June 25, 2011

G76: Pirates 6, Red Sox 4

Red Sox - 101 000 200 - 4  9  1
Pirates - 000 410 10x - 6  8  2
Lyle Overbay's three-run home run highlighted a fourth inning in which Wakefield (6-7-5-4-2, 86), after breezing through the first three innings, faced eight Pirates and allowed two singles (including a run-scoring hit by Karstens), a double, a home run, a walk, and a stolen base. The fifth inning began with a single, double, and error by Dustin Pedroia to bring in another run.

Josh Reddick and Jacoby Ellsbury each hit solo home runs in the seventh to bring Boston to within one run. The Pirates then upped their lead to 6-4 and Joel Hanrahan - on his 24th pitch of the inning - struck out Adrian Gonzalez (who had driven in the Red Sox's first two runs, on a groundout and solo dong) with Dustin Pedroia at second to end the game.

It was Boston's fourth straight loss (after winning 14 of 16 games since June 3) and it dropped the Red Sox into second place, 0.5 GB the Yankees.

The Red Sox had a flicker of hope when, one strike away from defeat, Pedroia smacked a fly ball to right. Xavier Paul went back and leapt at the wall, but could not make the catch. As Pedroia pulled into second base with a double, a Pirates employee assumed the ball had been caught and the game was over and started the fireworks display! Gonzalez took a ball, then fouled off four pitches before going to far on a checked swing to truly end the game. And the rest of the PNC fireworks were set off.
Example
Tim Wakefield / Jeff Karstens

Karstens has made 12 starts this season, and he has allowed more than two earned runs only twice. In four starts this month, he has a 0.65 ERA. In 27.2 innings, he has allowed only 16 hits and three walks (a drool-worthy 0.69 WHIP), with 11 strikeouts. However, the Pirates won only two of the four games, because they scored a total of five runs (2, 0, 2, 1).

Wakefield is hoping for Win #184 as a member of the Red Sox (and career Win #198).

Sidebar: R.A. Dickey and Wakefield are the two knuckleballers in the majors. And down in Allen, Texas, two dentists/baseball fans have a practice called Dickey & Wakefield Dental. But it's not a tribute; their names are Steve Dickey and Brian Wakefield. The Mets' Dickey:
Wow, that's amazing! What are the odds of that? I tell you what. I would definitely feel comfortable going there. You've got to have a steady hand to throw a knuckleball, and also to do the work they do. ... I'm going to text Tim. He's going to love this.
Also: Amy alerted me to a Bats post at the Times about the 2011 Red Sox's progression from doomed to dominant.

AL East: Rockies/Yankees at 1 PM; Rays/Astros at 7 PM.

63 comments:

Zenslinger said...

Yankee pitching prospects are doing great for other teams. They more or less gave up on Karstens and Kennedy and just traded Humber -- all are having excellent seasons.

allan said...

Ellsbury, CF
Pedroia, 2B
Gonzalez, 1B
Youkilis, 3B
Drew, RF
Saltalamacchia, C
Reddick, LF
Scutaro, SS
Wakefield, P

Tabata, LF
d'Arnaud, 3B
Jones, RF
McCutchen, CF
Walker, 3B
Overbay, 1B
Cedeno, SS
McKenry, C
Karstens, P

allan said...

Peter Abraham writes that PNC Park will be the 40th MLB stadium Wakefield has pitched in. Jamie Moyer holds the record, with 49 parks.

Wakefield's parks (and games played):
296: Fenway Park
27: Sky Dome
26: Tropicana Field
25: Camden Yards
22: Yankee Stadium 2
21: Rangers Ballpark
18: Comiskey Park, Oakland Coliseum, Three Rivers Stadium
17: Angel Stadium
15: Jacobs Field, Kauffman Stadium
12: Comerica Park, Metrodome
7: Safeco Field
5: Turner Field, Tiger Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Shea Stadium
4: County Stadium, Olympic Stadium, Kingdome
3: Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium 3, Busch Stadium
2: Mile High Stadium, Veterans Stadium, Citizens Bank Park, Candlestick Park, AT&T Park
1: Fulton County Stadium, Great American Ballpark, Riverfront Stadium, Miller Park, Astrodome, Target Field, Jack Murphy Stadium, Petco Park

Abraham says Bank One Ballpark, the new Busch Stadium, Coors Field, Nationals Park, Citi Field and Minute Maid Park are not on Wake's list (yet).

allan said...

COL - 000 000 012 - 3 8 1
MFY - 203 001 02x - 8 15 0

tim said...

do it! do it! do it! do it! do it!
do it! do it! do it! do it! do it!
do it! do it! do it! do it!
don't wanna be your slave!
don't wanna be your slave!
don't wanna be your slave!


enjoying this saturday afternoon of stones/music, baseball (SF-CLE) and relaxation!

allan said...

do it! do it! do it! do it! do it!
do it! do it! do it! do it! do it!
do it! do it! do it! do it!


Everything about "Slave" (my #2 Stones song) is fantastic! Keith's guitars, obviously, but also Wyman's bass lines. And fuckin' Sonny Rollins on sax! (And the version on CD is 90 seconds longer (6:33) than on the LP (4:59). Originally written for Black and Blue.)

Slave (instrumental, 7:03)

allan said...

Some fans were thinking that Bert might play RF tomorrow (since Miller is more of a groundball pitcher, but Tito is not ready:

"I don't think I'm going to do it tomorrow. I'm kind of on the fence. Since I am, I'm not sure I know what's right, but I am sure of what's not right. Until I'm positive that this is something to do, I'm going to stay away. That's how I feel. I'll probably stay away tomorrow. Re-evaluate on the way to Philly. I'm hung up and I'm struggling with it and I don't want do something I'm struggling with. ... I'm just not ready to do it. Maybe three, four games into this road trip ... maybe I will. We'll see."

Jere said...

1 run, 0 hits

allan said...

FY + BB + SB + E2 + EB + 63 = 1-0.

allan said...

So Karstens has a NO-HITTER???

Jere said...

Well this brings up an interesting question--how much do you care about being no-hit if you win? I'd say that if it stayed this way till the end, I'd be just as happy with the win as I'd be with any other win.

Jere said...

I'd hardly call that a spray, Don. (Then again they missed the pitch so who knows...)

Jere said...

So they have a guy with a lower-case letter that starts his name. So they put it lower case on the uniform. But everybody else's name has all lower-case letters except the first, but -- goddamn the fucking pitcher batting why are we doing this shit????

allan said...

a win is a win.

(if we get 12 hits and 1 run and they get 2 hits and 2 runs, i don't feel like we bested them in anything.)

allan said...

reddick, catch the ball the right way, asshole.

Jere said...

Well before I was so rudely interrupted by Bud Selig, I was gonna say, a small cap would fit better than a lower case, when you want a "lower case" in an all caps world.

allan said...

EVIL DONG!!!

Jere said...

aDrian ONGzalez

allan said...

i think they missed another pitch

Jere said...

well gol-lee, I just rewound and sure enough the first pitch we saw was 0-1. So it's one of those nights for them. (Which really just means they're not coming back way in advance of the first pitch...to read ad copy.)

allan said...

mlbtv came back and everything was quiet through the pitch, than all of a sudden don was talking, making up for lost time

Jere said...

And that would be why I didn't notice--I got the feed right before Don talked, and the count didn't appear until right when the guy swung so since I was watching the action I didn't even look at the count, which would be the only way a NESN viewer could have known they missed a pitch.

allan said...

Sox had 10 hits (all singles) on Wednesday and 9 hits (all singles) last night. B-Ref sez:

it's the first time the BoSox have gone 2 games without an extra-base hit since 2009, and the first time they've done so with 9+ hits since 1931.

RedSoxDiehard said...

"Red Sox had something going... until that"

Does that count?

I'm not missing any pitches, but my parents who live in Maine have noticed missing pitches that I saw. One night I was on the phone and when it came back from commercial I was talking about something that happened on the first pitch and they had no ieda what I was talking about. We both rewound and their cable really had cut it off. IAnd I thought, now I see what Jere and Allan are always talking about.

allan said...

Bingo: I counted it.

allan said...

The sooner the phrase "and just like that" gets retired, the happier I'll be.

Kathryn said...

Well that turned around quickly.

allan said...

acevesup

allan said...

oh man.

allan said...

might be time to get him, tito.

allan said...

nice call staying with him, tito!
:>)

allan said...

nesn missed another one. shitheads

allan said...

reddong!

allan said...

damn, wish that had been the one they totally missed. it might draw attention to their contempt.

allan said...

LBJ DONG! Bucs led 5-4 now.

allan said...

if wake is going to get his W, we need to take the lead right here.

Jere said...

but isn't wake out of the game officially since he was pinch hit for? I don't know how this shit league works. Anyway, are they actually pitching to Adrian here??

allan said...

he is still the "pitcher of record" since no reliever has been announced. if the sox lead 7-5 at the end of the inning, it'll be like he "left" with a 7-5 lead.

Jere said...

well I knew it was like that for AL, but in this case he's been officially replaced in the lineup. But I guess they can't give Darnell a win, so....

allan said...

LH vs moskos .417
RH vs moskos .207

hooookay!

allan said...

I figured you knew how it worked!

***

I just saw the White Sox/Nats box from last night!

WSH - 000 000 021 101 04 - 9 19 1
CWS - 000 000 003 101 00 - 5 18 2

Jere said...

One day somebody's gonna say to me, "My friend wanted to know what a double switch is, so I came to you since you know so much about baseball." And I'll be like, "hey look over there!"

Kathryn said...

I'm with you Jere. I really need to think hard to figure it out. Usually, I don't bother.

I enjoyed reading your book. I especially liked the character development of Patel. And it was fun to have the player personalities.

It was funny to see the reference to Jerry Springer. We here at my household thought we were the only ones who called him that!

allan said...

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-verbay!

Jere said...

Allow hits Watson x 3

Jere said...

Glad you liked it Kathryn!

allan said...

hack-happy squanderers

Kathryn said...

What is all this first pitch swinging? I thought we were patient at the plate.

allan said...

Time for action.

PH, then top of the order

allan said...

flo: just get on base.

allan said...

getting hit with the back swing has got to hurt a lot more than the catcher lets on.

allan said...

a little stroke and a big dong ...

allan said...

FIREWORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

hahahahahahaaaa

Dr. Jeff said...

Fireworks after EB homer!

Kathryn said...

and the fireworks go off!!!!

allan said...

is don in love with the word "hammerhead"? jesus, stop it already. he doesn't pitch for us.

RedSoxDiehard said...

Nice of them to set off fireworks for Pedey, but it was only a double...

allan said...

Guess they have a few more sparklers...

Fuck - 2nd place, 0.5 GB.

laura k said...

Clean second place water.

I got home from work early tonight, so I watched the last 1.5 innings on TV, the Pittsburgh announcers. Wow! They are awful.

laura k said...

getting hit with the back swing has got to hurt a lot more than the catcher lets on.

His name's McHenry, and the Pittsburgh announcers call him The Fort. Cute!

When he got hit, they said, The Fort's still standing.

laura k said...

Oops, McKenry. Pronounced the same.

allan said...

Cafardo, in the Globe's game blog, poked fun at the Pirates for setting off the early fireworks.

"... the operator must have thought right fielder Garrett Jones caught Pedroia's drive. Oops."

Except it was Xavier Paul in right field for the 9th inning. Oops, indeed, Nick.

tim said...

re: slave - yeah, i have the CD version (6+ min)

it is a great chune, i'm not a huge fan of the album but it's definitely a groover.