June 8, 2006

G57: Red Sox 9, Yankees 3

After some initial annoyance -- three solo home runs to three left-handed Yankee batters (Damon (leading off the first inning), Williams and Cano), which gave New York a 3-1 lead after five -- Curt Schilling suddenly became ultra-economical.

Schilling faced and dispatched nine straight Yankees in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings on a total of 23 pitches (7-9-7). At the same time, Boston chased Jaret Wright in the sixth -- walk, single, single, HBP to start the frame -- battered Scott "Umm, Joe, My Arm's Gonna Fly Out Of Its Socket By August" Proctor (two doubles and Tek's three-run line drive home run to right), and abused Scott Erickson (an HBP and two hits, including Coco Crisp's two-run single to cap the scoring).

After eight innings, Boston led 9-3 and Schilling had thrown only 96 pitches, but Jonathan Papelbon came on for the ninth (he hadn't pitched since Sunday).

The New York 9th against the Papelbot:
Damon - first pitch foul pop out to catcher.
Cabrera - (cbbcbf) walk.
Giambi - (cbs) struck out swinging (strike two: 96 fastball; strike three: 89 in the dirt).
Slappy McLastout - (cf) struck out swinging (96 heat up and away).
Papelbon's ERA dropped by a mere 0.01 -- from 0.32 to 0.31.

***

It turns out lefty Jon Lester will make his major league debut on Saturday in the first game of the Rangers doubleheader. Matt Clement gets the ball on Sunday and David Pauley will be available out of the pen over the weekend.

MFY: Gary Sheffield will have surgery on his left wrist next week and will be out until September (at least).

Schilling / Wright, 7 PM

3 comments:

s1c said...

Am disappointed that Pauley didn't get the start. Thought he deserved a home start after his loss the other night.

Anonymous said...

In the three-game set at MFY Stadium, A-Rod reached base but three times (2 BB; 1B)going 1-15 with 4 Ks in the process while his average dropped 10 points to .282.

You wonder who was happier to see Gonzo's E-5 changed to a 2B in the sixth, Gonzo or Slappy himself. In response, Blue Lips registed this nugget in Tyer Kepner's article in this morning's edition of Pravda (aka, New York Times), "It was a difficult play, he said, one that he makes only 3 or 4 times out of 10."

Hey, MVP! Yeah, you, the guy who won the award over Ortizzle because of your purported defensive prowess - 3 or 4 time out of 10?! Can you imagine Mike Lowell or Billy Mueller ever uttering such bullshit?

Answer - Never. Another great reason why we should all thank our lucky stars that this poseur never made it into a BOS uniform.

Anonymous said...

You have to feel good for Arroyo for his success to-date in the NL, both on the bump and with the bat. I think it's a bit too early to put this trade in the same class as the Andersen-Bagwell deal, but in the near term it shows all the ear marks of one that the Sox would probably not do again given the option.

As Josh LaLoosh has painfully discovered, the #s 8 & 9 guys aren't the easy outs in the AL that they are on the senior circuit. While you have to give some credence to stefan's prognostication on a second-half slide for Arroyo, I wouldn't minimize the chip-on-the-shoulder factor of a guy wanting to prove to his former employer (one who he desperately wanted to remain with) that they made the wrong move by trading him.

In other words, the guy is pitching with a purpose, perhaps in a similar vein to one who came (and left) before him who departed in the "twilight of his career". As we'll see in Houston on June 22 some , the twilight for the predecessor in question stands at 10 years thus far.....