Red Sox Record for the Week of August 10: 4-3
Frustrated. That is the operative word to describe the state of Red Sox Nation. And as I will explain later, this frustration isn’t limited to the fans but the players and manager as well. Just when you think the Sox have turned a corner (via taking three of four from Detroit), they hit a speed bump or two this past weekend and watched their prime Wild Card opponent (Texas) race ahead of them in the standings.
In an all-too-short four-game home series versus Detroit last week, the Sox knocked around the Tigers’ number two starter Edwin Jackson, who unconventionally gave up nine hits and four earned runs in just four innings last Monday, August 10. The Tigers rallied in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 5-5 but Nick Green’s SF to score J.D. Drew won the game in the bottom of the inning, and the Sox’s long six-game losing streak finally came to an end.
Tuesday (August 11) brought on some fortunate and unfortunate events that everyone around Boston is still talking about. The pitching match-up was between two youngsters: 20-year-old Rick Porcello for Detroit and Junichi Tazawa for Boston, who was making his first career start. Both had control problems early, as Tazawa hit slugger Miguel Cabrera in the left hand in the first inning on an 0-2 count and with two base runners on, which forced him out of the game soon after. He was also beaned by a Brad Penny pitch the night before.
Kevin Youkilis too had been hit by a pitch last Monday (by Edwin Jackson) but last Tuesday night, after getting drilled in the back by a Porcello pitch in the bottom of the second, he threw his helmet and charged the mound, only to end up on his back, get ejected (along with Porcello) and eventually suspended for the next five games.
To me, it was obvious there was no intent by either pitcher to intentionally hit opposing batters. This was a case of two young pitchers trying to pitch inside – and failing miserably. Youk has every right to be frustrated with getting hit again and again but should have reacted like Ian Kinsler of Texas did over the weekend – bitch at the opposing (Boston) pitcher and catcher, then take your base.
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