The much awaited return of Josh Beckett to the rotation started out well enough. His first three innings went well. In the first inning, he gave up a base hit to the first batter that was aided by an error on the part of Mike Lowell and a double to the third but got out of the inning without allowing any runs. The second inning he got a line out to Drew and two strike outs. The third inning ended after a line out to Pedroia, a walk, a strike out, and a pop out.
As his pitch count started to climb, his performance started to slip. He walked to the first batter he faced in the fourth and then gave up a two-run shot to Vernon Wells. Manny made a nice defensive play on a line drive to left to keep Thomas, as the next batter, from getting a double. They got a put out at first on the next batter but the fifth batter of the inning got a base hit. Finally, he managed to strike out the last batter of the inning but the Jays were up 1-2.
He was scheduled to throw around eighty pitches today and when he came back in for the fifth inning he had already thrown seventy of them. He got two quick outs to start the inning-both put outs at first-but gave up a base hit to the third batter. Then, he proceeded to walk the next two batters before Francona pulled him.
He was replaced by Manny Del who threw one bad pitch to one very good hitter; which resulted in the Jays being up 2-6. He did end the inning by striking out the next batter. If I was the type to question the decisions of the manager, then I would wonder about the choice to go with Manny Delcarmen after he gave up a two run home run to Thomas the other day; but I'm really not so I won't. David Aardsma came in for the sixth inning. He gave up a base hit to the first batter (aided by an error by Lugo), struck out the next two batters, walked a batter, allowed a base hit (score 2-7), and got a pop out to end the inning.
Okajima came in for the eighth and had a one-two-three inning, even though he gave up a base hit to the first batter. They managed to turn a double play on the next batter and got a put out at first on the last batter. Papelbon came in for the ninth and struck out the three batters he saw.
Defensively and offensively, Lugo really had a rough game. He committed three errors and missed some plays. He had four at bats and made contact with the ball each time but failed to get to first each time. Hopefully, with some rest he can get over this and it doesn't become a problematic slump of sorts.
There was some good news to come out of this game, though. JD Drew continues to swing the bat really well; he had two hits (a single and a home run), he only struck out once, and he popped out in the ninth. Varitek and Ellsbury both hit home runs. Youkilis hit a triple and Ortiz had a base hit. And they very nearly came back in the ninth (not that I saw it what with NESN going black and all.)
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