Sparks Fly In Anaheim by Jared Carrabis
But the sparks aren't enough to ignite Red Sox offense

(Photos from Boston.com)

When it comes time for a Josh Beckett start, his intensity alone is enough to get the Red Sox going on game day. On Easter Sunday, Beckett added some extra fuel to his fiery presence on the mound.

Entering the game at 1-0, having defeated the Rays on Opening Day in impressive fashion, Beckett went to work in the bottom of the first inning against the top of the Angels' order. Chone Figgins led off the evening with a base hit back up the middle. Figgins quickly turned his single into a double by swiping second base for his fifth steal of the season. After a fly out by Howie Kendrick, former Yankee outfielder, Bobby Abreu came to the plate to face Beckett.

With Figgins a threat to steal at all times, any and every pitcher will hold the ball as long as they can to throw off the timing of a base-stealer. With Abreu at the dish, Beckett did just that to keep Figgins leaning in the wrong direction. After holding the ball for fifteen seconds, which may have seemed even longer to Abreu, the Angels' outfielder called for time and it was granted by home plate umpire, Paul Schrieber.

To prevent injury, pitchers are instructed to follow through with their pitch if the batter calls for time while the pitcher is in his delivery. This is exactly what happened on Sunday, and Josh Beckett may or may not have taken exception to how late Bobby Abreu called for time. While home plate umpire Paul Schrieber waved in the air to signal that time had been called, Beckett followed through with his delivery and hummed a 94 MPH fastball up around the head of Bobby Abreu.

Abreu immediately reacted to the pitch that he believed was intentionally directed towards his head by yelling out towards Beckett. The Red Sox ace did not take kindly to Abreu's barking and started out towards home plate. It was then that the benches cleared and the bullpens emptied, as the crowd began to erupt.

The final result: gone were three Angels and the Red Sox remained at full strength with Josh Beckett still on the mound. Center fielder, Torii Hunter, was ejected from the game by second base umpire, Joe West. Not long after, so were hitting coach Mickey Hatcher and pitcher Justin Speier who couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut. The conflict later led to the ejection of Angels' manager, Mike Scioscia by third base umpire, Ed Rapuano, in the very next inning.

When the smoke finally cleared, Kevin Youkilis began the top of the second inning in a scoreless game. On the ninth pitch of his at bat, Youkilis hammered his first home run of the 2009 season into left field. Youkilis continues to swing the hottest bat on the Red Sox. The Sox' first baseman has a hit in five of the first six games played so far this season, all of which are multi-hit games. His 12-for-23 start to the season has him hitting at .522, and his 12 hits account for one third of the entire Red Sox offense's hits in 2009.

JD Drew followed up the solo shot hit by Youkilis with a solo shot of his own, as the Red Sox went back-to-back for the first time in 2009. Drew ripped a 90 MPH fastball off of Dustin Moseley for his first long ball of the year.

Although the back-to-back home runs were a great start for Boston's offense, the Angels got their revenge in the bottom of the third inning for the cruise missile thrown at Abreu's head. Having already scored one run on an RBI single by Howie Kendrick, Abreu returned to the plate to face Beckett with two runners in scoring position. Being a player that rarely swings at the first pitch, Abreu grounded a base hit through the right side on a Josh Beckett changeup to drive in Figgins and Kendrick to put the Angels on top, 3-2.

The Angels picked up another run off of Beckett in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Howie Kendrick who was 3-for-4 with 2 RBI on the day. Thanks to a throwing error by Angels' catcher, Mike Napoli, the Red Sox were given a gift run in the sixth, but could never string together a series of hits to create a big inning. At the end of the day, the Red Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base. Dustin Pedroia also grounded into two double plays on the day in key situations.

In the bottom of the eighth, Hideki Okajima gave up a monster home run to Vladimir Guerrero to give the Angels a two-run advantage. For the second time this young season, the Red Sox entered the ninth inning down by two runs. For the second time this young season, the Red Sox scored one run in the ninth inning when they needed two. An RBI single by David Ortiz (who has yet to get an extra base hit) was all the Red Sox could muster against the Angels' new closer, Brian Fuentes. The last time the Red Sox saw Fuentes, Bobby Kielty was too busy hitting 400+ foot bombs off of him in the 2007 World Series. Well, Kielty is a Met, and as a result, the Red Sox have now lost back-to-back series and have fallen to 2-4 on the season.

It's still really early, but it would be nice to get this team on the right track as soon as possible. Jon Lester takes the ball tonight in Oakland against the Athletics at 10:05pm. Lester had a shaky first outing against the Tampa Bay Rays and will be looking to rebound after giving up eight hits and five runs. Although Lester struck out the first five out of six batters he faced, he ultimately was handed a loss after not being able to continue his dominant performance that he displayed in the first two innings. The left-hander is 1-1 with a 2.31 ERA at the Colisuem in Oakland and is 2-2 with a 3.94 ERA lifetime against the A's.

-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Red Sox 4, Angels 5



Published on April 13, 2009

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