Phillies give Sox a taste of own medicine

Phillies 8, Sox 2
WP: Hammels (7-4)
LP: Colon (4-2)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Pedroia (6), Drew (12); PHI-Howard, 2 (19), Rollins (6)

SUMMARY:
Coming off a series in which Boston hit six homers and scored 16 runs the Phillies turned the tables on them tonight, slamming a double, two triples and three home runs among their 12 hits in routing Bartolo Colon and the Sox.

#1 STUNNER(s): Ryan Howard & Jimmy Rollins 6-10, 4R, 7BI, 3B, 3HR
Philly's leadoff hitter and super slugger tag-teamed the Sox right from the get-go as Rollins hit a homer to lead off the game, Ryan followed with a two-run blast minutes later and both of them did damage later in the game as well.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Mike Timlin 2/3IP, 4H, 4ER, 2BB, 0K, 22P
Why Tito brought Tired Arm into a game that was still winnable (4-2) in the 6th inning when David Aardsma was ready and willing to enter the game is a question the Nation will ponder for days to come.

This latest awful outing pushed the ancient reliever's ERA over 7.00. Please, for the love of God, either make him retire or DFA this fossil NOW.

RECAP:
I, like most of RSN, had a bad feeling about this series, and this opening game in particular, before it even started.

It didn't take long for Philly to prove us cynics right.

The Red Sox got chewed up and spit out by the offensive juggernaut that is the first place Philadelphia Phillies tonight at Citizens Bank Park, and they wasted little time in flexing the muscle that has allowed them to score 20 runs not once but twice this season.

Philly scored three runs before they had two outs on a pair of first inning homers, and things got so bad for Boston that 260-lb Ryan Howard and cement-footed Pat Burrell both legged out triples before the night was through.

How good is this offense?

Put it this way - their second baseman, Chase Utley, is leading the majors in homers and is second in the NL in RBI and he went 0-5 tonight (with an RBI) and they still scored 8 runs.

That's how good they are.

Tonight's starting pitcher, Cole Hammels, went 1-3 with a single to raise his average to .316 (12-38).

That's how good they are.

With his four ribbies this evening Howard tied teammate Utley for the NL RBI lead with 62, despite the fact that he's only hitting .225.

That's how...well you get the point.

It was apparent right from the start that Colon did not have the same kind of stuff he had in his four previous starts this season when his first pitch to Rollins missed outside badly, and when he put the next one over the plate the reigning NL MVP crushed a fastball off the facade of the upper deck in right for a quick 1-0 Philly lead.

Two pitches later Shane Victorino (2-4, 2B, BB, R) roped a double to deep right center and after Colon got Utley to strike out, Howard hit a 1-0 offering from Bart just over the wall and into the first row of seats in left to give Philly a 3-0 lead before everyone's seats were even warm.

Hammels (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 5K, 2HR, 110P), meanwhile, kept the Boston batters at bay, escaping jams in the first when he struck out Drew and Manny after Pedroia had doubled with one out, and in the second when he whiffed Colon after Sean Casey (2-4)doubled and Julio Lugo walked with two out.

Colon escaped a two on, two out jam of his own in the bottom of the second when he got Utley to pop out to Casey at first, but he got burned by Howard again in the third when the beefy first baseman hit a 2-1 pitch to the opposite field again, this time making it as far as the third row of bleachers for his second longball of the game and 19th of the season.

He now trails teammate Utley by just three for the league lead in that department.

That's how good...alright, enough of that.

Trailing 4-zip Boston finally cracked the Hammels puzzle when Pedroia (3-4, R, BI, 2B, HR) and Drew hit back-to-back jacks with one out in the fifth, Drew's eighth of the month and sixth in the last nine games and Pedroia's second in two days, and with the lead sliced in half at 4-2 it looked like the Sox could possibly mount a comeback if they could get Hammels out of the game.

Instead it was Colon who exited the game after tossing a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, reportedly due to a back issue, and that's when things got away from the comeback kings.

After Javier Lopez worked around a two out triple to Burrell (2-2, 2BB) to notch a scoreless fifth, Tito inexplicably brought in Timlin to pitch the sixth with the game up for grabs and Aardsma ready in the pen.

Talk about a move that came back to bite someone in the nads.

Timlin went out and tossed his BP fastball to the salivating Philly hitters, and they hammered him like soldiers home on shore leave. Here's a transcript of the destruction of a comeback chance:

-Pedro Feliz walks on 4 pitches
-Carlos Ruiz (who!?) singles to left on 2-1 count
-Hammels sacrifices both runners over
-Rollins hits 2-RBI single to right center, 6-2 Philly
-Victorino singles, Rollins to third
-Utley grounds into fielder's choice, Rollins scores, 7-2 Philly
(here's where Tito might have wanted to remove Tired Arm, preferably with deadly force, if necessary. But no...)
-Howard triples to deep right center on first pitch, Utley scores, 8-2 Philly, game over, Timlin's career officially over as well.

Okay I made that last part up, but one can dream, right?

Things got so bad for Boston that Francona brought in fellow frazzled reliever Hideki Okajima to pitch the 8th inning of an 8-2 ballgame, hoping he'll work out his kinks in a laugher instead of a save situation.

Good news is he pitched a clean inning and even struck out Howard to cap it off.

Bad news is our top setup man and one of the best in the league last year is pitching meaningless innings in blowouts to get his confidence back because lately he has sucked worse than Speed Racer.

Tomorrow night Boston will get a chance to put this ugly loss behind them and even the series at one with Jon Lester on the mound.

Sure the kid will be opposed by 237 game winner Jamie Moyer.

But he's only batting .167.

RECORD: 44-29
AL EAST: Up 2 gms
STREAK: L1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Tue vs. PHI 7:05 Lester vs. Moyer

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House of Blues: Sox lose 9th straight at Safeco

Seattle 7, Sox 4
WP: Green (5-1)
LP: Timlin (1-1)
SV: Putz (32)
HRs: BOS-Papi (19); SEA-Betancourt (6), Johjima (12)

SUMMARY
For the second straight game a Sox starter blew a three-run lead, but this time the team couldn't salvage the win. Mike Timlin allowed 3 runs after Jon Lester with the game tied at 3, and Boston ran it's losing streak to 9 in a row at the House that Nintendo Built.

#1 STUNNER Yunieski Betancourt 2-4, 2R, 4BI, HR
The captain of the All Name team stung the Sox with four ribbies including a monster 3-run bomb off Lester that spelled the beginning of the end for Boston.

PAN's FAUN Timlin 1.1IP, 3H, 3R, 2ER, BB, K, HR
Returning to the scene of his near decapitation, Timlin had a horrendous outing, committing one psychical error, one mental error, and allowing a soul-crushing 2-run homer to seal the deal.

RECAP
Ah don't you just love staying up till 1:30 in the am just to see how the Sox can blow another game in the city that never sleeps (due to the high caffeine intake)?

The combination of the late hour plus the absurdity of how a team can amass 12 base hits, 6 in the first two innings, and lose the game makes for some...ah fuck it, I can't even type a coherent thought right now.

Bottom line is Boston had an inordinate amount of chances to not only win this game but blow it wide open early--like loading the bases twice in the first two innings yet scoring just 2 runs--but they managed to bungle away what seemed like a golden opportunity to break the Safeco Curse.
Shit, I'm so messed up I'm even using the dreaded 'C' word.

Thanks to an inopportune occurrence of MannyBeingManny, a couple of costly double plays, and a two-error 6th inning that allowed Seattle to take an undeserved 1-run lead, the Sox sent everyone to bed angry this evening. Morning. Whatever.

Speaking of going to bed, I'm heading there myself. I'll try to shed some light on this mess in the morning. Later this morning. Whatever. Goodnight.

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