April 24, 2007
...
Toronto
starter Roy Halladay was his usual reliable self over eight innings
(3 runs, 5 hits, 10 strikeouts, no walks). But the Sox made his work
infinitely easier by committing four errors. Julian Tavarez, the
team's No. 5 starter, gave them no chance to win last night, allowing
six runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The same
pitching match up last week in Toronto resulted in a 5-3 Red Sox win. Blue Jays
manager John Gibbons might have erred in removing Halladay in the eighth inning
then, but he didn't make the same mistake twice. He allowed Halladay to throw
112 pitches and pitch through the eighth with a seven-run lead. The Red Sox had
bad swings and bad at-bats against Halladay, some coming from Jason Varitek, who
fanned three times, and Wily Mo Pena, who struck out twice.
Terry
Francona started two reserves, Wily Mo Pena, who spelled the injured Coco Crisp,
and Eric Hinske, who filled in at first for Kevin Youkilis. Both players, not
known for their defense, made errors. Pena dropped Adam Lind's two-out liner in
the sixth inning, an out that would have kept the Sox' deficit at a manageable
6-3. Instead, the drop allowed one run to score and set up three to follow.
Vernon
Wells (4 hits, 4 runs, 3 RBIs) drove home two with a single, stole second and
moved to third on Jason Varitek's throwing error, and scored on a Frank Thomas
single. The Sox have committed 15 errors in 19 games. In the off-season,
they decided to give up a little defense in order to go with Lugo. As it turns
out, Lugo has been the least of their problems as he has made only one error in
83 chances.
Another
strange error came courtesy of Manny Ramirez who barehanded Lyle Overbay's
double off the top of the scoreboard in the fifth. What came out of his hand is
anyone's guess. The ball was thrown to the ground and trickled to center field,
where second baseman Dustin Pedroia finally retrieved it as two runs scored.
Hinske seemed to be too aggressive in trying to field an Overbay grounder in the
third that was heading toward Pedroia. The error resulted in another run scoring
in the three-run inning.
The Sox
scored three times off Halladay, one coming on Mike Lowell's homer in the
fourth, which extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Even though he got the
big lead, Halladay kept the same strategy. Francona and others thought Halladay
expanded the strike zone after he established the lower part of the plate with
his stuff. The expansion of the strike zone made it tougher for the Sox batters
to solve him. Halladay struck out the side in the seventh.
After
Wells' solo homer in the first, the Sox tied the game in the bottom of the
inning on David Ortiz's single, which scored Lugo (single, steal). In the
third, the lead was cut to 4-2 on Hinske's single to right after Lugo had beaten
out an infield hit and stolen second.
Jon
Lester is scheduled to make the first of his two Pawtucket rehabilitation starts
today at Rochester. He'll then take the mound next Tuesday against
Indianapolis. Lester's 30-day rehab stint will officially end three days later,
when the Red Sox must make a decision: option him to Triple-A or call him up.
Coco
Crisp, who is nursing an aggravated left oblique, got another night off as
trainers advised Francona to keep the center fielder on the bench one more day
to be cautious. Wily Mo Pena got another start in center in his place.
Matt
Clement continues his rehab work in Fort Myers, Fla. The veteran right-hander
has been on a very structured rehab program ever since his surgery in September,
which required major work on multiple parts of his shoulder.
The
Japanese media is making a lot of Daisuke Matsuzaka tipping his cap to Alex
Rodriguez after he hit him with a pitch. The show of apology is a custom in
Japan, where pitchers do not purposely hit batters. Francona sees no reason to
change Matsuzaka's customs or his show of respect on the mound just to
Americanize him.
