Projo Sox Blog

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
Willy Taveras is safe at third base on Matt Holliday's single off Mike Lowell's glove in the first inning.
BOSTON -- Baseball is called a game of inches, and that was an apt description of a first-inning play as the Rockies scraped together a run.

Leadoff hitter Willy Taveras’s hands were almost in the strike zone when Curt Schilling’s up-and-in 88-mph fastball nicked a finger or two on the center fielder’s left hand.

Taveras, who swiped 33 bases this season, took off for second on a 2-and-1 pitch to Matt Holliday, who that pitch sharply on the ground inside the third-base bag.

A diving Mike Lowell got his glove on the ball, but it ticked off the end of his leather and rolled into shallow left, close to the line.

Taveras, who was nearing second base as the ball got to Lowell, read the play beautifully, rounding second base and heading to third without breaking stride because with Lowell chasing down the ball, the third-base bag was uncovered.
Shortstop Julio Lugo, seeing what was happening, raced to cover the bag. So did Schilling. As they converged on the bag, Lowell threw to the base, but his throw to a couple of moving targets slipped past both of them and rolled toward home plate.
Taveras was safe at third, and would have been even if Lugo or Schilling had caught the throw from Lowell. Holliday moved up to second on Lowell’s error.

Taveras scored on Todd Helton’s grounder to first, putting the Rockies on top, 1-0.

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Lowell, meanwhile, is not nearly as fast as Taveras.

But his baserunning instincts proved accurate in helping Boston pull into a 1-1 tie in the fourth.

Lowell drew a one-out walk. J.D. Drew followed with a frozen-rope single to right-center. As Lowell ran to second base, he looked back to find the ball and watch the approach of right fielder Brad Hawpe to the ball.

Looking back to right-center as he rounded the bag, Lowell saw Hawpe glove the ball and decided that he could make it to third. So Lowell put his head down and ran as hard as he could to third. Hawpe made a strong on-the-fly throw, but Lowell’s head-first slide beat the tag of third baseman Garrett Atkins by a whisker.

He scored the tying run when Jason Varitek lofted a deep fly ball to center.

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The Red Sox mentioned several times before the World Series that the Rockies’ lineup reminded them more of a power-packed, stacked-from-top-to-bottom lineup that they see every day in the American League than a typical National League team, which, of course, has the pitcher batting ninth.

But last night in a 1-1 game in the fifth, Colorado manager Clint Hurdle, clearly desperate for a win in Game Two after the Rockies had been drubbed in Game One, opted for more of a National League-like “small” ball offense.

Troy Tulowitzki, batting seventh, drew a leadoff walk from Schilling. Hurdle had number eight hitter Yorvit Torrealba drop down a sacrifice bunt, which moved Tulowitzki to second.

That brought up the number nine hitter, in this case, Ryan Spilborghs, the Rockies’ designated hitter, because pitchers don’t bat in the A.L. park in the World Series.
The strategy didn’t pay off for the Rockies. Spilborghs took a called third strike and Taveras grounded out, keeping it a 1-1 game.

That was just one indication that Hurdle was managing this game as if Colorado‘s season depended on winning last night’s game.

Another indication came in the bottom of the fifth. When Jiminez issued a two-out walk to Ortiz and surrendered a single through the left side to Manny Ramirez – only the second hit allowed by Jiminez -- Hurdle called to the bullpen and had left-hander Jeremy Affeldt warm up.

As soon as Lowell ripped a tie-breaking double into the left-field corner, putting Boston on top, 2-1, Hurdle bounded out of the dugout and called for Affeldt to face Drew, a left-handed hitter. That move didn’t work. Affeldt walked Drew on a 3-and-2 pitch.

So Hurdle summoned right-hander Matt Herges to face Varitek, a switch hitter.

This move worked for the Rockies. Varitek flied to left, keeping it a 2-1 game.

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The first slider Ubaldo Jiminez threw last night was not a good one.

He yanked it on a 1-and-2 delivery to Drew in the second inning and he drilled Drew with the ball just above his right ankle. He threw another one to Julio Lugo in the third. Primarily Jiminez was throwing fastballs, in the 94-97-mph range, mixing in a few curveballs.

But when the rookie right-hander faced Red Sox slugger David Ortiz in a key spot in the third, Jimenez went to his changeup and slider and despite a long foul that just missed the Pesky Pole, he racked up an important strikeout.

Dustin Pedroia (walk) was at second and Kevin Youkilis (walk) was at first. Jimenez’s first two pitches to Ortiz were fastballs (a 1-and-1 count). Then he threw two changeups, the second of which had Ortiz out in front just enough that his drive deep down the right-field line curved foul at the last instant.

Ortiz barely got a piece of a nasty slider, staying alive with a Bernie-Carbo-esque foul, circa 1975. But the Sox’ designated hitter was unable to hold up on another nasty slider, this one a late-breaking 86-mph slider down and in, and was called out on strikes on the swing, ending the uprising.

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Scouting reports touch on all aspects of the opposition.

Lowell, though, didn’t need a scouting report on Taveras. Lowell played against Taveras in the National League so he knows how fast Taveras is.

So when Taveras hit a two-hopper to Lowell’s left, a routine out, Lowell sped up his reactions, taking no time whatsoever between fielding the ball and throwing to first, not wanting to give Taveras a sniff of his specialty – infield singles – on this play in the third.

Lowell’s throw was true and in plenty of time to nail Taveras.

Likewise, the Rockies know that the Sox’ Jacoby Ellsbury is a speedster.
So when Ellsbury hit a rountine bouncer to second, Colorado second baseman Kaz Matsui put a hard charge on the ball and was able to throw out Ellsbury, who was hustling down the line.

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