Consolation
| Game 6: April 12, 2009 | |||
| Red Sox | 4 | L: Josh Beckett (1-1) | 2-4, 1 game losing streak |
 Angels | 5 | W: Dustin Moseley (1-0) H: Jose Arredondo (4) H: Scot Shields (3) S: Brian Fuentes (2) | 3-3, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Moseley was one of the Angels who gave a press conference to talk about Nick Adenhart. They were friends and minor league teammates. Even though Adenhart replaced Moseley on the major league roster last year there was not a trace of animosity. It may sound like a cliché, but they were more like family than friends. | |||
I don’t begrudge Dustin Moseley and the Angels their victory in this game or their series win. It must have been some small consolation given the events of the past week.
It was apparent their nerves were raw. They overreacted to Josh Beckett’s plunking of Bobby Abreu in the bottom of the first, clearing the benches to stand behind their new right fielder. Perhaps Beckett’s throw was meant to hit Abreu, but it should be noted that pulling up in mid-delivery is potentially dangerous to the pitcher. There is a reason for the extreme annoyance you see on hurlers’ faces when batters call for last second timeouts.
Torii Hunter flew off the handle and was quickly ejected. Justin Speier was booted for his unceasing invectives from the dugout. At some point in the first inning Angels hitting coach Mickey Hatcher was tossed. During the tussle Adenhart’s number was erased from the back of the mound.
Mike Scioscia badgered the umpires again in the second, making it clear that either he or Beckett goes. The officiating crew wouldn’t capitulate to the skipper’s demands and Scioscia was thrown out.
If anything, it seemed the skirmish fired up the Red Sox more than the Angels. In the second inning Kevin Youkilis and J.D. Drew responded with back-to-back homers while the home team went down in order.
But by bottom of the third the Angels regained their composure and Beckett lost his. Alternating singles and walks plated three runs for a lead the Angels would not hand over. The moment was particularly sweet for Abreu, whose revenge against his adversary was a single to right that plated the tying and go-ahead runs.
Brian Fuentes was as shaky as Jonathan Papelbon in Saturday’s game. Fuentes hit Nick Green to begin ninth but sat Rocco Baldelli and Dustin Pedroia with a strikeout and pop out respectively. Whatever confidence Fuentes got by sitting last year’s MVP was short lived. David Ortiz singled in Green and Youkilis singled as well.
Perhaps Drew was being overly prudent when he watched the final strike for the final out cross the plate. He had been too rash in the eighth, when he swung at the first pitch out of Scot Shields’s hand for the first out, right after the reliever walked two batters in a row. The blame was not Drew’s alone, however. The Red Sox as a team left 25 men on base.
Boston now makes the trip up the coast to Oakland to take on the 2-4 Athletics. Who would have thought the Red Sox would share the same record as the rebuilding Oakland club?
