Bosox bludgeon Chisox for third game in a row

Boston 14, Chicago 2
WP: Wakefield (16-10)
LP: Buehrle (9-9)
HRs: CHI-Konerko (26)

SUMMARY
The Bosox offense continued to get healthy courtesy of the Chicago pitching staff, turning a scoreless game in the 6th into another laffer by piling up 14 runs in the final four frames to get Tim Wakefield his ML co-leading 16th victory.

#1 STUNNER Mike Lowell 4-6, 2R, 2BI
The votes are in and the polls are officially closed: this guy is the Red Sox MVP for 2007. His RBI single in the 6th started the avalanche of runs, and in the three games the veteran third baseman is 9-14 with 6 runs scored and 6 RBIs.

M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P...

PAN's FAUN Chicago bullpen 3IP, 9H, 10ER
After starter Mark Buehrle allowed 4 runs in the 6th Ozzie's sorry bunch of relievers came in and torched any hopes of a Chisox comeback. This pen--and this team as a whole--might just be the worst in baseball.

RECAP
I know Chicago is called the Windy City, but I never realized that nickname was derived from how badly the baseball team on the South Side blows.

For the third straight game the Red Sox batters pummelled the piss-poor White Sox pitching, ringing up 15 hits and nearly as many runs in Boston's 3rd consecutive rout of the hapless ChiSox, who have lost 12 of their last 14 games.

Believe it or not, this game was actually a pitchers duel for the first five innings, with each team notching just 1 hit apiece in a scoreless battle as starting pitchers Tim Wakefield and Mark Buehrle were plowing through the other lineup like Angelina Jolie plows through adoptions.

But after five scoreless innings featuring a combined 7 base runners (2 hits, 4 walks, 1 error), Boston erupted in the sixth, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring four times off a suddenly shell shocked Buehrle (6IP, 6H, 4ER, 3BB, 3K).

Little did we know that was only the beginning of the beatdown Boston was about to inflict on these Second City saps.

The sixth inning started innocently enough when Dustin Pedroia legged out an infield single to short and then Buehrle got Coco Crisp to line one right back to the mound to rob him of a hit.

But then David "One Pitch" Ortiz sliced Buehrle's next offering the opposite way into the left center field gap, and although the speed-challenged Pedroia had to hold up at third, it soon wouldn't matter as Boston broke it open.

After something really strange happened.

Ozzie Guillen decided to walk Manny Ramirez (0-3, 2R) to load the bases and pitch to Mike Lowell.

I know, it makes sense to walk a Hall of Fame hitter with first base open and one out to set up the force at any base, but the way Lowell has been blistering the ball, coupled with the fact that he's got more RBIs than Ramirez does this year, made the decision seem a little bit odd, at least to me.

The professional hitter made the decision really look bad when he took a 1-2 pitch from Buehrle and slammed a single through the hole at shortstop for the first run of the game, a play that said "yes, I am the man when it comes to clutch RBIs on this team this year" and also opened the floodgates like a that first pee on a night out.

Kevin Youkilis and Bobby Kielty (3-5, 1R, 4RBI) followed Lowell's lead and hit nearly identical singles to the exact same spot, plating three more runs and by the time Buehrle recorded the final two outs of the inning he was done for the day, and the White Sox would be as well.

After Wake (7IP, 3H, 0ER, 3BB, 6K) pitched another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the 6th, Boston added another run on three hits and a walk in the 7th off the immortal Boone Logan, and the score was up to 5-0.

But not for long.

Wake escaped his biggest jam of the day in the bottom of the 7th when he allowed his first hits since the first inning, a one-out double by Jermaine Dye (2-3) and a two-out single by Danny Richar, but struck out Andy Gonzalez to end the threat.

Then in the top of the 8th the Boston batters laid the wood to the pathetic Chicago pen, racking up 8 runs on four hits, five walks including two with the bases loaded, two hit batters and two wild pitches.

Reliever Ryan Bukvich (0IP, 2H, 5ER, BB) began the festivities by plunking both Alex Cora and Kevin Cash to open the inning, then surrendered a ringing double to left by Pedroia (2-5, 2R, 2BI) to plate Cora and send Cash to third.

Coco walked after a lengthy at bat, and the Papi (2-5, 2R, 2BI) waited till the 6th pitch from Buckvich before he lined a single to right to score Cash and Pedroia, and just like that the score was 8-0 with plenty more to come.

Mike MacDougal (2/3IP, 2H, 3ER, 3BB, 3K) relieved Bukvich and continued to make it hard to believe he used to be an All Star closer when he promptly threw a wild pitch to move Ortiz to second, then after striking out Manny, uncorked another wild one that easily scored Coco from third.

On the next pitch Lowell grounded another single to left to score Papi with Boston's 10th run, and the Sox had just accomplished something no Boston team had done since 2000: score more than 10 runs in three consecutive games.

Not even against the Devil Rays.

MacDougal continued to meltdown as he walked Youk (2-5, 1R, 2BI), allowed an RBI double to deep left by Kielty, then after getting Cora to strike out, walked Cash, Pedroia and Crisp in succession, the last two with the bases loaded.

By the time pinch hitter J.D. Drew rained on the parade and struck out to end the onslaught, Boston led 13-0 and apparently had succeeded in hammering the fight out of the fiery Guillen and his team.

Kyle Snyder ruined the shutout bid when he gave up a two-run blast to Paul Konerko in the 8th after plunking A.J. Punchmeplease with a retaliatory pitch, but the Sox tacked on a "fuck you" run in the 9th on another RBI hit by Kielty.

After Javier Lopez got Jerry Owens to fly out to end the game, one of the most dominating two-day stretches in franchise history had come to a merciful conclusion.

So Tim Wakefield joined teammate Josh Beckett as the only two 16-game winners in the major leagues, continued his streak of recording a decision in every start this season, and continues to make us wonder if the 42-year-old made a pact with the devil, because he is pitching better now than he has in his entire career.

And Mike Lowell continues to amaze even the most hardened baseball fan, going from a "must take" piece in the Beckett deal due to his age, salary, and declining productivity to become the key cog on what looks like a surefire playoff team, leading the team in RBIs and leadership by example.

And the Boston offense has made the Chicago White Sox look like the worst team in major league baseball for three straight games, finding its missing mojo and finally taking advantage of every scoring opportunity that comes their way.

Ah, good times in the Nation indeed.

Holy shit, just writing that wore me out, so I'm just gonna say one more thing: let's do it again tomorrow, boys!

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Halos split series as Boston bats go silent

Angels 3, Sox 1
WP: Saunders (7-1)
LP: Tavarez (6-9)
SV: Rodriguez (31)
HRs: None

SUMMARY
On a glorious afternoon at Fenway the Sox got a quality start from Julian Tavarez, a solid debut from Bobby Kielty, even a three-K 9th from Eric Gagne, but still couldn't defeat the Angels as Joe Saunders stymied the Boston batters to run his record to 2-0 vs. the Sox this season and the Angels earned the split.

#1 STUNNER Kielty 2-3, BB
Not only did the former flaming redhead notch base hits in his first two at bats, his homer-robbing grab of a Casey Kotchman drive in the 1st inning kept the Sox in the game.

Nice way to start your career in Boston. Like the new 'do much better, too.

PAN's FAUN Kyle Snyder 2IP, 2H, ER, 2K
After relieving Tavarez in the 7th, Snyder worked his way into trouble (runners at 1st & 3rd and no outs), then nearly got out of the jam but he threw a wild pitch which allowed the critical 3rd run to score.

RECAP
I had a feeling the day was gonna turn out like this.

Actually I thought it would be a lot worse; I expected Tavarez to give up 4-5 runs, but I hoped the Sox offense would be able to produce that many as well.

But for the second time in three weeks L.A. starter Joe Saunders (7.2IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 7K) shut down the potent Boston offensive attack, limiting the Sox to just six singles and a pair of walks in 7 2/3 innings of work.

The most frustrating part about this game was that after a slight setback in the first inning, when he allowed his only runs on the day, Julian Tavarez went on to have his best start for Boston since tossing seven shutout innings against the Braves in Atlanta on June 20th.

Curiously the game was delayed a bit when Tavarez (6IP, 2H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K) took a little longer than expected to enter the game from the bullpen.

From what transpired in the first I'd say he should have stayed out there a little longer, because as soon as Julie started throwing real pitches, the Angels took advantage.

The first three L.A. batters reached base when Chone Figgins led off with a single to left center, Orlando Cabrera walked and Vladdy (1-3, RBI) hit a sharp single to left to drive the speedy Figgins home from second.

Tavarez got Garret Anderson to fly out to deep center field, with O.C. taking third on the appendage of Coco Crisp, and then fan favorite Gary Matthews got him home with a fielder's choice grounder to deep short.

Just like that the score was 2-0 Angels, and judging from the less-than-full house at Fenway, many local diehards predicted such a beginning.

Those who arrived late missed the early indoctrination of Bobby Kielty into Sox lore just two pitches later, though.

Casey Kotchman, who had four hits in the series opener, scorched a 1-0 offering from Julie high & deep into the air in right, and without the skilled J.D. Drew out there it looked like the score was about to bloom to 4-zip.

But the once Carrot Top-coiffed Kielty got a bead on the blast, streaked in and timed his leap to expertly pick the ball before it went over the bullpen fence, a play that left Kotchman scratching his head, Kielty grabbing his torso in pain, and the Faithful who were in attendance showering him with a Fenway ovation.

Welcome to a real baseball city, Bobby.

The former A kept the applause coming when he singled in his first at bat to put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the 2nd, but Saunders buckled down and got Coco and Lugo to fly out to squelch the threat.

In the top of the third the emotions generated by the best two teams in baseball playing 7 hard-fought contests in the last three weeks boiled over when Tavarez grazed Cabrera with his first pitch with one out in the inning.

O.C. tried to play it cool by taking a page from the Gerald Ice Williams "slowly remove my gloves, then get real pissed" book of brawls, but he quickly started jawing with the nonplussed Tavarez, and both teams gave a token benches-clearing effort while asking "what the fuck was that about?"

Evidently Julie had accused O-Dog of stealing signs while on base in the series in L.A earlier this month, and the brushback/grazing was a little message from Julie to say "don't fuck with me."

I'm sure Papi patched things up after the game by taking them all out for a few Mojitos.

More importantly was how Tavarez settled down after the outburst and despite walking Guerrero, induced Anderson and Matthroids into rally-killing groundouts.

Things stayed quiet for the next few innings as both starters found their groove, and you got the feeling that if Boston could just get Saunders out of there and get to that rattled Angel bullpen, the game, like the other three in the series, could turn around in a hurry.

Except that plan backfired when Boston went to its pen first and once again allowed a key run to score.

Kyle Snyder, whose last outing was the three-hit, three-run debacle in Baltimore a weel ago, took over in the 7th and continued to regress, allowing Kotchman (2-4, BI) to reach on a deep double to center and Sox killer Maicer Izturis on a single to right, sending Kotchman to third, setting up a potential game-killing rally.

But Snyder caught a break when new Sox backstop Kevin Cash nailed Izturis trying to steal second, and one pitch later a called strike three on a check swing by Ryan Budde had the beleaguered reliever on the verge of escaping the jam.

And then he bounced a pitch in the dirt about six feet in front and to the right of Cash, easily scoring Kotchman with the the ever popular insurance run, and suddenly it became that much harder to comeback again.

A two out single by Ortiz (2-4, R) in the 8th finally chased Saunders, and when Scot Shields came in and gave up a walk to Manny and a Wall-rattling RBI single to Lowell, it looked like the comeback kids were back in business.

Until Drew pinch hit for Kielty and stared at strike three, and every fan in the place thought "why are we paying that guy $70 mill and the other the league minimum?"

More groans followed when the horror show that is Eric Gagne rumbled in from the pen to pitch the 9th, and when Anderson singled on his first pith of the inning, the boos reigning down on him were of the variety normally reserved for Stankees and reviled ex-Sox.

It only got worse when Kotchman hit a hard hopper that bounced off Pedroia's chest for a single, but then suddenly Gagne did a miraculous and cliched thing--he turned the jeers into cheers by striking out the side, including Izturis and Budde swinging to exit the field in style.

Welcome to Boston, where if you perform, we love you.

That would be it for the cheers on the day, though, as Francisco Rodriguez came in and set the Sox down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, including a pair of K's of his own, and the Halos escaped Beantown with a split of what could have been a 4-game BoSox sweep.

Ah well, at least the roadie opens in St. Pete.

NOTES:

-Boston lost despite outhitting L.A., 7-6

-Youk, mired in an awful 5-34 (.147) slump, went 0-4 with three Ks

-Fine me?: a quote by Tavarez regarding the plunking of Cabrera will certainly incur the wrath of the MLB. "I say if you are doing it, to stop doing it because I will hit you..." is how Julian explained the how the beaning beagn with a sign-stealing accusation in Anaheim. Paging Bud selig...

QUOTES:

"I was going after the ball. I wasn't focused on the wall."--Kielty. Alright, enough already, we love you!

"I don't know if he was just trying to throw inside but I just took it personally." Cabrera on Tavrez. To which Julie responded "lighten up, Francis."

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