Just a Hellacious Game

The title is a direct quote from St. Louis Cardinals' manager, Tony La Russa. He may have a point there. Both teams had opportunities to win yesterday's game, but time and time again failed to get it done. Jon Lester had yet another superb outing, lasting into the 8th inning, and only allowing 2 runs in the 6th inning. The 6th inning was the only inning Lester really got into any trouble at all, facing no more than 4 batters in any other inning.

Unfortunately for Lester, the Red Sox offense just could not get it done yesterday, and when he exited the game, the Sox were down 2-1, their only run coming off of a solo home run from Kevin Youkilis, the game's eventual hero. The Sox did threaten to blow the game open in the 8th inning. Coco Crisp lead of the inning with a triple and Julio Lugo brought him home with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2. Then, with 2 outs, Dustin Pedroia singled and stole second base. Cardinals' reliever, Chris Perez, then had a meltdown walking the next 3 batters in a row to allow the go ahead run to score, and earning himself a blown save. At this point, Manny Ramirez was at second base, and Terry Francona made a very logical move. Manny's hamstring has been bothering him, and Terry envisioned a single and Manny trying to score from second and aggravating the nagging hammy. So, with the Sox holding a 3-2 lead, and knowing Jonathan Papelbon would be pitching the 9th, Terry sent Brandon Moss in to pinch run for Manny. Nothing would come of that move, as the next batter, Kevin Youkilis, would strike out to end the inning. But, once the game went into extra innings, I bet Terry regretted not having his star slugger in the lineup.

Yes, the game went into extra innings on a somewhat rare blown save by Jonathan Papelbon. Paps looked great to start the 9th, striking out the first two batters he faced. However, he walked the third batter of the inning, which so often results in bad news. It did yesterday when Papelbon took a little something off of his fastball with the count 0-2, and Adam Kennedy rifled the 92 mph offering into center field for a long double that scored Chris Duncan from first base, tying the game at 3.

Extra innings were quite eventful. The Cardinals had runners at first and second base in the 10th, but Hideki Okajima struck out Rick Ankiel to end the threat. In the 11th inning, Okajima got into a jam with 2 outs and bases loaded. Francona called on Craig Hansen for help, and he delivered a strikeout to end tinning, and kept up the good work with a 1-2-3 12th inning. The Red Sox also had opportunities. In the 10th inning, Jacoby Ellsbury lead off with a double, and Dustin Pedroia bunted him to third base. But, JD Drew, cooled off for one day, struck out and Sean Casey flied out to strand Ellsbury 90 feet from a win. In the 11th inning, the Sox had runners at 1st and 2nd with one out, but Jason Isringhausen got both Alex Cora and Ellsbury to strike out swinging. Pedroia lead off the 12th inning with a double, but Drew's grounder to the pitcher allowed the Cardinals to trap Pedroia off second for the first out, and Sean Casey hit into a double play.

Tough game so far, but if you stuck with it through all the frustration, you were rewarded with a thrilling 13th inning. With one out in the top of the 13th, Javier Lopez allowed a double to Chris Duncan. The next batter, Adam Kennedy, hit a sharp ground ball to right field directly to JD Drew. The Cardinals were clearly desperate to score, and sent Duncan around third to home. JD Drew was not able to contribute with his bat yesterday, but he sure helped with the perfect throw he fired in to Jason Varitek. The throw took a friendly hop into Tek's glove, then Tek turned to see Duncan still three strides away, but lowering his shoulder knowing his only chance would be to plow Varitek over and hope the ball jars loose. Varitek braced himself for the collision, and then, at the last second he dropped low and Duncan's lunge passed too high rolling harmlessly over Tek as he applied the tag to prevent the run. Terrific play by the Captain to not only ensure the out but to also avoid possible injury.

So, Manny Ramirez is out of the game, and time is running out as well. The Cardinals had used every position player on their bench, and the Red Sox only had Kevin Cash left. Bullpens were down to their last pitcher or two. It was time to end this, but who could get it done? Kevin Youkilis, that's who. Mike Lowell lead off the inning with a single, and Youk launched a 3-1 fastball over the Green Monster to end the game with a 5-3 victory and end a two game losing streak.

Things won't get any easier for the Sox today as the first place Arizona Diamondbacks come to town. Josh Beckett gets the start on an extra day of rest. With the Sox bullpen being emptied out yesterday, this would be perfect timing for Beckett to pitch deep into the game! The Cardinals came to Boston just having suffered a 3 game sweep at the hands of the Royals only to take 2 of 3 from Boston. The Diamondback are coming to Boston just having suffered a 3 game sweep from the Minnesota Twins. Sound familiar? Let's hope the results are different this time!

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)

Cardinals Looking for Payback Sweep from Red Sox

With yesterday's 9-3 victory over Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Cardinals have a chance to sweep the Red Sox today and earn a little payback for the sweep the Red Sox put on them in the 2004 World Series. Yes, the victory was over Dice-K. Take the Dice-man out of the equation, and the Sox may have won that game. It was Matsuzaka's first outing coming back from the disabled list, and he simply had nothing to offer. How's this for a first inning? A walk, 3 singles, a double, and a home run resulting in a 4-0 lead for St. Louis right off the bat. In the inning, all nine Cardinals batter got to bat.

Not wanting to dip into the bullpen too early, Terry Francona sent Dice-K back out for the second inning, hoping he might settle down and keep them in the game. The first inning started with a walk to lead-off batter, Skip Schumaker, and the second started identically with another walk to Schumaker, followed by a single and another walk to load the bases with no out. Well, Francona finally threw in the towel, realizing that his starter had nothing to offer.

Earlier in the season the Red Sox had two pitchers in the bullpen who could handle long relief situations, Kyle Snyder and Julian Tavares, but both of them were cut loose. So, yesterday, Francona gave a rookie, Chris Smith, a chance to throw his very first pitch in the major leagues. Chris had been brought up from Pawtucket to add some depth to the bullpen when Dice-K was on the DL, and was allowed to stay after Dice-K's return by sending Mike Timlin to the DL with "knee tendinitis". For you non-medical professionals, I think you can translate "knee tendinitis" to mean "has been pitching like crap lately and we need an excuse to get him out of the bullpen".

So, Chris Smith has a chat with Jason Varitek on the mound, takes a deep breath, and gets ready to throw the most memorable pitch of his life to this point. That pitch was beautiful, an excellent slider that Rick Ankiel swung at and missed. It worked so well, that Varitek said, "throw another one just like that". Smith did just that, hitting nearly the exact same spot with the exact same result. Well, if it is working, it is working. Third pitch, another slider, exact same location, Ankiel swung and missed, and Chris Smith's career is forever in the books as starting off with a three pitch strikeout.

Varitek must have thought to himself, "the kid has a nice slider, let's see what else he has". So, bases still loaded with one out, Varitek called for a fastball. Way outside to the dangerous Troy Glaus. Okay, that did not work. How about a curve ball? Chris Smith threw the curve, it hung there like a pinata at a birthday party, and Troy Glaus clobbered it into the Green Monster seats for a grand slam. Welcome to the big leagues, Chris. Smith went on to turn in a very nice outing after that. Unlike Dice-K, he did settle down and showed us why he deserved a chance to pitch in Fenway Park as he retired the next nine batters in a row. He lasted 4 innings, which is incredible for a debut appearance by a rookie reliever, keeping St. Louis from scoring again off of him.

The Sox had one inning where they rallied for 2 runs, and even JD Drew, who smashed yet another home run, a solo shot in the 6th inning, could not help catch up to the enormous lead Dice-K had given the Cardinals.

The loss is the second in a row to the Cardinals in this series. This afternoon, the Cardinals have a chance to sweep the Red Sox and exact a little revenge for the 2004 World Series sweep the Red Sox handed them. However, to do so they'll have to get past Jon Lester. Lester has been pitching better and better this season, having won his last three starts, and you'll see the determination in his eyes as he bears down on the Cardinals lineup as he tries to make it four in a row. The win would give Lester a 7-3 record, tying him with Josh Beckett for the second most wins on the team, one shy of Dice-K's 8.

(Photos Courtesy of ESPN)