Walkoff!: Carl Crawford's Single Lets Red Sox Start May Off Right
by Ben Buchanan on May 1, 2011 6:57 PM EDT
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It wasn't a game the Red Sox were likely to win. With Tim Wakefield taking on Felix Hernandez, this was kind of a mismatch.
Somehow, however, it was Tim Wakefield who won the duel today, holding the Mariners in check through nearly six innings. Meanwhile, Felix found himself in trouble from the very first inning, escaping a bases-loaded situation only thanks to a friendly third strike call to Jed Lowrie that was well outside of the zone.
He was not so lucky in the third inning. After Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia hit back-to-back singles to lead off the frame, David Ortiz doubled high off the Monster to plate the first two runs of the game.
But, with Wakefield not particularly well stretched out, the Red Sox had to turn to the bullpen in the middle of the sixth inning. Of course, with two outs and only the one runner on base, this wasn't a problem and they got out of the inning quickly.
Oh, wait, no. Bobby Jenks came into the game, gave up a single, and then walked the next three batters to bring in the two tying runs. Only Carl Crawford racing down a line drive saved him from completely giving away the game.
That wasn't the only bit of heroism from Carl Crawford, however. With the Sox and Mariners trading scoreless innings, the game entered the bottom of the ninth on pace for extra baseball. Then, with one out, the Sox got lucky: Jed Lowrie, after fouling off a couple of two-strike pitches from Jamey Wright, found a pitch he could hit. The contact off the bat actually made it seem like it had a chance to leave the park, but as Ichiro pulled up well short of the wall, it was clear that wasn't the case. It was also clear that Ichiro didn't quite have a bead on it, shrinking from the sun and falling almost to his knees as he tried to find the ball in the sky before it eventually bounced off his leg, letting Lowrie pull into third.
We all know how bad the Red Sox have been with timely sacrifices to bring in runners from third with less than two outs, and today was no different as Marco Scutaro immediately grounded out to third on the first pitch, leaving Lowrie still 90 feet away. But then up came Carl Crawford, who shot Jamey Wright's 1-1 pitch back up the middle, off the pitcher's mound, and into center field for the walk-off hit.
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I've been waiting for the recap
So I could be the first to give HUGE PROPS to Wakefield. He was friggin’ fantastic out there today. I love that man.
WAKEFIELD = STOPPER.
Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.
@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard
I predicted a stopper game out of him yesterday...
… and very happy to have it fulfilled today. Great game by Wake, and let’s hope this was Carl Crawford finally turning the corner. Perhaps a walk off win was all Crawford and the Sox really needed to get going.
I facepalmed
when I saw Jenks come in. I knew, everybody knew (except Tito that is) that he would screw up. He can’t be brought in in situations like that with such a low margin for error. Bring him in during blowouts or lost causes until he gets all his confidence and command back. Because Wakefield should have had the W, but Jenks threw it away.
Two run lead, with two outs and a runner on first?
That doesn’t feel like a high pressure situation to me.
Red Sox Start May Off Right
bravo!
great title and recap, ben.
whatever they’re paying you isn’t enough
we won 18 in may last year – we are almost there
anyone going to Pittsburgh the weekend series of the sox/pirates?
You may need to add a few more Jed Lowries in to make it clear who we are talking about.
"We Believe" - Rudy Fernandez
Do you remember two years ago
When the Sox had toasted their bullpen over the previous few games, and Wake said, no matter what happens don’t come get me? He then threw 7 no hit inning, the Sox break it open with a long eighth, Wake gives up the non no, but gets the win and the bullpen gets the rest it needs. Today it is lost 4 out of five, emergency start, and facing possibly the best righty in the AL. I personally thought he was just there to take one for the team (so as to not waste a starter vs King Felix, particularly given the way the Sox have been hitting).
I don’t see how he gets in the rotation, but I wonder if this might be the start of one of those famous Wakefield runs where he is nearly unhittable for for dozen or so games (it is of course the Mariners, so I will try to contain myself).
Yes see a link to an article and quotes from it below
http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290415111
When Tim Wakefield stopped by Terry Francona’s office Wednesday morning, he already realized the Boston Red Sox were staggering. They had lost six of seven while struggling to hit, and their bullpen was gassed after pitching 11 innings Tuesday night.
“I understand the circumstances of today,” Wakefield recalled telling his manager. “No matter what, don’t take me out.”
Yup. Oakland.
Such an awesome start.
Galactus does as he pleases. Because Galactus is drunk.
@#$%ing Twit: @blogtard
That would be awesome
timmy ever the company man -
"Man that ball got outta here in a hurry, you know anything that travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?" - Crash Davis
IIRC, He only lost the no-no
on an infield single, either a bad hop or a little dribbler… one of the great clutch starts. Today he was nearly as good. He had some crazy movement on his knuckler. Some very good defense from Crawford-
- Matt Sullivan
"I would change policy, bring back natural grass and nickel beer. Baseball is the belly-button of our society. Straighten out baseball, and you straighten out the rest of the world." Bill "Spaceman" Lee
www.overthemonster.com
www.spacemanspancakes.wordpress.com
Should I get worried about this Wednesday Dice K or Beckett thing yet?
Giving Beckett some extra rest? Not sure about Wednesday? Not sure about Dice?
Worst case is that neither are ready, a call up will be needed.
Best case is Beckett goes on Wed, Dice on Thurs, lining up both Dice in Toronto and a Buck/Lester/Beckett trio in NY.
It does seem a little curious.
Like you, I think Beckett going on Wednesday gets him an extra day’s rest, with Lester pitching on normal rest… but otherwise, why not come right out and say that? The way this came out does feel like something more is going on there.
six man rotation
Obviously Tito read my proposal for a 6-man rotation and wants to subtly head in that direction (!)
You know what's overlooked up there?
Yet another game where Paps came in during a non-save situation and pitched well. A 123 inning with a K earns him a W tonight, and he continues to look really, really good this season.
Happy to see it!
I saw a great use of a free agent reliever
Same reliever pitches the sixth.
The problem was that I was at the Rays game, and the pitcher was Scott Downs. At almost the same moment Jenks was blowing the Red Sox lead, Downs was keeping the Angels tied.
I would say we signed the wrong guy.
Good to see CC come through in the clutch.
A couple of notes about the Rays.
-The inevitable slide of Sam Fuld has begun.
-Zobrist looks like the Zobrist of 2009, not 2010 though.
-Jaso remains a significant liability behind the plate
-The Rays pen is much better than I expected
Downs
Couldn’t agree more about Downs. He was the one of a couple of relievers the Sox needed. And, he wanted to come here. Over the last 4 seasons pitching in the AL East, he posted a 2.37 ERA. Jenks has been terrible since 2008. What kind of thinking was this?The other one was Jesse Crain,or the RH who signed with Oakland.
Carl Crawford gets the game winning hit
And Osama Bin Laden is announced dead
Coincidence? I THINK NOT
Party in the USA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M11SvDtPBhA
"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.
Jenks claims he found a mechanical issue he's had this year while watching video of himself
I hope that’s true and the problem. This guy should be able to make our bullpen pretty dominating but has just been awful. Hopefully this is fixable.
Let's hope
he’s not Eric Gagne 2.0
by OzTiger on May 2, 2011 10:32 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I saw that headline by the time our game ended.
He went straight to the showers and watched video? I feel like that article came up so quickly, he had to have “found” that mechanical issue before yesterday’s disasterous outing.
I mean if I was him,
screw the showers, I would’ve run right from the dugout to the video room immediately (which I think is usually what they do). In any case, it’s possible that he had seen it before and was trying to fix it, but might just need a couple of sides to actually get it nailed.
As frustrating as he has been, Jenks's track record of success in the AL speaks for itself
Whereas Gagne was a shell of his old self by the time he arrived here.
Way to go Carl Crawford
I didn’t see the game or highlight but I’m glad to hear CC got the game winning hit in the bottom of the ninth and good old Tim Wakefield.
How long will that knuckler keep him around?
Red Sox got to just keep it going. Long season. Go Sox!
steelspurredsoxbrewerleafs. A conglomeration of some of my favorite sports teams Update I added brewers as a second favorite major league team
by steelspuredsoxleafs on May 2, 2011 2:40 PM EDT reply actions
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