Low
| Game 55: June 5, 2009 | |||
 Rangers | 5 | W: Kevin Millwood (5-4) H: Eddie Guardado (4) | 32-22, 1 game winning streak |
| Red Sox | 1 | L: Brad Penny (5-2) | 32-23, 1 game losing streak |
| Highlights: David Ortiz supporters brought their “Papi” sign and a target up into the seats on the left field wall. With two runners on in the eighth Ortiz sent a rope into right field for a run. Unfortunately for the returning Red Sox, it was the only run scored. They need more home cooking than Ortiz’s side dish; 13 left on base doesn’t satisfy the appetites of the Fenway faithful. | |||
Brady Penny cruised through four innings, but then he remembered he has been the subject of trade rumors. He thought about how he would miss Fenway and pitching with his pal Josh Beckett, so he eased up some on the mound.
Not really, but that is what it seemed like. The wheels came off after Julio Lugo allowed a single to his rookie counterpart, Elvis Andrus, under his dive. The Rangers plated their first run and Ian Kinsler followed up with a three-run longball into the Monster seats.
Speaking of other players lowering their trade value, Lugo’s mobility has been further reduced to that of a reanimated corpse. The Boston shortstop dove after Marlon Byrd’s grounder in the sixth in a manner similar to how he missed Andrus’s ground ball. Penny then relinquished a ringing double to right bounded into the the seats. Had the ball stayed in play, Byrd would have scored along with Hank Blalock, who had led off the inning with a four-pitch free pass.
From third base Byrd tried to score on Daniel Bard’s errant pitch to Jarrod Saltalamacchia but Jason Varitek got to the ball and fired to home quick enough for Bard to tag the center fielder out to end the inning.
Dennis Eckersley called Bard a tall glass of water. I guess that is the drink of choice when you dine on a nice piece of cheese. Bard has been solid if not spectacular thus far in his rookie season: 10 innings, 8 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 3 walks, and 9 strikeouts.
The Red Sox best (read: only) offensive moment of the evening was followed by the best comedic moment between Don Orsillo and Eckersley. The booth replayed Varitek’s reaction to whiffing on Eddie Guardado’s change-up and Eckersley voiced what he thought the catcher said: “Wow.” “I thought we were going to stay away from lip-reading,” Orsillo jested.
That was even better than the NESN studio crew’s dance break to “Low” featured in the post-game show.
