August 10, 2008
Sox Rally Late to Take Third Straight from Chicago
Boston 6, Chicago 3
When Jim Thome and Carlos Quesntin went back-to-back in the bottom of the first inning, manager Terry Francona could quickly see this game getting out of hand for his starter, Josh Beckett. Trailing by three after just five batters, Beckett went to a 3-0 count against Paul Konerko before a long flyball fell short of the wall for the third out of the inning.
A post-inning conference between Francona, Beckett, catcher Jason Varitek and pitching coach John Farrell seemed to pay dividends. While Beckett would surrendered a total of eleven hits over seven innings, he managed to keep the White Sox off the board.
Little-by-little, the Sox chipped away at the Chicago lead.
Mike Lowell led off the third with a double and advanced to third after a Jason Varitek walk and Dustin Pedroia sacrifice hit. Coco Crisp put the Sox on the board with a sacrifice fly, allowing Lowell to scamper home safely without a throw.
In the sixth, Kevin Youkilis hit a solo home run to pull Boston within one. The 15th home run of the season for Youkilis was his first in nearly three weeks, the longest stretch of the season for the first baseman.
With the bases loaded in the seventh and no outs, Jason Varitek added a sacrifice fly to tie the game at three a piece. Following the sacrifice, Jose Contreras struck out Dustin Pedroia and Coco Crisp to end the inning.
In the eighth, Jose Contreras struck out Youkilis to start the inning, but gave way to Octavio Dotel. Manny Ramirez and Adam Dunn immeditately greeted Dotel with a pair of doubles on back-to-back pitches to break the tie. Rafael Furcal dlew out to deep right field, but Dunn was caught out at third trying to advance to end the inning.
In the ninth, with Jonathan Papelbon warming up, J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia launched solo home runs off Dotel to put the Sox up by three and cap Boston's comeback.
In his two appearances against the Red Sox this season, Dotel has allowed eight runs in three and one third innings. The 34 year old from Santo Domingo has surrendered three home runs to go along with a .471 oavg.
Once again for the Red Sox, Brian Wilson and Jonathan Papelbon teamed up the pitch the final two innings for the Sox.
W: Beckett (12-5) L: Dotel (3-2) SV: Papelbon (29)
Player of the Game: Jim Thome (2-4, HR, RBI)
Around the League:
...Boston purchased the contract of Edward Mujica (3-3, 6 SVs, 2.18 ERA w/ Paw) from Pawtuckett...
Minus Key Players, Revs Drop Match to FC Dallas
FC Dallas 2, New England 1
The Revolution went into the second of back-to-back games at FC Dallas minus five regulars as Gabriel Ferrari was away on international duty, Khano Smith and Jack Jewsbury served suspensions and Marshall Leonard (knee) and Rudolph Austin (shoulder) were out with injury.
The inexperience showed early when Christian Jimenez was beat in just the third minute of action by Stuart Holden, creating a scoring chance the veteran was able to convert for the quick 1-0 lead.
Maurice Edu added another score for FC Dallas right before the half as the pressure on keeper Matt Reis proved too much. In all, Reis faced twelve shots, eight on target, stopping six while the Revolution say themselves lose the possession game 61-39.
In the ninetieth minute, New England broke up the shutout bid when Edson Buddle took a header out of the corner and put it past Ray Burse, breaking a 210 minute scoreless streak by the Revolution.