May 20, 2007
...
By the
time Kason Gabbard left the mound today, afternoon had turned
into early evening, pouring rain had given way to a sunny, settled
blue calm, and the lefthander had changed the day's pitching match up
from a raised eyebrow to a raised baseball cap. With the crowd of
36,140 standing in appreciation of five scoreless, Gabbard doffed his
cap in the direction of fans happy not only because of his stellar
curveball and career-high in strikeouts (7), but also because the 6-3
Red Sox win simply happened, starting two hours and 30 minutes after
its scheduled first pitch.
And
though Gabbard wouldn't be making the trip, being optioned right back to
Pawtucket after the game (Manny Delcarmen was called up), the Red Sox ended the
series bound for New York. Bound for a different type of series, if records are
the sole measure.
Thirty
wins and 43 games into the 2007 season, the Sox head to the Bronx, prepared to
face the Yankees' current top three pitchers (Chien-Ming Wang, Mike Mussina, and
Andy Pettitte), bolstered by the fact that three rookie starters against the
Braves still produced a series win against a top National League club.
Today's
four first-inning runs, including three on a two-out bases-clearing triple by
the not-so-speedy Jason Varitek (who, after his first of the season, and the
11th of his career, said a ball has "got to be very well-placed" to add to that
tally). That outburst put Atlanta's Tim Hudson down early, giving Gabbard a
boost before he left the dugout for a second time and took advantage of a shaky
start by a pitcher Sox manager Terry Francona had praised before the game as
"one of the ultimate competitors."
Like
most wishes in this thus-far semi-charmed season for the Red Sox and Francona,
he got his wish, the Sox running up six runs and eight hits in just 4 2/3
innings, pushing Hudson's ERA out of the super prime real estate, all the way up
to 2.42.
With
those four runs, plus another in the second (Dustin Pedroia double, sacrifice,
walk, Ortiz fielder's choice), and another in the fifth (Kevin Youkilis home
run, around the right field foul pole), Gabbard sailed through five innings.
After giving up two straight hits to start the sixth, he was relieved by
Donnelly, who allowed a Matt Diaz RBI single, Brian McCann walk, and
bases-loaded Jarrod Saltalamacchia walk to score two.
But
Javier Lopez, who has pitched extremely well since being called up from
Pawtucket other than in Saturday night's debacle, entered to get Scott Thorman
to ground into a 3-6-1 double play.
So,
other than a ninth-inning tack-on run against Jonathan Papelbon, the Red Sox
were out of their interleague set against the Braves pretty well intact, even
with the three games being played in just more than 30 hours.
Just two
weeks after an epic collapse Manny Delcarmen has moved from concerned to, one
would assume, elated, called up from Pawtucket last night to replace sent-down
starter Kason Gabbard.
Devern
Hansack was alerted to the fact that he would be sent down to Pawtucket after
Saturday night's game (to make room for yesterday's starter, Gabbard) before
being called up.
Gabbard
struck out a career-high seven over his five-plus innings in his second career
big league win. Kevin Youkilis extended his hitting streak to 13 games,
including a home run in his second consecutive game (he didn't play in the
nightcap Saturday), the fourth time he has accomplished that. It's a career-high
hit streak, during which Youkilis is batting .446 (25 for 56). Jason Varitek,
who struggled through April at .239, is hitting .333 (17 for 51) in May. Hideki
Okajima pitched yet another scoreless inning, bringing his streak to 20 2/3
innings. That's the longest for a Sox lefty since Bruce Hurst's 21 2/3 innings
in 1987.
