FINAL: Red Sox 6, Braves 5
4:25 Nick Green hits a walkoff home run on the first pitch of the ninth inning off of Jeff Bennett, curling it just around Pesky's Pole. Red Sox win, 6-5.
4:21 Diaz goes down swinging on a fastball high and away. One hit, two walks, one strikeout, and he's out of the inning unscathed.
4:18 McCann walks on five pitches. Matt Diaz, who pinch-ran for Anderson last inning, will try to give the Braves the lead with the bases loaded.
4:15 Papelbon gets a double-play ball from Kelly Johnson, but the damp ground prevents Kotsay from turning it fast enough. Papelbon will face the Braves' best hitter McCann, with runners on the corners.
4:13 Yunel Escobar drives a fastball past the dive of Nick Green. He's 3 for 5 today. Runners on first and second with two down.
Top 9, 4:11 Even though Papelbon should've been out of this at-bat (another clear strike that was deemed a ball), McLouth walks. With better-than-average speed, he'll probably try to get to second without a sacrifice.
End of 8, 4:01 The Sox yield nothing. Jonathan Papelbon will enter anyway.
Bottom 8, 3:58 After a long foul Ortiz strikes out swinging at a bad pitch three pitches later.
Middle 8, 3:54 Okajima is out of trouble on a flyout. Ortiz, who is 2 for 3 with a home run today, will have a chance to get the lead back for the Sox.
Top 8, 3:47 Chipper Jones's replacement Kelly Johnson doubles to start the inning, moves over to third on a McCann sac fly, and is driven in on a bloop single to right by Garret Anderson. Martin Prado moves Anderson over. The Braves insert a much quicker Matt Diaz at second and Okajima remains in.
End of 7, 3:41 Drew wound up at third after a steal and an advance on a ground out, but Jason Bay strikes out looking at the sixth pitch on the same part of the plate. Okajima will try to stave off a Braves rally in the eighth.
Bottom 7, 3:34 Fireworks! Chipper Jones and Bobby Cox are ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Jones thought Braves pitcher Eric O'Flaherty should have been out of his at-bat with JD Drew after he looked at a clear strike that was called a ball. Drew blasted the next pitch down the left-field line for a single, scoring George Kottaras from second. 5-4, Red Sox.
Cox wound up in the middle of the argument because he was walking out to replace O'Flaherty with Peter Moylan.
Bottom 7, 3:28 Kottaras doubles and Jurrjens will leave as well. Here are the final lines for the starters:
Jurrjens - 6 1/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 1 BB.
Wakefield - 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2K , 0 BB.
Wakefield has one walk in his last two starts, and four in his last four starts. Those last three starts were wins, too.
3:20 Ramirez lobs a delicious meatball to McLouth, who will not pass up a free meal. He scores Prado on a single and ties the game, 4-4. Wakefield will not receive the win that would have tied him for the major league lead.
Ramirez gets bailed out by a diving Youkilis snare and a quick reaction to force Blanco at third. Is it possible he's Gold Glove caliber at two positions?
Top 7, 3:17 Wakefield leaves after 6 2/3, barely hanging onto a chance at a win. He gave up three straight singles, the last by Gregor Blanco past the dive of Pedroia to score Garret Anderson. He gets a standing ovation, which Fenway is giving away like AIG stock nowadays.
Ramon Ramirez enters.
End of 6, 3:10 Two 1-2-3 half-innings with double plays.
End of 5, 2:56 Wakefield has faced one over the minimum since that two-run first. Jair Jurrjens will never let the Carribean 11-year-olds down. He's allowed one run since his bad first inning.
This is last night's pitching duel on baby food.
End of 4, 2:46 The Sox load the bases with none out but score only one, a Kottaras sac fly to left that scored Ortiz. 4-2, Sox. Green and Ellsbury were stranded.
Bottom 4, 2:36 David Ortiz hits a flyball between short and third. Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones act like it's a fiery comet, let it drop between them, and stare at one another. But, hey! Base hit!
End of 3, 2:28 Jurrjens really likes that whole double play thing, and gets a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out version of his own. Every Carribean 11-year-old is very proud right now.
Middle 3, 2:20 Two straight 1-2-3 innings. Wakefield gets a little help from a McCann double play ball and he's officially settled down from the rough start and the off-and-on rain.
Middle 2, 2:12 Wakefield escapes another double, this time by Prado. Almost all these balls by both teams are hard hit. Maybe we just got spoiled last night.
End of 1, 2:01 Jurrjens gets out of the inning, despite another Kotsay single. Here's something that got brought up in the press box yesterday. Old school baseball dilemma:
When a pitcher commits an error in an inning, like Jurrjens just did in the first, why are his runs then unearned? He committed the error. Should he not be held responsible for those runs?
This feels like something that would be on the bottom of the 736th page of a Bill James book.
1:59 Uh, what wind? David Ortiz puts a dent in the Monster seats. It's his sixth of the year. Red Sox lead 3-2 and are stringing together hits for the first time in three games.
Bottom 1, 1:57 Pedroia smacks a leadoff double. Youkilis reaches on an error. A Jason Bay sac fly scores Pedroia. 2-1, Braves.
Top 1, 1:44 Big start from a very aggressive Braves lineup on the knuckleball. Lots of first-pitch swinging. Singles by Nate McLouth and Yunel Escobar, and a double by Brian McCann make it 2-0 Braves early. Casey Kotchman's fly to right was straight-up killed by the wind, but it would have been at least a deep warning track ball on a normal day.
That's an unusually bad start for Wakefield. Batters are hitting .216 against him this year in his first 15 pitches of his starts.
1:35 Ah, the rubber game. We're ready to go. There is a slight drizzle and the wind is blowing straight in towards home plate.
Nitram Odarp has been moved to second today, which can only mean one thing: it's a beautiful day for baseball. (And, yes, I'm going to post that video as much as is humanly possible.)
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Hey Ben thanks for the great blogging. Keep that thing goin' man!
A red sox fan from Tunisia (North Africa)
I wonder when the Braves last saw a knuckleballer. Bet it's been a while, if ever....
Ben Collins' dilemma is no dilemma at all.
"When a pitcher commits an error in an inning, like Jurrjens just did in the first, why are his runs then unearned? He committed the error. Should he not be held responsible for those runs thereon forth?"
It shouldn't and doesn't matter who commits the error. Jurrjens' ERA is unaffected by his error, just as it should be - ERA is a measure of pitching skill, not fielding ability (well, it doesn't *directly* measure fielding ability, but that's another topic).
Jurrjens the pitcher pitched well enough to get out of the first inning unscored upon, but Jurrjens the *infielder* didn't field his position well enough to get the 2nd out from Youk. If he had, none of the runs would have scored. Jurrjens *is* held responsible for the runs, but it was Jurrjens the infielder who was at fault, not Jurrjens the pitcher.
Unrelated scoring question: Say a pitcher allows a batter to reach first via hit, walk, etc. Mgr pulls said pitcher with the runner still at first. Relief pitcher induces a fielder's choice, first runner out at second, and batter who hits into fielder's choice safe at first now. Who's responsible for that second batter? It seems to me that the initial pitcher bears some responsibility for him being at first because he allowed the first batter to reach, and if he wasn't on base the second batter would've grounded out. Anyone know the rules pertaining to this scenario? If that second runner scores, which pitcher is responsible for that run?
another 500 team with a weak offence pounding our pitching thank god for beckett
Nick Green hits a walk-off homer, and you show a photo of Ortiz. Maybe if Ortiz ever hits a walk-off homer, you can show a photo of Green, if you have one.
Ben, your attempts at humor are not funny. Stick to the ballgame and leave the rest to a 12 year old.
saxydog77 - the pitcher is responsible for the BATTERS he faced who became RUNNERS. Once the last batter/runner he allowed is erased, his line ends.
I see your point, but that's the way the rule is written.
This is kind of funny, and a little bit sad: Ben posted an update at 4:15 that read, "4:15 Papelbon gets a double-play ball from Kelly Johnson, but the damp ground prevents Youkilis from turning it fast enough. Papelbon will face the Braves' best hitter McCann, with runners on the corners."
I submitted a comment here just a few minutes later, chiding Ben gently for forgetting that it was Kotsay at first base today, not Youkilis. Like all comments, it didn't post immediately to allow the blogger to review it for language or other inappropriateness. My post had a bit of a mocking tone, but it was polite, so I expected it to be posted. However, instead of taking his medicine, admitting his error, and approving the comment for posting, he opted to deep-six the comment and to edit his 4:15pm update to make it appear as though he hadn't ever made the mistake.
Is this what passes for journalistic integrity at the Globe these days? If this post winds up in the trash can like the other one did, you can bet I'll be emailing a short note to Ben's editor asking for an explanation.
Mush:
Comments critical of the writers are dumped all the time in the Globe's sports department. (And yeah, it says something about them that they'll savage the players, but not man up when they themselves blunder.) Some of the writers really seem to hate the extra work involved in the inclusion of comments - a big "FY" to the readers, BTW.
On the other hand, Comment Seven says 'Ben is un-funny', and that one sailed right through. I dunno, I suspect Ben (who never met a snarky side-issue link he didn't like) is much more of a roll-with-the-punches internet animal than some of his Jurassic brethren. He probably needs to play it a bit straighter, like Mr. Kilgore (the best in this space), but he's far from the worst of the bunch. Some of the attempts at blogging here have been absolutely bizarre.
Ben, please consult "The Elements of Style" or other authority. It is never necessary to add 'of' to 'off'. Players don't "hit a home run off of the pitcher," They "hit a home run off the pitcher." 'Off of' is redundant. Your editor should have picked that up.
Your friend in the Department of Redundancy Department...
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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