Final, Orioles 6-4: That completes a 3-7 homestand and runs Boston’s record this month to 5-16. The Angels are within 2 1/2 and we’ll have to see what the Rays do tonight and tomorrow.
Fenway begins to clear out with two outs in the ninth. Boos are heard as the final out is recorded on a weak comebacker. Some of those fans have to wonder if these gates will open again in 2011.
We will head down for some reaction, but it won’t be pretty. Look for more on the site in a bit.
Mid 9th, Orioles 6-4: Nice job by Alfredo Aceves to wiggle out of a jam and give the offense a chance to mount something in the last half of the ninth.
The Rays have tied the Yankees. and the Angels have won in Toronto. Anaheim will be 2 1/2 back of the Sox (two in the loss column) if Boston cannot rally.
The Angels hosts Oakland for three and then Texas for three, but the Rangers will probably have clinched the division by then so they’ll be on cruise control.
It is very feasible that the Halos, with their very good pitching, will win five games or so in that stretch (they also play Thursday in Toronto). It’s going to take a very successful trip by the Sox to avoid seeing this meltdown reach historic proportions.
End 8th, Orioles 6-4: I thought Willie Eyre would only face one batter. I was wrong. What else is new?
Eyre retired Dustin Pedroia and Josh Reddick to finish off a quiet eighth inning for Boston.
Alfredo Aceves will try to keep the O’s at bay here in the ninth.
9:47 p.m.: Clay Rapada stays in for another lefty, David Ortiz, and gets him to fly to left for the first out of the bottom of hte eighth.
Willie Eyre is on to face Dustin Pedroia. Another lefty is loosening, so he may emerge for Josh Reddick and Carl Crawford.
To illustrate what this slide is doing to some Red Sox fans, consider my older brother. I’ve known him to curse once or twice in my life, and I think both were when I was raining 3-pointers on his head in backyard one-on-one battles. And even then they were under his breath.
Well, he just dropped a “Holy %&*$” in a text message to me. You don’t know him so it means little to you, but that’s a very uncharacteristic maneuver for an aging, tired but well-mannered Sox fan.
Mid 8th, Orioles 6-4: Remember when Terry Francona was talking about going to Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon early last night?
He said, “It didn’t work.”
Ditto for the maneuver to bring in Alfredo Aceves. That’s not a knock on Francona. It’s just a way of stressing how the three legit relievers this team has going right now have not done the job the last two nights. Simple as that.
Aceves’ second pitch was lined up the middle for a base hit by Vladimir Guerrero. The infield was in so it got through quickly, but I don’t think Marco Scutaro would’ve had a shot if he was back. Two runs score and the Sox only get out of the inning on a line-drive double play.
So bad. So bad. So bad.
9:35 p.m.: If Alfredo Aceves is ever going to prove his worth (not that he needs to), it’s right now.
Josh Beckett gave up a single to J.J. Hardy and a double to Nick Markakis with one out in the eighth. Here comes Aceves to face Vladimir Guerrero with the game essentially on the line.
The Rays have pulled within 2-1.
End 7th, 4-4: Clay Rapada makes quick work of Adrian Gonzalez to get this one to the eighth, which will be started by Josh Beckett.
Nobody is even throwing for the Red Sox so this is Beckett’s inning as long as he doesn’t have any problems. He will be facing the top of the order. (Update: Aceves is back up)
9:23 p.m.: Tommy Hunter was one out from finishing seven innings, but just left with what looked like a groin injury.
Hunter was grabbing at his…um…zipper? Does that work? Yeah, that’s clean. He was grabbing at his zipper after a 5-3 putout on Mike Aviles.
Buck Showalter may have made a move anyway as Clay Rapada, a lefty, was ready to face Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz.
Mid 7th, 4-4: Buck Showalter talked before this series about maintaining competitive integrity as his team played a run of contending teams. He seemed to almost relish the challenge of trying to pick off the Rays, Angels, Red Sox and Tigers, some of the teams on this recent and upcoming slate.
Baltimore beat up a bit on Tampa Bay, got the better of Anaheim and has now pulled even in this one with a chance to take three of four.
Josh Beckett’s been very, very good, with the exception of two encounters with Mark Reynolds. The O’s first baseman has gone deep twice off Beckett, the latest coming with Adam Jones parked at first base.
Beckett got out of the inning on his 97th pitch. Alfredo Aceves had been up. We’ll see what Terry Francona elects to do. Hate to say it, but I think the Orioles have the advantage if this one goes deep into the night. They have a lot of call-ups that have actually looked pretty good in this one and Francona will want to stay away from Bard and Pap as long as he can.
End 6th, Red Sox 4-2: There will be a little bit of drama the next time Carl Crawford steps to the plate.
Crawford is a home run shy of the cycle after hitting a single in the sixth. He never moved from there as Marco Scutaro struck out and Jason Varitek grounded to first.
Crawford’s average is at .260. He hasn’t finished a day with an average that high since Aug. 7. In fact, that was the only day he finished with an average that high.
Mid 6th, Red Sox 4-2: Robert Andino seems to be in the middle of everything positive for the Orioles in this series. Pretty good player making the most of his first dose of everyday play.
Andino singled with one out in the sixth, stole second and then scored on a base hit by J.J. Hardy.
Josh Beckett kept the rally right there by striking out Nick Markakis and Vladimir Guerrero, his sixth and seventh strikeout.
The Yankees have a 1-0 lead on a Robinson Cano homer. Cano also had the big hit in the matinee win for the Yanks. If you are a Sox fan rooting for New York today, send some love to Cano.
End 5th, Red Sox 4-1: Some two-out magic for the Sox in the fifth, and it was all started by Mike Aviles, who continues to do some really nice things at the plate.
Aviles had a base hit after Tommy Hunter got the first two hitters in speedy fashion.
That brought up the sore but scorching Adrian Gonzalez, who improved to 10-for-15 in the series with a single of his own. The hit was his 208th, now the most by a Red Sox first baseman in a season (Mo Vaughn had 207 in ’96).
David Ortiz then drove in Aviles with a base hit to right.
Boston has eight hits in three innings since I said that Hunter was “no slouch.” See what I said about the jinx? If I say it, the opposite happens.
Tony Lee will never have hair on his head again. Let’s see what happens.
Mid 5th, Red Sox 3-1: Josh Beckett has set down 10 straight since the Mark Reynolds homer.
Beckett has five strikeouts against just one walk after fanning a pair in the fifth. Over his last three outings, spanning 14 2/3 innings, Beckett has struck out 18 and walked just three.
End 4th, Red Sox 3-1: Something tells me Carl Crawford will be speaking with us after this one.
After ripping a triple in the third, Crawford just provided a clutch two-out, two-run double off the Green Monster. He is 8-for-13 dating back to the Tampa Bay series.
The Sox would’ve scored earlier if not for Adrian Gonzalez’s sore calf. He was on first when Dustin Pedroia doubled off the Monster, but Gonzalez limped into third. When Josh Reddick lined into an out at first for the second out, Tommy Hunter was on the verge of escaping. Until Crawford.
Mid 4th, 1-1: Josh Beckett has been incredibly efficient so far. Facing a team that likes to gets its hacks in, he’s thrown 51 pitches through four.
Beckett gave some leather (a high five given with gloves) to Adrian Gonzalez after the latter made a diving play on the final out of the fourth. Those two teamed for a pair of 3-1 putouts in the inning.
The second Rays-Yankees game is just under way. Tampa Bay went in order in the top of the first.
End 3rd, 1-1: It’s really only notable when leadoff triples DO NOT lead to a run. When they do, it’s just nature running its course.
However, it is notable that the leadoff triple led to a run because it was hit by Carl Crawford. He’s drawn an increased amount of heat of late for not playing through some neck pain, but he showed no problems with his swing there by ripping one into the right-field corner.
Crawford now has seven hits in his last 12 at-bats, although they’ve come in sporadic fashion because of the days off.
Marco Scutaro followed with a walk and Jason Varitek had an RBI groundout to plate Crawford. Scutaro advanced to second on that play and then third on Jacoby Ellsbury’s base hit to center.
Mike Aviles then knocked one back to the box where Tommy Hunter began a nice 1-6-3 double play that saved a run for the O’s. Aviles and Terry Francona argued that he was safe at first. Had he been, Scutaro would’ve scored the game’s second run.
Big, big play for Baltimore.
Mid 3rd, Orioles 1-0: No issues for Josh Beckett in the third. He recorded his third strikeout of the game to start it off by getting Matt Angle swinging.
With his first K back in the opening frame, Beckett extended his streak of having at least one punchout in 278 straight games to begin his career. Only Doc Gooden has a longer run at 349.
End 2nd, Orioles 1-0: Unlike Brian Matusz two nights ago and Rick VandenHurk last night, the Orioles have in Tommy Hunter a pitcher who is actually getting people out.
Hunter was 13-4 last year with Texas, a run that included a win in Fenway Park, where he gave up two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings.
He’s no Cy Young, but Hunter’s no slouch, and now has nine straight scoreless innings to his credit after getting the Sox 1-2-3 in the second.
Mid 2nd, Orioles 1-0: Just for kicks, I put a “K” in for Mark Reynold’s at-bat in the second inning after just two pitches.
Given the fact that the first two were strikes and that Reynolds strikes out four times in batting practice, it just had to happen, right?
Wrong.
Reynolds hung in there against Beckett and got Orioles on the board with a rain-maker of a home run to left. The ball soared incredibly high and it was just a matter of whether it would stay fair.
If you have ever followed this blog in the past, then you know the power of my jinx. It’s still alive.
Chris Davis, another guy who strikes out a lot, then took Jacoby Ellsbury to the track for the final out.
End 1st, 0-0: It’s raining in New York, so that other big game is on hold.
This one speeds right along, however, as Tommy Hunter uses all of eight pitches to retire the side in order in the bottom of the first.
Adrian Gonzalez struck out to end it. He has 115 Ks. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has 113. Gonzalez has 607 at-bats. Saltalamacchia has 345.
Mid 1st, 0-0: In Josh Beckett’s last start, everyone was watching the ankle and his movements and his stride. Would the ankle be an issue?
Five days later, we’re just watching to see if he can dominate again. Beckett’s been good all year, but he hasn’t had one of those absolute shutdown performances for a bit, the kind you hope to see when (if) the calendar turns.
Beckett has not had an outing in which he went seven-plus innings and gave up two or fewer runs since July 23. He’s had a lot of good ones, but the club and its spent bullpen could use that great one.
The righty did issue a two-out walk in the first and then had a pickoff attempt get by Adrian Gonzalez for an early error (on Gonzalez), but he struck out Vladimir Guerrero to end it.
7:10 p.m.: Josh Beckett throws one pitch and gets one out. So the wild card is just about sewn up.
You don’t want to think about it, but you have to. There is a chance that this is the last home game in a Red Sox uniform for a handful of guys. Perhaps, if the team doesn’t make the playoffs, we don’t see Jason Varitek and David Ortiz and Jonathan Papelbon and J.D. Drew and Marco Scutaro and a few others.
It’s likely some will be back, and also likely there will be playoff baseball, but it’s worth thinking about as you watch them go to battle tonight. Especially Drew.
5:54 p.m.: There are going to be some interesting statistical races down the stretch here.
Because that’s what people really care about (to heck with the playoffs!), here are a few worth watching.
Adrian Gonzalez enters today leading Michael Young of Texas by seven points in the batting race. Had Gonzalez not gone 8-for-12 in the last two days, that would have been even tighter.
Gonzalez also remains locked in a duel with Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano for the AL RBI crown. Granderson has 119, Gonzalez has 116 and Cano has 113.
Gonzalez leads the league in hits with 206. Young has 201 and Jacoby Ellsbury 200.
The top three home run hitters on the Red Sox are David Ortiz with 29, Ellsbury with 28 and Gonzalez with 27, so that race is very intriguing. Ortiz has just missed a home run about five times this homestand.
Gonzalez and Ellsbury both have 45 doubles. Ortiz has 39. If and when he gets his 40th, the trio will be the first in Red Sox history to have at least 40 doubles.
OK, all this does is fill some space and prove I can read the most basic stats. So we’ll move on. Here is the Baltimore lineup against Josh Beckett:
Robert Andino, 2B
J.J. Hardy, SS
Nick Markakis, RF
Vladimir Guerrero, DH
Matt Wieters, C
Adam Jones, CF
Mark Reynolds, 1B
Chris Davis, 3B
Matt Angle, LF
Many of these guys do rather well against Beckett. Andino, Hardy, Markakis, Wieters and Jones are a combined 32-for-99 (.323) with three home runs against him.
4:49 p.m.: A few updates to pass on.
You probably saw that the Yankees scored three times in the eighth and defeated the Rays 4-2. That makes it a two-game lead in the loss column.
With Josh Beckett on the mound against Tommy Hunger in the regular season home finale, it would be almost disastrous is the Red Sox gave that game back tonight. But much, much crazier things have happened.
At the very least, Boston has the right guy out there.
“Every five days or every six, whatever it ends up being, he’s been real consistent,” Terry Francona said. “From that second start of the year. So, if you’re going to hang your hat on a guy pitching a game that’s a good guy to hang your hat on.”
Beyond Beckett, the waters are muddy. We konw that Jon Lester will start Friday and Tim Wakefield on Saturday. Sunday was reserved for Erik Bedard, but that plan was scrapped after the way Tuesday night went. Bedard was lifted after throwing 51 of his 76 pitches in a marathon third.
“Bedard is not a candidate [to start Sunday],” Francona said. “That 50-pitch inning was pretty tough. He’ll probably come back Tuesday. So we would have Lack [on Sunday]. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got three days there. Obviously a lot of moving parts.”
As you can see, Francona began to say that John Lackey would start, but he sort of caught himself. The very next question was: “Will Alfredo Aceves be an option?”
“We have a lot of moving parts,” Francona barked back, clearly not willing to entertain that debate.
My guess is Lackey will go Sunday on five days’ rest, but we’ll have to see how a few things play out.
One guy who may be able to fill the role of Aceves, or at least take up a spot in the bullpen if Aceves starts, is Clay Buchholz. He woke up with “normal stiffness” today, one day after his 32-pitch simulated game. Buchholz will throw again either Thursday or Friday and still might get a chance to throw an inning or two before the regular season ends.
“I hope so. I think in fairness to him, we’re going to keep taking it one step at a time,” Francona said. “The last thing I want to do is make it sound like Buck failed in…this kid’s done a great job trying to help us out. The good news is he feels really good. If he can pitch, that’ll be a big bonus.”
In other (good) news, Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew are both going to try to hit Friday in New York.
With no Youkilis, Francona has been forced to try new things in the middle of that order. Such is the case Wednesday with Dustin Pedroia’s first ever start in the fifth spot in the lineup.
It may not be like this forever, but it is something Francona wants to try.
“We’re missing Youk and I think the way Aviles is swinging so well right now we can hit him second and he can run a little bit and he’s hot and we’ll have Pedey protect David and Gonzie. I talked to Pedey today because I didn’t want to do it [as a surprise]. I just think next couple, two, three days, who knows, maybe today. I think it sets up well and puts us in our best position”
And if they are in a good position, Francona may have Daniel Bard available, but he’s not sure. Bard got four outs last night, throwing 18 pitches in the process.
Back in a little bit with more.
3:28 p.m.: A little twist to the lineup for the regular season home finale. Take a gander:
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Mike Aviles, 3B
Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Josh Reddick, RF
Carl Crawford, LF
Marco Scutaro, SS
Jason Varitek, C
This is the first time in Pedroia’s career that he has hit fifth. The only spot remaining in which he hasn’t hit is sixth.
2:52 p.m.: Greetings from Fenway Park, where the scoreboard watching is well under way. As of this typing the Rays held a 2-1 lead over the Yankees in the fifth
If they hang on, it’s a 1 1/2-game deficit in the wild card.
Several Red Sox players are on the field for early batting practice. I see Carl Crawford, Mike Aviles, Conor Jackson and Josh Reddick among them.
We’ll have the lineups over in a bit.
8 a.m. ET: The final home game of the regular season for the Red Sox is a huge one.
Josh Beckett will be on the mound Thursday night in the finale of a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles. Boston will carry a lead in the wild card of just two games into the contest, which precedes a season-ending six-game road trip.
Beckett won his return to the mound five days ago after a layoff to recover from a sprained ankle, allowing two earned runs in six innings against the Rays. He is 1-0 with a 5.73 ERA against the O’s this season.
Still looking to play spoiler, Baltimore gives the ball to Tommy Hunter. He has given up 11 runs in 8 1/3 career innings at Fenway Park.
The Orioles have won six of their last eight. The Red Sox have lost 15 of 20.
First pitch is 7:10 p.m.
