Game 121: Rays 6 Sox 2

Yup, Niemann had our number again. Second half of the double header had the same number of hits as the first but turned into only 2 runs (solo shots by Ellsbury and Varitek). Unfortunately, Bedard could not hold down the Rays the way Lester did. Bedard gave up 3 runs in 6 innings but only one was earned. He actually looked really good, striking out 6 but was victimized by poor defense.

Lowrie struck in the second not being able to make the play on Zobrist's bunt to start the inning (no error though). He then skipped a ball into home trying to get Zobrist out as he tried to score on a ground ball (scored an error). In the 4th he was positioned perfectly, starting the 5-4-3 triple play, the first by the Red Sox since Valentin had an unassisted triple play in 1994. But he went back to being a defensive liability in the 8th. He couldn't get the tag down in time to get Zobrist stealing third despite the throw easily beating him. Then the Sox caught Upton in a run down trying to steal second when Zobrist got caught too far off third. Lowrie muffed the throw home however and Zobrist scored. So I'm pinning three of the Rays runs on Lowrie. Sheesh.

No Ortiz or Scutaro today. Scutaro apparently has stiffness in his back but NESN was not very clear on what was keeping Ortiz out of the lineup. I didn't realize how much of an impact Ortiz has on our lineup until I saw Crawford batting 5th in game 1 and batting as a DH in game 2. What about this season does Francona not see that makes him think Crawford deserves to bat anywhere beside 9th? There are no starters on this team that I would like to have fewer at bats than Crawford so bat him 9th!

Rubber game tomorrow featuring Price v Lackey. Could be ugly.