Rage
| Game 151: September 16, 2008 | |||
| Red Sox | 1 | L: Justin Masterson (6-5) | 89-62, 1 game losing streak |
 Rays |
2 | W: Dan Wheeler (5-5) | 89-60, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Josh Beckett got Matt Cain-ed last night. A Cain-ing is defined as a pitcher turning in a stellar effort, such as Beckett’s eight innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts and a lone batter granted a free pass, but losing because of an impotent offense. Beckett’s margin for error was slim, and Carlos Peña’s game-tying solo shot in the seventh was the leverage the Rays needed to prevail at game’s end. The Rays are 28-17 in one-run games; the Red Sox are 18-22. | |||
Just call these guys Raysputin.
Infuriatingly indefatigable, Tampa Bay’s backstop Dioner Navarro sent a 2-2 fastball out of the hand of Justin Masterson over Coco Crisp’s head to plate the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
Masterson had faced a similar challenge in the Bronx against Alex Rodriguez, but with the bases loaded and one out the gangly reliever could not get the better of former Yankee farm product Navarro.
The visitors scraped up one run in the sixth. It was the second time in the game the Red Sox managed to get the leadoff hitter on base. The Jacoby Ellsbury Express advanced along the route in his usual manner: infield hit, advance to second thanks to jittery infielders muffing their fielding attempts because of Ellsbury’s speed, proceed to third on a ground out, and then tagging up on a sacrifice fly.
An alternate route was attempted in the eighth. Ellsbury had beaten out a throw by Jason Bartlett and tried to steal second. Although Akinori Iwamura didn’t seem to secure the ball when gloving Navarro’s cross-diamond missile, Ellsbury was called out by second base umpire Jerry Crawford.
Rubber game of the series tonight: time to find the equivalent of the Neva River in the St. Petersburg of Florida and rid ourselves of the Rays, once and for all.
