Yesterday was the final game of the three game series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Our last hope of not being swept. Beckett was back and the Sox have a pretty good track record against Halladay. This was the one we could win. That's what I believed and it looked like it could actually happen.
Ellsbury hit a solo home run in the 3rd. Sure, a lead off walk followed by a home run from Vernon Wells put the Jays ahead 2-1 in the fourth. But Varitek came right back in the fifth with another solo shot to tie up the game 2-2. The game may have been tied, but there were still four more innings and Beckett was doing great. The operative word there being "was".
The bottom of the 5th inning - that's when it all went bad.
It started out well enough. Beckett struck out McDonald and got Stewart to hit a grounder to Mike Lowell. But then Aaron Hill lined to left center. Alex Rios walked. And Vernon Wells walked on just four pitches. Beckett was done and Francona agreed. He was pulled after 92 pitches and the bases loaded in favor of Manny Delcarmen. Delcarmen would be facing Frank Thomas - the same guy he gave up a home run to in game one of this three game series. And here's that one pitch I was talking about.
The first pitch Delcarmen threw, a 96 mph fast ball to the inside corner. Thomas took that fast ball and crushed it over the left center field wall for a grand slam that would put the Jays on top 6-2. A lead they would never relinquish. Delcarmen, and everyone else, knew it was a home run as soon as the ball left the bat. Delcarmen would get the next batter, Lyle Overbay, to strike out and end the inning, but the damage had been done. That grand slam killed any chance the Sox had of winning this game.
There was a small glimmer of hope in the 9th inning when McDonald's off balance throw to Overbay allowed Lowell to reach first base. Then Varitek singled to right center field allowing Lowell to get to third. There were two men on with only one out and the tying run was coming to the plate in Jacoby Ellsbury who already had a home run for the day. I moved to the edge of my seat thinking maybe there really is a chance. Maybe we can turn this thing around. After all, we've done it before. But that glimmer was smashed out when this happened:
That's when I knew the game was over and we'd lost. I didn't have to hear Ellsbury strike out or Lugo, who'd been awful all day, pop out to center field. When that picture came up on my TV screen saying there were technical difficulties, I thought "You got that right."
The Red Sox definitely had technical difficulties today. Between Delcarmen's pitch to Frank Thomas and Julio Lugo's THREE errors, today was a difficult day. But at least they're done traveling for awhile. Tuesday's game against the Tigers is back at Fenway. Being home may not relieve thier playing woes, but at least being back in their own stadium surrounded by the Fenway faithful will give them a leg up and hopefully we can put all these "technical difficulties" behind us.
No comments:
Post a Comment