Putting Out the Welcome Matt
Seeing Matt Garza seethe as he relinquished the lead on Victor Martinez’s leadoff homer in the fifth is one of those small pleasures Red Sox fans will take enjoyment in now that their team is all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. Chad Qualls didn’t replicate the shutdown stuff that he displayed on August 28 in that pivotal series in the Trop. Ryan Kalish smashed an RBI double off the left field wall for a lead that the local nine would not surrender.
A barrage of scoring followed, runs that would have been nice in those close losses against the Rays and the White Sox. Marco Scutaro, who continued to play despite a partially torn rotator cuff, provided much of the offense’s punch. The shortstop led off the sixth with a double to the base of the wall and homered in the seventh with Lars Anderson on base.
Lars Anderson notched his first hit, a single to right field that Bill Hall spoiled somewhat by getting tagged out after running too far past second base. Ron Johnson recovered the ball from Matt Joyce and made sure it was safely stowed in the dugout. Tim Wakefield, the team’s calligrapher, probably inscribed Anderson’s baseball for him to commemorate the event.
Wakefield signed with the Pirates on June 3, 1988. Anderson was less than a year old, having been born on September 25, 1987.
I tend to mistype Wakefield’s name as “Time Wakefield.” The knuckleballer was once timeless, but 2010 might be the year his time finally runs out. If it is the end of an era, at least he might depart more prosperous: multiple bonuses kicked in with his five-inning outing.
Eric Patterson, the lead runner, and Martinez, the following runner, illustrated rule 7.03 in the bottom of the sixth:
(a) Two runners may not occupy a base, but if, while the ball is alive, two runners are touching a base, the following runner shall be out when tagged and the preceding runner is entitled to the base, unless Rule 7.03(b) applies.
(b) If a runner is forced to advance by reason of the batter becoming a runner and two runners are touching a base to which the following runner is forced, the following runner is entitled to the base and the preceding runner shall be out when tagged or when a fielder possesses the ball and touches the base to which such preceding runner is forced.
| Game 140: September 8, 2010 | ||
| Rays 84-55 | 5 | L: Matt Garza (14-8) |
| 2B: Matt Joyce (13), Jason Bartlett (23) HR: B.J. Upton (16) | ||
 Red Sox78-62 | 11 | W: Tim Wakefield (4-10) H: Scott Atchison (6) |
| 2B: Ryan Kalish (6), Marco Scutaro (33), Josh Reddick (2) HR: Adrian Beltre (27), Marco Scutaro – 2 (10), David Ortiz (29), Victor Martinez (15) | ||
