Game 58/162, It Takes the Red Sox 14 Innings and a Walk-Off But a Win is a Win

From a four-run lead in the top of the ninth, the Red Sox made the game much harder to win that expected. Pedroia could have ended the game with a double play but slipped up, adding 5 innings of free baseball to the game. With a four-lead, Papelbon gave it all up. Varitek was frustrated and was quickly ejected. After Conor Jackson's two-run single of of Youk's glove to tie the game, Papelbon's frustration got to him after a few inconsistencies by the ump calling balls and strikes and was ejected. Pap claims that he was talking to Salty but the Ump thought he has talking to him.

"I more or less was just trying to get Salty out here and say, 'Hey, you know, come talk to me, let's figure out this zone so I know how to go about this,'" Papelbon said. "Cause I had no idea what his zone was. I don't know, I guess he may have jumped to the conclusion that I was talking to him, and then I felt like he threw his arms up in the air, for no reason, towards me."

In the bottom of the 11th after the Athletics scored in the top half, Jacoby Ellsbury had a crucial, game changing double to score Salty and tie the game.

The Sox went on to walk-off on JD Drew's RBI single to right center. They won but it became a much harder victory due to the overuse of the bullpen which is now tired. Beckett gave up three runs in 6 IP. Hottovy, a new addition to the roster pitched 2/3 of an inning in his debut. Pap was charged with 3 ER in 1/3 IP. Alfredo Aceves got the W pitching 4 late innings and giving up the one run in the 11th.

Notable Players:

Jacoby Ellsbury, 4 for 7 with a double and an RBI

Carl Crawford, 4 for 7 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI

Adrian Gonzalez, 3 for 5 with a homer and 1 RBI

JD Drew, 2 for 7 with a walk-off single and 2 RBI 

Games 52/162, Red Sox Win in Game One off of Pinch Hit Homer for Ortiz

Game 1:


The Red Sox started off the day 1 game ahead of the Yankees. In Game one, Gonzalez started off the scoring with a sac fly. In the second, Cameron lined a solo homer to deep center. Pedroia later made the score 3-0 with a solo homer of his own. The Tigers would also have two solo homers by Dirks and Boesch to make make it 3-2. To tie the game, Peralta singled in Miguel Cabrera. In the top of the ninth, Francona had a nice call for Ortiz to pinch hit for Salty. This move would be crucial as Ortiz hit a homer off of Jose Valverde to make the score 4-3. Ortiz has 11 homers this season. Ortiz is 2-2 with 2 homers and 5 RBI in his career against Valverde. Clay Buchholz did okay allowing 3 runs in 6 IP. He is now 4-3 with a 3.41 ERA.

Notable Players:

Matt Albers- 2 scoreless innings and the win

Jonathan Papelbon- his 10th save of the year with a scoreless inning

Dustin Pedroia- 1-4 with a solo home run

Jed Lowrie- 2-4

Mike Cameron- 2-2 with a solo home run

David Ortiz- 1-1, homer 

Papelbon Pitches Scoreless Inning

Video Removed

Video from redsox.mlb.com

During his second outing in Spring Training, Papelbon pitched to his expectation. He pitched a scoreless frame which you can watch in the video above. This is Papelbon's make or break year. If he pitches like he did in 2007 and 2008 he might get resigned by the Red Sox or by another team for 14+ million per season. If he pitches like last year or worse he will probably not resign with the Sox next off season. This past off season, the Red Sox offered Mariano Rivera a pretty good contract to take Papelbon's job and trade him elsewhere. They also thought they might be able to sign Rafael Soriano and trade him away but didn't due to the low interest in him. There is not so much interest in Papelbon because he has not pitched well recently and his is salary is too high for many teams to afford. Although they did sign Bobby Jenks (closer of the White Sox) for two years who can replace Papelbon if he moves after the season and the Red Sox also think they have closer stuff in Daniel Bard who is a talented young flame thrower. This means whether or not Papelbon moves during or after the season, or if he starts to slip, the Red Sox have good solutions for the closing role.