Masterson's effort wasted by horrid penmenshit

Angels 7, Sox 5
WP: Saunders (4-0)
LP: Delcarmen (0-1)
SV: Rodriguez (9)
HRs: BOS- Ortiz (4); LAA-Napoli (5)

SUMMARY:
A brilliant major league debut by AA starter Justin Masterson went for naught as a quintet of Sox relievers combined to cough up the lead and blow what should have been the kid's 1st big league win.

SUPERSTAR: Masterson 6IP, 2H, 1ER, 4BB, 4K
When a kid from Double A pitches this well against one of the best offensive clubs in the AL, you'd expect a slew of experienced MAJOR LEAGUE relievers to be able to nail down the win for him. Guess not.

THE BIGGEST LOSER(s): Boston bullpen 3IP, 7H, 6R, 5BB, 3K
Javier Lopez got the ball rolling when he allowed the only two batters he faced reach base in the 7th, and then Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, David Aardsma and Julian Tavarez followed suit as none of them could keep the Angels off the basepaths or the scoreboard.

RECAP:
Welcome to the major leagues, Justin Masterson.

You've heard about The Show from your fellow draftees who've already made the big club, sniffed what it's like to face veteran hitters in the spring, and hoped and prayed one day you would get your chance to shine on the major league level.

And when you finally do get your chance, and you shine brighter than most 23-year-old AA hurlers have in the past, a bunch of major league relievers rain on your parade by fumbling away what should have been the first win of your career.

That's the part of baseball that you don't envision when your preparing for this moment as a kid in your backyard.

Today's matinee at Fenway went from odd to awful in the span of about 15 minutes as the Angels took the third and final game of the series in a game that swung so abruptly from one side to another you'd have sworn the playing field was populated by politicians and not ballplayers.

Masterson, starting in place of Jon Lester, who started in place of Daisuke Matsuzaka last night, was simply spectacular in his debut. The rangy righty surrendered 2 hits and made just one mistake, a 1-1 pitch that Mike Napoli hit into the rightfield seats, in 6 innings while making a slew of clutch pitches and nifty plays in the field.

But after throwing 95 pitches and with the Sox leading 3-1, Francona decided it was time to remove the youngster let his experienced pen men steer his victory into the garage.

Unfortunately the band of 'oh, brothers' missed the garage and drove directly into the wall. At full speed.

As I said the game had an odd tone to it from the start. Boston loaded the bases in the 2nd inning with no outs on a bloop base hit by Manny, a walk to Youk and a single by Jed Lowrie, yet they only scored one run, on an RBI groundout by Coco Crisp (2-4, R, 2BI, 2SB).

While Masterson, who was sent back down to Portland after the game, was confounding the Angels batters with his fastball and sinker, Boston scratched out a couple more runs in the 4th off LA starter Joe Saunders (6IP, 7H, 3ER, 3BB, 3K), and there was more oddity involved.

Crisp, who returned to the lineup after missing 8 games with a pulled hammy, hit a wind-swept ground rule double to center to drive in Youk, who had walked again, and then Kevin Cash followed with a wind-swept ground rule double to center of his own to almost the exact same spot to score Coco.

The game also featured two Angels outfielders colliding to drop a pop fly by Manny; Youk crashing into the tarp attempting to catch a foul pop; and passed balls, errors, missed tags and numerous wind-aided plays that combined to turn the contest into Circe de Fenway.

But things were going so well for Boston that not even Napoli's leadoff homer in the 5th could dampen the spirits of the Faithful.

Masterson escaped a potential jam in the 6th when he walked Vlad Guerrero to lead off the inning but then induced Garrett Anderson to ground into a double play, and he finished his afternoon by striking out Torii Hunter on three pitches, exiting the field to a much-deserved standing ovation.

And that's when the good times came to an abrupt halt.

Six straight batters reached base in the 7th off three Sox relievers, the first two off Lopez, the next two off loser Manny Delcarmen, and the last and biggest blow, a liner to center by Gary Matthroids Jr (3-5, 3BI - please check his urine!), off Hideki Okajima that plated two and gave the Angels their first lead of the game at 5-3.

Oki did finally retire three batters in a row in impressive fashion to end the inning, but that only makes you more pissed when you think "why the fuck couldn't he have done that when he first came in?!"

Making matters worse David Aardsma, who has slipped lately after a strong start, gave up a run in the 8th and Tavarez surrendered the 7th Angels run in the 9th, and both runs would prove costly.

That's because David Ortiz slammed a 2-run shot with two outs in the 9th to pull Boston to within two at 7-5, but then K-Rod came in to close it out, and when Manny's deep fly didn't get wind-blown or dropped but was caught by Hunter in center, the Angels had a come-from-behind win of their own.

And a talented kid from the minors got a taste of what it's like to be a major leaguer for a day.

I bet next time he's up he asks to pitch the whole game.

RECORD: 15-9
STREAK: L2
LAST 10: 7-3
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
UP NEXT: Fri at Tampa Bay 705 Wakefield vs Garza