Final: Red Sox 1, Royals 0
Final: Red Sox 1, Royals 0 Papelbon strikes out Guillen and gets Teahen to fly out. An 11-pitch ninth nets his 23rd save.
9:37, 1-0: Here are the final lines for the starters. A pitching duel looks like this:
Bannister: 7 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 7 K, 4 BB. 115 pitches, 68 strikes.
Lester: 8 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 8 K, 2 BB. 115 pitches, 78 strikes.
End of 8, 9:34. 1-0: David Ortiz grounds directly into the shift. Papelbon will enter and try to close it out.
9:30. 1-0: Bannister walks Youkilis intentionally and leaves for John Bale. This was his best start since his one-hitter the second game into the season, but he's in line for the loss. Papelbon is warming.
9:26. 1-0: Dustin Pedroia clangs one off the Monster and scores Aaron Bates from third. He slides into second with the double and a 1-0 Sox lead. This man will eat your adversity.
9:24. 0-0: Terry Francona just ordered and received a successful Nick Green sacrifice bunt. Swine is seen hovering above the press box.
Bottom 8, 9:22. 0-0: Mark Kotsay squibs a base hit over the mound and through to centerfield. Aaron Bates will pinch run for him. Yep, Julio Lugo is still on the team. Why do you ask?
Top 8, 9:17. 0-0. Lester works around a leadoff walk to Alberto Callaspo to get out of the inning. That was Jon Lester's 25th consecutive shutout inning against the Royals in Fenway Park. His strikeout of Ryan Freel was his eighth of the night.
The Sox will try to get their second hit of the game in the bottom of the eighth.
Top 7, 8:55. 0-0: The Royals threaten a rally with an error and a base hit, but Rocco Baldelli's one-hop throw on a fly ball "gets Mark Teahan at second." (Teahan was very safe until he came off the bag, but the umpire made the call beforehand. Anyone with a twenty-minute memory would call this home cooking.) Baldelli, who replaced the ejected Ellsbury, wasn't even looking at second base when he made the throw. He is magic. One ground ball to Youkilis later -- this time un-flubbed -- and the Sox are out of the inning still tied.
Bottom 6, 8:50. 0-0: David Ortiz strikes out for the third time tonight on Brian Bannister's slow-motion fastball from the future. Bannister has David Ortiz's number, and that number is apparently "88 mph." He strands Kevin Youkilis who reached on an error. He and DeJesus are the only two players to reach base twice so far.
8:35 This is how you artificially kill a rally: Jacoby Ellsbury was called out trying to steal home plate when Kotsay was caught in a rundown. Except Ellsbury wasn't close to out, pre-replay, even by the naked eye. Some fully-clothed eyes saw that he was safe too. Ellsbury was immediately ejected for throwing his helmet. Francona got his money's worth and even got some angry hand-gestures in there, but was not tossed. The play is scored 2-4-3-2, but the game remains scoreless.
8:30 Ellsbury steals second then takes third on a fielder's choice. Varitek, who walked, is out at second. Kotsay is safe at first.
Bottom 5, 8:25. 0-0: Jacoby Ellsbury breaks up the no hitter with a clean single up the gut two pitches into the half-inning. The Sox will contemplate a rally.
Top 5, 8:22, 0-0: Another perfect inning for Lester.The Royals aren't going anywhere offensively. Neither is Clay Buchholz. The wheels of his car were stolen in Providence this afternoon. They left some bricks, though. Thanks, robbers!
Bottom 4, 8:15, 0-0: Another hitless inning for the Sox. Maybe Bannister will start heaving the ball over the plate when the sun completely disappears and he (presumably) develops werewolf like tendencies like he did last year.
At least he's not Ambiorix Burgos. The Royals will look to hit their second ball out of the infield in the bottom of the inning.
Bottom 3, 8:00, 0-0: JD Drew walks -- that OBP business is why he's leading off, anyway -- but nothing comes out of it. Bannister has been really good locating his changeup early on. He still hasn't given up a hit.
Fun fact: Brian Bannister was once traded for a guy who allegedly threatened to murder someone after he lost a game of dominoes. Really! Puts the fun in fun fact.
Top 3, 7:55. 0-0: "DeJesus singles" doesn't quite have the same ring to it as its predecessor. His hit -- the first one out of the infield by either team -- is redacted when he left early trying to steal second and was picked off by Lester.
Speaking of, Lester is flatly blowing by the Royals with his fastball when it's up in the zone tonight. Bannister has been fooling the Sox with lots of breaking pitches and well-placed, low-velocity fastballs.
Top 2, 7:38. 0-0: Lester didn't start out strong -- his first five pitches missed the plate -- but has rebounded nicely. Despite the leadoff walk in the first and a Mark Teahan infield single in the second, he has three strikeouts early.
Side note: does anybody else get something stuck in their head when they see "DeJesus walks" in the box score?
Bottom 1, 7:30. 0-0: Brian Bannister starts out with a pair of strikeouts to evade a Youkilis walk. He's going to need all of the early outs he can get -- he's 2-5 dating back to May 29, and he gave up at least six hits in five of those eight starts.
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if theres a more boring team in baseball than these boring ass clowns who are they. watching them struggle against the worst teams in mlb is brutal wait till they hit the road can you say 1 run a game
another AAA dude mowing the clowns down go yankees
Is Eckersley the worst announcer on the face of the earth? I can't wait until RemDog comes back! The "Eck" is about as self-centered as you can get. He has completely reinformed the people that haven't dealt with him for years that he really is STILL an idiot. Get well RemDog!
YAWN....
Why can't this team hit?
hey cASS......pretty sad that a NY fan is on a RS NATION site......you get booted off of the spankees forum?
Great links!
Are you guys listening to WRKO with Bill Cosby on air. This is hysterical!!
He keeps calling Jacoby "Jailsberry" and he absolutely refuses to finish this story about meeting Jackie Robinson. He's telling the batters what to do: "Don't bunt, this is the Boston Red Sox, we don't bunt!" "Take the first two pitches, this guy is as scared as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs."
OMG, he just called Dave O'Brien "Pillsbury," apparently something to do with his weight.
"The Sox will contemplate a rally."
It's true, that's exactly what they're doing. That's Socrates leaning in to William F. Buckley on the Boston bench. The manager, Einstein, is composing a treatise on the hit and run. And yes, Freud's on deck.
Or maybe that's just a few guys turning their caps backwards.
Absolutely horrendous at-bat by Green. 1st and 3rd, less than two outs and he hacks at the first two pitches he sees, both of which are out of the zone. Ellsbury mistakenly called out at home, and then Green mercifully ends this once promising inning by chasing a pitch in the dirt. When you're a struggling team, this is what happens. Good thing Lester is dealing, though.
"This is how you artificially kill a rally"
Still - imagine what would have happened if they hadn't contemplated it!
ben collins is easily the best in-game blogging updates-and-insights man.
Worst call ever! He was so safe it's not even funny. Too bad its not a reason to protest the game if we lose because we could win this one!
Love your stuff. "Fully clothed eyes" is great.
Musselboro, I agree. Collins is the only in-game blogger I'm happy to see when Kilgore's not running the show.
What is up with the Royals? Why is it they play us so well (or we play them so poorly)?
BTW, how does the yellow glove and cleats look on Lester?
Give Lester an at-bat! He's doing everything else! Wow... our guys are tired...
The "Eck" is an idiot and the worst announcer I have dealt with outside of Jim Palmer. I love NESNand watch every single Sox game there unless forced to another channel. He continues to be the most pathetic self-promoter in the business. Your days are over "Eck". Please focus on the talent of today. And the FACT that you continue to side with the umpires and/or the other team on close calls is really, really disgusting to listen to when we are watching the hometown channel! Please God, bless RemDog with a speedy recovery!
This team stinks. Epstein sit on his butt and does nothing. Francona keeps making excuses for an overpaid bunch of thieves. Are you listening Ortiz, Boras's boy, et al. Green should be in the minors or at least on thr bench. Just Brutal.
"Collins is the only in-game blogger I'm happy to see when Kilgore's not running the show."
Agreed. Collins take-no-prisoners intensity is absolutely pants-defying. Kilgore lets the game dictate its own rhythm. Both are valid approaches. (They might do well in a collaboration.)
Nice clean up hitter, Maybe they should move Drew (AKA Boras's) boy into that spot. How much did Epstein get as a kick back. Maybe he can trade for Giambi.
Well done. Very well done.
Wow. Three hits against a Triple A team. Nice work, richest-team-in-baseball.
In a 0-0 game we nearly lost because of a blown call. Can we hear more about the terrible umpiring this year? It's the worst I've seen in years. All over baseball. And to add insult to injury our fastest player gets tossed for throwing his helmet. I've seen players have to more than this to get thrown out. The guys screws up the call and then has a quick hook with a player who you really need in a Low scoring game like this. More should be written about this because it isn't right!
Hey soxagain22....RELAX!!!! Its not about Eck, its about the fact that the Red Sox are playing like crap and cant hit. They are frustrating to watch. They need help and Theo needs to make a move soon. That is the problem right now.
Tip of the cap to Mr Ben Collins, Globe Correspondent.
As others have noted here, he does good game updates, plus he makes use of links to other good stuff (like the article about Bannister), and he can pull off a joke. Also, the guy listens to readers; some commenters have requested that each inning update include the score, and Collins has started doing that. He's, like, interactive!
Boston.com should let this guy do the game blog more often. Some of the paper-based beat writers don't seem to enjoy it the way he does.
-- Sox fan in NYC
Arizona, you miserable fool. What were you saying back in the 90s when this team really did stink?
I agree about Ben Collins being one of the better in game bloggers as well. When some do it they open a new thing for each update, which messes with the flow of the comments (because there is no flow, they're all separated).
to The 5th Element: I thought the umpiring was poor last year as well but I agree that this year it's really bad, especially the quick ejections. And I'm not sure if it's ESPN's strike zone indicator (in their GameCast feature) or what but it seems that a lot of balls and strikes calls are off the mark this year compared to last year (when I also used GameCast to "watch" most Sox games)
Collins should get one of those lifetime jobs that the Globe guild seemingly gives out like candy, or at least teach a course to the rest of the luddites.
Drew is the most over-paid position player in the game. How many 3-1 meatballs can one guy look at? Am I nuts or should Francona turn Drew loose on ALL fastball counts? TGFL! If Lester didn't eat 8 innings tonight, Tito (w/ Theo's blessing) would have overworked the "one? & done" bullpen yet again. The effectiveness of Ramirez, MDC, etc. is dwindling because they are getting cooked with over-use. Why does Sox Offense take innings off when they get a few runs ahead? MDC has no movement on FB, so keep him fresh because a day and a couple MPH really matter with him.
Um rowvee, the Sox are the highest paid team in baseball? Check the payroll, you ignorant fool.
"Collins should... at least teach a course to the rest of the luddites."
I get your point, but it really boils down to energy and enthusiasm. He can't teach that, you either have it or you don't.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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