| 09 October 2009
We all knew this was going to be a good pitching matchup, but many of us thought the Red Sox offense was capable of getting to John Lackey - eventually.
Lackey was in complete control for 7 1/3 innings, allowing just four singles while keeppingb the Red Sox batters off balance. It seems simple, but Lackey did what every starter tries to do when they take the bump... change your approach as the lineup turns over.
In the beginning, Lackey painted the fastball. In the middle innings he started mixing in the breaking ball more often and had the Sox guessing. Thenhe went back to the fastball late and the Sox looked clueless.
The whole team stunk last night, but the glaring hole in the lineup was David Ortiz and his three strikeouts. The Sox really only had one shot at getting to Lackey and that was after the home plate ump gave Ellsbury first base after a late catcher interfearence call against Mathis. Dustin Pedroia had a chance to break the 0-0 tie, with two men on, but flied out to right field.
Jon Lester was forced to work a little harder than usual thanks to Bobby Abreu and his insanely good eye at the plate... but Lester also needed a few extra pitches after some questionable calls by the umps.
Lester finished his night with fout hits allowed through six innings, but he walked Abreu four times and Torii Hunter eventually got to him in the 5th with a 3-run homer of the rocks.
Bottom Line: The Sox just didn't bring it last night and now they have to hope that Josh Beckett can channel whatever he had going in 2007 and tie this thing up at 1-1 tonight. Weaver is good and very good at home... Beckett is good, but has struggled on the road this year (7-5, 4.13 ERA).
On the positive side... The Globe is repoting that Victor Martinez will catch Beckett - not Varitek as Jon Heyman said yeterday.
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