Just four days ago, the Boston Red Sox sat on top of the AL East as they held a one-game lead over the second place New York Yankees. But with four straight losses by the local nine and four straight road wins for the Yanks, the Red Sox now find themselves in second place, two games out.
Had it not been for a controversial no call in yesterday’s 7-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox, there’s no telling whether or not the Red Sox would have won the game. But that no call did change the course of that inning.
After Tim Wakefield walked Ramon Castro and gave up a single to Gordan Beckham in the 5th inning, Juan Pierre grounded into a fielder’s choice that retired Beckham at second. With Alexi Ramirez at the plate, Pierre tried to steal second but the Red Sox pitched out and got him into a rundown.
As the rundown was happening, Dustin Pedroia appeared to apply the tag on Pierre as he went to second base. But second base umpire Marty Foster said that Pedroia didn’t get the tag on Pierre who ended up safe at second. Television replays showed that Pedroia got the tag on Pierre and this photograph below from Boston Globe photographer Barry Chin definitely shows that Pedroia got the tag on him.
Ramirez would end up grounding out but Castro came in on the play to make it 3-2. The next batter Carlos Quentin doubled in Pierre and tied the game at three. Had the right call been made, the score would most likely still have been 3-1.
Now the onus, doesn’t fall completely on that play. It can lie in the fact that the Red Sox didn’t take full advantage of Gavin Floyd‘s early struggles.
The Red Sox had seven hits in their first 10 at-bats against Floyd but only managed to plate three runs off of him at the time. They wasted two singles in the first by Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez when Kevin Youkilis grounded into a double play.
The local nine got the runs in the second when a Jed Lowrie ground rule double brought in David Ortiz, who doubled to lead off the inning. After a Josh Reddick strikeout, Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled in Carl Crawford and Lowrie to put the Sox out front 3-0.
Brett Lillibridge put the White Sox out in front 4-3 in the 6th with a solo home run off of Wakefield but Big Papi tied it back up in the bottom half with a solo blast of him. Matt Albers had another rough outing allowing the eventual winning run and the ChiSox would add two more in the 9th when Paul Konerko launched one to the moon off of Jonathan Papelbon.
Given how Wakefield pitched yesterday, I’d fully expect him to stay in the rotation going forward now that we know Daisuke Matsuzaka will undergo Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox also got a scare when Rich Hill had to leave with an apparent elbow injury but the early prognosis was good. Let’s hope that there’s no major damage and Hill will just need a little rest and rehab to get back. Especially since he’s been the best lefty out of the pen so far in 2011.
After 20 games in 20 days, the Red Sox will be enjoying a much needed day of rest so we’ll be back in a short while with the pitching matchups for the three-game weekend set with the Oakland A’s.
For more slices of Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CSNNE, ESPN Boston, NESN, Providence Journal, RedSox.com and WEEI websites.
And if you must check out the enemy news, head over the Chicago Daily Herald, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown or ESPN Chicago websites.
Photo credits: Getty Images, Boston Globe
