Wednesday, August 13, 2008 – On Tuesday, the Boston Red Sox met the Texas Rangers. They jumped out to a 10-run lead in the first inning (David Ortiz hit two homeruns in that inning, chalking up 6 RBIs), then fell behind 15-14….and then barely squeaked by for a win, 19-17!
It just goes to show that when a team’s bullpen is shaky, it truly is never over til it’s over.
In the case of the Red Sox, however, it’s the little things that added up to the win. Well, actually that’s the case with *many *victories in the game. We always hear about the big scorer… in this case Kevin Youkilis, who hit a 3-run homerun in the 8th that won the game for the Sox…but what led up to that?
Jacoby Ellsbury took a walk!
Now, that’s not as big news as it would be if Ichiro Suzuki had taken a walk (that’s the one thing to my mind that prevents Ichiro from being a top leadoff man – his refusal to take a walk when his team really, really needs baserunners.)
Jacoby had sat out this game until the 8th inning, then was sent in with 1 out to pinch hit for 9th place hitter Kevin Cash.
Jacoby’s been having troubles at the plate, though he’s been coming on in the last few games, but he stood up there and didn’t try to be a hero…just took a 4-pitch walk to extend the inning.
J.D. Drew at the top of the order came up next, and flied out, but then Dustin Pedroia came up to bat and, still on-fire, hit a double that scored the speedy Jacoby all the way from first base to tie the game.
Which took some of the pressure off Kevin Youkilis, who came up to bat after David Ortiz was intentionally walked, and hit that homer.
Then Jonathan Papelbon came in to close out the game…
A very fun game to watch…though not if you’re a fan of bullpens!
