Game 97: Smoltz rocked, Sox lose

by Randy Booth on Jul 27, 2009 1:25 AM EDT in Game Stories

Final - 7.26.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore Orioles	1	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	6	10	1
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	6	0
WP: David Hernandez (3 - 2) LP: John Smoltz (1 - 4)

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John Smoltz: rocked. Offense: absent. Anything new in Red Sox Nation?

Smoltz gave up six runs in five innings to take his fourth loss of the season in the 6-2 game. He gave up nine hits, walked one and struck out six on the outing.

Offensively ... yeah. Not so good. Jed Lowrie hit a sac fly and Dustin Pedroia doubled to give the Sox their only two runs. Jacoby Ellsbury had two hits in the leadoff spot and Adam LaRoche, making his second start as a Sox, went 2 for 4. J.D. Drew had a run and a hit.

So, no sweep. Winning two of three is nice, but this team still isn't ready to compete. It'll be interesting to see what else Theo Epstein does with the trade deadline coming up. If the Sox continue to forget how to hit the ball, he may pull off a bigger trade than some of us may be expecting.

Sox host the A's on Monday at 7:10 p.m. Josh Beckett will be on the hill.

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Comments

Um...

Since when does 6 runs in 5 innings rock? I’ll give you the offense is the bigger problem here but 6 runs in 5 innings isn’t really a good thing either…

by sonicdeathmonkey on Jul 27, 2009 1:42 AM EDT reply actions

“Smoltz [got] rocked” or shelled or whatever, but “rocked” is a verb here, not an adjective. I guarantee Randy is not saying that Smoltz was good.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Jul 27, 2009 1:46 AM EDT up reply actions

Not to go all grammar nazi on you

but “Smoltz rocked” (positive connotation) is not an adjective. The verb “to rock” is a regular verb, meaning to perform awesomely, to be awesome, or otherwise to achieve a state of awesomeness.
I rock.
You rock.
He / she / it rocks.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Jul 27, 2009 1:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah you're right.

oops.

"Ninety percent [of my salary] I'll spend on good times, women, and Irish whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."
-Tug McGraw

by BTLove on Jul 27, 2009 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

The point is that anyone who knows what happened during the game, or can read the boxscore, knows...

that Smoltz GOT rocked.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 27, 2009 3:41 PM EDT up reply actions

Dude....

Can you please teach at my school? I learned more there then i learned all year.

Well, I'll appreciate for you to keep my zingers outta your mouth!

by BoSox415 on Jul 27, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Might be able to work something out.

Have your school’s GM call my agent. I think his number is:
1-800 MR BORAS.

"It's just a tiny little nick, but it hurts when I get champagne in there."
- Jason Bay, on getting spiked scoring the winning run in ALDS Game Four.

by 0157H7 on Jul 27, 2009 8:10 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm starting to get more concerned about the rotation.

As much as Smoltz’ K:BB numbers and HR% would suggest he’s suffering from bad luck…well…You look at the hits they’re getting—and BABIP would be considered a good indicator of said luck—and they’re not cheap shots. The opposing hitters are just plain hitting the ball well against him.

This isn’t like Lester where there’d often be a bunch of bloops or ground balls that got followed up by the one big hit. Smoltz just seems to give up a lot of good contact.

I’m getting honestly worried about our rotation. As much as I don’t see Halladay as the answer, I’m worried that, come October, we’re going to have 2 good slots and then 2 dice-roll slots.

by Ben Buchanan on Jul 27, 2009 2:22 AM EDT reply actions

well say hello to a jarrod washburn

he’s having a phenomenal year, and the M’s are fortunately gonna be sellers. cliff lee might cost too much, but there’s also zach duke and other more affordable but very good starters, as in a couple steps above paul byrd. i just can’t believe that with how much depth we have that this is a concern. that was the one thing that was gonna be rock solid this year!

by revived0103 on Jul 27, 2009 4:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Actually, Duke is going to cost a lot, according to various reports.

Whether it’s the Philadelphia gang that Toronto requires for Roy Halladay, or Clay Buchholz that the Indians insist upon for Victor Martinez, or the gaggle of prospects the Pirates have indicated they need to move Zach Duke, the songs remain the same.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4355655&name=gammons_peter&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fespn%2fblog%2findex%3fentryID%3d4355655%26name%3dgammons_peter

And we have Bowden and Masteron available for spotstarts.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 27, 2009 3:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Come October?

if the Sox don’t start HITTING, there will be no October. Overall, the pitching hasn’t been too bad considering we have about zero out of Dice-K and Smoltz. However, half our batting lineup is pitiful including most of the mega-bucks players.

by ccthemovieman on Jul 27, 2009 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions