The Boston bats had Beckett's back last night, in a big way. Alliteration aside, the Red Sox starter struggled through five innings, but came up with the win, his seventeenth of the season, as the Sox took a third game from the Cleveland Indians. With only one game left in the regular season, the quiet Red Sox backs woke up, as Aaron Laffey and the rest of the Tribe's pen were lit up, on the way to an 11-6 loss.
“Effective” isn’t a term often used to describe Daisuke Matsuzaka’s outings, but that’s exactly what he looked like in last night’s start, as the Red Sox took a second win off of the Cleveland Indians, 6-2.
The Red Sox were ready to snap a six-game losing streak at all costs. Unfortunately, it had to come at the cost of Indians rookie starter Carlos Carrassco, who took a Jacoby Ellsbury line drive off the knee cap on the way to a 3-0 loss.
Jon Lester, who suffered an almost identical injury less than a week ago, looked like his old self, throwing a veritable gem for his fifteenth victory of the season, while the bats played small ball to get themselves out of the slump.
Shrowded in as much secrecy as a Cold War nuclear test or New England Patriots injury, the California Angels have yielded very few signals as to the makeup of their postseason roster. While the starting lineup is generally set, the rest of the team is in a state of flux.
There have been some indications, however, from sources close to the team of what their roster will look like in the ALDS. Most pundits agree on the following roster developments:
1) The team is confident in its first three starters: John Lackey, Jered Weaver, and Scott Kazmir.
2) The team will opt to go with either Joe Saunders or Ervin Santana in the fourth spot, though Saunders seems to be the frontrunner at the moment...
After getting swept for the second series in a row, the Red Sox look as if they are used to the late season beat down, getting blown out by the Blue Jays, 12-0, Wednesday night.
Roy Halladay went the distance last night, while Tim Wakefield let up five in only three innings of work. Joey Gathright gave the Red Sox a few brief moments of hope, but the Doc had a quick cure for those, namely six strikeouts over nine innings and only three hits.
Adam Lind and the Blue Jays came out firing, beating Clay Buchholz and the Red Sox, 8-7, on Tuesday. However, the Red Sox will cry themselves all the way into the post season, as the Angels worked their magic on the Texas Rangers, sealing a wildcard playoff berth for the Bo Sox.
After a dominant start to the month, Clay Buchholz recorded his second less than stellar start, going eight hits and seven earned runs over five innings. Toronto took advantage of his missteps, launching five home runs off the young righty, with six bombs overall for the evening.
Two items for today's laundry list:
1) Hope that Lowell's hip heals
2) Pray to Pedro Serrano's voodoo gods (yeah, that crazy guy from "Major League") that if he doesn't, Casey Kotchman's bat will rise from its slumber.
Mike Lowell came into this season on the heels of a revolutionary labrum surgery, one so new that it is yet to be named (that Lowell, incidentally, hopes will be named after him). As a result, he's already had one DL stint this season due to the hip and received another Synvisc injection Monday.
Michael Bowden was stretched too thin, giving up five hits and five earned runs in just over two innings of work. The bullpen did not help matters, as Hunter Jones handed the Blue Jays another four on the way to an 11-5 loss.
Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz would not go silently into the good night, but the pitching, or lack thereof, proved to be a bit too much to overcome, especially in a rain-shortened game.