Sox 4, San Diego 2
WP: Beckett (11-1)
LP: Peavy (9-2)
SV: Papelbon (18)
HRs: BOS-Tek (8)
SUMMARY:
Jake Peavy, the NL's top winner and ERA leader, had his shortest outing of the season, allowing nine hits and three earned runs and pitched into and out of numerous jams all day, while Josh Beckett had one bad inning out of his eight and earned his ML-best 11th win against just one loss.
HERO: Beckett 8IP, 6H, 2ER, 1BB, 8K
What else can you say about this guy except if he keeps pitching like this its hello All Star start, and Cy Young and postseason awards here we come.
GOAT: Peavy 5IP, 9H, 3ER, 1BB, 3K
He came into the game with only one loss and an ERA under 2.00 (1.78); he left with his first loss since April 30th, saw his ERA rise to 2.14, and was not the same pitcher after a tumultuous second inning.
RECAP:
The two winningest pitchers in each league squared off for what should have been a good old fashioned pitcher's duel out West, but the highly anticipated matchup between Jake & Josh fizzled under the brilliant San Diego sunshine.
Well, at least one half of the equation kept his end of the bargain.
Josh Beckett, who has regained the electric stuff that let him run out to a 9-0 record before a trip to the disabled list, bitchslapped NL West-leading San Diego for eight innings. Unfortunately for San Diego their stud, 'Bama boy Jake Peavy, couldn't summon the game that had led him to the top of the league in wins and ERA.
Peavy's day started to go downhill in the second inning, when the Sox made him fling his body around the diamond like a defensive back for the Crimson Tide football team, and by the time the inning was over, Peavy's uniform looked like an advertisement for Ultra Strength Tide detergent from all the grass and dirt stains.
J.D. Drew (2-4) got Peavy's rough inning off to a scary start when he hit a dribbler down the first base line that lazy ass Adrian Gonzalez couldn't take by himself; as he tossed the ball to Peavy covering, the speedy Drew almost barrelled the ace over and stepped on his ankle in the process as he nearly beat the play out.
Shaken but not perturbed, Peavy pressed on and got Lowell to strike out on five pitches, but then Tek stepped up and pretty much ruined the invincible aura surrounding the Pads whenever Peavy pitches.
The Captain took the fifth pitch from Peavy and blooped a Texas leaguer behind third base that went into the Bermuda Triangle region and forced Khalil Greene and Russell Branyan to collide; by the time Branyan recovered to make a throw, Tek (alertly) was hustling to the uncovered third base bag and Peavy had to hurry over and go airborne to take the throw.
But the ball never met his glove, and as it fell harmlessly near the bag, Peavy hit the ground with a thud and Tek danced around the would-be tag for a fingertip triple that left Peavy battered and the audience dumbfounded.
"That has to be one of the oddest triples you'll ever see" Rem Dog declared, and once again the President of Red Sox Nation was absolutely 100% correct.
Peavy escaped the inning unscathed, runs-wise, when he got Julio Lugo-fer (0-3) to ground out (of course!) to end the frame, but the physical and psychological damage was done: if he was gonna beat the best team in baseball, especially with Beckett on the mound, he was going to have to give up a pound of flesh in doing so.
Perhaps flustered from the previous inning, Peavy got touched for five hits and three runs in the third, although the hardest hit ball of them all was probably Manny's sac fly to the opposite field.
Coco started it off with a one-out bloop single that dropped between Mike Cameron & Jose Cruz, (the Padres seemed to be in a fog all day) then Alex Cora (2-3, BB, R playing for Pedroia) laced a single to right to set the table for the boppers.
Papi fought off three Peavy pitches before muscling a single through the right side of the infield that scored Coco with the game's first run, and when Manny drove the second pitch he saw deep enough to right to score Cora with run #2, it almost felt like the game was over right there.
But it had to seem like deja vu all over again for Peavy & the Pads when Drew dropped another dribbler to the right side, which for some reason ate Geoff Blum up for a graciously called hit that kept the inning alive.
Lowell then lined a single to right that Cruz double pumped on, and Ortiz chugged around from second and slid home around the tag for the 3-0 Boston lead that left the Padres fans in the stadium stunned and the huge RSN chapter in attendance jumping with joy.
With the combination of a giant ball park and a Cy Young candidate on the mound Beckett knew he probably wasn't going to get his usual 8+ runs of support, so when his hitters gave him that three-run lead, he knew he had to make it stand up.
So when the Sox blew a golden opportunity to tack on runs against peavy in the fifth, getting the first two men on base before Peavy retired three straight (including Lugo to end it-again) to squelch the threat, it didn't seem like a big deal at the time.
At least not until the bottom of the inning, when San Diego scored two runs on two hits and a walk and left the tying run at third with its best power hitter at the plate.
Like the Sox in the top half San Diego put the first two batters on (walk, single), and then Terrmel Sledge ignited the rally when he laced a double to deep right center that scored both runs and suddenly turned a breezer into a nail biter.
But the threat ended when Beckett fanned Gonzalez on a nasty breaker, and even a little controversy over balls & strikes with home plate umpire Dana DeMuth couldn't dampen what turned out to be a high-quality win for Beckett & Boston.
Tek gave his team a little breathing room when he led off the 8th with an opposite field blast on a 3-0 fastball off Scott Linebrink, and after Beckett came out for a 12-pitch 8th, Papelbon took the reigns and steered this one into the garage with a 1-2-3, two-strikeout 9th that gave Boston a well-deserved series win.
After two big wins sandwiched around a horrendous loss against the NL's elite Boston will fly to Seattle for a three gamer with the Mariners and say goodbye to the San Diegan sunshine and interleague play.
Meanwhile the Padres have to travel to rivals San Francisco and LA, and Peavy is looking for the number of that lineman that pancaked him.
NOTES:
- A day after managing just four hits Boston rapped 11 today, although Tek's triple and Drew's single were more like gifts from the baseball gods;
- Every starter EXCEPT LUGO had a hit; he's now down to .193.
- Drew has remained in the five-slot since returning from his latest ailment, with Coco (1-5) taking the leadoff spot and today Cora manning Pedroia's two-hole
- Clash of the Titans: the matchup of 10-1 Beckett & 9-1 Peavy was the third such meeting when both hurlers had at least nine wins and only one loss; the last time was Rocket vs. Neagle in 1997.
- Power outage: the Padres top three batters (Cruz-Barrett-Gonzalez) went 0-12 with six K's
- The more I saw of the much-hyped Gonzalez (0-4, 3Ks today, 1-12, 5 Ks in series) the less impressed I was, both at the plate and in the field
- Khalil Greene had another hit and was 5-12 in the series with two bombs
- Boston finished 12-6 in interleague play
"He did well -- won the game, got through the eighth. Good performance in my book."-- Peavy, not exactly gushing about his mound opponent's performance
"Anytime you go against Jake Peavy it's going to be a tough day. To score three runs off that guy, I didn't expect to get that much on a day like that."-- Beckett, showing Peavy how to dish it out on the dais as well as the hill
"I don't feel like I got hit all over the ballpark, by any means. I felt good about myself and everything I did out there, except I lost."-- Peavy; ah, dude, who cares if you "feel good about yourself" ,YOU FRIGGIN LOST!
RECORD: 48-26
AL EAST: Up 11 on NYY
STREAK: W-1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Mon @ SEA 10EST
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment