It was one of those improbable pitching match-ups that make baseball such a wonderful game. Tim Wakefield, making his club-record 383rd start for the Red Sox, opposed by the Seattle Mariners’ young flamethrower Felix Hernandez.

Naturally, Mariners catcher Rob Johnson was the star of the game. Johnson, who entered the game hitting below .200, smacked three doubles and drove in three runs, including two in the top of the 11th inning that won the game for the visitors.

Manny Delcarmen and Jonathan Papelbon each pitched a scoreless inning, before Ramon Ramirez was called upon to pitch the 11th. Ramirez, struggling with his control, gave up Johnson’s go-ahead double before getting out of the inning without further damage.

Terry “Tito” Francona’s post-game presser was typically uneventful, although he did inform us that the team will “show up tomorrow and try to win.”

Notes

Sox catcher George Kottaras hit his first major league home run…Ramirez took the loss, to fall to 5-3…Tito flip-flopped Ortiz and Bay in the batting order…Thirty year-old rookie Chris Jakubauskas picked up the fifth win of what will no doubt be a journeyman career.

The Red Sox continue to be hot and are holding off the surging Yankees in the division race.  The Red Sox have won seven series in a row, though the last five were against teams considered to not be contenders and have Seattle, Oakland, and Kansas City, and their combined .455 winning percentage, at home to end the first half.

The Mariners took two of three in the teams’ only meeting in Seattle with Josh Beckett getting the only win for the Sox and have lost the first two games of their series with the Yankees before arriving in Boston on Friday. Continue reading Hernandez, Mariners Open Final Homestand Before All-Star Break »

The hangover from Tuesday’s heartbreaking 11-10 loss to the Orioles, in which the Red Sox blew a nine — yes, nine — run lead, lasted about halfway into Wednesday’s thrilling 6-5 comeback victory to take the series and head back to Boston with the gleam of victory upon them.

At the outset, it was clear that the Red Sox had not put the previous day’s loss behind them, as starter Josh Beckett looked uncharacteristically shaky after his last few superb outings.  The Boston ace gave up at least a run in each of the first four innings, but pitched brilliantly in the fifth, sixth and seventh — he needed exactly seven pitches to finish off the O’s in the sixth — and kept the game within striking distance.  But when would the comatose bats wake up? Continue reading Sox Prove Stupid Saying About Geese and Ganders, Beat Orioles 6-5 »

It was a tale of two halves. The Sox dominated then blew a nine-run lead en route to a 11-10 loss to the Orioles, in the largest comeback in Orioles history and the second largest blown save in Red Sox history.

Baltimore scored five runs in both the seventh and eighth inning as the Orioles won their first game against the Red Sox this year.  The Sox bullpen gave up ten runs, and one day after tying the all-time saves team record, Jonathan Papelbon was put in a tough spot and blew the game. Continue reading Red Sox Blow 10-1 Lead, Make History in Process »

Things did not go very well for John Smoltz in his first outing for the Red Sox and first time back from major shoulder surgery. However, after letting up four runs in the first inning on 35 pitches, the 42-year-old veteran seemed to settle down in the next four innings. Other than letting up a run in the third, he shut down Nationals the rest of the game.

“All in all, most times if the line score is the way it is tonight, I’m going to be very disappointed, but I really can’t be at this point,” said Smoltz. “A lot of hard work went into this. Although I’d like that mulligan in the first inning gone, that’s just the way it happens. Now everything will be normal for me.”

This was the first start since June 2008 for Smoltz and he is just getting back from major shoulder surgery that required intense rehab. If there is any cause for concern, consider this: Smoltz has a history of slow starts. Continue reading Slow Start for Smoltz: Too Early for Concern »