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SWEPT AWAY BY A "RALLY MONKEY" ...
The Sox slam the Orioles on Patriots Day
April 20, 2009 ...
David Ortiz bashed a Wall double and a triple, driving in two runs,
as the Red Sox thumped the Orioles, 12-1, with marathoners racing by.
That made the Red Sox proud owners of a four-game series sweep and
pushed themselves a notch ahead of the sorry O's.
While many
in a crowd of 37,865 were downing beer at an early hour, the slumping Ortiz was
attempting to prove to himself. But while Ortiz proved that he can have an
Ortiz game, he has not yet proven who he is now.
Fortunate,
also, that the offense appears to be leaving those Mendoza Line batting averages
behind. Dustin Pedroia continued to break out of whatever funk he was in. And
Jacoby Ellsbury. And Jason Varitek. All together, the Sox threw out 15 hits
against a sad-sack Orioles pitching staff that must be glad to head back to
Camden Yards. Fenway was not hospitable, the Orioles' fifth consecutive loss
matching the fifth consecutive win for the Sox.
It was good,
all the runs and the hits and a holiday crowd looking for amusement. But even as
Justin Masterson was putting Daisuke Matsuzaka's shoulder injury out of the
minds of the revelers, there were more injury concerns to contemplate. Rocco
Baldelli left the game after the third inning with a mild left hamstring strain.
Word came after the game that Jed Lowrie could be in for surgery in the next day
or two, likely costing him half of a season.
Meanwhie,
Masterson's only blemish on his 5 1/3 innings and 84 pitches came in the third
inning. Ryan Freel led off with a single, then went to second on a sacrifice
bunt by Felix Pie. After the pitcher knocked Freel out of the game with a
pickoff attempt that hit him in the head, pinch runner Robert Andino scored on a
two-out infield single by Cesar Izturis.
Six days
after he saved the bullpen with four innings, Masterson showed off his fastball,
getting up to 96 miles per hour, a velocity he had previously reached as a
reliever but not as a starter.
The Sox got
all they needed in the first inning, with a double by Ellsbury and a single by
Pedroia, followed by that opposite-field double by Ortiz. Another run came in
the second, when Varitek hit his third home run of the season, his first right
handed, as his batting average sits at an acceptable .250. Then came three runs
in the sixth inning, highlighted by Ortiz's two-run triple. And 12 batters came
to the plate in the seventh, when the Sox scored six more runs to truly put the
game away.
David Ortiz
is now tied for 10th with Joe Cronin on the Sox all-time RBI list with 737.
That's the
offense they have had in the past, jumping on bad pitching. Whether they can do
the same against a higher caliber of pitching, remains to be seen. |
