Lest the Wildcard Lead Evaporates, Lester Wins Again

By John in Featured, Red Sox ⋅ September 6, 2009 at 6:19pm ⋅ Post a comment

Jon Lester after leaving the game with manager Terry Francona

This is why “Sox” is one of my favorite Scrabble plays, and yes it is a legitimate plural of “sock.” The Red Sox threw the White Sox in the spin cycle and hung them up to dry for a 6-1 victory on Sunday. Business picked up in the 4th with a two-run homer to left by Mike Lowell to take a 2-0 lead. The Red Sox then tacked on a run in the 5th to go up 3-0.

Reliever Billy Wagner surrendered the first and only run Chicago would get in the 8th on a home run to left. It was his first run given up on the Red Sox, and was surrendered to Ramon Castro, the ninth man in the White Sox order. Up 3-1 in the 9th, Victor Martinez completely emasculated the White Sox’ hope of winning when he crushed a three-run homer to right. The homer was given up by Octavio Dotel, against whom Martinez was previously 0 for 9.

On the pitching side of things, the Red Sox were backed up by another masterful outing from Jon Lester. Lester went seven scoreless innings, giving up just four hits and two walks. He threw 122 pitches in the outing, tying a season high. His only real problem was DH Scott Podsednik, who got three singles off the lefty. Billy Wagner gave up the home run but went on to retire two batters before Daniel Bard finished off the next batter and the inning. Jonathan Papelbon came in to finish Chicago off with a rare non-save opportunity appearance, giving up one hit in the process.

The pitching staff had some huge help in the first inning, following a leadoff single and walk. Dustin Pedroia caught a fast-falling fly ball to shallow right that he had to dash to, then threw to second in an arc while falling back to get the double play.

Jacoby Ellsbury played a major part in the game as well, hitting three leadoff singles for his tenth three-hit game of the season. After Dustin Pedroia flew out in the 1st, White Sox starter John Danks attempted six pickoffs of Ellsbury at first before walking Martinez anyway. He attempted two more pickoffs of Ellsbury while Pedroia batted in the fifth. This sapped Danks’ energy, contributing to a departure after six innings and 107 pitches. Ellsbury later stole his 59th base of the season after singling in the seventh inning off Randy Williams.

Sox Stud of the Game: Jon Lester

Lester was completely dominant, save for the one batter, against the White Sox staff. He was the most exciting thing to watch since Milwaukee’s triple play earlier in the day.

Sox Dud of the Game: David Ortiz

Ortiz went 0 for 4 with a groundout, strikeout, fly out, and another groundout. Ortiz has only two hits on the road trip.

That’s What He Said:

“For some reason I’ve been having trouble seeing his release point, and I thought ‘I’m gonna take a chance’.” – Victor Martinez on his home run in the 9th.

Game Notes:

W: Jon Lester (12-7)
L: John Danks (12-9)

J.D. Drew started 3 for 8 in his career against John Danks, including two doubles and a home run. Drew went 1-3 against Danks on Sunday including another double.
Jason Bay sort of committed a fielding error in the 4th; it was his first error of the season…well at least it would have been after it was changed from a double. Later on, the play was once again changed to a double from the second ruling of a single and a one-base error.
Kevin Youkilis was hit on the knee by a pitch in the 5th. It is the fourteenth time he was hit this season, tying him for second most in the American League and third in all of baseball.
With earlier losses by the Yankees, Rays, and Rangers, the Red Sox are now 7.5 games behind the Yankees in the division and 3.0 games ahead of the Rangers in the Wild Card race. The Rays are 7.0 games back in that race, and now only 0.5 games ahead of the Seattle Mariners, pending their results.

Tags: Chicago White Sox, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, Mike Lowell, Red Sox, Victor Martinez