Sox 7, Texas 3
WP: Gabbard (2-0)
LP: McCarthy (4-5)
HRs: TEX-Wilkerson (10)
SUMMARY
The Bosox bats finally busted out of their weeklong slumber with a 10-hit, 7-run performance, and it was a total team effort that featured a number of big hits in the clutch (for a change.)
Kason Gabbard pitched well enough for the win and four relievers combined to stymie the hot Texans as Boston notched its 50th win of the season.
#1 STUNNER Jacoby Ellsbury 2-2, 2R, 2BB, SB
This could have gone to Hinske, whose 3-run triple sealed the win, but it was the heady play of the speedy young rookie that made the biggest impression on this Sox fan tonight.
After beating out another infield hit with his blazing speed in the third, the 24-year-old center fielder laced a conventional single to right in the fifth, stole second, and then came around to score the winning run on a wild pitch minutes later. From second base.
Way to go, kid, and welcome to the Show.
PAN's FAUN Texas pitchers McCarthy & Eyre
I had to include both these clowns because their numbers were almost identically pathetic.
Starter Brandon McCarthy lasted just 3 2/3, tossing 81 pitches while allowing six hits, four walks and four earned runs; his successor, Willie Eyre, threw 83 pitches in his 3 1/3 of work, surrendering three runs on three hits and five free passes in that time.
That's what I call equal opportunity suckage.
RECAP
All together now: FINAL-FUCKING-LY!
I'm sure that's what most of the Nation was thinking and/or yelling after the Sox pulled off one of the, shall we say, most important wins of the first half of the season.
I know it's tough to classify a mid-season victory over a mediocre team by a club that has 50 wins and a winning percentage over .600 as a 'must-win', but the way the team had been spiraling downward recently amidst a rash of freak injuries, spotty pitching and inability to score, this one ranks right up there as a huge victory for Boston.
And the greatest part about the whole thing was the boys dispensed of all the recent 'can't come through with a big hit in the clutch' negative mojo it had incurred in losing six of its last eight games almost right away tonight...
...well, not right away. As I peruse backwards in my notes I do recall that Boston blew another golden scoring opp in the very first inning, when Lugo (who actually led off again; of course he didn't get a hit) walked and Ortiz singled after Pedroia struck out.
So with men on first and second and only one out against a guy making his first start since coming off the DL, what does Manny do? He grounds into a double play, that's what.
It was at this point in my scribbles that I wrote in large, jagged letters "will somebody please get a friggin timely hit with men on base?!"
And like a gift from the baseball gods, two innings later my chicken scratch prayers were answered.
Eric Hinske (2-4, R, 3RBI) led the inning off with a bloop single to center, and Ellsbury followed with his second hit of his career and second infield hit after the ball bounced high between the pitcher and second basemen and neither one had a chance to throw out the speedster.
After Lugo (0-2, 2BB) sacrificed the runners over, which brought a cheer from the suddenly softening Fenway Faithful, Dustin Pedroia (1-5, 2R, BI) stepped in with his Little Man's Syndrome and socket-dislocating swing and roped a double deep down the rightfield line that easily scored both runners and give Boston a much-needed early lead.
And the Nation all went "whhhheeeeeewwww!"
A groundout by Ortiz (1-5) got Pedroia over to third, and when Manny followed with a booming double high off the centerfield wall that brought Pedroia home, the three run cushion truly seemed like a gift from heaven.
With the way a more relaxed Gabbard was throwing (5.2IP, 3H, 3ER, 4BB, 5K, HR), it hardly seemed like a big deal when the Sox added a fourth run to their lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, but as it turns out that run would be the most important one of the game.
This inning started off innocently enough with Tek grounding out to open it and Hinske popping out to short after that. But that's when The Kid stepped up to the plate and began the trip that would enter him in Sox lore forever.
Ellsbury took the first pitch he saw from McCarthy and deposited it in right field for his first hit out of the infield in three games. Not content to settle for sitting at first base with two outs, after a couple of throw overs and a pitch out, he took off for second and made it easily for his first career stolen base.
But what happened next will live forever in the minds of hardcore, diehard Sox fans, cause we know it's the little things that sometimes make the biggest impact in a game.
After walking Lugo again (how do you walk a .190 hitter twice in four innings?), McCarthy was done and Eyre came in to stop the threat before the game got out of hand. Except he made a little mistake--he threw the fifth pitch to Pedroia in the dirt and it skidded away to the left of catcher Gerald Laird, allowing the runners to advance a base.
Well, it doesn't have to be one base.
Ellsbury, who was just a blinding blur of arms & legs, glided around third and headed for home without ever breaking stride, and by the time he crossed home plate with the Sox fourth run of the game, the Rangers were stunned, the Nation was ecstatic, and the first Navajo American to play in the major leagues had just ran his way into history.
Okay, so maybe it wasn't historical, but it sure was fucking sweet!
The good times were tempered a bit (and the Nation Nausea momentarily returned) when Gabbard had his only bad inning of the night in the fifth when he allowed a walk to Marlon Byrd, a single to Laird and then a three-run bomb to Brad Wilkerson to slice the lead to 4-3.
However Boston would quickly relieve the upset stomachs of their fans in the bottom of the frame when part-timer Eric Hinske delivered yet another big hit despite his low average and limited playing time.
The consummate veteran has played in just 39 games this season and has only 17 hits in 77 at bats (.218), but he's also scored 17 runs and driven in 11, and of those 17 hits, 10 (5-2Bs, 2-3Bs, 3-HRs) have gone for extra bases.
So it should have come as no surprise when Hinske, playing for Youk (quad strain), followed walks to Drew and Manny and an infield single by Tek with a towering triple to deep center just over Kenny Lofton's head that cleared the bases and created a large enough, late-enough lead that had even the most cynical Sox fan thinking this win was in the books.
Although both teams would have more scoring chances the actual scoring was over, and by the time potential All Star Hideki Okajima got Travis Metcalf to fly out to (appropriately) Ellsbury to end the game, the 600-lb gorilla was off Boston's back and the team finally had reason to celebrate it's and five All Star selections, plus its 50th victory to boot.
Once again, can I get a FINAL-FUCKING-LY?!
Amen.
NOTES
- Boston batters had 10 hits and walked eight times, and six players reached base at least twice
- Four players had two hits (Manny, Tek, Hinske, Ellsbury) and three batters walked at least twice (Lugo, Drew, Ellsbury); Lowell (0-4) was the only starter to go hitless
- Despite not registering a hit Lugo in his last 31 at bats, Tito threw Lugo back into the leadoff spot; he went 0-2 but did walk three times, and he was cheered for executing a sac bunt and before he grounded out with two on to end the seventh; a kinder, gentler Nation?
- Drew (0-2, R) was issued three free passes on the night and has now walked 10 times in his last six games--talk about having an amazing eye at the plate
- Lofton was held hitless for the first time in the series
- Timlin (1IP, 1H), Lopez (1/3IP), Snyder (1IP, 1H) and Oki (1IP, 1K) combined to shut down the Texas offense that had been raking Boston pitching up till that point
- Although Gabbard looked much better than he did in Seattle and ran his record to 2-0, he's now walked 10 batters in his last two starts covering nine innings-yikes
- Boston had 50 wins at the halfway point last season as well (this was Game #81), and we all know how that turned out-shhhhh!
- New Celtics guard and future injury list regular Ray Allen threw out the first pitch and was a guest in the booth with Rem & Don (once agin, my thoughts on the deal: love the guy, hate the trade)
QUOTES
"I had my mind made up early. I saw the wild pitch early and I saw De Marlo waving me as I was almost by him."--Ellsbury describing his Welcome to the Nation moment"I didn't feel comfortable from moment one."--McCarthy, cranking up the excuse machine
"I was told during batting practice. I just tried to get prepared as I always do."--Hinske, on his late addition to the lineup. Told you he's a consummate pro.
RECORD: 50-31
AL EAST: Up 10
STREAK: W-1
LAST 10: 5-5
UP NEXT: Tue vs. TB (!) 7:05
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