Maybe the win could be attributed to the fact that Seattle hasn't been able to get it together so far this season. Maybe it could be attributed to Varitek blending into the background because of his fancy camouflage gear and Colon really needing to concentrate to find him and his mitt. Either way, a win is good for the soul.
Colon looked really good tonight. He went seven innings on eighty-four pitches (which is almost where they wanted to get him.) He gave up one earned run on five hits. He walked one and struck out four. For the most part it was an easy outing for him. He had two 1-2-3 innings before he got himself into a mini-jam in the third: with one out he gave up a double and a single before getting a fly out and a ground out. Then he kept himself out of trouble until the sixth inning. The first two batters of the sixth reached via a single and a HBP. The third batter had a sacrifice bunt to move them over and the fourth batter grounded out to second to drive in a run. The last batter grounded out to end the inning. There was another mini-jam in the seventh. He struck out the first batter before giving up a base hit to the second. The third batter flied out to right. The fourth got a single and the other base runner moved over to third. The last batter harmlessly flied out to center.
Okajima took over in the eighth inning and was alright. He gave up a base hit to the first batter he saw but then got two fly-outs and a strike out. He wasn't following Farrell's first-pitch strike philosophy (only the first batter he saw got a first-pitch strike) and you wonder if the league is starting to catch onto him with all the foul balls but he was alright.
Papelbon was not alright. He came out for the ninth and needed to see six batters to get his three outs. He seemed to be having a bit of trouble finding the strike zone; of the six batters he faced he greeted four of them with a ball. I know that there's usually a slight air of confusion about Jason Varitek but at one point (I think it was after a pitch bounced in) the camera lingered on him and through his catching gear he looked absolutely befuddled by what had just been thrown at him. Papelbon struck out the first batter. He then allowed the next runner to reach on a piddly base hit (I don't think it was a sacrifice) back to him that he threw over Casey's head. The next batter got a single to right. With runners on first and third, Papelbon got the next batter to strike out swinging. The next batter got a base hit and drove in the first Mariners' run of the inning. To the last batter of the inning, Papelbon threw a pitch that bounced in front of Varitek and then got away from him, allowing the Mariners to get the second run of the inning; eventually the batter would be put out at first on a nice play by Pedroia.
Hernandez was really on his game at the start of the night. He plowed through the Red Sox order, going three-up-three-down for the first three innings. He seemed to be continuing in that dominating manner the second time through the order when, with two outs, Ortiz hit a solo shot to center.
After that he switched to pitching four-up-three-down for the next three innings. Drew singled in the fifth. Ellsbury walked in the sixth. Manny walked in the sixth but was then knocked out when Lowell hit into a double play, but Drew also drew a walk to make it four batters.
Their offensive push of the game came in the eighth inning. Casey started it off with a single to right. Lugo reached on a fielder's choice, narrowly beating out the double play. Ellsbury had a sacrifice hit to move Lugo over. Then Pedroia had a ground ruled double to bring Lugo around to score. They decided to intentionally walk Ortiz and pitch to Manny. Manny, who seems to have figured out how to hit again, singled to right and brought in Pedroia. (I'm fairly certain it was at this point that Hernandez fell apart.) Lowell reached on an infield single and Ortiz scored. Drew got an infield hit to load the bases and Varitek walked to knock in Manny.
To give credit where credit is due: the Mariners had some really nice defensive plays on the night. In the fifth inning, Ichiro Suzuki made a spectacular jumping catch into the wall to take extra bases (and a run by Drew) away from Varitek. In the ninth inning, Pedroia grounded into a double play to get the force out at third and then the put out at first. The third baseman dived for the ball, reached over to tag the base and then made a solid throw to first. It was impressive.
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