Red Sox Weekly Recap 8/17 - 8/23
8/17 vs. Toronto Blue Jays (15-4 L)
There's losing a game and then there's Josh Beckett giving up 8 earned runs in under 3 innings. Beckett (2.1 IP, 8 ER, 3 K) gave up 6 earned in the first alone and then his next 5 replacements (Aardsma, Timlin, Buchholz, Masterson, Okajima) proceeded to give up another 7. The Jays left 9 more batters on base than the Sox (26 to 17), but I guess that's bound to happen when you rack up 22 hits (compared to the Sox' 10).
8/18 at Baltimore Orioles (6-3 W)
Another victory following a Red Sox loss for Lester (7 IP, 1 ER, 5 K), who improved to 12-4 on the season. Sharing the spotlight with Lester were the two Jasons, Bay and Varitek. Bay swatted two homers and totaled 4 RBI, while Tek got off the schneid by hitting his 9th homer of the season. Ortiz also had a pair of doubles, upping his season average to .262.
8/19 at Baltimore Orioles (7-2 W)
Dice-K (5 IP, 2 ER, 6 K) didn't look good as he walked 5 batters, but his Orioles counterpart Daniel Cabrera (4.1 IP, 6 ER, 2 K), who apparently doesn't know how to beat the Sox, was flat-out terrible. How does this guy still have a job? Tek continued to swing a hot bat as he had a homer, a double and 2 RBI out of the 7-hole. Not saying he's back on track, but it'd sure be nice to see that average keep rising for Tek.
8/20 at Baltimore Orioles (11-6 L)
Buchholz (2.1 IP, 5 ER, 0 K) has certainly come a long way since last year's no-hitter (and not in a good way), hasn't he? A homer from Bay, triple from Pedroia and doubles from Lowrie, Ellsbury and Cash weren't enough to overcome a pair of 3-run bombs from Melvin Mora and Ramon Hernandez. Aardsma, Lopez and Timlin gave up 6 more earned runs in just 2.2 innings. Just sucks to see them dropping the easy ones to the O's and Jays when the Rays seem to have the ability to come back in the 8th inning of every game no matter how far down they are.
8/22 at Toronto Blue Jays (8-4 W)
Byrd's (6 IP, 4 ER, 4 K) second Red Sox start went better than the first as he was able to pick up his 8th win of the season. Tek hit another homer (his 11th of the year), while Pedey connected on his 13th long-ball. Coco had a 3-for-4 showing at the plate and stole his 15th base of the year. The homers from Tek lately are nice, but I'd rather take a .270 BA and 8 homers than .220 and 16 homers. Call me crazy.
8/23 at Toronto Blue Jays (11-0 L)
Lester (2.1 IP, 7 ER, 2 K) took the loss for the first time in 3 months as the Sox let one of the league's worst offenses put up double-digits on them for the second time in 6 games. Vernon Wells was the primary culprit (much to the delight of The Ignorant Bostonian) as he finished the day 4-for-5 with 2 homers, 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. An all around ugly game for the Sox, who could only muster 4 hits against the league's top pitching staff (at least according to ERA).
There's losing a game and then there's Josh Beckett giving up 8 earned runs in under 3 innings. Beckett (2.1 IP, 8 ER, 3 K) gave up 6 earned in the first alone and then his next 5 replacements (Aardsma, Timlin, Buchholz, Masterson, Okajima) proceeded to give up another 7. The Jays left 9 more batters on base than the Sox (26 to 17), but I guess that's bound to happen when you rack up 22 hits (compared to the Sox' 10).
8/18 at Baltimore Orioles (6-3 W)
Another victory following a Red Sox loss for Lester (7 IP, 1 ER, 5 K), who improved to 12-4 on the season. Sharing the spotlight with Lester were the two Jasons, Bay and Varitek. Bay swatted two homers and totaled 4 RBI, while Tek got off the schneid by hitting his 9th homer of the season. Ortiz also had a pair of doubles, upping his season average to .262.
8/19 at Baltimore Orioles (7-2 W)
Dice-K (5 IP, 2 ER, 6 K) didn't look good as he walked 5 batters, but his Orioles counterpart Daniel Cabrera (4.1 IP, 6 ER, 2 K), who apparently doesn't know how to beat the Sox, was flat-out terrible. How does this guy still have a job? Tek continued to swing a hot bat as he had a homer, a double and 2 RBI out of the 7-hole. Not saying he's back on track, but it'd sure be nice to see that average keep rising for Tek.
8/20 at Baltimore Orioles (11-6 L)
Buchholz (2.1 IP, 5 ER, 0 K) has certainly come a long way since last year's no-hitter (and not in a good way), hasn't he? A homer from Bay, triple from Pedroia and doubles from Lowrie, Ellsbury and Cash weren't enough to overcome a pair of 3-run bombs from Melvin Mora and Ramon Hernandez. Aardsma, Lopez and Timlin gave up 6 more earned runs in just 2.2 innings. Just sucks to see them dropping the easy ones to the O's and Jays when the Rays seem to have the ability to come back in the 8th inning of every game no matter how far down they are.
8/22 at Toronto Blue Jays (8-4 W)
Byrd's (6 IP, 4 ER, 4 K) second Red Sox start went better than the first as he was able to pick up his 8th win of the season. Tek hit another homer (his 11th of the year), while Pedey connected on his 13th long-ball. Coco had a 3-for-4 showing at the plate and stole his 15th base of the year. The homers from Tek lately are nice, but I'd rather take a .270 BA and 8 homers than .220 and 16 homers. Call me crazy.
8/23 at Toronto Blue Jays (11-0 L)
Lester (2.1 IP, 7 ER, 2 K) took the loss for the first time in 3 months as the Sox let one of the league's worst offenses put up double-digits on them for the second time in 6 games. Vernon Wells was the primary culprit (much to the delight of The Ignorant Bostonian) as he finished the day 4-for-5 with 2 homers, 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. An all around ugly game for the Sox, who could only muster 4 hits against the league's top pitching staff (at least according to ERA).
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