Watching Daisuke pitch is headache-inducing. He throws one hundred and eighteen pitches but only makes it five and two-thirds of an inning into the ballgame. He gives up three runs on six hits. He strikes out seven but walks six batters. And he gets the win. I don't know how he does it.
Lopez came in to finish off the sixth inning for Daisuke. He seems to have tapped into Jason Varitek's ability to will his goals into being achieved. While Varitek decides to become a two-time champion, Lopez devotes his mental powers to playing mind games with me. He came into the game with two outs and a runner on second to face the leftie Gordon. And for the second time in three days, he did his job. He got the strike out on four pitches. I want to like Lopez (after all, he's certainly not a bad looking guy.) I want to trust that he'll be able to get his outs. With his history of being unable to do that, however, it's hard to think he's turned a corner. But maybe this time, though.
Hansen came out for the seventh inning and didn't have the best of luck. He gave up a homerun to the first batter he faced. He walked the second batter and gave up a double to the third batter that allowed the runner to score. He got two of his outs (on a fly out and a pop out) before he walked another batter. Luckily for him, he got the last batter to ground out to first to get himself out of there.
Aardsma came out for the eighth inning and it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I swear. It's not just because I've decided to back him. It wasn't. Yeah, he gave up the homerun but he didn't walk anyone! A definite plus! And he didn't hit anyone! Even better! He got the first batter to strike out. To the next batter he gave up a single, that Pedroia very nearly had. Then he gave up another single, which Cora (who was a defensive replacement for Lugo) very nearly had for the force out at second and could possibly have been a double play ball. Unfortunately for him, neither of those defensive plays were possible but he did get the next batter to fly out to right. Then he gave up the homerun to bring everyone home and cut the Sox lead to three. He did get the last batter to strike out, though.
Papelbon came out for the ninth. He got two ground outs to start the inning. Then he gave up two singles before getting the last batter to fly out to left.
The Red Sox got the hitting started in the second inning. Manny got a single. Lowell got a single. Youkilis got a single. And then JD Drew sidled up to the plate. With no outs, he watched the first pitch sail past his knees for a strike. The next two pitches came in low and away. The fourth pitch he saw was still away but a little too high and he nudged it foul. The next one, though, while still away was just the right height. He started his beautiful swing, put good contact on the ball, and shot it up over the wall for the grand slam. He returned to the dugout all smiles.
They scored another run in the third inning. With two outs, Lowell hit a ground ruled double to right. Youkilis then got a single and Lowell came around to score.
In the sixth inning they got themselves some more runs. Drew got a single to start things off. Cash got a single and Drew moved over to third. Lugo hit a sacrifice fly and Drew came in. Ellsbury walked. Pedroia got a double to bring in Cash. With Ellsbury on third and Pedroia on second, Ortiz popped out for the second out of the inning. Unlike Joe Girardi, they decided to walk Manny, which brought Mike Lowell to the plate. The first pitch thrown to him was too high and too far inside. The next one was still inside but was much lower. It was just about knee high, in fact. Mike Lowell whacked at the ball and it skimmed just over the top of the wall for the second grand slam of the game.
Lastly, regarding Lugo's baserunning miscues: they weren't all that bad, either. He was caught stealing in the second and called out at home in the fourth. In the second, he had reached via a single. Twice the pitcher unsuccessfully tried to pick him off but he was just unlucky on the pitch he decided to actually run on. The pitch which was, presumably, supposed to be a strike ended up being close to a pitch out and Lugo just wasn't fast enough to beat the throw. In the fourth, there were two outs when he was standing on second. It's true that Lugo had very little chance of making it home a single to right that didn't leave the infield and Mills probably shouldn't have waved him around but the batter was Ortiz. Ortiz was not going to make it safely to first and the inning would have been over. The only chance to keep the inning going was to take the chance of sending Lugo and hoping that the throw to home was off. It wasn't and he was out but it was certainly a risk (if you could call it that) worth taking.
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