Pitchers duel turns into homerfest as Rays drop Sox

Tampa Bay 5, Sox 2
WP: Glover (4-3)
LP: Matsuzaka (12-8)
HRs: BOS-Manny (18), Youk (11); TB-Pena (25), Upton (13), Navarro (3)

SUMMARY
For 6 1/2 innings the teams engaged in a scoreless battle between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Scott Kazmir, but in the bottom of the 7th Dice-K allowed a home run to Dioner Navarro, and when Manny Delcarmen allowed back-to-back homers in rlief of Dice, Boston's two longballs in the 8th were too little, too late.

#1 STUNNER Scott Kazmir 6IP, 6H, 0ER, 1BB, 8K
The young lefty lived up to his ace status with an impressive performance against one of the league's best offenses.

PAN's FAUN Manny D. 2/3IP, 3H, 3R, K, 2HR
The normally reliable Delcarmen came on in relief of Matsuzaka and turned a winnable game (1-0TB) into an improbable dream; the back-to-back jacks he allowed were the first two longballs the rookie has surrendered all year.

RECAP
The Devil Rays picked a grat time to snap their eigtht game losing streak--as Daisuke Matsuzaka was trying to tie the ML lead for victories, and my son and I were sitting 12 rows from the field to witness the carnage firsthand.

I had a feeling the game would not go according to plan when we received a series of disappointments before the game even started.

First, the tickets I received from my wife's contact at the Trop were not on the third base side but on the first base side, in other words smack dab in the middle of hostile territory. Then neither team took BP, a fact my glove-toting boy didn't take too well.

Anyway, after he got autographs from Gabbard and Josh Beckett things brightened a little, and even though our seats weren't in the heart of RSN territory, I'm not complaining about sitting 12 rows from Youk's station at first base.

Then the game began, and well were all treated to the pitching battle we had expected it would be. For the third time in less than a week the Sox and an opponent engaged in a lengthy scoreless duel, with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Scott Kazmir tossing zeroes on the board like all the old timers tossing horshoes at the Sun City retirement center.

Though the lack of scoring was not for lack of baserunners. Both teams had numerous opportunities to push some runs across throughout the contest, but just when it looked like someone might break the seal, Dice & Kaz buckled down and got their team out of the jam.

The Sox had their first chache in the first inn ning when Julio Lugo led off the game with a walk, but he was quickly erased on the first of Papi's two double plays on the day.

Not to be outdone, Tampa Bay's leadoff hitter and fellow countryman of Dice-K, Akinori Iwamura, led off the bottom of the first with a solid single to right, but Matsuzaka escaped trouble thanks to a great diving catch of a Brendan Harris foul tip by Doug Mirabelli, a strikeout of B.J. Upton and Belli gunning down Iwamura trying to swipe second to end the inning.

In the second the Sox got two men on when Youk and Wily Mo both singled, but they couldn't capitalize, and wheh the Rays loaded the bases in the bottom half on a double, HBP and an infield single, it looked as if one team was going to grab an early lead.

But Dice escaped the messy situation when he got Josh Wilson to ground out to Pedroia, and after two innings despite seven baserunners neither team could take advantage of the other.

The next frame brought more of the same, as Lugo singled but was erased on Papi's second DP, and the Rays lost a golden chance to do some damage when Youk snagged Upton's hot shot to first and doubled off Harris after he had walked and Iwamura had led off the inning with a single.

On and on it went, both teams getting men on base and both pitchers living on the edge of allowing a run but climbing back thanks to a quality pitch or nice defensive play.

By the time both men tossed 1-2-3 sixths it looked as if this game was going to be decided by the pens, and with Boston posessing one of the best bullys in baseball and Tampa Bay owing one of the worst, the thousands of members of RSN knew it was just a matter of time before Boston broke through and wrapped up their second series of the Rays this month.

As you probably already know, things didn't exactly go according to plan.

Kazmir, who rarely pitches more than 5-6 innings due to high pitch counts and/or large deficits, was removed after the 6th having thrown just 97 pitches as the Rays manager, Joe milquetoast Maddon, must have had a sudden desire to tempt the fates and let his bullpen try and win a game for a change.

Who knew the mild mannered old fucker, who had actually been ejected for arguing the night before, would actually be right this time.

After Scott Doh!man allowed a one-out walk to Coco, who went to second on a ground out by Wily Mo and then stole third, and then walked Mirabelli, Gary Glover came in and retired Lugo on a grounder to Iwamura at third and the Rays pen had escaped its first jam in probably more than a month.

Tito wasn't as cautious with rubber-armed Dice-K, so with just 100 pitches on his scoresheet Matsuzaka trotted back out for the seventh as the Sox hoped to grab a run--and a win for him--in the next inning.

Unfortunately Matsuzaka and the Sox would come away with nothing but heartache thanks to a Tampa Bay upsrising that had been sorely lacking during their recent 5-25 skid.

The frame started out alright when Dice got Greg Norton to line out to Youk (with me and my son providing plenty of vocal support) to start the inning, but things went south quicker than a mid-summer thunder boomer after that.

Catcher Dioner Navarro, who has been a major disappoinment since the Rays acquired him last year from the Dodgers and is about to lose his job to recently activated Josh Paul, hit an 0-2 offering from Matsuzaka high and deep into the right field seats to score the game's first run, and after Wilson followed with a single to center, Tito pulled Matsuzaka, who received a warm ovation from the many Faithful fans in attnedance.

One run is no big deal when you think of the Sox hitters combined with the Rys pen, but what happnened next would make even us longtime diehards realize that a comeback was not going to be in the cards today.

Manny Delcarmen entered the contest with a 1.40 ERA and without allowing a home run all year.

He left with a 2.70 mark and not one but two longballs allowed as he surrendered a three-run jack to Upton following a single by harris, and then two pitches later a solo shot by former Sox first baseman Carlos Pena that made the score 5-0 and delighted the few Rays fans in attendance who had been treated to 2+ games of ridicule and humiliation courtesy of RSN South.

The Sox struck back when Manny, who owns the D-Rays, launched a shutout-busting bomb to left field and two pitches later Youk followed with a blast to deep left center off Glover, but with a 5-run cushion instead of just 1 or 2, even the Rays pen had to feel confident they could close this one out.

And after pinch hitter Jason Varitek walked with one out in the 9th, Glover got pinch hitter J.D. Boo! to strike out, then got Lugo to hit a fielder's choice grounder that forced Tek at second, and just like that a day of hope & promise turned into one of aggravation & disappointment.

But hey, at least we got Carl Crawford action figures.

With the off day Monday I'll do a follow-up post filled with picture highlights of my day at the Trop, but for now I'm just going to watch the game on the DVR to see if I made it on TV.

Hey I gotta get some enjoyment of that disaster, right?

RECORD: 64-41
AL EAST: Up 8 on NYY
STREAK: L-1
LAST 10: 8-2
UP NEXT: off Mon; Tue vs. BAL @ Fenway