Not Again... by Jared Carrabis
Sox Endure Another Crushing Defeat

This was not the way the Red Sox wanted bounce back from a crushing loss on Tuesday night. I’m almost certain they did not intend to follow up a crushing loss with an even more crushing loss to the most devastating extent of frustration and sense of pure disappointment. Without question the Red Sox could have and maybe should have swept this series away from the Rays but give all the credit in the world to this team. When the pressure was on, they didn’t fold. Not saying that the Red Sox did, but they certainly did not capitalize on golden opportunities that would have led to three victories in this series, not one.


Whether it be managerial mistakes or poor performances when the team needed a big hit or a shutout inning the most, the Rays took advantage of the Red Sox flaws. Instead of sending the Rays packing down a game and a half in the American League East, the Red Sox now find themselves a disappointing two and a half games back of the (still) first place Rays.


As much as we all want to put our boots through our television screens, believe it or not there are some positives to take out of this horror show of a baseball game. Let’s all take the time to tip our caps to the Pirates of the Red Sox bullpen (cough except for Mike Timlin cough). In a game with certain playoff implications and an atmosphere that reeked of October, the Red Sox bullpen was lights out and did their job of sending the Boston bats back up to bat inning after inning.


In a game started by Josh Beckett who worked six solid innings of one-run ball giving up just six hits while striking out seven, the bullpen gate would open five more times before this game went final. The first four pitchers are the ones that we are going to highlight right now. Relieving Beckett was Hideki Okajima who was fresh even after working last night, an outing that only took him four pitches to pitch just one third of an inning. Okajima got a scoreless inning under his belt before giving way to Justin Masterson who worked his way out of a big jam along side pitching two innings of no-hit shutout ball.


Manny Delcarmen was next in line and manager Terry Francona rode him out for two innings of work that saw Delcarmen pitch some one-hit shutout ball. With a tough act to follow, Javier Lopez turned in one of his most impressive outings of the season tossing two and a third innings of scoreless one-hit baseball. Masterson, Delcarmen and Lopez all struck out two batters each in their innings of work.


In a game that seemed like it would never end thanks to great starting pitching by both teams and lights out pitching, the Red Sox and Rays found themselves in the fourteenth inning with a score of 1-1. Of course the two teams would not have been in the fourteenth inning if it weren’t for an RBI triple by Willy Aybar in the top of the second and a two out RBI double by Dustin Pedroia in the bottom of the third.


Give all the credit in the world to the descendants of the “Black Pearl” tonight (for those that who are unaware, the Red Sox bullpen claim to all be pirates and they call the bullpen the Black Pearl) and to all the pirates who forced this game into the fourteenth inning but I have all the respect in the world for the Red Sox fans that hung around until the fourteenth inning. These people have jobs in the morning, they have class, they have families to go home to, they’re sick, whatever, anything, these fans put their team first and stuck by them to support them until the very last pitch of the game and I commend those who were there tonight and most certainly to those who have done that before.


In the top of the fourteenth inning, the bullpen gate opened for Mike Timlin. In his last appearance at Texas, Timlin coughed up four runs on five hits. In his last ten appearances he has an ERA of 6.08. Needless to say, is there anyone else you could have trotted out there Tito? David Aardsma had been activated from the disabled list before the game, then of course you have the Pawtucket trio of David Pauley, Chris Smith and Devern Hansack ready to roll in the pen.
Maybe Terry Francona didn’t want to bring a young guy into a crucial situation but you have to get their feet wet at some point, right?

If Terry Francona had any confidence in Mike Timlin whatsoever then we would have seen him come out of the bullpen in a situation other than the “mop up role”, if you will. Regardless, Mike Timlin came out for the fourteenth and to no fan’s surprise, he gave up the lead on a towering three-run bomb off the bat of Haverhill’s own, Carlos Pena. Terry Francona has a thing for veterans, that “thing” may have cost the Red Sox a significant win. Mike Timlin has contributed a great deal to this team since his arrival in Boston back in 2003 but I say with great melancholy that it may be the end of the road for him in Boston. He is recognized as the “Captain of the bullpen” and is a tremendous veteran presence in the clubhouse, but I would not be surprised if his name does not appear on the postseason roster.


Boston went on to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourteenth and plated one run on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Youkilis but would go on to score no more. The one run was just a nice big slap in the face to make Red Sox fans wonder what would have happened if someone else came out of the bullpen and pitched a scoreless frame. The answer to that question is: the Red Sox would have won.
Of course there’s no guarantee that whoever Mike Timlin’s backup plan was would have pitched a scoreless inning but it sure makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

The Red Sox and their fans are going to have to do their very best “Men In Black” impression and blast that memory eraser in each other’s faces as we move forward to the next series. It’s time to forget about the Rays (at least on the field, not scoreboard watching-wise) and focus on the red hot Jays. Winners of their last ten of eleven games, the Toronto Blue Jays come to Fenway Park for a four game series. The series was originally scheduled to be three games but the two teams will make up their game that was rained out on August 15 during a double header on Saturday. Ticket holders to that August 15 game will be admitted into Fenway Park for game one of that double header at 12:35 with the night cap set to be underway at 7:05.


The Red Sox are off on Thursday but game on Friday night will see Tim Wakefield making appearance number 501 in a Red Sox uniform. Wakefield does not have great success against the Jays this season going 0-1 with an ERA of 4.15 in two starts but look for a hungry Boston offense looking to rebound after two heart breaking losses to the Tampa Bay Rays. Opposing Wakefield will be David Purcey. Purcey has yet to face Boston this season but on the road he has struggled going 1-3 with a 5.73 ERA in four starts.

Final Score: Rays 4, Red Sox 2 / 14 Innings

Published on September 11, 2008

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