Pitching: Dice-K brought his A game, stayed ahead in the count and had hitters off balance all night. He was getting easy ground outs and weak foul balls and only had one mistake all night. Okajima got the job done but he walked the first batter he faced, not his best night but it worked. Papelbon was scary good last night. He was hitting 98 on the Coliseum gun and Oakland batters had no chance against him. Overall a dominant performance from Boston’s arms.
Offense: Tek came out of his slump in a big way after Tito moved him up in the order. He was robbed of an extra base hit in the 5th by a web-gem catch and robbed of a homer later. Youk went 3-4 and had a big 2 out triple. Ellsbury was hitting the ball hard and was rewarded with an RBi when Youk got by Suzuki at the plate. Coco did not look good in the batter’s box, he did have a nice bunt but it just showed that he is not confident in his bat right not. Papi also went 0-4. He was getting under the ball in BP and it continued during the game, he is due for a breakout soon. The Sox put together some timely hits and the bats looked healthy for the most part last night.
Game Notes: Julio Lugo deserves a major thank you for throwing me a ball during warm ups. Beers are not $8 at the Coliseum (ouch), hot dogs are $5 and were almost cold. Oakland fans get more annoying each year; many with standing room tickets keep moving and obstructing views and continually say F’ Boston without watching the game or even knowing what is going on. Red Sox fans made up about 1/3 of the attendance. The Red Sox looked like the defending World Series Champs last night. I was lucky enough to be at game 4 of the World Series last season and at opening day this year (U.S.), the Red Sox have come through for me both times.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
