. Aardsma came in and walked Juan Rivera and that was followed by a 2-run single from Howie Kendrick to give the Halos an 8-3 lead.
Just another Manny being Manny moment - AP
With Lopez on the mound for the visiting nine in the 6th, Figgins led off with a double and went to third on a Kotchman ground out. Izturis then hit a fly ball to shallow left field that Manny tried to make a sliding catch on. He then tried to recover himself to get the ball but looked like he was running in quicksand and ended up rolling over on top of the ball to give Izturis an triple and an RBI. Izturis was thrown out at home when he tried to score on a ground ball from Vlad. Hunter followed that with a double and Anderson then picked up his 4th hit of the day clearing the bases to put the Angels up 11-3.
The Red Sox will put their ace Josh Beckett out on the hill tomorrow as they try to get back in the win column. The game starts at 3:55 PM and will be broadcast on FOX.
Notes and musings:
Red Sox @ Angels 7.18.08 boxscore
Beginning with Game 5 of the 1986 ALCS, the Red Sox have won 9 straight playoff games against the Angels.
The Red Sox have now entered the All-Star break in 1st place in each of the last 4 years, and has not been any lower than 2nd place at the mid-way point for 8 straight seasons.
With the signings of Casey Kelly and Derrick Gibson, Boston has 21 selections from the 2008 draft under contract.
Pedroia collected 124 hits before the All-Star break. The Red Sox club record for hits before the break is 125 by Wade Boggs (1987) and Nomar Garciaparra (2003).
J.D. Drew became the 4th Red Sox player to be named MVP of the midsummer classic, the 1st since Pedro Martinez in 1999. Roger Clemens (1986) and Carl Yastrzemski (1970) also accomplished the feat
John Lackey recorded the 1,000th strikeout of his career when he struck out Kevin Youkilis in the 4th inning.
It just wasnt a good night. That error by Cora opened the flood gates and then Manny started teaching fire prevention classes. It was like a football team that looks flat after a bye-week.
and combined with the Rays win the Sox are back in second place.
Hopefully they got all the kinks out last night and they are back to normal later this afternoon.