Beckett v. Bailey (Game 72)

While certainly not as exciting, that was definitely a better way to win a ballgame-take the lead early and authoritatively, and don't give in.

Josh Beckett pitched really well in the game. He threw ninety-eight pitches over seven innings of shut-out ball. He walked two and allowed six hits but got six strike outs. In the first two innings he got himself into a two-on-two-out situation but got a strike out (in the first) and a pop out (in the second) to work his way out of there. After the first two innings, he had a pretty easy time of it. They went down 1-2-3 in the third. He allowed a two-out single in the fourth and in the fifth. He had a 1-2-3 sixth. He started off the seventh inning by allowing two base hits before getting a fly out to left and a double play.

David Aardsma came in for the eighth inning and did a decent job. He walked the first batter of the inning; which is never a good thing but it turned out to be harmless. He got the next batter to pop out, the third batter to fly out, and the last batter to ground out.

Mike Timlin came out to finish off the game and pitched really well. Timeeh got the first two batters to strike out looking on eight pitches. He then got the last batter of the game to ground out to the shortstop.

The offense was the real story of the game, though. In the first inning, Ellsbury got a base hit on an 0-2 count. He stole second. He stole third. He broke the record for most stolen bases in a season by a Red Sox rookie (and the season isn't even half over.) Then he came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Pedroia.

In the second inning, Varitek drew a one-out walk. Then Coco hit a two-run home run to right.

In the third inning, Ellsbury was again swinging on a 0-2 count. This time, however, he deposited the ball in the seats behind right field. Pedroia flied out to left for the first out. JD Drew hit a home run to right to make the score five to nothing. Lowell walked, Youkilis struck out, and Varitek grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Sadly, they didn't score any runs in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, however, they were able to bury the Reds a little deeper. It wasn't a terribly auspisicious beginning but Pedroia started it off by grounding out to the shortstop. Drew followed it up by drawing a walk. Lowell followed that up by getting a base hit. Youkilis followed that up by getting a base hit to left; Drew scooted around to score another run and Lowell moved to third when Adam Dunn dropped the ball. Still with only one out, Varitek walked to load the bases for Coco. Coco got a single to left and both Lowell and Youkilis scored. Lugo flied out to the warning track in center and Beckett grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

There was still more scoring to be done in the sixth. After Ellsbury grounded out, Pedroia hit a home run to left to make the score nine to nothing; which is where it stayed for the rest of the game.

Lugo did have another throwing error (in the first inning), which according to Remy came from trying to rush a throw to first to turn a double play when he didn't have to rush. No excuses but let's hope that he's not getting himself into another funk, especially if they should prove to be costly errors.