Road woes continue as Masterson loses first game

Reds 3, Sox 1
WP: Harang (3-9)
LP: Masterson (3-1)
SV: Cordero (13)
HRs: BOS-None; CIN-Dunn (17), Bruce (4)

RECAP:
Aaron Harang turned in his best performance of the season and Cincy used the solid pitching and a pair of longballs to send Boston to its 21st road loss, third worst in the majors, in its first trip to Cincinnati since the 1975 World Series.

SUPERSTAR: Harang 7IP, 4H, 1ER, 0BB, 7K, 118P
Leave it to the Sox to bring out the best in a guy who hadn't won in a month and who had allowed 16 earned runs in his last three starts. Tonight Harang was an ace again, tossing five 1-2-3 innings and befuddling the Boston batters all night.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: J.D. Drew 0-4, 3K
The league's hottest hitter bottomed-out big time tonight, flying out once and striking out three times, once with the tying run on base in the 9th inning, to snap his hitting streak at 11 games.

Talk about coming down hard.

RECAP:
Thankfully, with the contest taking place in an NL park with NL rules, this game was quick and concise.

So this recap will be, too.

The road weary-ers continued their apocalyptic run away from Fenway, dropping another contest outside of the friendly confines, this time to a team that was 4-28 this season when scoring three runs or fewer coming into this game.

So much for that stat.

Boston played like a team that had forgot how to win, how to hit, or how to play baseball with passion in a game that had all the energy of a Yanni concert.

Coming off an exciting 9-game homestand in which the Sox averaged almost 6 runs per game and leading the AL in most offensive categories, all the blistering Boston bats could muster was one run on a double and four singles against a mediocre Reds team.

Shit the American League leaders in on base percentage and walks didn't even manage a base on balls in this one.

The worse part is Cincy only mustered four base hits, struck out 11 times, and STILL won the game.

Oy!

The loss certainly can't be blamed on starter Justin Masterson, although he was the unfortunate beneficiary of the sudden power outage. He picked up his first major league loss in his first road start despite his excellent effort (6.2IP, 4H, 3ER, 3BB, 9K, 2HR, 98P.)

The 24-year-old held the potent Cincy lineup in check for the most part and absolutely confounded rookie shortstop Paul Janish, who fanned three times against him, but Masterson was burned by a quartet of hard hit balls that ended up spoiling his night.

The Reds wasted no time jumping on the kid right away when fellow phenom, center- fielder Jay Bruce, slammed a 1-2 pitch over the rightfield wall leading off the bottom of the first to give Cincy a quick 1-0 lead.

But after Harang had retired the first nine batters, Boston answered back in the fourth when Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a double and two outs later Manny Ramirez (1-3, BI) sliced a single to deep right to drive in Ellsy and tie the game at one.

Who knew at the time that would be it as far as scoring for the Beantown boys?

Cincy, meanwhile, countered quickly, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning on a laser home run by Adam Dunn (1-2, R, BI, BB) that took about two seconds to get out and was only about eight feet off the ground, and the next on back-to-back doubles by Edwin Encarnacion and rookie sensation Joey Votto.

So it was 3-1 and all the scoring was done.

The worst part of it was Boston couldn't even come close to mounting a rally until it was almost too late, and when they did their best RBI guy was out of the lineup and sitting on the bench in crunch time.

The only hit the Sox got off Harang after the fourth was a single by fomer Cincy hero Sean Casey, who received a huge ovation in his first game back in the Queen City since leaving as a free agent three years ago.

Ironically it was Casey's 1500th career hit, so it was nice to see the Mayor reach a milestone in a place that means so much to him.

The next Boston hit came when Dustin Pedroia led off the 9th inning with a sharp single to right off closer Francisco Cordero, and with Drew and Manny's spot due up it looked like a game-saving rally could be underway.

But Drew struck out for the third time on the night and Manny was removed from the game after batting in the seventh inning due to his bad hammy, so instead Coco Crsip got the chance to tie the game.

Two outs later the game was over and Boston had its 21st road loss, and now it faces the daunting prospect of countering hard-throwing young ace Edinson Volquez with soft-tossing old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield on national television tomorrow.

Didn't I tell you this would be quick and concise?

NOTES:
-Sick Tek: the strep throat that struck Jason Varitek two nights ago kept him out of the lineup again tonight. He was replaced by Kevin cash, who will of course catch Wake tomorrow, giving Tek and extra day of rest

RECORD: 42-28
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sat @ CIN 3:55 FOX Wakefield vs. Volquez

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Sox prevail in long, messy game at Fenway

Sox 12, Tigers 6
WP: Wakefield (1-0)
LP: Robertson (0-1)
SV: Papelbon (3)
HRs: BOS-None; DET: Ordonez (1)

SUMMARY:
The Sox survived what was an interminable and nearly unwatchable debacle of a game tonight when they strung together three 4-run innings to hold off the Tigers. The contest featured 18 runs, 23 hits, 16 walks, a wild pitch, 2 hit batters, an error and a passed ball. And it took 3:45 to complete.

But at least they won.

Superstar: JD Drew 3-3, 2R, 2BI, BB
The hottest hitter on the team is none other than the man who Sox fans were lambasting for being too brittle when he had to miss the first three games of the season due to back issues. After this 3-hit effort, Drew is now batting .440 (11-25) and has hit safely in all 7 games he's played in.

The Biggest Loser(s): 8 of the 9 pitchers who threw in this game
Of the nine hurlers who tossed baseballs tonight, only one, Hideki Okajima, did not allow a hit, walk or a run. Only three did not allow a walk and only two did not allow a run.

Absolutely putrid.

RECAP:
After witnessing the second straight four hour debacle against the steaming mess that is this Detroit Tiger team, on top of a Little League game last night and tossing an hour of BP at practice tonight, I think I am at a loss for words to describe this game.

Let's just say that my kid's game last night was by far more crisp, entertaining and watchable than these last two against Detroit.

Anyway, I'm completely spent from all this baseball, so I'm gonna hit the sack and try to get a better handle on this in the morning.

And whatever you do, don't watch the NESN replay of this game if you want to keep your sanity.
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Okay, I'm back. And it's amazing how in the light of day this game doesn't seem as bad as it did watching it last night. I guess the combination of me being dog tired and the fact that no pitcher on either team could retire the side in order just made the game seem like one long, bad George Clooney sports movie.

Actually there were a couple of 1-2-3 innings, but only thanks to a pair of double plays turned by Detroit; at least one batter reached base in every inning for each team.

What it all added up to was a near 4-hour marathon with 386 pitches thrown, and when the dust settled Boston had to be content with coming out of their first home series with a 5-5 record while the Tigers are left scratching their heads, wondering how a potential World Series squad can already be out of it at 1-8.

Detroit did manage to take an early 2-0 lead when Tim Wakefield (5IP, 3H, 1ER, 5BB, 5K) got wild and allowed a walk, a single, a wild pitch, a sac fly and an RBI single to Placido Polanco in the 4th, but Boston answered with in the bottom of the frame when they roughed up Tiger starter Nate Robertson (5.1IP, 8H, 4ER, 2BB, 6K) for four runs on three hits and two walks.

After Papi (0-3, 2BB), the only Sox player who didn't register a hit, struck out to open the inning, Manny and Youk both walked and Drew followed with an RBI single to right. Hot-hitting Coco Crisp (2-3, R, 2BI, 2BB) then sliced a ball off Pesky's Pole for a double that scored Youk, and a groundout by Sean Casey and single by Kevin Cash each resulted in runs.

The game stayed at 4-2 for a few innings despite the numerous baserunners allowed by each starter, and in the 6th inning both managers called on their pens to keep the score as is. Evidently neither pen got the message.

After pitching scoreless sixths both Zack Miner and Manny Delcarmen came unglued in the 7th. Manny D, who continues to regress from promising set-up man to future Paw Sox mop up man with every outing, gave up a monster shot to the previously homer and RBI-less Magglio Ordonez with one out in the 7th, pulling the Tigers to 4-3, which then prompted Tito to pull him one out later. Okajima got the final out of the inning to keep the lead at one.

Fortunately Miner (1IP, 1H, 3ER, 3BB, 2K) was worse than Delcarmen. After walking Pedroia and Manny with one out in the bottom of the inning, ManRam (1-3, R, 2BI, BB) delivered a booming double to deep left center that scored both runners and gave the team some breathing room at 6-3. Righty Francis Beltran fared no better as he walked Drew and Coco then surrendered a single to Casey (2-5, 3BI) that scored pinch runner Ellsbury and Drew for what seemed like a commanding 8-3 lead.

Long story short Julian Tavarez came on in the 8th (why Tito took Oki out nobody knows) and couldn't get anybody out; he gave up two walks and three hits before a double play grounder killed what could have been an even bigger inning for Detroit, and before we knew what happened the score was 8-6 and Francona had to bring in Papelbon to end the inning, which he did with just two pitches.

Boston put the game away for good in the 8th by scoring four more times, highlighted by a 2-run double by Youk, and by the time Paps got Marcus Thames to ground into a fielders choice to end the game everyone that had witnessed this ugly affair was just glad the Sox came out on top.

And speaking of long, ugly affairs, the Stanks come to town tomorrow night.

Rest up, Nation.

RECORD: 5-5
AL EAST: 1.5 GB
STREAK: W1
UP NEXT: Fri vs. NYY 705 Wang vs. Buchholz

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