Quick quiz: Who's the worse slider, Big Papi...
...or Mike Piazza?A- the one who ended up on the DL after this laughable attempt
SUMMARY:
Josh Beckett ran his record to a major-league best 6-0 with another quality start, and every member of the lineup had a least one hit as the Sox pounded out 13 base knocks and rebounded from last night's crushing extra-inning loss with a solid all-around performance
HERO: Beckett 7IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 7K
The best part about Beckett's night wasn't that he retired the first 12 Oakland batters in a row, struck out seven A's, or that he became the first pitcher to win his first six starts for Boston since the Rocket in 1991.
No, the best part of Beckett's night was the fact that he escaped a couple of tough situations, kept the score close & kept his composure, and didn't try to overpower guys with his fastball, enabling him to control the flow of the game much better than he did last year.
GOAT(s): The A's
They left 15 men left on base, struck out 9 times, made 3 errors, hit a batter, committed a balk and numerous other misplays, and had a hideous slide into third base by Mike Piazza that put the lumbering DH on the DL for 4-6 weeks. Holy crappy play, Batman
Oh yeah, and outfielder Ryan Langerhans, whom they had just acquired on Sunday, is currently batting .060 and made an inexcusable error tonight, was traded to Washington after the game! Wow.
RECAP:
Boston really needed this game.
I know it sounds crazy to say a first place team needs to win a game this early in April, but listen to my logic: Coming off of last night's heartbreaking loss in which closer Jon Papelbon proved he was mortal by blowing his first save of the season, and with a chaotic week that sees the Sox facing three different teams in a span of three days, the team didn't need the added disappointment of the one starter who had been nearly flawless all year to suffer his first setback tonight.
Beckett certainly did his part to prevent that from happening as the hot handed righty came out of the gate and had a no-hitter through 4 innings while his teammates got him a 2-run lead to work with, although the margin could have been greater.
The Sox got on the board in the 3rd when Julio Lugo walked, stole second, moved to third on an infield single by Youk (1-2, R, 2BB), and scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Ortiz. But after Manny also reached on an infield single and Oakland starter Chad Gaudin (5IP, 8H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 2K) balked them over to 2nd & 3rd, slumping J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell both stuck out to end the threat.
Boston would get another run in the 4th, but again blew a golden opportunity to score more. Coco, who had a terrific game (2-4, 2R, another spectacular catch), reached second on the aforementioned error by Langerhans, who simply took his eye off a routine flyball and had the ball clang off his closed glove. After Cora flew out, Lugo knocked Coco in with a sharp single to center, and when Youk followed with a walk it looked like Papi would get a chance to do some 2-out damage.
Instead he grounded out and the lead remained 2-0 Boston.
Those missed opportunities would come back to haunt the Sox (briefly) the next inning when Oakland finally got to Beckett, breaking up the no hitter and the shutout in a matter of minutes. Piazza spoiled the no-no with a leadoff single and then Dan Johnson, who had the big game Tuesday, roped a double to left to put runners at 2nd & 3rd with no outs. Becks bore down and struck out Bobby Crosby and Dan Putnam, but Eric Chavez blooped a single to right that landed just in front of Drew, and just like that the game was tied at 2.
When the A's took the lead in the 5th on singles by Shannon Stewart, Piazza & Johnson, things were starting to look gloomy in Beantown for the second consecutive night. Luckily for Boston fans the offense wasn't done scoring, and it would respond to the deficit immediately by re-taking the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame.
A leadoff single by Cap'n Tek got Gaudin out of the game, and Coco greeted sidearming reliever Jay Marshall with a double to left to set up 2nd & 3rd with no outs. Ever-reliable hitter Cora got the tying run home with a groundout, and Lugo hit a sac fly that scored Coco to give Boston the lead back, 4-3.
Boston would tack on another couple of runs for good measure, which was a good thing because Maddog Mike Timlin gave up a run in the 9th (knocked in by Todd Walker, of course) and he was bailed out by another great diving catch by Coco on Jason Kendall that thwarted a rally, but the end result was a much-needed win for Boston that allowed Beckett to become the first 6-game winner in baseball.
NOTES:
-The bottom two and leadoff hitters, Coco, Cora, & Lugo, combined to go 4-11 with 3 runs, 4 RBI, a double, a walk , a stolen base, a sac fly and 1 great catch- let's hear it for the little guys!
-Manny had 2 hits for the third straight game to raise his average to .227, Cap'n Tek also contributed 2 hits and climbed back to .240
-Drew is sick. And I don't mean the virus that kept him out of Tuesday's game, I mean his game is sick. Although he did manage a late RBI single to drive in run #6, before that the rightfielder was in a 3-35 skid that has seen his average free fall over 100 points (.375- .274) in a week and a half. Yikes.
-Oki Mania sweeping Hub! New cult hero Hideki Okajima ( I had gotten in the habit of spelling it OKI-jima, due to his nickname), who was just named AL rookie of the month for April, pitched another scoreless frame to run his streak to 14 scoreless innings. And he had another K (20 Ks in 15.2 IP); Dice-who?
-Is it just me or does it look like the 5 consecutive years of averaging 74 appearances has finally taken a toll on rubber arm Timlin? He's got an ERA over six and has seemed shaky every time he's taken the mound. I know he was hurt early, but still, unless he's got a bionic wing, that thing has gotta be ready to fall off soon
QUOTES:
-"I liked the fact that we saw Schilling and Beckett and Papelbon and they are some of the better pitchers in the game, and we had a chance to win both games."- Oakland manager Bob Geren, sounding like he's auditioning for a job with the D-Rays
-"It's still a quality outing, but he wasn't at his best." -Cap'n Tek keeping Beckett in check
RECORD: 17-9
AL EAST: Up 4.5 on TOR
UP NEXT: THU vs. *SEA, 7P
*makeup game from April rainout
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