A young Tampa Bay Rays team re-gained sole possession of first place in the American League East tonight. Going into tonight's game one of the questions being discussed was how would the Rays respond to the surging Red Sox and the pressure of the playoff push down the stretch; however none of that seems to be bothering this team.
Dioner Navarro singled to deep center with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th off Justin Masterson to give the Rays the 2-1 win. Last nights game was was a slug fest with the Red Sox hitting 6 home runs while beating the Rays 13-5. Tonight the pitchers stepped up. Josh Beckett threw 8 brilliant innings of 3 hit ball giving up a lone home run to Carlos Pena while striking out 7. Perhaps equally impressive was Andy Sonnanstine for the Rays as he kept the Sox bats silent over 6 innings before handing the ball over to the bullpen.
Both teams played well enough to win, and in the end the Rays proved to Boston and maybe the rest of the baseball world that they are not going to crumble under the umbrella of inexperience in September. The rubber game of the series, and final match up of the season is Wednesday night; the Sox send Tim Wakefield to the hill as he opposes Matt Garza for the Ray's. Wakefield is 9-10 with a 3.92 era while Garza is 11-9 with a 3.62 era.
Despite the loss Red Sox fans can take some comfort in Josh Beckett's performance tonight. Although he picked up a no decision Beckett's command and velocity were very good, and his curve ball had really good break on it. Beckett has been on a pitch count since coming off the disabled list logging 95 pitches tonight. I believe that in Beckett's next start and into the playoffs we'll see him throw 110-120 pitches if need be.
ITM notes from the game:
-The Red Sox are the best fielding team in the American League, sporting a fielding percentage of .986. They've come a long way since the beginning of the year with Lugo at short.
-Bartolo Colon is apparently heading to the bullpen for the first time in his career as the Sox finish out the season.
-Mike Lowells' partially torn labrum in his right hip is looking like it will play a factor down the stretch. Lowell was pinch run for in the 9th inning after singling to left field. After making a running play in the 4th inning Lowell came up grimacing in pain, I wouldn't think he'd be in the line up tomorrow night, especially with the day off Thursday.
-Masterson has had better outings than tonight as he picks up the loss. A bit of bad luck with Barlet's bloop single and some control issues loaded the bases before Navarro won the game. His slider and sinker did have really good movement, ask Evan Longoria who looked foolish in his 9th inning at bat.
Tuesday, September 16
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2 comments:
Tough loss. Certainly not the way the Red Sox wanted to lose to a young Rays team after drubbing them last night either. Tomorrow's game becomes very important.
One thing I must say, this was a great game played by both teams. Entertaining to watch given the budding rivalry. A nice change from the normal NY/Boston hatred.
I think Masterson's outing was that bad.
That weird bullpen issue bares mentioning, rather than 1-2 and dealing the next pitch strike he gets sent back to 1-1, deals a strike then 3 balls to put the runner on rather than getting the K and dealing with 1 on 1 out he's got 2 on nobody out and the winning run in scoring position.
Getting 4 outs is a tall order for a young pitcher, especially against this new look Rays team at home. I agree that they are for real, especially at home.
The weird part is that despite all the bullshit between the Rays and the Sox (I wish we'd plunk a few of them just to remind them who the fucking real franchise is) I still think that even if they knock out the sox I would end up rooting for this team in subsequent series'. It makes for a more interesting AL east and they sure as hell ain't the Yanks.
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