August 8, 2008
Drew, Buchholz Pace Sox Past Chicago
Boston 4, Chicago 3
J.D. Drew has been marred in a season long slump, if you can call it that. In June and July combined, he hit .211, but remained in manager Terry Francona's lineup due to a lack of depth on the Red Sox bench.
"It says a lot of their depth right now," a rival team executive said. "He's liable to break out at any point, but how long can he drag you down with an easy out when you are in playoff contention. Trading Brandon Moss really hurt them, and Ellsbury hasn't proven ready yet."
Leading 1-0 in the third against the White Sox, it was Drew who came through for Boston. With two outs and Manny Ramirez on first, drew lined a first-pitch fastball over the wall in right field for his 14th home run of the season.
Clay Buchholz did his best to make the score hold up. A solo home run by Jim Thome put Chicago on the board in the third and an error by Mike Lowell in the fourth allowed Chicago to cut the lead to one run, but the young righthander held on long enough to earn his tenth victory of the season.
In the ninth, with closer Jonathan Papelbon warming up, the Red Sox loaded the bases with one out. Kevin Youkilis hit a RBI single, added an insurance run before Scott Linebrink induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Manny Ramirez.
In the bottom half of the inning, that extra run proved vital as Papelbon surrendered a lead off, first pitch solo home run to Paul Konerko. After a quick visit from pitching coach John Farrell, Papelbon, in his first work in over two weeks, retired the next three batters on just thirteen pitches, striking out all three to secure the win for Boston.
Buchholz's win makes the Red Sox the only team in baseball with five starters with ten-plus victories. The next closest team is the New York Mets, who have four (Santana 11-10, Maine 17-7, Martinez 10-6 and Sosa 13-6).
W: Buchholz (10-5) L: Vazquez (8-12) SV: Papelbon (28)
Player of the Game: J.D. Drew (2-4, 2B, HR (14), R, 2 RBIs)
Around the League:
...Philadelphia placed RF Jayson Werth (.239, 9 HRs, 42 RBIs) on the 15-day DL...
U.S.A. Squad Annoucned
U.S.A. coach Bob Bradley has named his squad for the World Cup Quals (NAM) game against Jamaica on Monday.
The focus of Bradley's squad is definitely on players playing their club football outside the U.S., with only a few players included in the squad playing for American clubs.
Bradley has also decided to recall a number of more familiar faces, including Cory Gibbs, Pablo Masteroeni, Bobby Convey and Ben Olsen, who had been left out of Bradley's previous squad.
There are otherwise no real surprises to Bradley's squad and the U.S.A. fans are sure to be excited at the prospect of competitive international football.
Patrick Noonan, Michael Parkhurst, and Taylor Twellman have been selected from the New England Revolution for the squad by Bradley.