The one inning meltdown. It has become a killer for Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka all year long. There always appears to be one inning in just about every game he pitches in where not much, if anything, goes right and pretty much everything goes wrong. That’s the way it was tonight as the Orioles snapped their 11 game home losing streak with an 11-5 win over the Red Sox.
Tonight the 3rd inning did him in big time. He threw 42 pitches and didn’t make it out of the inning giving up 7 runs, 4 hits and 3 walks in the 9 batters he faced in the inning.
The ugliness began with the Sox holding a 4-1 lead and Matsuzaka gave up what appeared to be a harmless lead off single to Gustavo Molina. Brian Roberts followed that up with a double and Matsuzaka walked Tike Redman to load the bases. Nick Markakis followed with a walk to score Molina and it was 4-2. Miguel Tejada singled to left to keep the bases juiced and score Roberts and cut the Sox lead to 4-3. Kevin Millar received the second bases loaded walk of the inning, the free RBI tied the game 4-4. It was the second run Matsuzaka walked in during the inning after previously having only done it once all year. With Julian Tavarez ready in the bullpen you knew if Matsuzaka didn’t get Aubrey Huff he was done. Huff then took a fastball that he crushed but it ended up barely foul in right field. He would strike out on the next pitch for the first out. Jay Payton then popped out to Dustin Pedroia and it looked like Matsuzaka was going to worm out of it with a tie game. But Scott Moore had a different idea and he hit a grand slam, his first homerun of the year, to right centerfield over a leaping Coco Crisp to give the O’s an 8-4 lead. That was end of Matsuzaka as Tavarez came on and got Molina to strike out to put an end to the inning. But the damage was done.
The Sox staked Matsuzaka (14-12) to a quick 2-0 lead in the first, with one out Pedroia singled and then David Ortiz followed with a 
two run homerun, his 28th of the year into the seats in right field.
The O’s would cut the lead in half with a Tike Redman homerun in the first.
The Sox would add to the lead in the second. JD Drew would lead off with a double, he would score on a two out double by Julio Lugo. Jacoby Ellsbury would then bring Lugo home to make it 4-1 with a double of his own.
It seemed like things were just rolling along and then the came the bottom of the 3rd and the Orioles took advantage of what Matsuzaka gave them.
The Birds grabbed 3 more runs in the fourth inning off of Tavarez who was just as shaky as Matsuzaka. Roberts led off with a single and would advance to second on a passed ball by Varitek. He would then score when Redman grounded to Lugo who promptly threw the ball past Youkilis for an error. The run made it 9-4 Orioles. Markakis then hit his 17th homerun to left field, a two run job, and it was 11-4 Baltimore.
Baltimore starter Jon Leicester (1-1) did a nice job settling down and going five innings. He was backed by two hitless innings by Rocky Cherry and then Jim Hoey went an inning and a third giving up a ninth inning run on an infield single by Brandon Moss who went to second on an error. He scored on a Lugo double to make it 11-5 Baltimore. Danys Baez then came in to get Ellsbury and Pedroia to ground out to end the game.
The Sox had a nice outing by Devern Hansack tonight, he pitched three scoreless innings giving up two hits, a walk and struck out two in relief after Tavarez was roughed up. Mike Timlin came in and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
Notes and Musings:
The Sox have won 6 of 8 games in September. They are 33-23 since the All-Star break.
Last night’s 4-0 win was the team’s 13th shut out of the year. They have 8 of them on the road. Jon Lester is the 8th pitcher this year to start and win a shut out for the Red Sox. The others are Tim Wakefield (4), Daisuke Matsuzaka (2), Curt Schilling (2), Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Kason Gabbard and Julian Tavarez.
Last night Kevin Youkilis established a new American League record with his 179th consecutive errorless game at first base dating back to July 5, 2006. Mike Hegan held the previous record but he had only started 52 of those games. Steve Garvey holds the major league record with 193 games. Youkilis does have 3 errors this year but all of them have come at 3rd base.
Jonathan Papelbon has retired 16 consecutive batters. Opponents are hitting a mere .135 against Papelbon.
Daisuke Matsuzaka has 179 strikeouts in 185 IP this year good for 5th in the AL. His season and career high is 10K’s in a game, which he has done 3 times.
The Orioles have the best fielding percentage in the AL, an above average line up it’s just their pitching that sucks. They rank 13th in the AL in ERA as a team.
Coming into tonight the Orioles had lost 11 straight at home matching a franchise record. They have also lost 15 of their last 18 games since Dave Trembley was named manager for 2008 after replacing Sam Perlozzo in June. It all started with the 30-3 ass kicking at the hands of the Texas Rangers. But with this slump you have to wonder if he will be fired before he even gets a chance to manage in ’08.
The Orioles have only been shut out twice this year. Last night they lost 4-0 and last Saturday they were no-hit by Clay Buchholz in a 10-0 loss.
After the Sox leave Baltimore it doesn’t get any easier for the O’s the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, California, USA, North America, World, Earth come in for a three game visit.
The Sox are 11-6 v the Orioles this year including 5-3 at Fenway Park at Camden Yards. Boston has won 31 of the last 40 games between the teams.
Baltimore’s Jon Leicester (pronounced Lester) has made only one other major league start prior to tonight. It was on May 9, 2005 as a Cub against the Mets. That was also Leicester’s last major league appearance prior to his relief appearance against Boston on May 12th this year.
Daniel Cabrera maintains today that the ball slipped. Even his manager, Dave Trembley, doesn’t him believe him saying “and his dog ate his homework”.
“Name that Molina”
O’s catcher Gustavo Molina is no relation to catching Molina Brothers (Bengie, Yadier and Jose) of San Francisco, St. Louis and New York.
