That was a squeaker.
When the news came down that they had pulled Beckett, that Varitek still wasn't well enough to play, and that they had sent Manny Del home, it didn't seem very promising. It left you with a AAA pitcher and the bullpen against the vaunted Angels lineup and with what seemed like a pieced-together lineup with little pop of it's own to respond in kind. It was destined to be an interesting game (in terms of watching the machinations of a good baseball mind in Francona)-maybe not a fun game to watch but definitely an interesting one.
Also, the idea of Pedroia doing the catching if Cash had gone down was a very amusing one. I could see him dressed in Varitek's gear, the shin guards coming half way up his thighs, waddling onto the field only to discover that because of the padding he can't bend his knees. It's easy enough to imagine his enthusiasm getting the better of him and getting him into trouble. Or a one hundred mile per hour fast ball coming screaming in at him and knocking him over and taking the umpire out as well. If the score wouldn't have been affected too much by the outcome, that would be something I would very much be interested in seeing.
Anyway. Dave Pauley held his own at the beginning of the game. He had two 1-2-3 innings to start the game (four ground outs, a fly out, and a strike out.) The bottom third of their lineup got to him in the third inning, though. He gave up double, a base hit (which plated the first Angels' run), and another double to start them off. He walked their lead-off man before getting the next two batters to pop up to shallow center and shallow right for the first two outs. He gave up another base hit (for two more runs) before getting a fly out to end the inning. In the fourth inning he got the first batter to fly out, walked the second (who later stole second), gave up a home run to the third (giving the Angels five runs) and a double to the fourth, before getting the fifth batter to strike out and the sixth batter to line out. He started out the fifth inning with a strike out and a base hit before he was pulled.
It was a respectable performance by Pauley. Sure, he gave up seven hit and five runs but considering who the batters were that he got out there's no way you couldn't call it decent. He struck out Chone Figgins, Gary Matthews Jr., and Vladimir Guerrero. Except for Anderson, the heart of their lineup was unable to even get a hit off him. Not too shabby.
Tavarez finished the fifth inning, pitched the sixth, and started the seventh. He ended the fifth by getting Torii Hunter to ground into a double play. In the sixth inning although he walked the second batter he saw, he got three ground outs to first to get out of any trouble. He gave up two base hits to start the seventh inning and the runners moved over to second and third on a throwing error by Cash before Tavarez was replaced with Okajima.
Okajima pitched a honey of an inning in the seventh. With runners on second and third, he got Guerrero to fly out, Anderson to pop up, and Hunter to strike out. Unfortunately, he started the eighth inning by giving up a game tying home run. He then got two ground outs but also gave up a double to end his outing. Timlin took over from Okajima, got the ground out to first to end the inning and the win. Papelbon pitched the ninth inning. He got two strike outs and a fly out to left.
Even though they looked like a rag-tag lineup not capable of a whole lot of power, they were able to piece together seven runs and take the game. In fact, with the exception of the third inning (when Weaver struck out the side) they had at least one base runner on in each inning. The game started off with a bang when Jacoby Ellsbury hit a home run right out of the gate. After that they didn't score again until the fourth inning. With one out, Drew got a base hit. With two outs, Cash got a base hit. Then Lugo knocked Drew across with a base hit of his own.
They scored again in the fifth inning. Pedroia led off the inning with a double and came around to score on an Ortiz base hit. Manny flew out to right but Youkilis hit a two-run home run to left to tie the game. They would then pull ahead in the sixth inning. Cash struck out to start the inning and then Lugo was called out at first (when he was, in fact, safe) for the second out. When up to the plate sauntered Ellsbury, on a one-one count he swung at the next pitch and sent the ball back out to right for his second home run of the night. Pedroia followed that up with a double but Ortiz grounded out before anything could come of that.
The eighth inning started with Lugo grounding out to the pitcher. Ellsbury again came up to the plate but this time he laid down a very good bunt for a hit. Pedroia shuffled up behind him and sent the two-one pitch down the left field line to the base of the wall for a double and Ellsbury came around to once again give the Red Sox the lead. Ortiz walked and with first base open they decided to pitch to Manny (at that point I was thinking wistfully of Girardi and Mussina but, alas, the result was not the same.) Manny grounded into a fielder's choice for the force out at second and Youkilis popped out to end the inning.
Really a very exciting game.
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