Toronto 4, Sox 3
WP: Burnett (9-7)
LP: Gagne (3-2)
SV: Downs (1)
HRs: BOS-Lugo (7)
If only Gagme would go back to comedy, the Nation would be a lot better off
SUMMARY
Another appearance, another meltdown for the artist formerly known as Eric Gagme as the portly, washed-up reliever came on in the 8th and turned a 2-1 Sox lead into a 4-2 deficit by loading the bases and then allowing a walk and a double, effectively putting a torch to Jon Lester's masterful outing, and hopefully his career in a Boston uniform.
#1 STUNNER Gagme 1IP, 2H, 3ER, 3BB, 0Ks, BS, L
This clown has gotten so bad that he is now officially a valuable weapon for the opposing team. Congrats on getting him out of the pen tonight, Toronto. Well played!
PAN'S FAUN Gagme
With the hysteria over Pan's Labyrinth having died down (probably due to the fact that it wasn't nearly as good--or scary--as it was hyped to be), it's time to re-name this ignominious category: the loser of the night will hereby be rewarded with the Gagme.
Hey, he's earned that honor.
RECAP
1978.
1986.
2003.
2006.
2007?
As every Sox fan knows, word association for that list would go "Bucky Bleepin Dent"; "Billy Buckner"; "Grady's Braincramp"/"Aaron Bleepin Boone"; "The Boston Massacre II"; and now "Gagnegate"
The embattled reliever continued his uncanny and unnerving streak of allowing runs to cross the plate at an alarming rate when he gave up three runs on two hits and three walks in the eighth inning tonight, turning what looked like a possible season-saving win (aren't they all right now?) into another soul-crushing loss.
In what now has to be one of the worst trades in Boston history, Gagme has allowed 14 earned runs in 14 innings of work and singlehandedly lost four games since arriving from the Rangers on July 31st for promising young pitcher Kasson Gabbard and talented outfielder David Murphy.
It doesn't take a math major to calculate that had Gagme not blown those wins the Sox would own a 6 1/2 game lead in the East with 10 games left to play, and the Nation would be breathing a lot easier today instead of coping with that all-too-familiar pang of dread that is linked to yet another season of promise going down the drain.
The WWL was kind enough to point out via a terrific little video montage that the Sox have lost their last three games on Jeter's 8th-inning homer off Schilling, three longballs from long-in-the-tooth Jays slugger Frank Thomas, and yet another late-inning meltdown from their key mid-season trade acquisition.
Way to roll into the postseason guys.
The worst part about this loss was the fact that lefty Jon Lester (6.2, 3H, 1ER, 4BB, 5K) pitched a whale of the game after a shaky start put him and his team in an early hole, taking a 2-1 lead into the 7th inning before he gave way to Manny Delcarmen with two outs and no one on, his 5th victory of the season apparently well in hand.
Perhaps if the Boston offense hadn't continued to be as stagnant as Cuba Gooding's career the Sox and Lester wouldn't have had to sweat out the end of the game and could have enjoyed a satisfying win. But Jays starter A.J. Burnett, who has been on fire since coming off the DL at the end of August, bent but didn't break by holding the Sox to two runs through six innings despite scattering 8 hits and 3 walks in that time.
Burnett (8.2IP, 9H, 3ER, 3BB, 11K) was bailed out by a couple of double play balls off the bats of youngsters Jacoby Ellsbury (1-5) and Brandon Moss, and by the 11 Ks he recorded, including Ellsbury and Big Papi three times each.
Lester survived a rough first inning when he allowed a pair of walks and and a pair of hits, the big blow and RBI double to deep right by Alex Rios. But he, was bailed out by a nice play by Lowell and Tek to nail Rios at home on a grounder by Aaron Hill, and despite the fact that they had five baserunners in the inning, the Jays managed just one run.
Sounds like the Sox offense.
Speaking of which, it was held off the scoreboard for the first three innings of the game by Burnett despite having at least one batter on base in each of those frames. After Ellsbury led off the game with a single to left he moved to third with one out on a stolen base, his 7th in 7 attempts, and subsequent throwing error by Toronto catcher Gregg Zaun.
But Burnett got Papi to strike out and then retired Lowell on a fly ball, and yet another Boston baserunner was left stranded 90 feet from home plate.
Singles by J.D. Drew and Tek were wasted in the second when Hinske struck out and Moss grounded into a double play, and in the third a leadoff single by Lugo was quickly erased when Ellsbury GIDP'd to sqelch that potential rally.
Ah, young guys. They may giveth excitement, but the ability to stay out of the inning-killing double play they taketh away.
Boston finally got on the board in the fourth when Lowell reached on an infield single with one out, Drew walked, and after Hinske struck out again, Captain Tek laced his first big hit in weeks into the leftfield corner to score Lowell and tie the game at one apiece.
The Sox would grab the lead in the next inning thanks to a two out single by Dustin Pedroia and a double to deep center by Papi, but after Lowell was intentionally walked Drew obliged the Jays by striking out swinging, and still another possible big inning was shot in the ass.
Lester and Burnett both held serve for the next couple of innings, and after Hector Luna drew a one-out walk from lester in the seventh, Tito allowed the young lefty to get one more out before bringing in Manny D. to face Wells with the game on the line.
Delcarmen did his job, getting Wells to fly out to Ellsbury in center, and after Burnett set the Sox down 1-2-3 in the top of the 8th, it was Gagme's turn to redeem himself to his team and the Nation.
Mission NOT accomplished.
Truth is the mission should have been aborted long before it got to the hideously ugly point that it did, and the debate about why Tito left this guy in there to absorb yet another career-killing loss will rage for weeks and possibly a lot longer if the Sox end up blowing this thing.
From the minute they showed two the Seth Rogen/Sasha Baron Cohen look-a-like trot out of the pen with a look that screamed "why do I feel like I'm about to shit myself right now?", I sensed disaster in the air. As a matter of fact, when my son sat down on the couch a few minutes later and asked what was going on, I replied "the Sox are about to lose this game, Gagne just came in", only half-sarcastically.
Sure I said it, but after so many awful outings, a brief stint to rest his "tired arm", and a couple of decent appearances in garbage time recently, I didn't really believe I would witness a repeat of one of those unforgettable horror-shows.
Unfortunately that's exactly what happened, and just to add to the torture effect, the roly-poly reliever got two quick outs in the inning before he ran everyone through the wringer.
What a dick.
After those two quick outs the game spiraled into a surreal, movie-like collapse of epic proportions. Seemingly from out of nowhere Gagme couldn't find the plate, walking Frank Thomas on four pitches (in all fairness a couple of those were pretty close), then after Aaron Hill singled to left on one pitch, Gagme walked Matt Stairs on six pitches to load the bases, and that familiar queasy feeling began to take hold in the pit of the Nation's stomach.
Gagme quickly went to 3-0 on Zaun, and despite numerous mound meetings with Tek, proceeded to walk him two pitches later to force in the tying run, and now the feeling of dread carried that special "all-time choke job" tinges that we are all so familiar with.
Curiously, instead of pulling the train wreck for a warmed-up Papelbon, Tito allowed the carnage to continue, and when pinch hitter Russ Adams sliced a drive through the glove of Drew for a two-run double, it was like watching the finale of a horror-porn flick.
The fact that Zaun was thrown out at the plate to end the inning, or that Lugo added a "thanks, anyway" homer in the ninth to deny Burnett the complete game and make it just another one-run loss for Boston, means little to the frantic Nation worldwide.
Even though losing the division would still result in yet another Wild Card birth for the team that won the series via that route in '04, this is full-fledged panic time, folks.
But it's not like we haven't been here before.
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