Youk blasts game-winning home run in return to hometown

Sox 6, Reds 4 (10)
WP: Papelbon (3-2)
LP: Lincoln (0-2)
SV: Hansen (1)
HRs: BOS-Youk (11), Crisp (3); CIN-Dunn (18), Phillips (13), Encarnacion (11)

SUMMARY:
After the Boston bullpen blew yet another lead, including a rare blown save by Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis capped off a successful return to his home town when he hit a home run off Mike Lincoln in the top of the 10th to give the Sox a rare and much-needed road victory.

#1 STUNNER Youk 3-5, 1R, 2BI, 2K
Is there a better way to return home, with 150 family & friends in the stands, than to hit a game-winning extra inning home run against the team you loved growing up, and that snubbed you in the draft just a few years ago?

Thought not.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Lincoln 1.1IP, 3H, 2ER, 1BB, 2K, 2HR, 29P
The Reds had all the momentum after tying the game with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, but Lincoln put out that fire quicker than you can say "longball" as he surrendered back-to-back homers to Youk and Coco in the top of the 10th.

RECAP:
"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUKKKKK!"

The familiar chant that is heard at both Fenway Park and stadiums all over the Nation every time the good-natured, high-strung Sox first baseman comes to bat or makes a great defensive play was never heard in such full throat as it was this afternoon in his return to the city he grew up in.

In a storybook game that could have been penned by George Will Kevin Youkilis came back to the Queen City in grand style this afternoon, clubbing three hits and a pair of RBI with 100+ family members and friends sitting in the stands cheering for him, each hit bigger than the one that came before it.

The scene was made all the more amazing by the fact that he had struck out in his first two at bats of the day against hard-throwing Reds righty Edinson Volquez, perhaps because he was pressing, or perhaps because Volquez is good enough to do that to anyone.

But the stubborn, chrome-domed slugger, who has toned down his post-at bat antics since a dugout scuffle with teammate Manny Ramirez a week ago, fought through the butterflies and stayed patient, and he was rewarded with an experience he will never forget for the rest of his life.

And neither will the Reds.

To give you an idea of how big Youk is in Cincy, where he grew up, went to the University of Cincinnati and owns almost all the major offensive records at the school, when my son and I went to see the Big East college baseball championship a couple of weeks ago, players on the UC team were imitating his unique batting stance while goofing around in the on-deck circle before the game.

Simply put the "Greek God of Walks" is a god a UC and universally beloved in a city that has probably produced more home-grown major league talet than any other metropolis in the country outside of New York.

So for him to do what he did today, in a game that was an awesome, back-and-forth exciting affair right til the very end, was like living out a boyhood fantasy that any kid who's ever dreamed of being a major leaguer has ever had.

But the way things had gone just minutes before his dramatic homer it didn't look like the Sox were going to have anything to celebrate today.

Not after another bullpen implosion that saw three men waste a hard-fought 4-2 lead and a spectacular effort from Tim Wakefield that nearly sent the Sox to their 22nd road loss of the year.

Boston jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead against stud starter Volquez (7IP, 7H, 3R, 2ER, 1BB, 9K, 101P) when Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a single, went to second on a wild pitch by Volquez, stole third after one pitch to Dustin Pedroia and trotted home when cather Paul Bako threw the ball into right field trying to gun Ellsbury out.

But Cincy tied it right up when Dunn launched his second homer in two days and 18th of the season off Wakefield in the bottom of the 2nd inning, a blow that was lessened when Brandon Phillips got greedy after stealing second and was gunned down trying to take third when the ball got away from the Boston infield.

The mistakes continued as Boston took the lead in the fourth when J.D. Drew (2-5, 2R, 2B, 3B) tripled over Dunn's head in left field and then waltzed home on another wild pitch by Volquez.

Now the score was 2-1 Boston, although both starting pitchers were pitching brilliantly.

Wakefield (7IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 6K, 2HR, 89P) continued to stymie the Cincy hitters, retiring 10 out of the next 16 Reds batters while Boston added to its lead on an RBI single by Youk, driving in Pedroia who had led off the sixth with an infield single.

Staked to a 3-1 lead Wake's bugaboo - the longball - came back to bit him again when he surrendered an upper-deck shot to Phillips (2-5, R, BI) to lead off the 7th to cut the Sox lead to 3-2.

But Boston quickly recaptured its 2-run lead off reliever David Weathers when Drew led off the 8th with a double, again to the opposite field, and Mike Lowell followed with an RBI single to push the lead to 4-2.

Unfortunately a botched play by third base coach DeMarlo Hale cost the Sox a chance at breaking the game open and preventing the late-inning heroics.

After Lowell's single Youk drove a pitch from Weathers over Jay Bruce's head to deep right center, but instead of settling for runners at second and third and no outs Hale sent Lowell home all the way from first where he was easily thrown out.

Still, a 4-2 lead with just six outs to go seemed pretty solid.

Except Oki shit the bed again.

Things started out bad when Bako hit the first pitch from Oki for a leadoff single, and when Bruce walked on four pitches one out later Tito quickly went to the pen and removed the struggling Japanese lefthander.

But instead of calling on Paps for the five out save, he brought in Manny Delcarmen, who immediately gave up an RBI single to pinch hitter Javier Valentin to cut the lead to 4-3.

The only thing that saved Boston from losing the game right there was Ken Griffey Jr (0-4, BB, 2K) swinging at a 3-0 pitch and grounding into an inning-ending double play, yet another in a long line of botched and boneheaded plays in this game.

No worries, though, as all paps had to do was get three outs and this one was in the bag.

Papelbon (1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K, 1HR) got Phillips and Dunn to each ground out to second to nearly wrap things up, but then he got sloppy with Edwin Encarnacion and the third baseman ripped a 2-2 offering into the left field stands for a game-tying, shock-inducing home run, and suddenly what looked like an exhilarating victory was resembled a devastating defeat.

And the came Youk.

After Lowell struck out to lead off the 10th, Youkilis pounced on a 2-2 fastball from Lincoln and deposited it into the right field seats for the game winner, and as his teammates and cheering section celebrated Coco cracked the next pitch to almost the exact same spot for a big insurance run, and at 6-4 Sox this one was all but wrapped up.

Sorta.

Craig Hansen relieved Paps and quickly retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 10th before Jolbert Cabrera singled to center and Junior walked, but Hansen got Phillips to fly out to Drew on the warning track for the final out, and the fans piled onto Pete Rose Way knowing they got their money's worth.

And they were all chanting Yooooooouuuuuukkkk!

RECORD: 43-28
AL EAST: Up 1.5 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 7-3
UP NEXT: Sun @ CIN 1:35 Beckett vs. Bailey

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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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Interleague Series Preview: Sox @ Cincy

Cincinnati Reds (32-36)


NL Central: 11 1/2 GB
Streak: W1
Last 10: 4-6

NL Batting Stats (rank)
AVG: .251 (13)
RS: 307 (t7)
HRs: 76 (t4)
NL Pitching Stats (rank)
ERA: 4.49 (t12)
RA: 336 (3rd most)
SVs: 12 (13)

3 game series at Great American Ballpark
Game 1 Friday 7:10
Masterson (3-0, 2.59) vs. Harang (2-9, 4.31)
Game 2 Saturday 3:55 FOX
Wakefield (4-4, 4.33) vs. Volquez (9-2, 1.56)
Game 3 Sunday 1:35 TBS
Beckett (6-4, 4.22) vs. Bailey (0-2, 6.30)

KEY REDS:

-RF Ken Griffey Jr .256, 7HR, 30BI, 31R, 40BB, .365OBP he might not be the same "kid" who wowed baseball fans every time he came to the plate or took the field in his heyday, but after becoming just the sixth man to hit 600 home runs last week, the older Jr proved he's still got it

-LF Adam Dunn .229, 16HR, 41BI, 56BB, 66K, .397OBP the country-strong rightfielder has long been rumored to be traded to a contender such as Boston, and if the man they call Donkey has a big series it could be considered an audition for a deadline deal. Despite his hit-or-miss propensity and paltry average Dunn leads the league in walks and the team in OBP, and when he does get a hold of one it's a sight to see

-CF Jay Bruce .391, 3HR, 11BI, 14R, .480OBP, 17GP the phenom was brought up to the big club on May 27th and has been on a tear ever since. He hit 3 doubles and 3 home runs in his first seven games, including a walk off shot in the 10th inning against the Braves in his fifth career game, and should be a star in the league for years to come

-Edinson Volquez 9-2, 1.56ERA, 1.17WHIP, 96Ks, 3HR, .184BAA in 81IP he was the key piece in the trade that sent Josh Hamilton to the Rangers and the young righthander hasn't disappointed. The 24-year-old leads the league in ERA and strikeouts and is second in wins and is a true Cy Young contender on a lousy team

PREVIEW:
After playing the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners for the better part of the season Boston gets to mix it up and head across league lines to take on the Cincinnati Reds in its first trip to the Queen City since the 1975 World Series.

The older members of the Nation will recall that memorable Fall Classic as one of the best of all time, featuring Fisk's historic homer, Dewey's spectacular catch and throw, and Pete Rose being named MVP in what at the time was a devastating 7 game loss for the locals.

But that was 1975 B.C. - before the championships - so the memories are all good now.

This series, the first between the clubs since 2005 when the Sox swept the Reds in three games at Fenway, should be interesting for many reasons.

1.) The Sox have yet to prove they can win on the road
Sure winning three straight in Baltimore a couple of weeks ago helped inch their road record towards respectability, but still a 14-20 mark away from Fenway for a team that supposed to be one of the best in baseball is not acceptable for the fans or the team; they need a sweep here to restore road credibility.

2.) Phenoms, phenoms everywhere
The Sox stud young starter Justin Masterson will try to keep his perfect record intact in the series opener tonight, while Cincy's Cy Young candidate, the electric Edinson Volquez, will put his 9-2 mark and league leading 96 strikeouts on the line against the best team in the American League tomorrow.

When you add in Jay Bruce and Jacoby Ellsbury, two of the brightest young centerfielders in the game and Reds rookie 1B Joey Votto, who has 11 homers 36 RBI, and what you've got is the makings of a Futures All Star team.

3.) History for and between the teams
These are two of the oldest and proudest franchises in baseball history, both located in terrific metropolitan areas with great fan bases and participated in one of the greatest World Series' in history.

Throw in a spectacular new ballpark that will be jam packed with a sea of Red and the fact that Terry Francona played for the Reds, former Boston folk hero Bronson Arroyo now pitches for the Reds, and the former (Sean Casey) and current (Youk) mayors of Cincy now play for Boston, and what you've got is a lot of MLB and cross-team history on the field this weekend.

The job of starting the series off on a good note falls on the strapping live arm of Masterson.

Making his first start away from Fenway, and obviously his first against an NL club, Justin will need to stay focused and use all of his pitches to remain ahead of the slugging but patient Reds hitters.

The rookie will be opposed by the veteran Aaron Harang. The staff ace of the last few years hasn't pitched all that poorly this season, but like Jeremy Guthrie last night has been victimized by terrible run support.

In his 15 starts this tear Cincy has scored 2 runs or less 8 times for the beefy righty and the offense is averaging a minuscule 2.90 RPG for him, good for 107th in the league for NL starters. Yikes.

So if Masterson continues to do what he has been doing, which is holding opponents to about 1 run per game, and JD Drew and Manny Ramirez continue to hit the cover off the ball, all signs point to a win in the opener and a great way to start off the weekend in Great American Ballpark.

Wonder how many times we'll hear the infamous phrase " and there's a long drive...if it stays, fair...HOME RUN!"

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