Red Sox 4, Marlins 3
Comments Off Nice to get a win when you are outplayed in just about every facet of the game. The Sox looked, well, like they had just spent a Saturday night in South Beach as Jon Lester pitched pretty poorly, the offense slept but for three or four swings of the bat or so and the defense was shoddy. But sometimes things are just going your way and whether you think it’s the mark of a good team or blind luck, winning when you play as the Sox did yesterday is pretty nice.
Kevin Youkilis led the game off with a home run only to have Hanley Ramirez do the same in the home half of the first. From there, Josh Johnson really outpitched Lester. Johnson lasted seven innings and allowed just four hits. The problem of course was that three of those hits were home runs – Youkilis’s, another for David Ortiz and a line shot into the right field stands off the bat of Jason Varitek. For his part Lester was only able to hang around for five innings. He allowed seven hits and three walks and after tossing 99 pitches through five, gave way to Julian Tavarez. This was a defensible move, as the Sox were going to need at least four innings out of their bullpen and if you are on the roster, you have to pitch sometimes.
Tavarez worked a very good sixth, managing to induce three ground ball outs. With Delcarmen, Timlin and Hansen all presumably available in a 3-2 game heading into the seventh, I am not sure why Tavarez came back out but he did. Not only did he come back out but he came back out to face one of baseball’s very best hitters, Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera hopped all over Tavarez and launched a home run just to the left field side of center field. For good measure, Tavarez stayed in the game so he could walk Josh Willingham before giving way to Mike Timlin.
From there, the Marlins were cooked. Timlin got out of the seventh, the Sox pushed one across in the eighth and Timlin, Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon did their part to close out a 4-3 win and take the series.
The Red Sox now head to Tampa, where, right out of the gate we get a fantastic pitching matchup. Josh Beckett faces Scott Kazmir. Oh and if it were even close to worthwhile at this point, I would comment on All-Star selections but what’s the point? The AL’s roster is without Francisco Liriano and Travis Hafner, the league’s best pitcher and hitter. See what I mean? What’s the point?
