Scintillating
Game 10: April 14, 2006
Mariners (5-6), 1
Red Sox (7-3), 2
L: Jamie Moyer (0-2)
W: Curt Schilling (3-0)
S: Jonathan Papelbon (5)
Things are looking good for a pitcher when you are able to strike out Ichiro Suzuki twice in a game and hold him hitless, even with the right fielder’s sluggish start. Curt Schilling only allowed three hits and one earned run over seven innings while striking out seven. Currently, Schilling has the lowest WHIP of all active starting pitchers with 0.64. Mark Hendrickson of the Royals and Noah Lowry of the Giants both have lower rates at 0.44 and 0.60 respectively, but are on the disabled list.
Another Red Sox pitcher is in the top 10 of WHIP for relief pitchers with a minuscule 0.33. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a near-perfect ninth inning, surrendering only a single line drive off the wall by Jose Lopez. In Papelbon’s six innings of work so far this season, he has hurled 76 pitches with 53 of those being strikes, or a 70% strike rate.
In the top of the seventh, Wily Mo Peña made a catch very similar to the one he muffed on June 13th when he was on the Reds. He took his route towards the bend in right field and caught Adrian Beltre’s fly ball on the run.
Of all hitters the Red Sox can rely on, Alex Gonzalez is the one you’d least expect to have a three for four evening and, in a stacked lineup, the only one to drive in runs. He doubled of the wall to score Mike Lowell and Dustan Mohr. Thanks to Gonzalez’s power surge, Boston is now 3-0 in in one-run games.
Carl Everett drove in the Mariners’ only run in the fifth inning when he grounded out to Lowell. The Red Sox third baseman briefly considered attempt to gun out Richie Sexson, who had reached on a leadoff double. Instead, Lowell propelled the ball to third for the second out of the inning. Booing at Everett’s at bats has become perfunctory and no real malice accompanies the cat calls. It’s akin to blessing nearby people who sneeze; a habit rather than an act rife with intent.
