Massacre
Game 22: April 27, 2006
Red Sox (13-9), 3
Indians (12-10), 15
L: Josh Beckett (3-1)
W: Paul Byrd (3-2)
The Cleveland Indians should be number three on the ThreatDown, just below the Blue Jays and bears. They are still a young team, as witnessed by Grady Sizemore’s tagging up in the seventh inning with the score 13-3. He’s lucky it was the final game of this series, or his ribcage would likely be graced with the imprint of baseball stitches.
For the Red Sox, it was a night of firsts, some good, some bad. Wily Mo Peña made his first start as a center fielder in a Red Sox uniform and recorded no errors in two attempts, both fly balls off the bat of Ronnie Belliard. Josh Beckett gave up the first grand slam of his career to Ben Broussard in the first inning.
Boston was feeble at the dish, scraping together only eight hits and going 2-10 with runners in scoring postion. Predictably, David Ortiz had those two hits, although he struck out to end the game with runners on second and third.
Alex Cora had two uncharacteristic throwing errors in the second and seventh innings, both resulting in runs scored. When your defensive whiz shortstop can’t field cleanly, a loss seems inevitable.
At least Manny Delcarmen is racking up major league innings but not without taking some lumps in the process; his two-thirds of an inning pitched in the seventh ended with a line of four hits, four runs (two earned), walk, and strikeout. Impressively, the whiff was earned against Travis Hafner.
If you’re tired of the tired old arms the Red Sox have been trotting out in late innings, there is change in the wind. Craig Hansen was promoted to Triple-A Pawtucket yesterday.
