Theft
| Game 116: August 15, 2009 | |||
| Red Sox | 2 | L: Brad Penny (7-7) | 66-50, 1 game losing streak |
 Rangers | 7 | W: Derek Holland (6-7) H: Darren O’Day (16) S: Neftali Feliz (1) | 65-50, 1 game winning streak |
| Highlights: Reports of the Red Sox’s revival were greatly exaggerated. Alex Gonzalez brought back the spirit of 2006. In some circles there are whispers of the Curse of Mark Kotsay. | |||
Alex Gonzalez re-debuted with the Red Sox Saturday night. His equipment hadn’t arrived yet so he used Jed Lowrie’s glove. Can he use Hanley Ramirez’s bat? There’s a lot of power to spare in that and it would be nice to have some at short. Or any hitting ability: Gonzalez went 0-for-4 with one strikeout.
Can infield defensive abilities be transplanted to outfielders? Brian Anderson stopped mid-route on Elvis Andrus’s fly ball to right in the second inning, looking as uncaring as J.D. Drew is said to be. The two-out triple led to Julio Borbon driving in Andrus.
Jason Bay led off the fourth with his 25th homer of the season. Just as Bay’s bat returns most of the rest of his teammmates’ production has tapered off.
Victor Martinez is an exception; the backstop homered in the fourth. It was a two-out circuit clout, but Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia both tapped out to short so Martinez was the sole run of that inning.
Brad Penny was outdueled by rookie hurler Derek Holland, 5⅔ innings to 6⅔. Holland had half as many strikeouts as Penny with 3 but also half the bases on balls with 2.
Ellsbury’s ability to create havoc on the basepaths was outdone by the duo of Andrus and Borbon. Their seven stolen bases led to three runs. Ian Kinsler added to the total with a theft of the keystone sack in the third inning.
The threat of Rangers runners affected Ramon Ramirez, who balked in a run in the seventh with Kinsler on first. As annoying as the blunder and Kinsler’s leadoff homer in the second were, there was no intent in Fernando Cabrera’s eighth inning pitch that connected with Kinsler’s helmet.
Right now the Red Sox can’t hit anything on purpose.
