We get word following the wild win that Terry Francona, despite the victory, held a postgame meeting with his team that may or may not have included some four-letter words. The biggest ninth-inning comeback in Seattle history likely had something to do with that.
Clearly, there are a boatload of positives. John Lackey was brilliant, Hideki Okajima had a heroic effort out of the bullpen and Eric Patterson fills an unlikely role as savior.
But holy mackerel was that ninth inning a disaster and the defense was poor all night. Marco Scutaro and Bill Hall both have to be better than that and other members of the bullpen (Delcarmen, Papelbon) need to move on from this one.
That's what we will do after 3 a.m. on the East Coast. It's Josh Beckett's turn to make a comeback Friday opposite Jason Vargas. First pitch is 10:10 p.m. and we will follow all the action right here.
Final, Red Sox 8-6: It didn't need to be this difficult, but sometimes you have to earn your dues. The Sox blow a five-run lead in the ninth but rebound to claim a marathon victory in the series opener.
So much happened in this one that it's impossible to sum it all up in this small space, but just don't forget what John Lackey did. Although he left this game hours ago he remains the star with eight innings of two-hit ball.
We will wrap this up for you in a bit.
Mid 13th, Red Sox 8-6: The benches have been emptied, for the most part, so we see opportunities for guys like Eric Patterson to be heroes. Patterson takes advantage of the chance with a go-ahead two-run double with two outs in the 13th.
Ramon Ramirez will get a rare save chance here. Not to scare anyone but Ramirez has give up a run in six of his last 10 outings.
End 12th, 6-6: Just a few innings after they came out of their skin to put forth a game-tying rally, we saw the real Mariners. With the bases loaded and one out, Hideki Okajima gets Jose Lopez and Milton Bradley to pop up on consecutive pitches.
Great work by Okajima to get out of trouble and finish his second scoreless inning.
Mid 12th, 6-6: Very quietly, lost in the fact that John Lackey fell short of a no-hitter and the bullpen/defense collapsed in the ninth, 13 straight Red Sox hitters have been retired. Their last hit came on an Adrian Beltre single to start the eighth.
End 11th, 6-6: I'm trying to find positives for those of you staying up with me. Here's one: Hideki Okajima has thrown 2 1/3 scoreless innings since the All-Star break. He had been scored upon in four out of five appearances before the break.
Okajima does the job in the 11th. The Sox have the top of the order due up in the 12th.
Mid 11th, 6-6: Jed Lowrie caused many of us to stand up with a drive to right with two outs in the 11th. Sit down, everyone. Ichiro is out there. We head to the bottom of the 11th.
Dusty Brown and Jeremy Hermida are all that remain on the Red Sox bench.
End 10th, 6-6: Daniel Bard needed just 11 pitches to float through the 10th. Jonathan Papelbon needed 30 in the ninth. Manny Delcarmen, of course, threw 12 of his own without retiring a batter. His ERA has soared over 5.00.
I wonder how many people in the Boston area went to bed after John Lackey lost his no-hitter. Win or lose, they'll be stunned to see what happened — by logging onto NESN.com, of course.
Mid 10th, 6-6: Daniel Bard will start the bottom of the 10th inning after the Sox go quietly in the top half. Just to put the Mariners' five-run rally into perspective, they've scored as many as five runs in a GAME just twice all month.
End 9th, 6-6: Let it out, Sox fans. It's unhealthy to keep this kind of anger inside. Your team just committed two errors, both on potential double plays, and allowed the worst offense in the history of man to score five times in the ninth.
Again, questions can be asked about whether John Lackey should've been removed, or if Daniel Bard should've been used. Bottom line is the game remains undecided and they'll have to scrape themselves off the floor for another extra-inning affair.
The Sox are 3-8 in extra innings.
12:52 a.m.: Oh my. Another error, this time by Bill Hall, allows the tying run to come in and the Sox have somehow spoiled a brilliant effort by John Lackey.
12:39 a.m.: The tying run is now at second base after an RBI double by Casey Kotchman. This could be disastrous.
12:32 a.m.: I said John Lackey should've been given the chance to finish it off, and I stand by that. The second he leaves it all goes in the tank. Manny Delcarmen gives up a two-run homer and then the next two reach, one on a Marco Scutaro error, and Jonathan Papelbon has been summoned with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth.
Mid 9th, Red Sox 6-1: Nothing doing for the Sox in the ninth, but nothing really needed. They are three outs from moving to within four games of Tampa Bay in the wild card race. Manny Delcarmen takes over for John Lackey.
End 8th, Red Sox 6-1: The no-hitter is gone, as is the one-hitter, but a complete game is still in play for John Lackey. He has thrown 116 pitches and deserves the opportunity to finish things off.
12:15 p.m.: John Lackey's no-hit bid is broken up by Josh Bard, the former Red Sox catcher who entered the night hitting .180.
Mid 8th, Red Sox 6-1: It took nearly 20 minutes but led to no runs. John Lackey is back out there with six outs to go before his fifth career complete game in Safeco Field, and perhaps a piece of history.
12:01 a.m.: An Adrian Beltre single and a J.D. Drew walk has the Sox threatening in the top of the eighth. The Mariners are making a pitching change.
End 7th, Red Sox 6-1: If pitch count was to become an issue for John Lackey in his pursuit of history, then the seventh inning should help him out. Lackey needed only 11 pitches to retire the side in order and is at a manageable 103 overall.
The right-hander has set down 14 straight since hitting Jack Wilson with a pitch to start the third.
Mid 7th, Red Sox 6-1: Marco Scutaro gets a needed day off Wednesday and has responded with a 2-for-4 effort, including his fifth home run of the season in the top of the seventh.
With the homer the Sox have their second-highest runs total in the last 15 games.
End 6th, Red Sox 5-1: John Lackey strikes out the side in the sixth and has fanned five of the last six. The low-hit complete game of his career was a one-hitter at Oakland in 2006. He has a chance to better that, if you know what I'm saying.
Lackey has thrown 92 pitches. Could be some tough decisions coming up for Terry Francona.
Brian Sweeney has taken over for Mariners starter Ryan Rowland-Smith
Mid 6th, Red Sox 5-1: The home run ball hurts Ryan Rowland-Smith again, as this time J.D. Drew lines a first-pitch changeup into the seats in right for a two-run bomb.
Mike Lowell went 1-for-5 in his first rehab game for Pawtucket on Thursday. Daniel Nava, who was optioned after the loss in Oakland on Wednesday, went 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and two walks.
End 5th, Red Sox 3-1: John Lackey is absolutely cruising now. He strikes out two of three in the fifth and has retired eight straight. Somehow his pitch count (79) is a tad higher than you might expect, but he's making the Mariners' hitters look pretty pathetic at times.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 3-1: All you Kevin Cash bashers can just chill out. He has quietly put together his first three-game hitting streak since April 2008 with a single in the fifth.
Cash moved to second with two outs when Darnell McDonald walked. David Ortiz grounded to second to finish it.
End 4th, Red Sox 3-1: Not to be outdone, John Lackey follows up Ryan Rowland-Smith's perfect inning with the first of his own. Lackey has had four complete games in this park.
Contrary to what I saw earlier, Rowland-Smith has had two, not one, perfect frames. So for the hundreds of you tracking that stat category tonight, my apologies.
Mid 4th, Red Sox 3-1: Ryan Rowland-Smith has a 1-2-3 fourth, which is an achievement in its own self considering how his season has gone.
We already know that the Yankees have won so as we sit here the Red Sox' deficit in the division is 7 1/2 games, eight in the loss column. Tampa Bay is idle.
End 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: John Lackey has allowed one run on zero hits through three. Three Mariners have reached on a walk, an error and a hit batter and the run came in on a passed ball. Odd line developing for the big righty, who turned a double play and had a strikeout in the third.
Mid 3rd, Red Sox 3-1: Much was made of Adrian Beltre's return to Seattle, but nobody seemed to mention Bill Hall's. He played just half a season here, but Hall makes a big splash in his Jet City comeback by hammering a two-run homer in the top of the third.
Interestingly enough, Hall was horrendous in Safeco Field in his short time with the Mariners. He hit .131 (8-for-61) with an embarrassing 25 strikeouts in Seattle last year.
The blast is the 19th surrendered by Ryan Rowland-Smith, tied for fourth-most in the American League.
Marco Scutaro later singled and eventually scored on David Ortiz's base hit. Ortiz entered the at bat batting .115 (3-for-26) since the All-Star break.
I noticed a commenter asking about more info on Jack Hannahan, whom the Sox acquired from Seattle this afternoon. Click here to learn a bit more.
End 2nd, Mariners 1-0: When you walk Milton Bradley, who is hitting .194 (6-for-31) with just one extra-base hit this month, to lead off an inning, you almost deserve to be scored upon. Sure enough, Bradley steals second, moves to third on a grounder and scores the game's first run on a passed ball by Kevin Cash.
It was a fastball that John Lackey threw that was just a bit inside and up. Cash should've had it, but may have been expecting a different pitch as he was slow to react. That's what happens when you have guys who are not familiar with one another.
Seattle has not won two straight this entire month. It won at home against Chicago on Wednesday so here is an opportunity to end that drought.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: Adrian Beltre got a somewhat lackluster response in his return to Seattle. Little applause, very few boos. Really not much of anything. He was cheered loudly, however, when he hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
Beltre entered as just a .252 career hitter in Safeco Field, where fans are not used to the production he has provided this year. He did hit at least 25 home runs three times with the M's, but he never flirted with a batting crown.
End 1st, 0-0: That is somewhat of a tough error call on Bill Hall with two outs in the bottom of the first, but he'll be the first to tell you he should've had it. No worries, Bill. John Lackey gets Jose Lopez on a five-foot chopper in front of the plate to get out of the first.
Lopez is one of several Mariners having a career-worst year. Just 26, Lopez hit .297 with 89 RBIs two years ago and is coming off a 25-homer, 96-RBI campaign in 2009.
After his out in the first Lopez is batting .237 with six homers and 39 RBIs this season. His on-base percentage is .268. Yikes.
Mid 1st, 0-0: It's been a horrible season in Seattle, but they still have Ichiro, who has a chance to thrill on a daily basis. He may have already provided the play of the night with a remarkable catch at the wall on a drive by David Ortiz. Ichiro leaped and caught it as he hammered into the wall, reaching behind his head a bit as he seemed to slightly overrun it.
Hard to tell on first glance if it would've been a home run or if it would've hit the top of the wall. Regardless, a fantastic grab.
Not sure if we need to keep feeding you this number, but it speaks to this offensive funk for the Red Sox as much as anything — Boston has scored four runs or less in eight straight games. The Ichiro catch helps Ryan Rowland-Smith start well.
9:53 p.m.: Some of the injury updates out of Seattle are very promising. Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury have each taken some significant steps in the past 24 hours or so.
Martinez caught Tim Wakefield's bullpen session Thursday and will catch Clay Buchholz's this weekend. The Buchholz session will be big because he throws much harder than Wakefield, a true test for Martinez's healing left thumb.
If all goes well then, expect Martinez's return to come soon.
Pedroia took some swings in Seattle. When the team heads south to face Anaheim he will get a checkup with Dr. Lewis Yocum, at which point a real timetable to getting him back on the field could come into picture.
Ellsbury has begun swinging in the cage in Fort Myers. He will do so again Friday and Terry Francona told reporters that Ellsbury might be ready for minor league games next week.
9:24 p.m.: Two weeks ago this series looked to be a bit more of a challenge as the Sox could've been facing both Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee. The way the rotation broke allows for Boston to miraculously miss Hernandez, and we all know what happened to Lee.
It gives the Sox an advantage on the mound in at least three of the four games (for Friday night I might take Jason Vargas over Josh Beckett, primarily because of the rust factor).
That advantage is no greater than in the opener. While this has not been John Lackey's best season statistically, he has dominated the Mariners in the past. Lackey is 8-5 with two shutouts and a 3.03 ERA in his career at Safeco Field and owns a remarkable 1.71 mark over his last six starts vs. Seattle.
On the other side of things is Ryan Rowland-Smith, a big lefty from Australia who figured to be the No. 3 starter behind Hernandez and Lee after a solid 2009 campaign that saw him go 5-4 with a 3.74 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.
It hasn't worked out that way.
Rowland-Smith, whose selection by yours truly in the somewhat early rounds of a fantasy draft is still being mocked months after I dropped him, has lasted as long as six innings just five times in 17 starts. He has three more walks (37) than strikeouts.
The one scenario which might give Mariners fans a small dose of confidence lies in Rowland-Smith's home/road splits. In Safeco he is just 1-4 but his ERA is 4.35 (compared to 7.83 on the road) and he has held opponents to a .239 average. In addition, the 27-year-old has given up just three home runs in 41 1/3 innings at home.
Rowland-Smith is also known to have some unique training methods.
7:55 p.m.:The daily roster shuffle brings us Jeremy Hermida, who has not played since June 9. Daniel Nava was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket after Wednesday's loss in Oakland.
Hermida was hitting just .217 but had a bunch of big hits for the Sox early in the season and provides pop off the bench, or in the occasional spot start that Nava could not (the grand slam in his debut notwithstanding).
While the Boston outfield has had some nice stories this year it has not produced too much offensively. All three outfield positions have a collective OPS that ranks no better than seventh in the AL. Each is below the league average.
Also, we have a report that the Sox have acquired veteran infielder Jack Hannahan from Seattle for a player to be named later and some cash. We are awaiting confirmation on the move, which would give the club some minor league depth at third base, presumably.
Speaking of the minors and third baseman, our own Ricky Doyle has Mike Lowell beginning his rehab at Pawtucket on Thursday.
We will have more updates in a little while. To hold you over, here is the vaunted Mariners lineup (sarcasm):
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Chone Figgins, 2B
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Jose Lopez, 3B
Milton Bradley, LF
Justin Smoak, DH
Casey Kotchman, 1B
Josh Bard, C
Jack Wilson, SS
6:47 p.m.: The Sox have headed up the coast to Seattle for a four-game series that has a few "must-wins" in it, at least in terms of some matchups that seem to heavily favor the visitors. Thursday is one such matchup.
Big John Lackey was signed to a massive contract to not only perform in the games against the Yankees and Rays and Angels and Twins, but to also dominate meager offensive units such as the Mariners.
And on the other side is a lefty in Ryan Rowland-Smith whose season, expected by some to be a breakout campaign, has been a disaster. If the majors' top offense (now by just two runs) cannot get to him at some point then you will really feel those voids at second base and catcher.
Without the missing All-Stars Dustin Pedroia and Victor Martinez, here is the Red Sox lineup for the opener, complete with ex-Mariner Adrian Beltre:
Marco Scutaro, SS
Darnell McDonald, LF
David Ortiz, DH
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Cameron, CF
Bill Hall, 2B
Kevin Cash, C
Back in a moment with some pregame updates.
8 a.m.:The Red Sox' 10-game road trip was billed by many as a do-or-die excursion with the club already slumping and never having much success out West.
Thus far, the battle for survival has not gone well.
After losing the last two games in a three-game set in Oakland, Boston, a loser of 10 of 14 overall, heads to Seattle to take on the last-place Mariners in the first of four straight at Safeco Field on Thursday.
John Lackey, who is 12-9 with four complete games in his career against Seattle, gets the nod for the Sox. Ryan Rowland-Smith, a disappointing lefty, goes for the Mariners.
Jeremy Hermida is expected to be activated in the Red Sox' latest step toward a return to health.
First pitch is 10:10 p.m.
