Red Sox Return The Favor by Jared Carrabis
Sox Sweep The Rays At The Fens

About a month ago the mother of a good friend of mine contacted me. She asked if I could forward all my game updates to him via email so that he could keep up with the Red Sox while on the other side of the world. I was honored and flattered that she would even think of me first to be the one to keep him updated. The most recent email that I received from Stephen Coffey read the following “I appreciate it Carrabis. You’ve got a little fan base aboard the USS Tarawa, I forward these to a few other Sox fans on board. We’re grateful brotha, thanks a lot.” That email was more satisfying to me than any reward could ever be. It is truly an honor to be a connection back home to Red Sox Nation for these brave men and women serving our country. I dedicate the following article concluding this sweep of the Rays to all of the men and women who are protecting our freedom as Red Sox fans but most importantly, as Americans.


Right when Red Sox fans were wondering what happened to one of the best offenses in baseball coming off a series with Toronto that saw Boston plate just three runs the whole series, Boston rejuvenated their bats against the Rays in a sweeping effort. The last time these two teams met was at the Trop and the Rays took all three games from the struggling Sox (at the time). The results would be much different this time around. With a 7-4 win on Friday night and a convincing 12-4 win on Saturday night, the Red Sox were looking to break out the brooms and return the favor to the Tampa Bay Rays.


The final game of the three game set saw two southpaws going head to head. Scott Kazmir is a known “Red Sox killer” and Jon Lester was coming off one of the best (if not the best) outing of his career. Boston would strike first in the bottom of the first inning. The speed that the Red Sox put on the base paths would result in the games first run when Jacoby Ellsbury led the game off with an infield single to get things going. Pedroia would follow with a walk and with Kevin Youkilis at the plate, manager Terry Francona would call for the double steal. Both would slide in safely, Ellsbury collected his tenth steal of the season and Pedroia would tag on his fourth.


Kevin Youkilis would do his job by lifting a fly ball deep enough to center field to score the speedy Ellsbury with ease for a sacrifice fly. Pedroia would continue to watch his on base percentage rise with a single to begin the bottom of the third inning. Kevin Youkilis (batting third in place of David Ortiz) cranked a double two put two men in scoring position for Manny Ramirez. Fans have been waiting patiently for career home run number 497 from Ramirez as the sign on top of the Monster has read “496” for the entire home stand. Manny would hit would Fenway would think would be 497 but would just hit high off the wall.


Ramirez would cruise into second with a double and laugh wondering what it is going to take to get that sign out in left to change. Dustin Pedroia would score on the double and Youkilis would advance to third. Kazmir would avoid further damage by going on to strike out Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek to conclude the inning. Jon Lester has found a groove in recent starts and has looked like the number three pitcher in the rotation that the Red Sox had hoped he would evolve into over time. Luckily for the Red Sox it was sooner than later. Meanwhile, the prospects that the Yankees could have traded for Johan Santana are getting shelled, the prospects that the Red Sox could have traded for Johan Santana are living up to the hype. Lester threw six solid innings against the Rays and had them shutout before giving up a solo home run to Carlos Pena in the sixth inning.


Lester would head in for the day having thrown 112 pitches on the evening (72 for strikes) giving up just four hits, walking three and striking out five. Manny Delcarmen came on in relief of Lester in the seventh but just hasn’t panned out to be the seventh inning reliever that the Red Sox had hoped for. Going into the season the Red Sox had hopes of Manny Delcarmen being the seventh inning bridge to Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon. Mike Timlin is starting to show signs of his age and Manny Delcarmen just simply is not getting outs in situations that he should be. Delcarmen was given the hook after pitching a third of an inning while giving up two earned runs on two hits raising his ERA to 7.30 on the season.


Okajima would relieve Delcarmen and let an inherited runner score but go on to strike out the next two batters. Kevin Youkilis would respond to the Rays two run inning with a solo home run to dead center field. Youkilis led the offense going 3 for 4 with 4 runs batted in tying his career high. Kevin Youkilis would tag on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth with a two run double to give the Red Sox a 7-4 lead that Jonathan Papelbon would preserve. Papelbon collected his ninth save of the season when called upon to get four outs to conclude the sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays.


The Red Sox will hit the road to Detroit to catch a four game series with the red hot Tigers. The Sox will prepare themselves to face Jeremy Bonderman in game one, Nate Robertson in game two, and Armando Galarraga in game three with their fourth starter to be announced. Boston will counter with a lineup of Daisuke Matsuzaka on Monday night followed by Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz and Josh Beckett to wrap up the series.


Final Score: Rays 3, Red Sox 7

Published on May 04, 2008

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