Aces Wild

With two of the best pitchers in the majors, Josh Beckett and Jake Peavey going at it today, I thought is was a good time to do a Bill Simmons-ripoff running diary of what might prove to be one of the best games of the season.

4:00 pm - I feel good about this one Despite looking helpless last night against Chris Young, I think the Sox will bounce back today. They are 18-4 in days games which bodes well for the contest today in sunny San Diego.

4:05 pm - Looks like a continuation of last night for the Sox in the first inning. Peavey is filthy. San Diego is for real based on their pitching. Watching the Sox feebly flail away at Greg Maddox, Young and now Peavey has been painful.

4:16 pm - Second Inning. Home plate umpire Dana Demuth is having a rough day to say the least. I don't blame the hitters and pitchers from both teams from scratching their heads. He just called a strike on J. D. Drew that was at least six inches outside. On the very next pitch, he obviously comes back with a makeup call on a ball that is right on the corner.

4:23 pm - The Padres are desperately trying to help the Sox by getting Peavey killed in this one. First Baseman Adrian Gonzalez waits for Peavey to cover first on a routine grounder he should have handled himself. Drew nearly tramples Peavey rushing over to cover. Then after Jason Varitek drops in a seeing eye blooper into short left field, Shortstop Khalil Greene and left fielder Russel Branyan collide. Branyan picks up the ball as Varitek barrells toward an uncovered third base. He tries to lead a diving Peavey who came over to cover. Tek nearly decapitates Peavey. This is very good for the BoSox. At this rate, Peavey will be dead by the fourth inning.

4:28 pm - Wtih two down and Tek on third Useless Lugo steps in. He takes three balls and I find myself hoping they walk him so Beckett will get a chance to drive in the run. That's how bad it has gotten for the $36 million bust out shortstop. Tito gives Lugo the green light on 3-0 and Mr. .193 fouls one off then takes a called strike. He predictably dribbles one to second base to kill another scoring chance.
Three and a half more years of Lugo at $9 mil per year is going to be difficult to fathom. Who is Theo going to pay this offseason to take this mistake off our hands.

4:40 pm - Third inning. Crisp is coming around finally. He drills one into the gap for a hit. Mike Cameron and Cruz Jr. look at each other as it drops between them. Think Cameron was having flashbacks of the horrific collision he was involved with several years ago with the Mets?

4:45 pm - Alex Cora battles Peavey in a great at-bat, fouling off pitch after pitch. He finally drills a single to right to put runners on first and second. Crisp and Cora made Peavey throw 17 pitches and ended up with two on and none out for this efforts. He is up to 50 pitches already. How to work him boys.
Speaking of Cora, he would look good at short for a few games in a row.

4:47 pm - Big Papi gets a single between first and second to score Coco. 1-0 Sox and Cora moves to third.

4:50 pm - Manny lifts a sac fly to right to score Cora to make it 2-0 Sox. That may be all we get today. Beckett is going to have to make that stand up, I fear. Although the pitch count continues to rise for Peavey. Of course the Padre bullpen is no day at the beach either.

4:55 pm - Geoff Blum butchers a ground ball but they give Drew a basehit on it. I'm thinking they will change that later. Clearly an error. First and third and two outs.

5:00 pm - Mike Lowell dinks one into right and Papi steams home to make it 3-0. Nice hand slide as Cruz Jr. hesitates just enough to allow Ortiz to get in there.

5:01 pm - Tek drills one to deep left, but Branyan runs it down to end the 23 minute inning.

5:05 pm - Good news from out of town. SF is leading the Yanks 2-0 in the third.

5:06 pm - Blum singles, advances on Peavey's sacrifice bunt and goes to third on a sac fly. Two down and runner on third. Routine grounder to Lugo, who is apparently still in there for his defense. He pumps and throws a one hopper at Papi's feet. Ortiz scoops it and saves Lugo from more embarassment. Lugo is awful.

5:10 pm - Top of the fourth. Lugo leads off. Isn't that the way it always happens? The guys who makes the terrible play leads off the next inning. He hits a harmless grounder to third. He is now 0 for his last 25. Ugh.

5:12 pm - Beckett works a full count and drills a single to right. Shouldn't Beckett be batting eighth and Lugo ninth?

5:18 pm - No further damage but Peavey is up to 92 pitches after four innings. Action in the SD bullpen.

As an aside, the Padre fans came to play today. They are noticably louder than they were the last two days and the "Let's go Padres" chants are clearly drowning out the large Sox contingent.
Kevin, Corey and I witnessed this phenomenon first hand last year when we went to Philadelphia for a weekend series. On Friday and Saturday, Sox Nation took over Citizens Bank Park, clearly embarrassing the home town team. But on Sunday, the Philly folks were on a mission and were not going to be overrun by out of towners. We sat next to a particularly vocal one who was borderline violent and was not to be outshouted. Sitting quietly in our Sox gear, we didn't even try.

5:30 pm - Top of the fifth. Manny and Drew lead off with singles and Remy opines that all the running around Peavey had to do early may have taken something out of him. That may be the case since he is clearly not the same pitcher he was early in the game. He is approaching 100 pitches.

5:37 pm - Two out and Lugo coming up. Please walk him. No such luck, easy grounder to short to force Drew and end the inning. Why is Lugo playing while Youk and Pedroia are sitting out? Tito is going to have to sit this stiff soon. He is now 0 for his last 26.

5:44 pm - Gapper by pinch hitter Tremell Sledge (which I believe is a made up name) knocks in two to make it a one run game.

5:53 pm - No further damage as Beckett pitches out of it but now Sox lead is 3-2 after five.

5:55 pm - Top of the sixth. Royce Ring in to pitch. These can't be real names.

5:59 pm - Cora singles up the middle. He is 2 for 2 with a walk and an HBP. He has been on more today than Lugo has for the entire month of June.

6:00 pm - Papi strikes out and tosses his bat again. He got into a beef with Demuth on the second called strike. He probably needs to knock that off. As my two umpiring sons can attests, barking at the umps only makes things worse in the long run.

6:21 pm - Guzman crushes one but Manny hauls it in just in front of the 357 ft sign. At Fenway that is on the garage roof and the score is tied 3-3. Why would you build a beautiful ballpark but give it the dimensions of an airport? I like a good pitchers' duel as much as the next guy, but not every night. I don't see the Padres getting many free agent sluggers in this canyon. The Pitchers would be interested though.

6:28 pm - Bottom of the seventh. Beckett strikes out Cruz to end the inning. He's over 100 pitches and that's probably it for him. Good job. He clearly outdueled Peavey today.

6:32 pm - Top of the eighth. Tek hits a howitzer into the beach in right center to make it 4-2. Scott Linebrink grooved a 3-0 fastball and Tek croaked it.

6:34 pm - Lugo is up. It's 3-0. Maybe he'll walk!

6:34 pm - Strike one called.

6:34 pm - Strike two called.

6:34 pm - Foul ball.

6:35 pm - Ball four!

6:35 pm - It's been so long since Lugo has been on base, he is clearly confused and trots down the third base line. (only kidding).

6:36 pm - Beckett is hitting which means he is going out for the eighth. Not sure I like that. He fake bunts and slaps a liner to Linebrink who grabs it and promptly doubles Lugo off first. That's more like it. Back to the bench Julio.

6:45 pm - Beckett gets Greene to pop out to end the inning. Great job. That will definitely be it for him.

6:53 pm - Sox go quickly in the ninth and Papelbon is in to close it out.

6:55 pm - Pap K's Branyan on high heat for the first out.

6:57 pm - Pap K's Kouzmanoff on 3 fastballs

7:00 pm - Easy grounder to Cora at second to end it. Pap was unhittable. Gee, don't you wish we kept him as a fifth starter. I'm sure Piniero would have come in and done the same thing.

Taking two of three from the Pads is huge. The Sox only scored seven runs in the series but that is what pitching and timely hitting will do for you.

Beckett is now 11-1 best in the majors.

This San Diego team looks like the class of the NL. With that pitching, they will smother the Mets in a short series. The real question is whether they have enough hitting.

The Sox took four of six winning the first two series on this brutal road trip. Now on to Seattle and even one of three there will give them a successful 5-4 trip. Then back to home cooking at Fenway and a much easier July.

Looking Good!