After an 1 hour and 56 minute rain delay, baseball was finally played at Fenway Park and the end result wasn’t a pretty one for the Red Sox. The Chicago White Sox took advantage of six walks by Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka and got some timely hitting from A.J. Pierzynski in a 4-2 win over the Red Sox. The loss was the third straight for the Red Sox. Pierzynski had 3 hits and 3 RBI while Dustin Pedroia led the way with 3 hits again for the Red Sox.
Dice-K had a rough 1st inning. After getting the first two outs of the inning, Dice-K’s control suddenly was lost. He issued walks to both Jim Thome and Paul Konerko. Pierzynski brought home Thome from second with his first single of the night, giving the White Stockings a 1-0 lead. Dice-K got Jermaine Dye to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
The local nine tried to put something together in their half of the 1st. Coco Crisp flew out to right and Pedroia followed with the first of his 3 singles. Vazquez then got David Ortiz to strikeout swinging. Manny followed that with a single of his own moving Pedroia over to third base. Kevin Youkilis was unable to bring him home as he flew out to left ending the threat.
Boston took the lead in the 2nd inning. Mike Lowell led off the inning with a single off Vazquez and went to second on a Jason Varitek single. Vazquez then got Wily Mo Peña to ground into a fielder’s choice with Tek retired at second base. Julio Lugo then grounded into a fielder’s choice of his own, with Wily Mo out at second base and Lowell scoring, tying the game at 1. Coco then reached on an infield single with Lugo moving to second base. Pedroia brought home Lugo with his second single of the night, giving the Red Sox a 2-1 lead. Pedroia got caught in a rundown as the throw home was cutoff. Crisp was alert and started towards home but Juan Uribe threw home and they got Crisp in a pickle and he was tagged out by Pierzynski before he could get back to third base.
Meanwhile, Dice-K had settled into a groove on the mound. He cruised through the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings as he only allowed a walk to Dye in the 4th inning. He had 4 strikeouts in those three innings.
Dice-K’s wildness returned in the 6th inning. He walked the first three batters of the inning he faced, Tadahito Iguchi, Thome and Konerko, to load up the bases for Pierzynski. Pierzynski brought in Iguchi and Thome with a 2-run single, giving the wrong Sox a 3-2 lead. Pierzynski’s single chased Dice-K from the game as Manny Delcarmen came in for him. Delcarmen got the first batter he faced, Dye, out on a strikeout. Rob Mackowiak then followed with a single loading up the bases. Konerko probably would have scored if he wasn’t held at third as Wily Mo’s throw got past Varitek but Delcarmen was backing him up. Delcarmen then got Fields to ground into a fielder’s choice as Konerko was retired at home. Delcarmen got Uribe to fly out to end the inning. Delcarmen has not allowed his last 9 batters inherited to score.
Dice-K went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 hits, 6 walks and he struck out 6.
Vazquez cruised through the Red Sox lineup in the 5th and 6th innings. He only allowed a walk to Wily Mo in the 5th inning while getting five outs on fly balls. Javier Lopez pitched the 7th inning for the Red Sox and worked a 1-2-3 inning.
Boston threatened in their half of the 7th inning. After Vazquez had gotten Crisp for the first out of the inning, he allowed a single to Pedroia. Pedroia’s single chased Vazquez from the game. The lefty Matt Thornton came in to face Big Papi. Big Papi hit a single to center with Pedroia moving to second. Ozzie Guillen then went to his bullpen again, bringing in Ryan Bukvich to face Manny. Manny absolutely crushed a ball to centerfield. Unfortunately, it was to the deepest part of the ballpark and the wrong Sox have a speedy centerfielder in Jerry Owens who caught the ball for the second out of the inning. Bukvich then got Youk to strikeout swinging to end the inning.
Hideki Okajima came in to pitch the 8th inning for the Red Sox. He was rudely greeted by Konerko who took him deep for a homerun and 4-2 White Sox lead. The homerun was only the second Okajima has allowed all season. The first was by John Buck of the Royals on Okie’s first pitch of his MLB career. Pierzynski followed with his third hit of the night. Okajima then settled down. He got Dye to fly out to Wily Mo in right and Mackowiak to ground into a fielder’s choice. Okajima ended the 8th inning with a strikeout of Josh Fields.
In the 8th and 9th inning, the Red Sox could only manage a hit by Lowell in the 8th inning as Bukvich and the White Sox closer, Bobby Jenks shut down the Red Sox and sent them to their third straight loss at the Fens.
The Red Sox now pin their hopes on getting out of this funk onto the right arm of their ace Josh Beckett. Beckett will take the hill tomorrow trying to join the Indians’ C.C. Sabbathia as the only 13-game winners in MLB.
Notes and Musings (from Steve):
The Yankees lost to the Jays this afternoon, 3-2. The 7 game lead is the largest of any division leader.
The Sox are 3-8 in their last eleven games but still have the second best record in baseball.
This is the first meeting between the Sox of different colors in 2007. Chicago is last AL opponent for Boston to play.
The Red Sox have won 4 of the last 7 games between the clubs at Fenway. All-time Boston leads the series 938-906. They are 543-380 at home vs. the White Sox.
7 of the last 10 Boston losses have been by one run.
After snapping his 0 for one billion streak, Julio Lugo has hit safely in 8 straight games. He is 15 for 30 (.500 BA) over the streak and has raised his average from .189 to an eye-popping .218. Before the pink hats know it he’ll be challenging for the batting title.
The man of steel (J.D. Drew) was scratched from tonight’s line up with a bad hammy. I am unsure if it was of the barking variety. Terry Francona said it was ‘grabbing at him” so I guess there were no signs of barking.
Jim Thome is 25th on the all-time HR list with 487 and Manny Ramirez, his former Indian teammate is 26th with 484 HR.
Kevin Youkilis has played 132 straight games at first base without an error. He has fielded 1167 chances since his last error at first base on July 4, 2006 at Tampa Bay.
Coco Crisp has played 135 games without an error. His only error in a Red Sox uniform came on July 21, 2006. He has handled 384 chances without an error a team record for an outfielder. His 259 errorless chances in 2007 are second only amongst outfielders to Ichiro Suzuki’s 264 chances.
Daisuke Matsuzaka leads all MLB rookies with 11 wins and 131 strikeouts. His 11 wins tie him for 7th amongst Red Sox rookies all-time and his 125 strikeouts are 5th all-time for Boston pitchers. Ken Brett had 155 K’s in 1970. Dave Ferris had 21 wins in 1945.
Coming into the game, Matsuzaka is 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA in his last 6 starts. Among all AL pitchers he is 4th in wins, 4th in K’s, 5th in strikeouts per 9 innings and 12th in innings pitched.
Matsuzaka will face Chicago’s Tadahito Iguchi tonight for the first time since 2004 in the Japanese Pacific League … Iguchi went 31-85 (.365) with three home runs and nine RBI vs. Matsuzaka in the JPL.
Iguchi also faced Boston’s Hideki Okajima in the 2000 Japan Series, going 0-1 with a strikeout as the Yomiuri Giants defeated the Daiei Hawks, 4-2.
White Sox announcer Ken “Hawk” Harrelson is in the house for the series. Harrelson, who played in Boston and later was a Red Sox TV analyst, is one of the biggest homers you will ever hear. With that said he is very entertaining and has a reputation a slick dresser.
Jerry Owens and Josh Fields have football backgrounds. Owens played at UCLA and Fields at Oklahoma State.
