Sanshin [三振]
| Game 110: August 4, 2007 | |||
 Red Sox |
4 | W: Daisuke Matsuzaka (13-8) H: Eric Gagne (2) S: Jonathan Papelbon (25) |
67-43, 1 game winning streak 23-9-4 series record |
| Mariners | 3 | L: Jarrod Washburn (8-8) |
60-48, 1 game losing streak 21-13-3 series record |
| Highlights: Boston broke a nine-game losing streak when playing at Safeco behind a seven-inning sparkler by Matsuzaka, who struck out 10 while walking two and allowing a pair of earned runs. Sanshin means strikeout in Japanese and the symbols translate to three [三] and shake, wave, wag, or swing [振]. | |||
Just as in American baseball jargon, types of strikeouts are delineated in Japanese:
- Renzoku sanshin [連続三振]: consecutive strikeouts. Daisuke Matsuzaka accomplished this in the first and seventh innings.
- Karaburi no sanshin [ 空振りの三振]: swinging K. Inquire with Jose Vidro, Raul Ibañez, Jose Guillen, Ben Broussard, and Jose Lopez for details on what this is like. Joses Vidro and Guillen are particularly expert as they did so two times each.
- Minogashi no sanshin [見逃しの三振]: strikeout looking. Guillen was also called out on strikes twice; Yuniesky Betancourt’s only strike out was a called one.
The series evened with pairs of runs in evenly numbered innings for the Red Sox. David Ortiz waited on second in the fourth inning; he advanced there thanks to Ibañez’s bobble of his arcing single to the opposite field. With first open Manny Ramirez wasn’t given a real pitch to get a hold of so he lingered at first. Both came home on Jason Varitek’s line drive to deep left.
In the sixth Kevin Youkilis started things off with a fly ball double to the gap that not even Ichiro Suzuki could catch up to. Guillen played Ortiz’s single to right on the short hop and sailed his throw over Adrian Beltre, allowing Youkilis to score and Ortiz to take second. Ramirez’s double found the gap on Ibañez’s side of the outfield to drive in the last of the visitors’ runs.
Neither Eric Gagne and Jonathan Papelbon had the easiest time of it in the final two innings. After securing two outs in the eighth, Gagne allowed a run to score with two consecutive singles. Mariners second baseman Lopez then doubled to set up runners at the corners with two out. After a visit by John Farrell, Gagne extinguished hot hitter Betancourt. The shortstop had homered in the seventh for his second homer in as many games, but the begoggled Gagne caused the infielder to ground harmlessly to the mound for the last out of the penultimate inning.
Like Gagne, Papelbon began his inning easily enough by striking out Suzuki and Vidro. Then he fell into a jam by walking Guillen and Ibañez, rekindling the fire of the Mariner fans. Just as the crowd rose to a fevered roar Papelbon induced a weak pop up in foul territory the bat of Beltre. The Safeco losing streak was smothered and the series equaled to make for a dramatic series ender this afternoon.
