Bang For Your Buck by Jared Carrabis
Penny shines, Sox snap losing streak


Entering the first game of the home stand, Brad Penny hadn't won a game since June 17 and the Red Sox hadn't won a game since July 17.

Certainly this doesn't sound promising, right?

With the Sox offensive woes as the culprit for the teams' longest losing streak in over a year, it would take a lights out performance from Penny to send Boston back to their winning ways. It would be Dr. Penny to the rescue to cure the losing disease that has plagued the Red Sox and their fans for what has seemed like a month.

The Baltimore Orioles struck first with a run in the top of the second, but that one run would be all they would enjoy. Penny went on to mow down the birds into the seventh inning before departing after turning in 6.1 innings of work. The burly right-hander yielded just the one earned run on five scattered hits, while striking out four and issuing zero walks.

Penny headed for the showers in the seventh after hurling 108 pitches. The Boston starter was lighting up the gun throughout the duration of his start, hitting as high as 97-98 MPH, but several Orioles' batters going deep into counts and putting together multiple ten plus-pitch at bats against Penny would ultimately cut his outing short.

"[Penny] was able to throw his fastball to both sides of the plate," captain Jason Varitek said. "Brad always has a good downhill plane. His fastball opened things up, and he threw some decent breaking balls and splits at different times."

The run support came in the bottom of the forth when JD Drew snapped out of a funk by leading off the inning with a rip into center. Batting behind Drew, Mike Lowell lined his 20th double of the season into left field to put two men in scoring position. Jason Varitek then followed suit with an RBI base hit to drive in Boston's first run.

In the bottom of the fifth, Kevin Youkilis led off the frame with a walk before reaching third on base hit by David Ortiz. Later in the inning, Youkilis would touch home plate on a JD Drew groundout; 3-1, Sox.

After perfect performances by Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima out of the Sox' bullpen, it was Papelbon time. As he has done most every time he has taken the mound in the ninth this season, Papelbon made it interesting.

The Boston closer loaded the bases after giving up back-to-back singles and a one out walk. Little did the birds know that Pap had them right where he wanted them. Entering that bases loaded situation, Papelbon had not allowed a hit while pitching with the bags full in '09. Batters were 0-for-6 with five strikeouts when facing Papelbon with a chance to hit a grand slam.

The energetic closer then went on to strike out Luke Scott swinging, followed by striking out Melvin Mora on a 98 MPH fastball, also swinging. That improved Papelbon's bases loaded stats to 0-for-8 with seven K's. The save for Cinco Ocho was his 25th on the season.

A win's a win, but this win still doesn't give me the sigh of relief that a losing streak-snapper normally would. The Red Sox once again failed to score four runs or more since their first win after the All Star break. I'll be more convinced that this collective team slump is over when the Sox' offense drops an eight-spot on the birds on Saturday.

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

With their 3-1 loss on Friday night, the Orioles have now lost ten straight games at Fenway Park.

Brad Penny must love Fenway. In his last 28.1 innings pitched at Fenway Park, Penny has an ERA of 1.59.

Jonathan Papelbon notched his 25th save of the season on Friday night. In comparison, Papelbon already had 30 saves at this point a year ago.

Roster move:

Before Friday night's game, as I had predicted, the Red Sox were forced to designate Mark Kotsay for assignment to make room for Adam LaRoche on the roster. Kotsay described the Red Sox' decision as "unexpected", but also expressed that he'd "like to keep playing [elsewhere] if the right opportunity presents itself."

LaRoche joined his new team for the first time on Friday and met the Boston media to introduce himself.



Keeping up with old friends:

Making his Cardinals debut, Julio Lugo batted atop the St. Louis lineup, going 2-for-5 with a triple, a home run and two runs scored. Of course, the more anticipated debut was that of Matt Holliday, who was dealt to the Cards from Oakland for three prospects, one of whom hit for the Triple Crown in the Pac 10...twice.

The A's could have used Holliday on Friday night, as they lost once again to the New York Yankees, who won their eighth straight game.

Saturday's pitching match-up:

On Saturday, Jon Lester will get the ball. Boston's second ace has given up three earned runs or less in his last nine outings. In his career against the Orioles, Lester is 8-0 with a 2.18 ERA in ten starts. His opponent, Jeremy Guthrie, ranks second in the American League in home runs allowed with 22 and earned runs.

Book update / Editor's notes:

After what has been a 19 month long project, my debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk will be heading to print this coming Monday. I can't promise you a release date just yet, but it's looking like my book could be ready to hit the online store, as well as the shelves, in about three weeks. Again, that's just a rough estimate. I'll keep you all posted, and thank you all for your interest over the long period of time it has taken to complete this project!

For more information on my book, click HERE.

I just wanted to point out that for the first time, SoxSpace was featured on one of my favorite websites, MLBTradeRumors.com. It was a thrill to see SoxSpace up there on a site that I read daily with so much credibility, so thanks to the folks over at MLBTR for posting one of SoxSpace's blogs! To check it out, click HERE.

One last note: I just made a Twitter account the other night. I'm still getting used to it and it's my personal account. I'm still learning how I'll post my SoxSpace articles on there, but it will consist of SoxSpace articles and my random Tweets from my every day experiences with baseball. To "follow" me on Twitter, click HERE.

-Jared Carrabis



Published on July 25, 2009

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