Rain once again played a part in the game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays. But this time, they were smart enough to delay the game at the start and wait for a bigger window.
The rain began in about the 4th inning and became heavier as the night wore on. It was coming down good in the top half of the 5th and once Josh Beckett got out of the inning, the game was official. But they played on. The Red Sox went quietly in the bottom of the 5th with the rain still coming down hard.
In the top of the 6th, Evan Longoria led off with a double and slipped across second base. That was enough for crew chief Randy Marsh to see and called for the tarp. About 50 minutes later or so, the game was called and the Red Sox were victorious 9-1.
As of late, we had been watching Beckett struggle with his command and location. In his last start, he had really started to turn the corner in becoming the dominant Beckett of old. Last night it looked as though he had come full circle as he had good life on his fastball and had regained the command of his breaking stuff.
And when Beckett has all of that working, we see a dominating performance like last night. The key for Beckett now is to be able to keep that going in the rest of his starts going forward.
When the Red Sox acquired Alex Gonzalez from the Cincinnati Reds it was to shore up the defense at shortstop. They didn’t get him for his bat but would take anything they could from him. So far it’s been pretty good.
He’s made just one error in 24 games but the story is what he has done at the plate. With the Red Sox, Gonzalez is hitting .295 with four home runs and eleven RBIs and a stolen base. That stolen base came last night and it was his first since the 2006 season. He also had another two hits last night and drove in three with a bases clearing double.
With the win last night, the Red Sox were able to cut the New York Yankees, who lost to the Baltimore Orioles, lead in the AL East to 7.5 games. The Texas Rangers lost to the Seattle Mariners last night so the Red Sox now have a three game lead over the Rangers in the wild card standings. The Mariners are ten games back and the Rays are 10.5 games back essentially making this a two horse race.
It’s going to be a long day of baseball at the Fens this afternoon as the Red Sox and Rays will play two games at noon and 5 p.m. The game at noon is a replay of Friday’s game and tickets for the Friday game will be honored at noon. The second game at 5 p.m. is the game that was scheduled for 1:35 PM and those are the tickets that can be used.
Beckett pours it back on [Boston Globe]
Beckett regaining form [Boston Globe]
Matsuzaka’s return shapes the stretch run [Boston Globe]
Bard has become a trustworthy option [RedSox.com]
Back end of Sox rotation a patchwork affair [RedSox.com]
Five Things We Learned About The Red Sox Last Week [Hartford Courant]
Farrell on Matsuzaka [Extra Bases]
A rain-shortened rout for Sox [Providence Journal]
Hendricken player shares time, story with Lester [Providence Journal]
Red Sox journal: Matsuzaka’s next start a matter of intrigue for Sox [Providence Journal]
Josh Beckett, Red Sox make short work of Rays [Boston Herald]
Evan Longoria, Daniel Bard all even so far [Boston Herald]
Staff ace shows signs of old self [Boston Herald]
Jon Lester in the mix [Boston Herald]
Alex Gonzalez provides spark for Red Sox [Boston Herald]
Plan ahead for October [Boston Herald]
’Tek no longer No. 1 and only [Boston Herald]
Dice-K enters stretch [Boston Herald]
Five Things We Learned: The Return of Josh Beckett [Joe Haggerty – WEEI.com]
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times websites.
