Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a three year contract extension that will take Tito through 2011. With two World Series titles in four seasons, Francona is already the most successful Red Sox manager in a generation, if not all time. Personally, I’m glad we’ve got him locked up for another three years.
Here it is, game 7 of the American League Championship Series and I’m stuck watching the game on ESPN’s Gamecast. Generally, I’m a big fan of Gamecast and next to watching the game on television or listening to it on the radio, its really the next best thing. (No, I’m not going to pay to stream it over the Internet from MLB.) Anyway, while I’m at the computer working on a few things, I figured why not run a live blog while I’m at it. Can you think of a better use of my time right now? No, I didn’t think so.
Daisuke retired them so quickly, I didn’t even realize the inning was over. I turned my head and “BOOM” its the bottom of the 1st. How long can he keep that up? Yeah, its rhetorical.
Here we go with the leadoff single, nicely done Pedroia. And another single, this time from Youk and Pedroia moves to second. Papi goes down swinging. RBI single by Manny and the score is now 1 - 0 Sox. Lowell singles to left and the bases are juiced for J.D. “Mr. Grand Slam” Drew. Make that “Inning Ending Double Play” Drew. We’ve seen a whole hell of lot more of that Drew than the former.
Daisuke gets them 1, 2, 3 in the top of the second all on infield outs.
Nice double to left by Varitek. Looks like they’re going to get to Westbrook early tonight. That’s quite alright with me. Ellsbury, my new favorite player, singles and moves Tek to third. Lugo grounds in to a DP, but Tek scores and the game is now 2-0 Sox. Pedroia flies to left and the inning is over.
Lofton flies out to right. Guiterrez pops out to second. And Blake has a single to center and promptly advances to second on a WP by Daisuke. Oh god, don’t blow up now. Sizemore goes down swinging and the inning is over.
Youk starts off the third right with a double and the Sox have gotten the leadoff man aboard in three straight innings. Ortiz grounds out, but Youk advances to third. They walk Manny. I can’t really blame them, but Lowell is no slouch either. Sac fly to right and the Sox are up 3 - 0. J.D. flies out and the inning is over.
I got behind on this inning and got brought back just in time to see “R Garko doubled to deep center, T Hafner scored.” Hafner may have been cold for the series, but he sure has made his presence felt tonight.
Varitek is 2 for 2, I certainly hope he keeps this up. Ellsbury on third and Lugo on 1st certainly makes for some serious speed on the basepaths. What an unusual thing to say about Sox base runners. Lot of good all that speed did.
Man, I wish I could have seen Lofton getting gunned down at second. It must have been a good play to catch him. Back to back singles and Sizemore coming to the plate. Hard to imagine the tribe not getting at least one here. Doh! Thankfully it was a sac fly and Cabrera struck out. That was looking scary.
Youk, Ortiz, and Ramirez all go down in order and without too much of a fight. This is not the same Westbrook that started this game.
I don’t have expanded stats available so I don’t know what Dice-K’s pitch count was, but I’m surprised, but happy to see Francona pull Daisuke early. That last inning didn’t look real good from here and in the absence of seeing it with my own eyes, I’ve got to think the visual matched. Okajima seemed to make quick work of Hafner, Martinez, and Garko. We’ll see if he’s back in the 7th.
OK, Westbrook is back and I’m not real happy about it. He made quick work of Lowell, Drew, and Tek and they’ve got to add some insurance quick before the Indians can get to Perez and Betancourt.
Here comes Okie Dokie for another inning. It really is annoying watching the little animation that depicts a ball put in play without knowing what is going on. Was it routine, did Drew make a great play? The consolation is that Peralta is out. Case in point, how bad was Lugo’s error just now? Dammit, I’m a wreck. Damn that Gutierrez. Thank you Blake for the inning ending double play.
Here comes Betancourt. As dominant as Westbrook was looking, I’m not sure I would have yanked him. Ellsbury is one fast dude, I wonder if it was a factor on the error by Blake. Lugo sacrificed to move Ellsbury to third. I’ll like this move if Pedroia can lift one to the outfield or hit safely. OH THAT’LL WORK! Not known for his power, the little guy just helped my blood pressure with that one. Sox up by three on the two run shot over the monster. Youk grounded to short and here comes Papi. And there goes Papi.
It would appear that this series is gonna go small-ball. Sizemore just bunted for a single. Of course when you’re as fast as Sizemore, you can do that kind of thing. Aw crap, Cabrera just singled to center and Sizemore is in scoring position at second. And here comes Papelbon. Hafner goes down swinging and that brings up Martinez. Martinez grounds in to a fielder’s choice and now there are runners at the corners with Cabrera getting forced at second. Garko flies out to center and the inning is over. Damn Gamecast animation showed that one going WAAAAY back and I was waiting for the the scoreboard to read 5 to 5.
Betancourt is back for the 8th and manages to take care of Manny pretty quickly. Lowell doubles to deep center and that brings up Drew. That damn animation got my hopes up this time. God, I wish I had a TV handy right now. Then again, maybe its better I don’t. Gamecast is cycling all kinds of stats about J.D. right about now and none of them are very good. HA! A single to center and Lowell comes around to score. 6 to 2 Sox! I can’t see what is really going on, but this Tek at bat is long. Ground rule double to left and Drew goes to third. It was worth the wait. They’re walking Ellsbury to get to Lugo?! Welcome to the majors Ellsbury, you really have made it. Bases are loaded for Lugo with one out. Will Francona pinch hit for him? Nope. I’d much rather Lugo go down swinging than hit in to a double play. That brings up Pedroia who is hitting 2 for 4 with a dinger. Holy CRAP! A bases clearing double for Pedroia and the score just broke open 9 to 2 Sox. Pitching change and here comes Lewis. Well Indian fans, the wheels are officially off the bus. Youk just homered to left and the score is now 11 - 2. Make me wonder if Papelbon will be back in the 9th. Seems like a job for the Eric “The Janitor” Gagne now. Ortiz goes down swinging. It hasn’t been a good game for him, and thankfully we didn’t need him.
Defensive replacement time. Crisp to center and Ellsbury to left to replace Manny. Sounds good to me. Papelbon is back out and I can only assume to give him some work before the WS starts. Peralta singles to left. Lofton lined out to left. Gutierrez lined out to center. C’mon Blake just line out to right and we can spread it around the outfield and end this nice and quick. Nope, he had to be different and fly out to center. That’s the ball game folks and the Sox are going back to the World Series. I am going to bed, but when the Series starts I will not be going without a TV for any of the games. Sox and Rockies here we come.
It always seems to go down this way with Francona. He sticks by his guys no matter how bad they slump and they always seem to come through when you really need them. First it was Millar and Bellhorn, now its J.D. Drew. In what can only be described as one of the most important games of his career, J.D. came through big with a grand slam in the first and proceeded to add two more hits and another RBI to go 3 for 5 with 5 RBI.
On the other side of the ball, Schilling pitched well giving up 2 runs on 6 hits in seven innings. He looked better and better as the night went on and cruised effortlessly through the fourth, fifth, and sixth. Other than Martinez’s homer in the second and a triple by Garko in the 7th, Schilling was locked in. With the lead 10 to 2, Lopez and Gagne each got an inning of work and while both of them retired the side in order, I can’t say I want to see either of them again this year.