Oakland hurler handcuffs Sox on 1-hit

Oakland 3, Sox 0
WP: Duchscherer (4-3)
LP: Beckett (5-4)
SV: Street (10)
HR: OAK- R. Sweeney (2)

SUMMARY:
Underwhelming Oakland starter Justin Dechscherer held the potent Boston offense hitless for 6 1/3 innings and settled for a 1-hitter as Oakland won for the second straight night.

SUPERSTAR: Duchscherer 8IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 4K, 101P
Is it just a coincidence that his name is pronounced "douche-er"? I think not.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Manny Delcarmen 1IP, 2H, 1ER, 1BB, 0K, 22P
It's gotten to the point that the thought of this clown ever becoming a closer in the league is downright laughable. Closers don't allow baserunners and runs every time they enter the game, unless their names are Joe Borowski or Eric Gagme.

RECAP:
Boston nearly got a taste of its own no-hit medicine tonight, and let me be the first to say it had the distinct flavor of NyQuil.

Somehow scrub hurler Justin Dechscherer managed to hold the best offensive team in baseball hitless for nearly seven innings, and if it weren't for a slap single by David Ortiz in the 7th we would've been subjected to a barrage of "Sox get no hit in the same week Lester tosses a no hitter" headlines for the foreseeable future, especially since Lester is making his first start since his no-no tomorrow afternoon.

The worst part about Boston's second straight loss after its season high seven game winning streak was the fact that Josh Beckett had probably his best outing of the year, allowing just a pair of runs and 7 hits while fanning nine in seven innings of work.

The best part was while all this no hit nonsense was going on the majority of the nation had the Celtics game on the main screen and the Sox on the PIP, so we could concentrate on the Cs spanking the Pistons to go up 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals and not the fact that a veteran of 11 career starts with a 24-19 lifetime record was making the Boston batters look like Little Leaguers.

When Oakland scratched out a single run in the second inning on a double by Mike Sweeney, a sac bunt by Ryan Sweeney and an RBI groundout by Emil Brown, nobody in their right mind thought that would be the game winning run for the A's.

But as they say, that's why you play the game.

Inning after inning Duchscherer held the Sox at bay by using a variety of pitches to stay ahead of hitters and induce more fly balls outs than Mariano Rivera has gotten in his entire career, and before you knew it he hadn't allowed a baserunner until Jason Varitek was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth inning.

Turns out that little break didn't matter as Duchscherer retired the next three Sox in order, and suddenly when you looked at the scoreboard the 30-year-old righty had a no hitter going into the seventh inning and the thoughts of the Sox getting no hit less than a week after tossing a no hitter started creeping into everyone's head.

But then you thought "this offense, getting no hit? No effing way!"

Ortiz made sure the embarrassment of that ironic situation didn't come to be as he sliced a solid single to right field with one out in the seventh, and after Duchscherer muttered an expletive and shrugged his shoulders towards his bench (who says guys don't realize they have no hitters going?) he set down Youk and Mike Lowell on (what else?) fly outs to escape the 'jam'.

Oakland produced an unnecessary insurance run in the bottom of the inning when Ryan Sweeney led off the seventh with a deep homer to right center off Beckett, and then they tacked on another off the pinata that is Manny Delcarmen in the eighth on a pair of singles, a steal and a walk to make the score an insurmountable 3-0 Oakland.

With the no-no bid lost the A's turned to closer Huston Street to pitch the 9th and he set the Sox down in order for his 10th save, and now the Sox are staring at another losing streak on the heels of a confidence-boosting winning streak.

Not to mention that with the Rays win over Baltimore Boston's AL East lead has shrunk to a minuscule 1/2 game again.

Nothing kills the confidence more than nearly being no-hit, though, so it will be interesting to see how Boston responds when the man who actually did toss a no-no this week takes the mound tomorrow.

Is it too much to ask for Lester to go all Johnny Van Der Meer for us?

NOTES:
-Manny Ramirez was given the day off by Tito, and although he was available to pinch hit, with a 3-run deficit he did not get the opportunity

-the game was played in a crisp, NL-like 2 hours and 17 minutes, Boston's quickest game of the season

RECORD: 31-21
AL EAST: Up 1/2 gm
STREAK: L2
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sun @ Oakland 4:05 Lester vs Blanton