Game 2 2009: The Thrills of Liveblogging!

Top 1st
Lester pitching

Jason Bartlett strikes out on four wicked fastballs.
Carl Crawford grounds out , 3-1
The Desperate Third Baseman lines a double down the left field line.
Northeastern's own Carlos Pena strikes out on a high hard one to end the inning

Bottom 1st
Kashmir pitching
"songs that fill my dreams...."

Jacoby RIPS a ball at Pena for the first out.
Our Man DP works a walk
And Big Papi follows with a walk of his own.
Our Man Youk takes a couple of questionable strikes, then whiffs on a changeup.
The Pride of Rhode Island, Rocco Baldelli, whiffs on a questionable called third strike.

Yikes. I hope Lester gets these calls. Goodness.

Top 2nd
Pat The Bat walks (Really? A walk? Swinging strikeout is usually more Pat's speed!)
Dioner (Maker) Navarro strikes out looking on a pretty curveball that, truthfully, looked inside.
Ben Zobrist, organizational soldier, whiffs on another hook.
Gabe Kapler, teen heartthrob, also whiffs on a high hard one.

Bottom 2nd
The Pirate Bay fouls out on a nice grab by Pena
Mike Lowell, American Hero, aka The Other AL East Third Baseman With A Hip Problem, breaks his bat on a gentle popup to first.
Farmer Jed Lowrie takes a walk
El Capitan pops out to second

Top Three
Iwamura doubles
Bartlett knocks an infield single
Carl Crawford tries to bunt (?) and then singles in a run, which scores on a Youk throwing error (1-0 Rays)
The Desperate Third Baseman hits the ball off the end of the bat and grounds into a sweet DP, Lowrie to DP to Youk.
Carlos Pena grounds out.

Bottom Three
Ellsbury pops up
Our Man DP doubles
Big Papi strikes out
Our Man Youk singles, scoring DP, but getting picked off of first base.
(BOS 1, TAM 1)

Top Four
Pat the Bat grounds out
Dioner Navarro flies out to right on a fine catch by Baldelli
Zobrist flies out to right

Bottom Four
Baldelli flies out to right
Bay flies out to right
Lowell flies out to center, causing Kapler to have to break straight back on it, but he does run it down.

Top Five
Gabe Kapler, who was very popular during his time in Boston, especially among the distaff set, (supposedly he's Edward Cullen in spikes) walks.
Iwamura slices a nice little opposite field hit and run single, sending Kapler to third.
Bartlett bunts, but no play is possible, as the ball dribbles in front of the plate. Tek can't reach it, and Lester scoops it up, but it is too late to make a play. (BOS 1, TAM 2)
Carl Crawford sends a fly into short left, where it falls in between Lowrie and Bay for a base hit.
The Desperate Third Baseman grounds into a double play, 6-4-3, scoring a run for a 3-1 Tampa lead.
Pena homers to dead center. (BOS 1, TAM 5)
Pat the Bat grounds out to third

Ick.

Bottom Five

Farmer Jed flies out to center
The Captain lines out to center
Ellsbury beats out an infield single
Our Man DP grounds to the DTB, who throws him out to end the frame.
Ah well.

I think Lester has to be done, here, as he hasn't really been rocked, other than the homer, but he has lost something after the early flare of strikeouts. The pitch count is getting up there, and it doesn't seem like sending him out there is going to do much additional good.

Top Six

Metropolitan District Commission on now.

"Dave" Navarro grounds out to first
Ben Zobrist grounds out to second
Gorgeous Gabe grounds to third

Bottom Six

Ortiz flies out to right
Youk loops a ball into short right for a single.
Rocco slides a single into right for another base hit.
The Pirate Bay gets called out-strike three on a frankly outside pitch.
Mike Lowell grounds into a force out to end the inning

Top Seven

New Guy Ramon Ramirez is on for Boston
Iwamura flew out to center
Bartlett struck out
Crawford flies out to right

Bottom Seven

Dan "Nautical" Wheeler on for Tampa

Farmer Jed gets called out on strike three on a ball that looked low.
The Captain flies out to the warning track in center
Jacoby flies out to left

Top Eight

Things are lookin' grim.

New Guy Takashi Saito, who is approximately 811 years old, on for Boston
He has Dwight Evans' old number, 24.
He also has a slow, Dice K ish windup, with a pause at the top and a slow wind and follow through.

But the Desperate Third Baseman takes him out, slamming a hanging slider into the Monster Seats for a 6-1 lead. Gulp.

But then again, Okey Doke gave up a homer on his first Red Sox pitch, and he turned out okay.

Pena fouls out to the catcher, Tek running almost to third base to grab it because the infield was shifted around the other way.

Pat The Bat pops out to Youkilis for the second out.

Navarro pops up to second to end the inning
Bottom Eighth

JP "Thurston" Howell on now

Our Man DP strikes out swinging
Big Papi guides a single off of the Monstah for a base hit
Youk rockets a ball off of Longoria for another base hit
Rocco whiffs badly on a ball in the dirt
Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay raps one down the left field line for an RBI double, scoring Ortiz (BOS 2, TAM 6)
Mike Lowell takes one on the elbow to load the bases.

Maddon comes to the mound, relieving Howell with Grant "Hope he throws" Balfour

Farmer Jed whiffs on a hardcore, 95mph outside heater.

Ouch.

Top Nine

The Other Javy Lopez on now for Boston, the final pitcher to make his 2009 debut for Boston.

Zobrist flies out to left, Bay making a nice running catch.
Kapler doubles firmly off the wall.
Iwamura bloops a single into short center, but Ellsbury, thinking quickly, guns down Kapler going to third. Kapler was trapped, because if the ball were caught, he would have had to go back.
Bartlett singles sharply to left.
Crawford singles off of the pitcher, and Iwamura sneaks home.
(BOS 2, TAM 7)
Longoria grounds into a fielder's choice, ending the inning.

Bottom Nine

Last Chance Saloon Time

Balfour still pitching

The Captain grounds out.
Ellsbury flies out to left.
Our Man DP flies out to center.

Ah, well. Ya can't win 'em all. Literally.