Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Masterson v. Kendrick (Game 75)


Masterson struggled against the overly lefty Phillie line up. He ended up walking only two batters but he repeatedly fell behind in the count and had to throw a considerable number of pitches to get through the fifth inning (ninety-two in all, fifty-three for strikes.) The offense did give him a hefty early-lead to work with and he did only allow two runs on four hits. The defense also got him out of a situation in the second inning-the Phillies had two on and one out, with the game tying run at the plate; after repeatedly bunting the ball foul, Kendrick bunted one into the air-Casey caught it and threw to second to turn a nifty little double play.

Javier Lopez took over in the sixth inning. He had a 1-2-3 inning that consisted of three groundouts-one to short, one to second, and one to first.

Craig Hansen took over when the Phillies pinch hit in the seventh inning. He did not have an easy time of it. He gave up a single to the first batter (a more accurate throw by Lugo might have resulted in an out) and allowed the runner to steal second. He walked the second batter of the inning. Then they each moved up a base on a wild pitch. Then, having not yet gotten a batter out, Hansen gave up a single that allowed the two base runners to score.

At that point, he got the hook in favor of Manny Del. Delcarmen did an excellent job. He came into a tough situation. The lead had been cut to seven-four, there was a runner on first, and there were still no outs. The first thing Manny Del did was to make the situation even tougher. He walked the first batter-which brought the tying run to the plate and pushed him right into the meatiest part of the Phillies lineup. He got the first batter to pop out to second. Then he got Utley to fly out to left and Howard to strike out swinging-no damage done. Delcarmen came back out for the eighth inning. He had a 1-2-3 inning, consisting of two fly outs and a strike out.

Papelbon finished the game off in style . He got his twenty-first save of the season with a questionable strike out, a spectacular catch on a pop up by Varitek, and a fly out to left.

The offense got out to a hot start for Masterson. Ellsbury started off the first inning by getting a single to right. Pedroia followed him with another single to right. JD Drew followed him with a three-run home run to right. Lowell followed him a home run to left.

They scored again in the third inning. With one out, JD Drew got a double. Lowell was hit by a pitch. Casey lined out but Varitek walked to load the bases. Then Brandon Moss came out (as a replacement for Coco who did something to his hand) and got a single to center and brought in two more runs. They reloaded the bases when Lugo drew a walk but I'll forgive the men-left-on-base as Masterson was the next batter and, bless him, the boy looks completely lost at the plate even with the hearty swings he was taking.

The last run the Sox put on the board occurred in the fourth inning. With one out, Pedroia doubled to left and then JD Drew got a single to bring him home.

No comments: