Jape
Game 103: July 27, 2007 | |||
Red Sox | 7 | W: Tim Wakefield (12-9) H: Manny Delcarmen (6) |
63-40, 2 game winning streak 21-9-4 series record |
Devil Rays | 1 | L: Jason Hammel (1-1) BS: Juan Salas (1) |
38-64, 7 game losing streak 9-20-4 series record |
Highlights: The Red Sox offense supplied Wakefield with sufficient run support although it did come rather late in the game. The knuckleballer lasted six inning, struck out six, walked three, and allowed one run to score in the dome where he pitches so well. He is now 8-0 when starting at Tropicana Field. |
In his most recent blog entry Raymond said, “On July 5th I made my Fenway debut. Wally was up on the dugout tossing out balls. I came up on the dugout, took away his bag, and generally taunted the Red Sox faithful. Of course Wally got me back by tearing off my fur. That seems to keep happening every time I visit another stadium. Jerry Remy thought it was funny. Yeah, keep laughing RemDawg. I’ve got plenty in store for you and your precious Wally when you guys come to town July 27!”
Raymond made good on his threat by festooning the booth with Raymond beanies as well as an autographed photo where he pleaded his case to appear in a SportsCenter commercial and told Jerry Remy that he stunk.
The same can be said for the team Raymond represents.
I don’t even think Devil Rays players like each other. Akinori Iwamura bruised Dioner Navarro with a batted ball to end the fourth. (I checked out Baseball Reference Play Index and there isn’t a way to find outs that occur in this manner.)
Jason Hammel had to work within the confines of pitch count of 90, so even if David Ortiz hadn’t broken up the no-no in the fourth it was inevitable that Joe Maddon would have to pull him and leave his team to the brutality of his league-trailing bullpen. Hammel departed in the sixth with two on, one out, and 88 pitches on his arm.
The number eighty-eight was not double happiness for the either the Devil Rays or the Red Sox. Juan Salas took the mound and Kevin Youkilis was quadruply joyous when his three-run homer sailed blithely toward the left field stands.
The Red Sox salted away the game in the eighth with a four-run eruption against Shawn Camp. In a topsy-turvy chain of events Manny Ramirez and J.D. Drew singled and were driven in by Coco Crisp with a humpback double to left.
An outfielder with carbon copy initials, Carl Crawford, made a diving attempt at Crisp’s hit but hit the ground with such impact his glove slipped off and the ball tumbled away from the defender’s grasp.
Drew, who happened to be the Heckler’s target, had a mishap of his own in the first inning. The right fielder flubbed a near-routine catch of a wall-scraping fly ball that was ruled a double, but the gaffe did not cost a run. Between the Heckler and Raymond you have the essence of Tampa Bay baseball: loud and garish sideshows designed to distract from an uninspired and dawdling club.