Discombobulated

(originally posted 5/24/07)

The Red Sox were just all of out sorts Wednesday night. Gordon Edes short-changing them when he referred to the "three-consecutive" HR barrage, NESN going to commercial with two outs in the inning, the "Wonder of it all" commercial only being played fifty-eight times, as opposed to the eighty-seven showings that is required by Commonwealth of Massachusetts law. Things just were just not going smoothly.

The actual game itself, an 8-3 loss to the Yankees, didn't go so well either. Curt Schilling was ineffective, allowing three runs in the 1st inning, and six in the first four. In his six innings, he surrendered twelve (!) hits and five earned runs. The Yankees bombed Sox pitching for sixteen hits. The Sox had twelve hits of their own, including Coco Crisp's 1st HR of the season, but they left eight men on base. Yankee SP Andy Pettitte permitted only one run in his seven innings win, despite giving up nine hits.

Some positives:

• CHB had a segment before the game, so I was able to get some much-needed vacuuming done at that point.
• Amalie Benjamin (blogosphere Pos-Men #154) had a long (15 minute?) segment with Eric Frede. In the early innings, she was having difficulty finding the correct arm slot, but she got stronger as the segment progressed. Despite the excessive gyration of her appendages, she communicated her knowledge well, and her enthusiasm for the topic was obvious. (Final line: 7 IP 5 H 1 ER 2 BB 9 K) She'll need to work with John Farrell on her mechanics a bit, but you just can't teach that kind of raw talent.
• Dennis Eckersley had another dominating performance. With results like these, it's curious that Ken Macha was given so many save opportunities in the last few weeks. Eck is just downright Papelbonian.
• Kevin Youkilis (2-4, .347) continued his hot hitting. Where would the Sox be if they had traded the (not actually Greek) God of Walks for GM Billy Beane? OK, probably in 1st place by 8.5 games. But Youk has still been the best 1B in the AL this season, and is quite deserving of a spot on the All-star team. (Alongside Beckett, Okajima, Papelbon, Benjamin, Matsuzaka, Lowell, and Eckersley. Note: This is a partial list.)
• Okajima and Papelbon were not used on Wednesday, giving them two days off before the Texas series.

The Sox take their 9.5 game AL East lead into Texas to face the 18-29 Rangers. Texas has won only three of their last ten, and their .383 "winning" percentage is the worst in the AL. With the Yankees playing the 1st place Angels this weekend, this should be a good time for the Sox to further extend their already lengthy lead.