Red Sox 07 Game 47 Recap

Final

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	4	0	0	2	4	0	0	0		10	10	0
Texas	0	0	0	5	0	0	1	0	0		6	8	0

W: D. Matsuzaka (7-2, 4.43); L: W. Littleton (0-1, 3.00)
HR: TEX: F. Catalanotto (4), R. Vazquez (3).

• Hero - Manny Ramirez
  
• Goat - Brandon McCarthy

Idle thoughts

Well the first inning went the way I thought it would as both pitchers managed to escape with out giving up a run. The top of the second inning was when things started to go off script. The first three Sox drew walks to load the bases. Varitek hit a sac fly to Lofton and the Sox were on the board with 1 run off of zero hits.

Coco Crisp kept the inning going by drawing a walk and was followed by Pedroia who on the seventh pitch hit a single to right field, scoring J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell. Lugo followed up with a FC to Sammy Sosa who dropped a ball along the foul line, and since Pedroia had to hold up, Sosa was able to force Pedroia at second base. 4 runs in the inning and only 1 hit.

The third inning saw a 1-2-3 inning by Daisuke after the Sox squandered a chance on a single and double by Ortiz and Manny to start the inning off of Littleton who replaced McCarthy to start the inning. At the end of the third was when we first saw signs that something might be wrong with Daisuke as he held his side going off the field.

To say that Daisuke sucked in the fourth would be an understatement, though it was obvious that something did not feel right with him. Leading off the fourth Teixera tripled, Sosa doubled, Catalanotto homered and it was 4 - 3 Sox.

It looked like the damage might be limited to the three runs after Daisuke struck out Nelson Cruz and got a fly ball to Coco by Ian Kinsler. No such luck though. Laird hit a ground ball single to center over Daisuke heads and then gave up another home run to Ramon Vazquez. Lofton finished the inning by grounding out to Youkilis but momentum had shifted to the Rangers, who led at this point 5 - 4.

Boston struck back quickly though. Lugo hit a dribbler in front of the plate that Laird handled easily for one out. Kevin Youkilis then extended his hitting streak to 17 games by singling to right, David Ortiz tied the game by doubling to right and Manny singled to left to score Ortiz. Score 6-5 and the Sox never trailed again eventually extending their lead to 5 runs before the Rangers scored on a Wild Pitch in the 7th to finish the scoring for the night. Sox Win, Sox Win!!!

Drew and Lowell were the only Sox to not get a hit, with Youkilis, Ortiz and Manny having two hits each. Lowell and Drew both grounded into double plays during the game.

Daisuke's ERA after this game rose to 4.43 while Okajima and Papelbon both pitched 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth.

J.D. Drew has the lowest batting average of the regular players with a .230. Lugo is the next closest with a .235. Manny raised his average to .256 after his two hits.

Though not a pitchers duel it was still a good game as the Sox gained ground on all of the other AL east teams who lost their games.

Chow!