Game 144: Alex Gonzalez, Sox Come Back to Walk Off Over Angels

by Randy Booth on Sep 16, 2009 11:43 PM EDT in Game Stories

I don't know what just happened, but it was awesome.

After a back and forth game that saw the Sox down one heading into the bottom of the 9th, it didn't look good for the Sox. Then came two straight outs against Angels' closer Brian Fuentes. It didn't look good.

But then it turned.

David Ortiz walked and Joey Gathright came in to pinch run. Then J.D. Drew came to the plate and hit an infield single. Jed Lowrie followed, lacing a grounder to Chone Figgins, who stopped it and couldn't make a play.

Bases loaded.

Nick Green up and he was looking fastball. Two straight that he swings and whiffs on. But that's OK, because he worked the count full and then, with a questionable pitch, walks to bring home Gathright. That left it up to Alex Gonzalez, the No. 9 man, to finish the job.

Winner, winner. Gonzalez hit a soft blooper to left field that scored Drew and gave the Sox a walk-off 9-8 win.

You couldn't draw up a better way to end this game. After the game going back and forth, it really didn't look like the Sox had a chance. After Bard gave up the run, the Sox had a chance, but the two straight outs took a lot of steam out of the team. But not enough.

I know one thing is for sure: the Boston Red Sox magic is back. This is a game the 2004 team would have won. This is a game the 2007 team would have won, too. Two months ago, though, this is not a game the 2009 team would have won. But the Sox finally have the perfect formula for a winning team and we saw that team tonight. And damn, is this team good.

October, here we come. I hope you're ready for us.

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Comments

Looks like I missed a great game

Too bad I had a Lab Report to finish… (actually, I’m working on it right now)

"Baseball is drama with an endless run and an ever-changing cast." - Joe Garagiola
Chowdah Chatter - an outlet for my random thoughts and such.

by crabchowdah on Sep 16, 2009 11:49 PM EDT reply actions

To start to finish. ;)

Man I love that tuna casserole.

by Bloggy on Sep 17, 2009 12:07 AM EDT up reply actions

And.....

done.

"Baseball is drama with an endless run and an ever-changing cast." - Joe Garagiola
Chowdah Chatter - an outlet for my random thoughts and such.

by crabchowdah on Sep 17, 2009 1:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Welcome to high school.

@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation

by bdalebs on Sep 17, 2009 4:53 PM EDT up reply actions

2009

Umpires win the game for the Red Sox.

by HungryHunter on Sep 16, 2009 11:50 PM EDT reply actions

Once again

The call was consistent if not correct.

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 16, 2009 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't ignore the 0-2 "check" swing

Even Green thought he was out on that one.

by HungryHunter on Sep 17, 2009 12:28 AM EDT up reply actions

And it looked very close.

But that’s never a given. Check swings are practically coin flips unless they’re really obvious.

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 17, 2009 12:49 AM EDT up reply actions

You lost get over it

you will also lose in the post season get over that too

VARITEK MUST GO

by gizmosandy on Sep 17, 2009 7:14 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree

as a Sox fan, I think perhaps 3 bad calls went against the Angels last night. If I were an Angels fan, I would not be happy at all. But you know what? Despite what Rev says, this crap does go both ways. We have had calls like that (I recall a game at Fenway against the Rays where Kazmir’s K zone was 1/2 a foot larger than Lester’s and even the Rays fans were agreeing, a game we lost 2-1 in the 6th inning called due to rain, etc.).

Despite the poor calls, I thought Scioscia’s managing was some of the worst I have ever seen. Why did he not go to Oliver with 1-2-3-4 straight lefties up? Why was Figgins not hugging the line with 2on, 2out in the 9th? Very, very strange…

by Buzzy on Sep 17, 2009 8:39 AM EDT up reply actions

The umpires certainly weren't amazing

I’ll give you that. But the Angels had their opportunity to put this game away and it never happened.

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Sep 16, 2009 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Correct

But those damn calls come at just the exact wrong time, don’t they? ;-D

RIP Nick Adenhart.

"When the Babe tries to call his shot, I hope Nick puts one in his ear."
--RallyMonkey5

by Clutch on Sep 17, 2009 12:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Yep, Selig's got his hands in the pockets of every ump.

@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation

by bdalebs on Sep 17, 2009 4:55 PM EDT up reply actions

No they didn't..

the two calls, (Nick Green’s check swing and the ball four pitch) were borderline, they could had gone either way… Fuentes’s sin was to allow the Sox to rally. I do think the ball four should had been called a strike, but it was close…

There were many plays that went to the Angels way, mainly the passed ball and Ellsbury’s blown catch…

by superferret on Sep 17, 2009 1:43 AM EDT up reply actions

Classy fans, throwing shit at me while I was cheering for my team

Classy umpires, missing two blatant strikeout calls.

I’ve had enough of Fenway.

http://inplaynoouts.blogspot.com/ - A blog about teams I like, written by me.
#34

by Carl Johnson on Sep 16, 2009 11:55 PM EDT reply actions

Sorry to hear you got harassed.

Usually we reserve that for the Yankees fans, and even then it’s just the occasional peanut.

I like to think the Sox fans here would restrain themselves in the same situatio.

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 16, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions

By and large, "real" fans (STH's) at Fenway are nice

It’s the drunk idiots from BU sitting in the bleachers who think they’re cool.

http://inplaynoouts.blogspot.com/ - A blog about teams I like, written by me.
#34

by Carl Johnson on Sep 17, 2009 12:10 AM EDT up reply actions

I agree

OverTheMonster.com

by Randy Booth on Sep 17, 2009 12:12 AM EDT up reply actions

I wonder if that's why Red Sox Nation as a whole gets a bad name?

It’s the folks coming into college, converting, and then heading out that are likely the most vocal. =\

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 17, 2009 12:14 AM EDT up reply actions

you know how i feel when i have to go to the “big A-hole”

What did you say to me paper champion?
-Mr.T

by CaliforniaGreen on Sep 17, 2009 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Most violent game I ever went to was an Angels/Dodgers game complete with Angels fans who snuck glass bottles into Dodger Stadium, and tried stabbing people with them.

Reap what you sow.

by Rev. KB on Sep 17, 2009 12:34 AM EDT up reply actions

The good fans should not have to reap what the assholes sow.

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 17, 2009 12:50 AM EDT up reply actions

And lambasting an entire fanbase because you lost a game and didn’t like the other team’s fans when your own team’s fans aren’t any better isn’t exactly a wise choice of comments.

by Rev. KB on Sep 17, 2009 12:53 AM EDT up reply actions

If he got shit thrown at him, he has the right to complain.

It’s just that it’s really more a reality of good vs. bad fans than fans of team X vs. fans of team Y. It’s just that fans of team Y will really only experience such victimization from fans of team X.

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 17, 2009 1:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Carl Johnson Complains

I’ll wager significant money that Mr. Johnson wasn’t just cheering for his team. Maybe some out loud complaining was done?

And besides… what kind of pansy doesn’t expect some unfriendly fire when in the Fens? For every non-Sox fan in the stands there’s a Sox fan watching the game on their couch.

by adubson on Sep 17, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Sep 17, 2009 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Stop crying.

Get over it.

VARITEK MUST GO

by gizmosandy on Sep 17, 2009 7:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Last night it was steroid usage, tonight we're paying off the umps

God I love this game.

Tomorrow I’m hoping we’re accused of drugging the Angels offense with sedated cupcakes!

DFA Beckett

by South Coast Ghost on Sep 17, 2009 1:28 AM EDT reply actions

Well you did poison Kotchman back in '07....XD!

RIP Nick Adenhart.

"When the Babe tries to call his shot, I hope Nick puts one in his ear."
--RallyMonkey5

by Clutch on Sep 17, 2009 1:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, and GA...

…with the pinkeye

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Sep 17, 2009 2:11 AM EDT up reply actions

This is true

Those secret Bahstin agents snuck in a few days before the series and made sure GA was good and laid up just in time for first pitch…and blind by Game 3!

RIP Nick Adenhart.

"When the Babe tries to call his shot, I hope Nick puts one in his ear."
--RallyMonkey5

by Clutch on Sep 17, 2009 3:14 AM EDT up reply actions

rev halo

decided to start throwing the “all of boston is racist” banter around tonite.

“they whined when they weren’t stabbing blacks who wanted fair access to education with flagpoles”
by Rev Halofan on Sep 16, 2009 8:47 PM PDT

this guy really needs his ass kicked.

they should really start making angel embroidered kleenex. there seems to be quite a market for it.

by theredscare_ on Sep 17, 2009 2:27 AM EDT reply actions

Well...

I’m not sure a team which claims to be from Los Angeles – but actually plays in Orange County – should feel all that comfortable about taking any position which logically requires that it represent a more inclusive and racially diverse locale.

I also think that sort of talk simply demonstrates (a) that he’s a full-on douchebag; and (b) recently, the Halos have not provided him with enough sports-related vitriol-fodder. The Boston-is-racist stuff bothers me, not because it didn’t happen, but because it’s kinda beyond sports. Essentially, the equivalent of making up some rumor about Mrs. Halofan in a drunken three-way with Spencer Pratt and Jon Gosselin in an Arby’s restroom – assuming that happened, which I don’t imagine it did – although I can neither confirm nor deny it.

The steroid stuff I don’t mind so much, especially since the 2002 WSMVP was also a juicer. The Tony C. stuff is over the line, of course – but I understand (although I’m pretty sure that if the Halos took 2-0 lead in the series, I wouldn’t be kicking dirt on Nick Adenhart’s headstone). Basically, he’s a passionate fan who is incapable of dealing with losing. And an asshat.

If it makes you feel better, go to the ‘07 and ’08 ALDS gamethreads and archives on HH. It’s a hoot…

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Sep 17, 2009 3:31 AM EDT up reply actions

Nobody cares about the Angels in LA

they are 6th class citizens to the Lakers, Dodgers, USC football, UCLA BB, and the Clippers.

The fan base’s bitterness comes from wanting to be loved by LA but nobody caring bc who outside of John Travolta wants to go to Anaheim when Chavez is just down the street from Downtown and a better place to watch a game.

by SoxAcumen on Sep 17, 2009 4:29 AM EDT up reply actions

but..

You have to watch NL baseball. Unless the Phillies are in town, I am not interested in supporting Mr. Parking Lot Attendant’s baseball team. I would rather schlub to Anaheim.

Angels aren’t second class citizens. Clippers are second class citizens. Angels attendance is not that far south of Dodger’s attendance. Even though MLB attendance figures are as manipulated by the teams as their public balance sheet.

Why Mike Scioscia is grumpy all the time, he lives in Thousand Oaks and commutes to Anaheim, that will make anyone a stress monster in no time.

by superferret on Sep 17, 2009 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions

but

I would rather be a cab ride away from every night club, restaurant and trying to be an actress female in Hollywood than Anaheim.

So you think the Angels get more respect than the Clippers, well just for the sake of being friendly ill concede, does that make Angel fan feel better? They beat the Clippers.

Everyone I know in LA, outside of one guy and one couple, is a Dodger fan. Manny is a celebrity here, the Angels are the LA Kings or Ducks. They have a fanbase, but really no one cares.

by SoxAcumen on Sep 17, 2009 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I grew up in Southern California..

I have been to plenty of Dodger Games, and Dodger Stadium is a great place to watch a ballgame. Compare to Safeco Field , Dodger Stadium is nirvana to watch a game. I always had been a diehard Sox Fan, because my father grew up on the North Shore, and watch Bucky “bleepin” Dents 3 run HR in 1978.

I also schlubbed to Anaheim Stadium when the Sox were in town, and when the Stadium was really bad, when the Rams still played there, but like watching AL ball than NL ball.

From growing up there, and my parents still live on the Wilshire Corridor, I rather hung out at Dutton’s Books (RIP) than hang out with starlets/glitteratti , head up to Malibu and Leo Carrillo to surf and go Audobon field trips to check out Shrikes, than get near San Vincente and Melrose..

by superferret on Sep 17, 2009 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Besides the fact that many of us are not from Boston...

Or were not around when most of that happened.

@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation

by bdalebs on Sep 17, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Rev Halo is a clown

He is a wanna be sports writer. He does local sports radio in LA sometimes and comes off like a moron. He also fails to realize that hosting a blog and then ranting about things like cheating umpires or racist individuals is borderline defamation. He wants to be a member of the sports media but has no idea that some level of professionalism is needed.

by SoxAcumen on Sep 17, 2009 4:27 AM EDT up reply actions

When you cannot beat a team you must fall back on something

VARITEK MUST GO

by gizmosandy on Sep 17, 2009 7:17 AM EDT up reply actions

last resort

always the last resort: blame it on the umps

by thaipatsfan on Sep 17, 2009 8:09 AM EDT reply actions

Randy wrote:

“I don’t know what just happened, but it was awesome.”

I have an idea, as I expressed last night. What happened was that the Sox put up an inept lineup without Drew, Martinez, and Youk, and couple that with an EXTREMELY BAD AND FAILING AND UNACCEPTABLE Varitek, and the game would have been hopeless. Then for for some reason late in the game, management had a change of heart pulled Varitek (thank God, to bad it could not be for good) and put in Drew among others. There is no substitute for momentum and momentum generators!

Hopefully we can go back to a potent line-up throughout and soon, and see if we can get this thing done with, as you say, “the Boston Red Sox magic is back.” On caveat though is that magic (or momentum really) has top be cultivated, and you have to be careful not to show a lack of caring, as management began to show last night early in the game.

Finally, PLEASE nobody tell me that Varitek is helping this team and that he deserves to be in there anymore because of ancient history.

by NG on Sep 17, 2009 8:16 AM EDT reply actions

That would be your version of positivity, then.

Man I love that tuna casserole.

by Bloggy on Sep 17, 2009 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Always cover your flanks as they say.

I believe in being prepared for the future by trying shape the outcome. If what Randy said is to have a good meaning for Sox fans,

“October, here we come. I hope you’re ready for us.”

then we better look critcally at what we are doing. To me that is always positive!

by NG on Sep 17, 2009 9:30 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, as I stated somewhere in these parts...

As far as a “back-up” catcher goes, ‘Tek isn’t a bad guy to have. Absolutely on a downward slide likely never to return, but stsill.

Man I love that tuna casserole.

by Bloggy on Sep 17, 2009 11:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Well, we kind of had to put Tek out there.

At least he knows how to call a game and can occasionally run into a homer. Kott and Brown suck pretty bad too. I’d actually rather they’d called up Wagner, because he, at least, has an arm.

by Ben Buchanan on Sep 17, 2009 10:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Pitch to Green

I’m a non-partisan (Mets fan) and thought the pitch to Green was a ball. It was right over the middle but a little low.

by MikeGianella on Sep 17, 2009 8:49 AM EDT reply actions

Nah, it was a strike.

Various angles and computer systems have verified this.

@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation

by bdalebs on Sep 17, 2009 5:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Amazing Angels fans

These guys are amazing.

Even IF Green is called out, which I will admit he should have been, the bottom line is this:

1) This was a game PAUL BYRD started;
2) This was a game Yook and Victor DIDN"T play;
3) This was a game Papelboner sat out;
4) And, finally, in the most crucial at-bat of the game, NICK GREEN pinch hit!

Yet with all that, even if the strike is called, the Angels win by one run with the bases being left loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

Angels fans, your team will be on vacation by the third week of October.

by redsoxjoey on Sep 17, 2009 10:43 AM EDT reply actions

I think Nick Green wasn't called out on strikes with his check swing because...

First the pitch was way outside, and his check swing was borderline, if he went a tiny bit more, he would obviously been called out. If Fuentes pitch been closer to the strike zone, I think NIck Green been called out..

There are some good things about the Angels, and some bad things, all in the same position. Kendrick and Aybar are amazing with some of their ranges. They also blew a couple double play balls. They are tough, but then they make these rookie mistakes. On Alex Gonzalez’s flare, Juan Rivera should had dived for it. I think the problem why he didn’t dive was he saw Figgins in the area, and maybe thought he would get it.

by superferret on Sep 17, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions

He not only didn’t dive. He was haphazardly jogging towards that ball from the moment it left Gonzo’s bat. I thought it was a routine pop fly, and was shocked when it fell.

by Rev. KB on Sep 17, 2009 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions

The Angels got some big breaks as well..

the passed strike three by Varitek, and Ellsbury misplaying his jump. Instead of a 7-7 game in the ninth, it could had been 7-3 or 7-4 game..

by superferret on Sep 17, 2009 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Also

Look at the pitch FX for Bard in the top of the 9th. He got royally squeezed, helping the Angels score the go-ahead run with 2 outs.

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Sep 17, 2009 1:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Best part about all this, short of the win, is that people are using Pitch F/X to make points.

@bs_uf15bosox9be The Original Gameday; Learn to use SB Nation

by bdalebs on Sep 17, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions

See man,

thats what ive been saying. The Angels SHOULD of won, but they sucked it up again. How do you let Paul Byrd off the hook only giving up 3 runs? How do you not beat the Red Sox without Youk and VMart? How do you not win after Tek screws up that strike 3?

by SoxAcumen on Sep 17, 2009 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions