Drew Stays Hot, Sox Bullpen Blows It

By KC Downey in Featured, Red Sox ⋅ June 11, 2008 at 8:19am ⋅ Post a comment

The Red Sox played host to a team they should be very familiar with in the Baltimore Orioles. They played the O’s during the most recent road trip (taking two out of three) and again find themselves facing the division foe. The bullpen, however, played like they’ve never seen the Orioles, blowing a 6-4 Red Sox lead in a 10-6 Orioles win.

Hideki Okajima (1-2) allowed three runs while recording only one out, taking the loss after Josh Beckett‘s six-inning, four-run performance. We all thought the biggest weakness on the Sox would be the offense without David Ortiz, but the bullpen has remained shaky and proved it Tuesday night.

Sox Stud of the Game:

Who else but J.D. Drew? I mean really…this is getting ridiculous. Is he actually going to start earning his paycheck? Well, it would take an all-star caliber season to earn that much money, and Drew is not that far off. He went 1-2 with two walks and yet another home run (his 9th), two RBIs, and two runs scored. By the way, he’s now hitting .320.

Diamond Dud of the Game:

Hideki Okajima may have good numbers, but this year he has allowed many inherited runners to score, which doesn’t affect his ERA numbers. As mentioned before, Okie allowed three runs in just 1/3 of an inning, raising his ERA to 2.89. He may be a good option, but not as good as he was last year. I’ll certainly be dropping him in one of my fantasy leagues!

Game Notes:

Manny Ramirez‘s home run was of the back-to-back variety (It came after Drew’s).
Manny was honored before the game for his 500th HR.
Dustin Pedroia woke up a bit to go 2-3 and get back to .268.
Craig Hansen allowed three runs (two earned) in the ninth inning.