Sox Go Down With The Ship by Jared Carrabis
The captain responsible for all the runs, but no victory to show for it


Defeating Johan Santana is no small task, but tonight he was beatable.

Santana took the mound at Fenway Park for the first time since September 21, 2006. The left-handed ace, formerly of the Minnesota Twins, logged 219 innings in 2007, but managed to steer clear of Fenway Park in his final year with the Twins. Entering Friday night's match up, Santana had his struggles at the Fens, going 1-3 with a 6.89 ERA, but his troubled past at Fenway did not repeat itself.

Santana entered the game with a 5-2 record and a 1.36 ERA. His opponent, Daisuke Matsuzaka, was making his first start since being placed on the disabled list in mid-April. The Japanese right-hander retired the first three batters he faced, including consecutive strikeouts to open the game.

In the bottom half of the first, Jacoby Ellsbury extended his Major League-leading hit streak to 17 games. Ellsbury kept his streak alive by chopping an infield single. He finished his night going 1-for-5.

The Mets struck first in the top of the second when our old pal, Gary Sheffield, tagged Matsuzaka for a solo shot over the Monster. The Red Sox retaliated in the bottom half of the inning when the captain drilled his eighth home run of the season into the Monster seats to tie the score at one.

The tie ballgame was short-lived, as the Mets put a three-spot on the board in the top of the fourth. A trifecta of RBI singles off the bat of David Wright, Omir Santos and Ramon Ramirez broke a tie game and put the Mets on top, 4-1. The back-and-forth scoring continued in the bottom half of the inning when Boston got back two runs after a rocket hit by Jason Varitek led to an E6, scoring two. However, the two runs were not enough, as the Mets added a fifth run in the seventh inning to set up a save situation for Boston's best friend come October, Francisco Rodriguez.

In Matsuzaka's return, the right-hander got the hook after 80 pitches through five innings. Matsuzaka threw 50 of his 80 pitches for strikes, walked two and struck out four.

"I thought he was actually pretty good," said Francona. "Sixteen of 22 first-pitch strikes. I thought his ball had some life. We gave up two singles where we're trying to stop the bleeding, and they weren't hit hard."

Earning his sixth victory of the season, Johan Santana tossed seven innings, scattering seven hits, giving up three runs (two earned), walking one, while striking out eight Boston batters.

"He was able to do what he does," said catcher Jason Varitek. "There's a reason why he's been at the top of two leagues."

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

Gary Sheffield's first inning home run was the first long ball hit by a Met in the last 70 innings of play for the NL team from Queens, NY.

Despite being one of the most dominant left-handed pitchers in the history of the game, the win picked up by Johan Santana on Friday night was his first win at Fenway Park in his last four starts.

Things got a bit interesting in the bottom of the sixth with Johan Santana unintentionally hit Red Sox first baseman, Kevin Youkilis. Youk explains:

"He wanted me to go down to first base and not joke around I guess, but I wasn't mad," Youkilis said. "I've been hit so many times. You joke around one time, I guess, and pitchers don't like it. All I know is, when things happen, all anyone ever told me in my career is that I shouldn't get so serious. You should enjoy the game and joke around, and when I do, I guess it's the wrong thing. What are you going to do? You win some, you lose some."

Jason Varitek homered for the eighth time of the season on Friday night. The home run for Varitek was his fourth in his last five games. In that same span of five games, Tek has accumulated 18 total bases.

The Red Sox could have won this game, but there's no denying that the reason why the Sox couldn't walk away with a win on Friday was due to the offense being 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Is there something positive that we can take out of Friday night's loss? Well, the Yankees 9-game winning streak* is over, the Blue Jays lost again, and Jason Varitek is hitting the daylights out of the ball, Jason Bay style.

Saturday's pitching match up:

We have an interesting match up on Saturday. We have two right-handed starters with solid pitching records and not so solid ERAs. Josh Beckett (4-2, 5.85 ERA) takes the ball against Mike Pelfrey (4-1, 4.61). Beckett is turning his season around, slowly, but surely, as he has provided the Red Sox with quality starts his last three times on the bump.

Beckett is still unbeaten at Fenway with a 2-0 record, and in his time pitching for the Florida Marlins, Beckett racked up a 6-2 record with a 2.50 ERA in 13 starts against the Mets. Pelfrey will be pitching for the first time against the Red Sox, and more importantly, for the first time at Fenway Park. Let's hope the Fenway Faithful making his first experience as uncomfortable as physically possible.

-Jared Carrabis

Final Score: Mets 5, Red Sox 3

Published on May 23, 2009

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