Dis-Cust-ing by Jared Carrabis
Red Sox bang out 18 hits in losing effort


It's not every day that your team racks up eighteen hits and loses.

In fact, it's not every season, or even every decade that something like this happens. Just to put things in perspective, the last time that the Red Sox had 18 hits, but didn't win was the same year that Mo Vaughn was the American League MVP with the Boston Red Sox: 1995.

Since we're on the topic of mid-90's Red Sox teams, Thursday's series finale against Oakland had me thinking of "Wave 'Em In" Wendell Kim, who first arrived in Boston in '97.

The Red Sox had themselves a 1-0 lead early, after Adrian Beltre knocked an RBI base hit into center. The lead was short-lived, as Red Sox-killer Kurt Suzuki hammered a solo blast into the Monster seats in the next frame.

In the bottom of the second, a single by Bill Hall and a double by Jeremy Hermida had two runners in scoring position for Marco Scutaro, who got a run home by grounding out 6-3.

In the bottom of the third, Victor Martinez got things going with a ten-pitch walk. Kevin Youkilis then rocked a double into left, as third base coach Tim Bogar waved home the hobbling Martinez all the way from first, who was gunned down at home plate to record the first out of the inning.

With one of the best hitters, average wise, in the American League coming up with what could have been no men out and runners at the corners, Beltre instead had no men in scoring position. Bogar's decision to wave home Martinez was questionable to say the least.

A two-run homer by Suzuki in the fourth accounted for half of the runs that the A's put up in the inning to take a 5-2 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Darnell McDonald was sent home on a base hit by Hermida, but again, Bogar's decision to wave home a runner with no outs came back to bite him, as McDonald was tagged out.

"They were two decisions I made that didn't go our way," Bogar said after the game. "Obviously I should have learned from the first one. I'm confident in what I'm doing. I'm confident in my decision-making. I feel like I do a good job over there. Today is one of those days where I made two decisions that went the wrong way."

Trailing 6-3 in the sixth inning, Hermida got a hold of one and drove a two-run bomb out to right field to get the Red Sox back within a run.

Red Sox pitching just couldn't keep Oakland off the board, as the A's scored in five of the first eight innings. Starter Tim Wakefield was tagged for six earned, as Ramon Ramirez was touched for a run, and Manny Delcarmen finally showed that he was human, allowing back-to-back homers by Jack Cust and Kevin Kouzmanoff in the eighth.

Down by two in the bottom of the ninth, Hall homered to straightaway center, making him 4-for-5 on the day. Hall's four runs scored was a new career high, but that's all the Red Sox would muster in the inning.

Final score: Athletics 9, Red Sox 8
WP: Vin Mazzaro (1-0)
LP: Tim Wakefield (1-4)
SV: Andrew Bailey (12)

Game notes: Marco Scutaro's eighth-inning home run needed the help of instant replay before it was made official. It was the sixth time that instant replay was needed at Fenway Park, and the third time in 2010.

To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on June 04, 2010

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