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Baseball Today: Thursday, August 9 »
August 9, 2007
By SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer
ANAHEIM – As their divisional lead has narrowed and their level of play dipped, one component has not failed the Red Sox of late: their bullpen.
Even as the club rode out stretches of inconsistency, the bullpen remained dependable. So perhaps it was fitting that the team’s relief corps rode to the rescue Wednesday night and ensured that the team would not be swept by the pesky Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
On a night when their starter (Jon Lester) couldn’t get through the fourth, five different relievers provided 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in a 9-6 victory that helped re-establish a six-game lead over the New York Yankees.
''(The Angels) kept battling back and finding ways to score,'' said catcher Jason Varitek, ''but our bullpen slammed the door and that allowed us to spread it out a little bit.''
''We got into our pen so early,'' said Terry Francona, ''that that can run into problems. Runs weren’t necessarily a problem. It was holding them down and our bullpen did a great job of that.''
The game was a test of endurance for both teams, requiring a total of 11 pitchers and 4:02 to complete, making it the longest nine-inning home game in Angels history.
The lone run off the Boston bullpen came against Julian Tavarez, who got Lester out of a jam in the fourth on an inning-ending double play, but was touched for a run in the fifth.
But Mike Timlin came on to get the final two outs in the fifth, stranding a runner in scoring position and retired four of the five hitters he faced in a key inning and a third outing.
''If Timlin stumbles,'' said Francona, ''we’re going to get to other guys too early. But he got four outs, which was exactly what we needed. It allowed us not to over-extend our other guys.''
Hideki Okajima, Eric Gagne and Jonathan Papelbon followed, with Papelbon getting his 26th save in 28 tries. The Red Sox’ bullpen entered the game with a 2.37 ERA over the previous 34 games and a 2.82 ERA for the season.
The Sox banged out 14 hits, with Mike Lowell going 4-for-4 with two RBI and Dustin Pedroia adding three hits and three runs.
Through the first six innings, the teams traded swapped leads and lost, then regained momentum.
Pedroia snapped a 6-6 tie to open the seventh with his fifth homer of the season, a belt to left that just landed beyond Garret Anderson's reach. The Sox tacked on two more runs in the eighth, thanks to some uncharacteristic sloppiness (passed ball, wild pitch, error) by the Angels. That inning include the first major league hit for rookie Brandon Moss, which occasioned a hearty ovation from the many Red Sox fans on hand.
After falling behind early and showing little offensive spark in the early going, the Sox got untracked in the fourth against rookie Dustin Mosely, sending eight men to the plate and scoring four times.
Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis singled to get things going and Manny Ramirez then drove a bullet double to deep center, scoring both baserunners and giving him 30 RBI since the All-Star break and 21 RBI in his last 17 games.
Two more doubles – one each by J.D. Drew and Lowell – gave the Sox their first lead of the night, though the Sox missed an opportunity for more when they couldn’t plate Lowell from third after one out.
The two teams had traded runs right from the beginning, with the Angels grabbing a 3-0 lead against Lester.
The Sox lefty gave up seven hits to the first 10 hitters he faced. In the first, singles from Reggie Willits and Chone Figgins and a groundout by Vladimir Guerrero produced a quick 1-0 edge.
A run-scoring single from Erick Aybar and a booming, bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Figgins in the second stretched the lead to 3-0 and made it seems like Lester’s night would be a short one.
He seemed to find himself after the long sacrifice fly, retiring six of the next seven hitters he faced. But in the fourth, after one out, he walked back-to-back hitters and yielded a two-run double to Figgins and was yanked in favor of Tavarez.
''I was terrible,'' said Lester. ''There’s no getting around it. I wasn’t getting ahead, wasn’t throwing strikes and when I threw strikes, there were getting too much of the plate. You never want to pitch like that and I’ve done it back-to-back times now. I thought this time, I worked some things out, but I took a step backward.''
Posted by Sean McAdam 
at 2:48 AM | Permalink
c | August 9, 2007 12:23 PM link
Sean
The Red Sox are still in the rivers' seat (no matter what the thumbsuckers in the stands say). My only issue is that Sox seem to be sitting back and hoping other teams (Blues Jays Detroit, Cleveland, etc) would win enough to let them slide into the post-season without much heavy lifting. Only the AL East turned out to be worse than what people thought. So, the Yankees could cruise through the least of the East and pad their record.
With the Sox' hitting and the questions at the bottom of the rotation, the playoffs are no sure thing. (Cashman is probably thanking his lucky statrs he manuvered Gary Sheffield away from the Sox and over to Detroit). Drew...anytime you want to start hitting, that would be great! Lester, glad yu're back, now picth like you mean it!