My thoughts exactly, Pap by Jared Carrabis
Bullpen melts down in the ninth to hand a sweep to ChiSox


I find it sad that a late-inning collapse like this doesn’t surprise me anymore.

In fact, the way things have gone this season, you’re almost expecting it. The Red Sox had their hands full with left-hander Mark Buerle on the hill, but managed to stretch a pair of runs across the plate in the third on a two-run double by David Ortiz.

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the seventh, Victor Martinez tattooed a 3-1 fastball that was right down the pipe, and straight from the hand of Buerle on the 118th pitch of his outing. After Martinez jolted his fourteenth home run of the season onto Lansdowne Street, the switch-hitting catcher spiked his bat into the ground.

You may not have caught the bat spike on TV, but it could have been interpreted in many ways. Was it if to say, “Take that?” to Buerle? Could he have been that fired up to have connected with such a long home run? Was it because it had been his only hit to that point? Or quite possibly, and this is where my belief stands, could Victor have spiked his bat after his go-ahead homer because even if the lead held, the win would realistically mean nothing in the long-run?

I had never seen anything like that before. Never before had I seen a player smash a go-ahead home run that was a no-doubter of a blast in the late innings, only to fire his bat into the ground as if he had just popped out to the infield to make the last out of the game.

When there are no postseason chances to be analyzed, these are the kinds of things that stick out to me in games such as these.

With one out and a runner aboard, Jonathan Papelbon entered the game. His first task: get an out in Manny Ramirez. There is no question that Papelbon was geared up for this matchup, as his fastball touched 99 and never dipped below 97 in his seven-pitch battle with Ramirez, which ended after a four-seam fastball caught the White Sox pinch hitter on the arm.

Papelbon’s anticlimactic bout with Ramirez was the beginning of the end for the Red Sox. Boston’s closer would escape any damage being done in the eighth, but after needing fifteen pitches to record the first two outs of a would-be five-out save, Papelbon’s tank was tipping towards empty.

A pair of walks, a bloop double and a single that could have been caught led to Papelbon’s seventh blown save of the season. The Red Sox’ bullpen implosion continued, as back-to-back walks with the bases loaded by Robert Manuel put this game out of reach.

It’s a shame, because by the time the pen gave away the game, arguably Josh Beckett’s best outing of the season was an afterthought. Beckett tossed six-plus innings, allowing just one earned run, and striking out a season-high nine batters.



Final score: White Sox 7, Red Sox 5
WP: Scott Linebrink (3-1)
LP: Jonathan Papelbon (5-6)
SV: Matt Thornton (6)

Game notes: The Red Sox haven’t been swept by the White Sox at Fenway Park since 1991. Jonathan Papelbon’s seven blown saves are a new career high, as are the 48 pitches (as a reliever) that Papelbon threw in the process of blowing his seventh save. Josh Beckett recorded his first nine-strikeout game since in over a year, as his previous 9 SO performance came on September 2, 2009 at Tampa Bay

Tweet of the Night: @KenTremendous: Nothing worse than your team blowing a late lead in a meaningless game in September. It's like spilling a drink you didn't even really want.

-Jared Carrabis

Published on September 06, 2010

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