Red Sox 2 Jays 1
Yesterday we score 12 and lose by a run. Today we allow 2 and lose by a run. Close, as they say, only counts in horseshoes. The nice part is that we were told we couldn't compete with the the 'good teams' and we are competing with them. Bad part, we are down by the run at the end of the game, instead of up by the run.
Shaun Marcum (I wish all the Shauns would pick one spelling, I can never remember which one spells it which way) had a great game. 7 innings,4 hits, 3 walks, 5 Ks, 1 run. He really deserved a win. But then if everyone got everything they deserved I wouldn't be blogging from my mom's basement. Or actually I likely would be blogging from my mom's basement.
Vernon Wells also had a pretty good game, 2 for 4.. Drove in our run, with a double. And singled, moving to second on an error in the 8th to give us a chance to tie. But with Vernon on second, Overbay struck out, looking terrible and Gonzalez popped out to center looking equally bad. We only had 5 other hits. Lewis, Hill, Lind, Gonzalez and Bautista all had singles. Overbay and Snider had a walk each.
The bad? Other than the lack of offense, the bullpen again didn't do the job. Downs came in to start the 8th. He struck out Scoot, gave up a single to Pedroia, single to Victor Martinez, got Youkilis to fly out and then walked J.D. Drew. Cito pulled Downs and put in Gregg. Perhaps Gregg didn't get long enough to warm up, but he walked Mike Lowell on 4 pitches, only one of which was anywhere near the strike zone. And that brought home the winning run. I don't know why, but watching the winning run walk in is so much worse than if they got the hit.
Jays of the Day are Marcun (.348 WPA) and Wells (.133). Suckage Jays? Well throw a dart at the lineup. Odds are you'd hit one. Buck (-.176), Overbay (-.175), Gonzalez (-.117), Gregg (-.115) and Gonzalez (-.109). Downs didn't have suckage number (-.033) likely because even though he loaded the bases, he did get two outs. Bases loaded, 2 outs, there must be at least a 65% chance they won't score. But Downs does deserve honorable suckageness (?).
I guess, if you care about such things, you can take some comfort in that they didn't strikeout as much as normal, only 4 times today. Also, unusual for us, of our 7 hits, 6 were singles. We've been swinging from the heels so much we haven't singled very often.
Tomorrow we try to salvage one game of the series with Brett Cecil making his second start of the year. Lefty Jon Lester (0-2, 6.23) starts for the Sox. I'd feel good about our chances but we've helped a few starters with their ERA's so far this young season.