Results tagged ‘ Hideki Okajima ’
Not-so-perfect
Ok, so it wasn’t as jaw dropping
as Armando Galarraga’s un-perfect-perfect game. But, Jon Lester had a perfecto
into the 6th inning of Saturday night’s game against the Mariners.
Eric Patterson ruined his heroic act from Thursday nights game, when he dropped a fly ball with 1 out in the 6th hit by Jack Wilson for
a two-base error. When will major league players understand the little league
concept of using two hands when catching a fly ball? Lester still had the no-no
possibility but that was shortly shattered by the next batter, Michael Saunders,
who jacked a 2-2 curveball over the right field wall. We then trailed 2-1 and
nothing good came after that. Lester had 13 strike-outs (career high) in his 8 and 2/3
innings pitched. He was obviously solid through 7 innings, other than the
homerun he gave up. However, in the 8th inning, something happened, and he lost
his momentum and gave up 2 more runs. When he was taken out of the game, we
were down 4-1 and we were not able to score again. We ended up losing the game
5-1.
It’s not rocket science, but we can’t expect to win games by only scoring 1
run. And we definitely can’t count on our starter’s to do all the work, as much
as we’d like to be able to. Run-prevention can only do so much when you have a shaky bullpen like we do. David Ortiz was
the only reason we were even on the board that night, belting his 19th homer of
the season in the 4th inning. It’s so frustrating that we keep losing these games in late innings, which only proves one thing— we need to work on our pen.
Fast forward to Sunday’s afternoon game in which Daisuke Matsuzaka started. He prevailed through 6 innings, giving up only 1 run on 4 hits with 5 walks and 4 strikeouts. He was taken out and replaced by Daniel Bard who came in for the 7th. Bard pitched the 7th with 1 hit, 2 ground outs and a strike out. He was taken out in the 8th with no outs after giving up a single and Hideki Okajima came in (which was, without a doubt, Tito’s mistake). From there, all hell broke loose. Oki loads the bases with no outs. He gave up 5 straight singles, Michael Saunders being one who hit a 2-run single which put the Mariners up front 3-2. Milton Bradley came in as a pinch hitter, and singles on a bunt which scores Casey Kotchman. We end up losing this one 4-2, giving up 11 hits, and no errors, although we had a few mental errors.
Oki misplays two bunts which truly cost us the game. Bard should have been kept in to finish the 8th, then bring in Jonathan Papelbon for the 9th to close it out. Why did Terry decide to bring Oki in when Bard is completely and utterly dominating? We have a one run lead in the 8th inning, and we replace Bard, who now has a 1.86 ERA (lowest on the team) with Oki, who now has a 5.81 ERA. I understand the pitch count, and the idea that we need to save him so we can use him more. But, I’m sure you all have heard the quote by Leo Durocher, “You don’t save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain.” We need to win games one at a time and not worry about the next day’s game. If we keep doing this, we’ll go 0 for the next 30 games.
We need to start making better defensive decisions. Our starters, for the most part, are doing their job and leaving the game with the lead. But, our pen is really struggling and we need to do something about that ASAP. It’s also tough for our offense to truly dominate when we aren’t playing with Dustin Pedroia, Victor Martinez or Jacoby Ellsbury.
It’s hard to stay hopeful when we are now 8 games out of first and 5 from the Wild Card spot. This is the worst deficit we’ve sustained since May 23. We are now 55-44. Positives— V-Mart could be back tonight for the series opener in Anaheim and most of our guys should be back by mid-August. But, is it too late? We can’t let this split series against the Mariners keep us down. We have to keep going out there every single day and fight—fight for our lives, practically. We must stay in contention with the line-up we have, so when we get all of our boys healthy, we can come back and, at the very least, take over the Wild Card. Let’s just hope the Yankees and Rays go on some major losing streak so we can gain some ground. We’ve done it before and we can do it again.
RSD 
Blood Pressure Meds at 20?
I feel like the Red Sox might give me a heart attack before I turn
21.
Tonight was a very smooth night for the Red Sox. John Lackey pitched great–he
had a no-hitter into the 8th inning against the Seattle Mariners and lost it
with 2-outs when Josh Bard hit a line-drive into right-center for a single. So,
it was a bummer that Lackey lost his bid for a no-no, but we went into the 9th
inning with a 5-run lead (6-1) and brought Manny Delcarmen in to close it out.
Just 3 outs… that’s all we needed and the Red Sox could walk away from a
great game with the win and all of Red Sox Nation could get some much needed,
deep sleep.
But, the Red Sox have to make things interesting. Manny…being Manny… (never
heard that one before) and Jonathan Papelbon jointly ruined our lead and the
game ended up tied after 9, which forced us into extra innings. Daniel Bard
came in for the 10th and had a nice 3 up 3 down appearance (I can’t get over
how much I love him). Hideki Okajima came in for the 11th and 12th and managed
to get out of a 1-out, bases loaded jam to end the 12th inning. Eric Patterson
turned out to be the hero of the game, with a 2-out, 2-run double in the 13th
to put the Red Sox on top 8-6. Then, Ramon Ramirez came in for the bottom of
the inning and earned the save while Oki was given the win.
It’s upsetting that Lackey was snubbed of his 10th win this season because our
pen was unable to hold the lead. Over 8 innings, Lackey threw 116 pitches, gave
up only 2 hits and 1 run, with 6 strike outs and only 1 walk. He left the game
with an enormous lead, and no question, his best outing in a Red Sox uniform,
and ended up with a no-decision. I guess, as they say, life isn’t fair and
obviously neither is baseball.
That was the short version of what happened in the game tonight. But, really,
it ended up being a little over a 4 hour game with my blood pressure raised to
a point where it might be safe for me to be put on some medicine for it (just
kidding, kind of).
Before this game, the Red Sox just ended a 3-game series in Oakland where we
lost 2 out of 3 and lost even more ground in the AL East race. After winning
tonight, though, we are now 7 games behind the first place Yankees and 4 games
from the Rays who still hold the Wild Card spot. Josh Beckett will make his
return tomorrow night for the second game in this 4 game series against the
Mariners. I’m so glad he’s back, I just hope he’s not too rusty and can make it
at least 6+ innings. After using a lot of our bullpen tonight, we really don’t
have many options if he gets in to trouble early.
So, I don’t think I’ll need blood pressure meds just yet, but if the Red Sox
keep this up, come October, I might just have to make a visit to my doctor. I’m
not sure she would understand, though. “Ms. Doll, why are you stressed out
lately? What is the reason for the rise in your blood pressure? You are only 20
years old.” Oh, the Red Sox bullpen keeps blowing leads and my boys aren’t
hitting. I’m sure she would love that as an answer. Her solution would not be
medicine, but a referral to a therapist, I’m afraid.
Go Red Sox!
Jenn
mlblogsredsoxdoll
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