There...are no words.
No, that's not quite right, it's that there is no right word. There is no one right word for what the Oakland Athletics did to the Red Sox Friday night.
Obliteration seems about right when we're talking about the basics of it. The typical go-to words of destruction don't quite cover a 20-run beatdown, but "obliteration" isn't one of the common ones, and it is suggestive of a certain...totality.
There is more to it then just that, however. There's an emotional aspect to it. The Red Sox were shamed tonight. Not just in that the Athletics, a typically weak offensive team took just about every pitching offering they had on the night and rejected it disdainfully. But also in who was doing it.
George Kottaras, Brandon Moss, Josh Reddick. Three former Sox farmhands, two of whom barely did more than ride the shuttle back and forth from Pawtucket. From them, the Athletics enjoyed nine hits, including three doubles and four homers. Moss' was a complete moonshot to right field that ended up in the second deck, Reddick's a grand slam that, frankly, may have done as much to stop the bleeding in the disaster nine-run seventh as anything else.
The destruction wrought on the bullpen almost makes Daniel Bard's return inning--one frame with a solo shot, some badly missed locations, and low-90s velocity--look good. But it wasn't. The only pitcher, in fact, who wasn't pretty awful was Junichi Tazawa. Four batters, four outs, two strikeouts. Basically as impressive as a perfect game given the context.
Just...wow. Twenty runs. In the Coliseum. Twenty.