I refuse to say @ Oakland. Technically, these are away games, but come on. The A’s must be wondering how they got screwed into this series.
It’s about an hour until the first pitch, and I’m starting to slightly hallucinate from a lack of sleep (almost 48 hours!). I’m writing very slowly right now. I’ll try to pull it together before the game starts.
I’m publishing this now so you know something is coming. See you in 60!
Top 1st
Dustin and Youk uncharacteristically go down quickly to start off the day’s festivities. Ortiz walks, but then Manny gets a swinging K to bring the top to a close. Sorry for being so abbreviated, but I got behind quick.
Bottom 1st
Can anyone else hear that girl screaming “MAAANNNYYYY” over and over? Someone please kill her.
Buck leads off with a slow bouncer to short, which Lugo fields cleanly for out #1. If Ellis follows it up by popping out after a lenghty at-bat for the second out. Lester falls behind Barton 3-0 and can’t recover, issuing the walk on the 5th pitch. One on, two out for Sweeney. Lester looks as though he’s done messing around as he comes right after Sweeney, throwing pitch after pitch over the inside part of the plate. With a 1-2 count he leaves one over the outer half, which Sweeney skies to right field for a can-of-corn fly out. After 1, 0-0.
Top 2nd
Lowell takes a first pitch fastball for a strike. The next one is chin music for a ball, 1-1. The next one is low, 2-1. Harden comes back with a change-up on the 2-1 and Lowell waves at it, 2-2. Lowell sends the next pitch up in the air and right down in the mitt of the right fielder, one away.
Next up is Moss, who works the count some before striking out swining. Tek follows suit, and its to the bottom of the 2nd we go, 0-0.
Bottom 2nd
Emil Brown starts the inning off with a groundout to short, one down. Next up is Bobby Crosby, and he rips a double down the line. Man on second and one out for Jack Hannahan.
Lester continues to be aggressive on the mound as he is really pounding the zone. He works a 1-2 count on Hannahan before letting a slider get away and run way outside, 2-2. Tek comes out to talk about the signals, and now they’re good to go. The 2-2 pitch… Hannahan barely holds up and a good slider that dove down and away from the lefty. Full count, and the payoff pitch is coming. Hannahan… swings and misses, and now there are two men down with one on second for Suzuki.
Suzuki takes the first two pitches for balls. Lester resets himself on the mound, now throws. Inside again, and it’s 3-0. Last time he had a man 3-0, he threw the obligatory heart-of-the-plate fastball for a strike, and he does the same again here. However, the 3-1 misses inside and now it’s first and second with two out for Denorfia.
Denorfia takes a called strike one, 0-1 the count. The next pitch is lined into right field for a base hit. Hannahan scores easily from second, and the A’ strike first, 1-0.
Next up is Travis Buck. Lester again attacks the zone with a couple fastballs to start, going ahead of Buck 0-2. The next pitch is a curve that dives into the dirt, 1-2. The 1-2 pitch… called strike 3, and the side is retired. After 2 full, the A’s lead it 1-0.
Top 3rd
Whew! Cruising right along. I hope the Sox can drop a crooked number in this inning, but seeing as it’s Crisp, Lugo, and Pedroia… well, you never know, I supposed.
Coco takes a pitch up and away for ball one, the looks at a strike up and in. Next pitch is a curve that dives down and in and fools Crisp, who swings and misses for strike two. Harden throws two straight balls, full count. The payoff pitch… got him looking. Coco didn’t seem to think so, but his opinion doesn’t much matter. One down for Lugo.
Again Harden misses on the first pitch to make it 1-0. Lugo fouls off the second to even it at 1-1, then looks at a pitch up for the second ball. The 2-1 pitch is a curve that neary gets Lugo, who dives out of the way. The 3-1 is a fastball right over the outer half of the plate for strike 2. The payoff pitch… walked him. Lugo with a free pass to first, and Pedroia will have a chance with one on and one out.
First pitch to him is a called strike. The next one is fouled off to the right, and it’s quickly 0-2. The next pitch is fouled off as well, and we’ll see it again. This time Pedroia hits a liner to center that Denorfia has no trouble with, two out.
Youk puts up a lengthy AB, eventually drawing the walk. Somewhere in there Lugo stole second, so Youk just occupies the empty space as Papi comes to bat.
Ortiz gets the count to 1-1 before he pops out to shallow right on a nice falling-over catch by Hannahan. Three down. To the bottom of the 3rd, still 1-0 A’s.
Bottom 3rd
Lester seems to be having more control problems now as he walks the first batter of the inning. He didn’t agree with the payoff pitch ruling, but it could have gone either way.
Barton comes up with one on and one out and quickly flies out to center after being down 0-2. Mark Sweeney with take his cuts now.
Sweeney reaches base on a crappy little bloop single, making it runners on first and 3rd. What does Emil Brown do with runners on the corners and one out?
Why, he hits a jack to left field. Three run shot, 4-0 A’s.
After getting the next guy to pop out, Lester allows another single and suddenly there’s action in the bullpen. Can’t quite grab a number on who it is, however. The following batter pops out to Tek, and finally the side is retired. After 3 full, 4-0 A’s.
Top 4th.
Manny works the count to 2-2 before striking out looking. Harden is getting that inside corner today, and I think Lester would have been as well had he been more in control.
Mike Lowell doesn’t wait around long, ripping the first pitch he sees into right field for a single. Well, the no-no is over for Harden.
Good, especially after how your Shannon Stewart ruined Curt’s…
Moss goes down swinging quickly for out #2. That’s K number 7 for harden through 4 innings. The guy is dealing.
Tek also doesn’t stay long as he grounds out to first for the third out. After three and a half, 4-0 A’s.
Bottom 4th
Lester strikes out the first batter he faces, one away. The next batter grounds out to 2nd, two away Is this a one paragraph inning? Lesterhopes so as he brings the count to 0-2. The next pitch is a breaker that dives down and in, ball1. The 1-2 is a fastball that’s over the inside corner for strike three. Well done, Jon. To the 5th, 4-0 A’s.
Top 5th
Coco has a solid AB as he fights off pitch after pitch, only to strike out in the end. One down for Lugo.
Lugo likes what he sees on that first pitch and rips a single to right. One on, one out for Dustin.
Dustin chases the first pitch low and grounds into the 6-4-3, and just like that the rally is killed. To the bottom of the 5th, 4-0 A’s.
Bottom 5th
Now you know why I drafted Harden this year.
Aardesma comes in to replace Lester, who threw 84 pitches through 4 innings. Not the start you want to see from the young lefty in his first outing, but what can you do? It’s his first one, he’ll get better.
I literally fell asleep during this half of the inning, but stattracker told me what happened. Three up, three down, and now it’s the Red Sox’ turn for the top of the 6th.
Top 6th.
Youk popped out on the second pitch he saw. If Youkilis is swining at the second pitch of an AB, you know the whole team is just up there guessing.
Next, Ortiz goes down swinging. Sweet. 2 down for Manny.
Manny swings and misses for strike one. The next one is high, the count evens at 1-1. Harden delivers the next pitch, and… wow. That ball went far. Manny homers to make it 4-1.
Now Lowell gives it a ride to deep left, but it’s to the track and no further. After 5 and a half, 4-1 A’s.
Ummmmmm
I hate to do this, but I’m literally falling asleep in my chair. I need to go to bed. I’ll finish up the postgame and stuff later on, I promise. Until then, I hope I awaken to a Sox win.
——THE NEXT DAY——
Okay, so I didn’t wake up to a Sox win. Ah well. Harden pitched one hell of a game, and when he’s on, he’s on. He got all the ground balls and strikeouts he needed to shut down the Boston lineup the best anyone really can; he really had them guessing at the plate.
Sox at the plate
Uh… yeah. Like I said, Harden was dealing and the Sox had no answers. Manny had just a monster of a homer, but that was the only well hit ball all game aside from Ortiz’s near jack. Apparently, the ball doesn’t carry well in Japan because Papi friggin crushed that pitch. But alas, an out is an out, no matter how exciting it may be. The Sox only managed 3 hits off of Harden and 2 off of the relief staff of Castilla, Foulke, and Embree.
Sox on the hill
Not exactly what you wanted to see from Lester. He missed the inside corner all day, something a lefty HAS to have against righties if he wants to be successful. You saw him pay for it against Brown, as that pitch caught way too much of the inside half. Delcarmen and Lopez did well to keep it close, and Corey let in a junk run in the eighth. Corey pitched last night, so it might have just been due to fatigue.
Overall rating: B-
It would be worse if it wasn’t a) against Harden, 2) In Japan, and d) the second game of the year. Still, Lester was shoddy and they just couldn’t figure out Harden, and that carried over to the relief staff. Let’s be serious though. These were basically important spring training games. Here’s to a week of rest before having to actually try again.
Also, from now on, I’ll be doing half-inning summaries instead of pitch-by-pitch. That was these blogs aren’t so un-Goldy long and I get to pay attention to the game instead of my keyboard. Until April Fool’s Day (or some earth-shattering Red Sox event), peace.
