Inclement
| Game 146: September 12, 2008 | |||
| Blue Jays | 0 | L: David Purcey (3-6) | 79-68, 1 game losing streak |
 Red Sox |
7 | W: Tim Wakefield (9-10) | 86-60, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: As the Toronto players slipped about the field their team slid in the standings. They came into Fenway as one of the hottest teams in baseball (they won nine of their last 10 games) but their fire was drenched by the autumnal rainfall. | |||
The contest got under way after a 41-minute delay. Six other games were rained out, but the soggy show had to go on in the Fens because a day-night doubleheader is scheduled for today. Article V, Section C of the collective bargaining agreement has 17 points that arcanely lay out the requirements for rainouts and split doubleheders; I imagine somewhere in that morass of legalese there is a prohibition against split doubleheaders on consecutive days.
One thing to note is that the CBA explicitly states that scheduling a postponed game as part of a conventional doubleheader will not be considered a practical alternative for the Cubs or Red Sox. Since both clubs have low seating capacity, this provision is meant to maximumize revenue for these clubs. If a new ballpark for the Marlins is approved, which seems to be more likely given a recent ruling by the Miami-Dade County Circuity Court regarding the project’s public purpose, I wonder if their proposed capacity of 37,000 will qualify them for the same treatment that Cubs and Red Sox receive?
Just as the Florida Marlins (soon to be Miami Marlins?) benefited from a timely ruling so did the Red Sox from timely hitting. The base hits with runners on base that was absent from the series against the Rays returned in full force against the Blue Jays.
Jed Lowrie led the early charge with his sacrifice fly to plate Jason Bay in the second inning. With a run on the board, if the umpires decided to make the game official after five innings the Red Sox would be guaranteed the win. Instead the crew decided to allow the teams to slog through nine innings of precipitation.
The conditions were messy but Tim Wakefield’s line was neat as a pin: over eight innings the knuckleballer allowed just three hits, struck out four, allowed no bases on balls, and had no wild pitches. In fact, the only wild pitch of the game was David Purcey’s in the second, which allowed Bay to advance to second and score on Lowrie’s fly ball to center. Wakefield’s dazzling outing put his team in good stead for today’s day-night doubleheader.
Kevin Cash was dinged with a passed ball that allowed Kevin Mench and his size 8 1/4 hat size to advance to third, but that would be as far as any Jay was allowed to progress. In turn, Cash smacked a three-run dinger in the eighth to put away the game.
Lowrie drove in Bay again in the fourth, this time with a double that arced over the head of left fielder Brad Wilkerson. Ortiz tacked on two more runs in the seventh with a two-bagger that dropped in front of Alex Rios. Two years ago in September, Rios once helped Alex Cora get a home run by bobbling a can of corn into the stands. It was Cora’s only home run of the season.
Rios wasn’t as helpful this time, although his mishandling of the slick sphere allowed Coco Crisp leeway on his jaunt to home plate. Crisp has been on a tear of late; with the absence of J.D. Drew, the spottiness of Jacoby Ellsbury, and the cooling-off of Kevin Youkilis, Crisp has been an essential cog in Boston’s offense.
