J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia were all the offense the Red Sox needed as Julian Tavarez cruised to a 10-2 win with seven solid innings at Fenway Park. Drew had 3 hits, scored 3 times and drove in 3 runs while Pedroia had five hits, including a 2 run homerun, 3 singles, a double, scored two runs and had 5 RBI. The 1-2 punch had all the Boston hits except one as they finished 8 for 9 with 8 RBI and a hit bats man during the Friday night romp over the San Francisco Giants, who came with their own three ring circus known as Barry Bonds.
What a start to the tonight’s game. First, Dave Roberts gets a great ovation from Red Sox fans then promptly singles to rightfield. After several throws to first by Tavarez and one by Jason Varitek the second hitter Mark Sweeney doubled into the right field corner to score Roberts. Randy Winn grounded out to Pedroia moving Sweeney to third and that brought up Bonds. Bonds, who was lustily booed in his first at bat, nearly hit homerun #748 just missing a two run shot down the rightfield line to the foul side of Pesky’s Pole. Bonds mildly questioned the call and that brought out Giants manager Bruce Bochy who also questioned the call to no avail. Bonds then popped out to Pedroia in shallow right. While pitching to Ray Durham with two out Tavarez uncorked a wild pitch allowing Sweeney to score from third. Durham would work a walk but would end up being stranded at first when Sox killer Benji Molina bounced out to Julio Lugo to end the inning.
Facing Barry Zito in the home half of the first the Sox refused to play dead. Drew got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and then Pedroia followed with a two run homerun, his 3rd of the year, into the Monster Seats to tie the game at 2-2. David Ortiz then struck out on a disputed call on an inside fastball by Zito. On his way back to the dugout Ortiz flipped his bat and helmet onto the field near the dugout and was thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Tom Randazzo.
Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo made mention during the NESN telecast that Randazzo was just waiting for a reason to throw out Ortiz as he watched him all the way to the dugout. Manny Ramirez then flew out to Roberts in centerfield and Kevin Youkilis grounded out to future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel to end the inning.
The second inning saw both pitchers settle down. Tavarez worked a 1-2-3 inning with a strike out of Nate Schierholtz sandwiched around a ground out by Pedro Feliz and an Omar Vizquel fly out. Zito settled in and got Mike Lowell on yet another questionable strike out, Jason Varitek grounded out to Feliz, Coco Crisp worked a two out walk but was then left on base when Lugo bounced out to third.
After setting down six in a row, Tavarez gave up a two out third inning double to Winn, Bonds was then given his 25th intentional pass on the season and the 609th of his career but Durham whiffed and threw his bat in frustration to end the threat.
The Sox put Zito on a ledge in the third when Drew and Pedroia had back to back singles to start the inning. Wily Mo Pena, now the DH in place of Ortiz, walked on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases with no one out. Ramirez then bounced to Feliz who got Pena on the force at second but they couldn’t turn the twin killing as Manny was safe at first, Pedroia moved to third and Drew scored giving the Red Sox a 3-2 lead. Youkilis then hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning and let Zito off the hook with only one run being scored.
An odd fourth inning led to another pair of Sox runs off of Zito. He walked Lowell to start the inning and then Varitek grounded out to Feliz who made a great pick on the ball. Durham then made a fantastic play up the middle on Crisp’s grounder that was ticketed for centerfield. Lugo worked a two out walk and then was picked off by Zito as he started early for second. Before Sweeney could throw to second, Lowell made a break for the plate allowing Lugo to swipe second. Sweeney held the ball too long in chasing Lowell back to third and he was able to sneak back into the bag ahead of the tag of Feliz. Drew then hit a bomb to dead centerfield over the head of Roberts to score Lowell and Lugo and make it 5-2 Sox. Pedroia then got his third hit of the night and third RBI when he singled to right to score Drew who beat Schierholtz throw and put the Sox up 6-2. Zito then struck out Pena to end the inning and leave Pedroia at second.
Meanwhile, “YoYo” had another streak of 6-in-a-row retired before Roberts hit a ground rule double into the rightfield seats with one out in the fifth. Fan caught the ball and fell head over heels. When they showed the balding man President Remy cracked that “he must
have lost some hair in the fall”. Once they gained their composure in the booth, Commander Rem Dawg said he might need that security detail again on the way out tonight. Youkilis and Tavarez then teamed up on two nice back-to-back plays the first was a hot shot fielded by Youkilis who flipped to Tavarez covering for the out on Sweeney. The second was more bowling with Tavarez as Julian rolled the ball up the line to Youkilis to get Winn to end the inning.
Zito got through the fifth with his first 1-2-3 inning capping it with his fourth strike out this one on Lowell who whiffed for the second time on the night. Tavarez got Bonds to lead off the 6th by grounding out to Pedroia, Durham then singled to center and Molina singled to right to send Durham to third and bring pitching coach John Farrell to the mound. Tavarez then jammed Feliz and got him to pop out to Lugo for the second out. On the pitch it looked like Tavarez may have buckled his knee or turned an ankle but he stayed in and got Schierholtz to ground out to Youkilis to end the inning.
Zito worked into the 6th getting Varitek to strike out leading off, Crisp then reached on an error to Feliz and that chased Zito. Randy Messenger came in and Crisp stole second, he advanced to third when Lugo bounced out to Vizquel. Drew got his third hit and third RBI of the night when he singled to center to score Crisp. Pedroia followed with his fourth hit a single to right to send Drew to third but both were left on base when Pena bounced out to Vizquel.
Tavarez finished up with a 1-2-3 seventh he retired the last 5 hitters he faced. Hideki “Darkman” Okajima replaced him in the eighth and he gave up a harmless one out single to Bonds to right.
Crisp greeted Giants reliever Jack Taschner with a single to start the eighth. Prior to the single Taschner had retired his last 15 batters. Lugo then walked, Drew then flew out to deep center. Pedroia then followed with a gap double to left center to score Crisp and Lugo, it was his fifth hit on the night and his 4th and 5th RBI of the game as the Sox went up 9-2. Pena then grounded out to short to score Pedroia and it was 10-2. Taschner then walked Ramirez and Youkilis but got Lowell on a pop out to first to end the threat.
Joel Piniero worked a scoreless ninth to close the game out. The two teams meet Saturday afternoon at 3:55 p.m. the game will be on FOX as Matt Cain faces Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Notes and Musings:
The Chicago Cubs are the only major league team to never appear at Fenway Park in the regular season. The Cubs lost the 1918 World Series to the Red Sox.
Giants have lost 14 of their last 20 games.
Pedroia’s five hits were the first for a Red Sox rookie since Brian Daubach did it in August 1999.
Crisp was the only Red Sox hitter other than Drew and Pedroia to have a hit.
Giants’ outfielder Dave Roberts returned to Fenway Park as a player for the first time since the 2004 World Series. It was Roberts’
stolen base in Game 4 against the Yankees that started the “greatest comeback ever”.
Red Sox Nation’s acting President Jerry Remy’s Sovereign Bank commercial made its debut during the pre-game show. (At least that was the first time I saw it). A different one ran during the game.
Today is Giant rookie pitcher Tim Lincecum’s 23rd birthday.
The Giants played for the first time at Fenway since Game 8 of the 1912 World Series. Giants centerfielder Fred Snodgrass dropped a 10th inning fly ball to allow the Sox to win the series. Snodgrass will not start in this series but is available to pinch-hit.
In case you haven’t heard Giants LF Barry Bonds is second on the all-time homerun list with 747. 8 behind Hank Aaron’s record of 755.
Bonds has homeruns off of 440 different pitchers. He is scheduled to be the designated hitter for all three games.
Theo Epstein and Giants manager Bruce Bochy were talking on the field and standing next to them was ESPN’s Buster Olney. Either Bochy is really tall or Buster is really short. Not Tim Kurkjian short but short.
Barry Zito made his 222nd start since 2001 it’s the most in the major leagues. San Diego’s Greg Maddux is second with 219.
The Giants bullpen has blown 7 of 20 save opps in 2007.
David Ortiz ejection was the sixth of his career and his third as a member of the Red Sox.
Mike Lowell drove in 2 of the 3 runs the Sox scored against Colorado in the last two games.
Tonight was the 6th time in the last 10 games the Sox have faced a lefty starter.
Julian Tavarez is unbeaten in his last six starts with a 3-0 record.
This is the 7th time in his 12 starts he has faced off with the opponent’s ace. He has started against Texas’ Kevin Millwood, Toronto’s Roy Halladay twice, the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang, Minnesota’s Johan Santana and Oakland’s Dan Haren.
