“WHAT A DISASTUH!”

Toronto-Tampa Two-Step

Game 140 at Toronto (9/5/11):

The Sox opened a seven-game road trip starting with four in Toronto. In the opener, Josh Beckett started against rookie Henderson Alvarez. The Jays left runners on first and third in the bottom of the first before Encarnacion struck out swinging. In the third, the Sox had runners on second and third before Pedroia grounded out to third. The Sox left two more runners aboard in the fourth. Beckett left the game in the fourth with what was termed a sprained ankle and was replaced by Alfredo Aceves. In the fifth, Scutaro doubled to center leading off but Ellsbury (believe it or not) grounded into a double play when Scutaro was thrown out at third and Ellsbury was thrown out at second, stupid baserunning there. The Sox left two more runners in scoring position in the seventh before Scutaro grounded out to short. In the eighth, Gonzalez doubled to right with two outs and Ortiz received a free pass. Youkilis then struck out looking. Aceves last into the eighth when he hit Eric Thames with a pitch. Bard entered and retired the next two batters. The game remained scoreless through nine and Papelbon entered in the 10th and loaded the bases before striking out Adam Lind. In the bottom of the 11th, Dan Wheeler quickly retired the first two batters before Brett Lawrie hit a bomb to center. Game over. The Sox left 10 runners on base and the game took just under four hours to play. With this loss and the Yanks’ 11-10 win over Baltimore, the Sox fell 2 ½ games behind.

Game 141 at Toronto (9/6/11):

In Tuesday night’s game, Jon Lester (14-6, 3.05) started against lefthander Luis Perez (3-2, 3.77). The roof was open at f/k/a SkyDome and there was a very sparse crowd. Ellsbury doubled down the line in left to open the ballgame. With one out, Gonzalez hit a pop fly double to short left and Ellsbury raced around to score the game’s first run. After Youkilis walked, a wild pitch advanced both runners into scoring position. Ortiz then ripped a base hit to right, scoring Gonzalez. Scutaro followed with a single to left that drove in Youkilis and then Crawford lined a double down the rightfield line that scored Ortiz. Nice to see the Sox having their hitting shoes so early. In the top of the second, Ellsbury walked leading off and moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Gonzalez’ line drive single up the middle. Youkilis then hit a double off the wall, scoring Gonzalez but he was caught in rundown between second and third. Scutaro doubled leading off the third. With one out, Saltalamacchia hit a long homer to dead center and the Sox were ahead, 8-0. With two runners on and two out, Farrell came out with the hook for Perez. Lefty Rommie Lewis entered in relief and struck out Gonzalez. Youkilis reached on an infield hit leading off the fourth and then scored on Ortiz’ long double off the wall in center. Scutaro followed with a double to the right center gap and Ortiz scored to make it 10-0. Scutaro later scored on McDonald’s pop fly to right that Jose Bautista nearly caught but the ball popped out of his glove. Ellsbury followed up McDonald’s hit with a single to center. Gonzalez singled off of Dustin McGowan leading off the fifth and then Ortiz whacked another double to center, Scutaro followed with a double down in the leftfield corner and both runners scored. With two outs in the top of the eighth, Josh Reddick (pinch hitting) homered to right and the Sox were ahead by two touchdowns. Lester was finished after seven and was awesome tonight (7IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 11K). Kyle Weiland came on and retired the side in order in the eighth. McGowan walked Lowrie and Youkilis to open the ninth and was relieved by Joel Carreno (who’d been warming up seemingly since the second inning). Weiland allowed a base runner in the ninth, but pitched well enough to hold on to the shutout, 20 hits tonight: that’s one way to get out the frustration from yesterday’s loss.

Game 142 at Toronto (9/7/11):

Hard to believe, but after tonight there are only 20 games remaining in the regular season. Did that time fly by, or what? Tim Wakefield (6-6, 4.95) continued in his seemingly endless quest to earn his 200th career victory against Brandon Morrow (9-10, 4.78). The Sox are coming off of one of their biggest offensive outings of the season, but would settle for a nice consistent outing from Wakefield and the bats tonight. If it were possible, it appears as if there are fewer patrons in the stands than were in attendance last night. At least the weather’s nice and the roof is open.

Ellsbury singled to left to open the ballgame and then Pedroia lined a base hit in the same spot. Gonzalez was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ortiz struck out (at a pitch in the dirt). Youkilis followed by getting grazed with a pitch and Ellsbury came in. Crawford then struck out but Scutaro came back to single up the middle, scoring Pedroia and Gonzalez with Youkilis getting thrown out trying to advance to third. In the bottom of the first, Thames reached on a fielder’s choice and Bautista walked. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Encarnacion then hit a sacrifice fly to right and Thames scored. Wake came back to strike out Kelly Johnson to get out of trouble. Mike McCoy made a great diving catch in center of Saltalamacchia’s twisting pop fly. Brett Lawrie singled to left leading off the bottom of the second, and then J.P. Arencibia whacked a two-run shot over the wall in center to tie the score. Wakefield hit Thames in the back with a pitch to open the bottom of the third. A wild pitch sent Thames over to second and then Bautista lined a double into the leftfield corner to give the Jays a 4-3 lead. (You know that this is going to turn ugly soon, it’s only a question of “how” ugly). Bautista then stole third and later stole home to give the Jays a 5-3 lead. Crawford doubled with one out in the fourth and Scutaro followed with a walk. Reddick then doubled to the gap in left-center, scoring Crawford. Ellsbury then hit a three-run homer to center and the Sox were back on top 7-5. With one out in the fifth, Ortiz launched a bomb to right to increase the Sox lead. After Youkilis singled, Morrow was replaced by Carlos Villanueva. Wake was finished after five (5IP, 3H, 4ER, 3BB, 3K) and turned things over to Franklin Morales in the bottom of the sixth. Lawrie led off with a single up the middle and then Morales hit Adam Loewen with a pitch. Dan Wheeler then relieved Morales and was able to pitch out of the jam. With Jesse Litsch pitching in the seventh, Gonzalez doubled leading off and then Ortiz received a free pass. In the bottom of the seventh, Escobar doubled to left leading off. With two outs, Encarnacion singled to left and Escobar scored to make it 8-6. Bard then entered in relief of Wheeler. In the bottom of the eighth, Bard hit Lawrie with a pitch and then Loewen singled to right. Bard then walked Arencibia. Bard came back to strike out DeWayne Wise and Escobar. Bard then took Thames to a full count before walking him and Lawrie crossed the plate to make it 8-7. Bautista then walked and Loewen came in with the tying run. That was all for Bard as Albers entered the game. The offense gave Wake enough runs to win, why couldn’t the bullpen hold up their end of the bargain? That may have been Wake’s best chance to pick up his 200th win. Encarnacion then ripped a bases-clearing double to the gap in right center and the Jays took an 11-8 lead. Disgusting. Gonzalez led off the ninth with a homer to right. Ortiz then singled, and moved to second on a ground out. With two outs, Scutaro singled up the middle and Ortiz scored to make it 11-10. Aviles ran for Scutaro and was thrown out at second trying to steal to end the ballgame. Whose bright idea was it to send the runner? Disgusting.

When you follow a team day in and day out, it’s not always sunshine and roses. Last night’s loss was inexcusable and among the worst of the season. Losses like that test a true fan’s entertainment choices for the following day. After all, the NFL season kicks off on Thursday and many folks may reasonably opt for football than enduring another night of baseball torture such as was witnessed last night.

Game 143 at Toronto (9/8/11):

Andrew Miller (6-2, 5.27) got the call in the series finale against the ace of the Jays’ staff, Ricky Romero (13-10, 2.97). There’s no need on replaying last night’s loss, it’s over and done with. Gonzalez and Crawford were given the night off with the lefthander going for the Jays. Ellsbury led off with a double when his pop fly to center bounced between McCoy and Bautista. In the bottom of the first, Escobar doubled down the line in right leading off. Kelly Johnson reached on an infield hit leading off the second, moved to third on Lawrie’s base hit and scored on Cooper’s bloop single to left. Arencibia followed with a three-run bomb to left and, just like that, the Jays were up 4-0. That ball was crushed. With one out, Escobar walked, prompting a visit to the mound by the pitching coach. Encarnacion hit a solo homer with one out in the third to make it 5-0. Miller was finished after five (5IP, 8, 5ER, 2BB, 3K) and turned things over to Michael Bowden in the sixth. Romero ran out of gas in the seventh and the Sox scored three runs. Varitek walked and McDonald singled with one out. Ellsbury followed with a double and Varitek came across with the Sox’ first run. After a pitching change, Scutaro ripped a base hit up the middle, driving in McDonald and Ellsbury and making a game of things. But not for long, as Thames homered to right with one out in the bottom of the seventh. The Jays blew the game open in the bottom of the eighth as Lawrie and David Cooper hit back-to-back doubles off of Matt Albers. Varitek led off the ninth with a homer to right off of Frank Francisco. Ellsbury then reached on an error by the second baseman and Scutaro followed with a single. But Francisco struck out Pedroia swinging and the Sox lost three out of four to an inferior team.

The Second Leg: Tampa Bay

Game 144 at Tampa Bay (9/9/11):

Youkilis was sent back to Boston to have his hip examined along with Bedard (lat strain), so the injuries have been piling up as of late at a most inopportune moment in the season. John Lackey got the call in the opener against Wade Davis. In the bottom of the second with two outs, John Jaso hit a long three-run homer to right to stake the Rays to an early lead. In the third, Longoria singled, Zobrist walked and then Damon hit a screaming grounder down the first base line. Gonzalez made a great stab at the ball but his throw to Lackey was too late and Longoria raced around from second to make it 4-0. Matt Joyce then laced a base hit to center and Zobrist scored. Now the Sox were in an intractable hole. Kotchman followed with a walk to load the bases but Lackey got out of the inning on a comebacker to the mound. Lackey was finished after only three innings (3IP, 5H, 5ER, 3BB, 2K). Atchison came on in relief and retired the side in order. In the top of the sixth, Reddick singled up the middle and Saltalamacchia then doubled to left. Ellsbury then reached on an infield single and Reddick came in the back door with the Sox’ first run. Scutaro followed with a sacrifice fly to center and Salty scored to make it 5-2. In the bottom of the sixth, Jaso and Reid Brignac hit back-to-back doubles off of Atchison to make it 6-2. Longoria then hit a ground-rule double to left and Brignac scored. That was all for Atchison as Felix Doubront entered the game. Davis went the distance and struck out Ortiz to put a cap on another dismal outing by the Red Sox.

Game 145 at Tampa Bay (9/10/11):

In this game, the Sox fell behind 5-3, only to mount a comeback in the ninth as Saltalamacchia and Ellsbury homered off of Kyle Farnsworth. Papelbon was outstanding in relief in the ninth and tenth before handing things off to Bard. Desmond Jennings led off the bottom of the 11th with a triple to the gap in right center and scored the winning run on Longoria’s single to left.

Game 146 at Tampa Bay (9/11/11):

There really isn’t much to say here. The Sox got creamed 9-1 in the finale and lost their fifth in a row. Lester started and had trouble right off the bat as the Rays scored three runs in the bottom of the first. Scutaro hit a solo shot in the third but B.J. Upton hit a grand slam off of Michael Bowden and it was garbage time after that. This has to be the absolute low point of the season.