World Series Game Three - Recap

Red Sox…..006 000 031 – 10 – 15 – 1
Rockies…...000 002 300 – 5 – 11 – 0

BOS: Matsuzaka, Lopez (6), Timlin (6), Okajima (7), Delcarmen (8), Papelbon (8) and Varitek
COL: Fogg, Morales (3), Affeldt (6), Herges (7), Fuentes (8), Hawkins (9) and Torrealba

Red Sox lead series Three Games to None (13-1, 2-1, 10-5)

The first World Series game played a mile above sea level lived up to expectations as the Red Sox and Rockies slugged it out with the Red Sox hanging on for a 10-5 win.

Early on it went well. The Sox threatened in the first but while they did not score they mounted the pitch count on Josh Fogg. Meanwhile Daisuke Matsuzaka came out and looked very strong. From what I saw he seemed to have an outstanding fastball and was locating magnificently. At one point he had thrown 63 pitches and only 17 for balls.

In the third the Sox offense erupted. Jacoby Ellsbury had the second of his four hits with a double to start things and then Pedroia dropped down a beautiful bunt and beat the throw for a hit. Ortiz then ripped a two bagger for a 1-0 lead. After Ramirez was intentionally passed Lowell grounded one crisply up the middle for a 3-0 lead.

After Drew popped up Varitek singled to left with Manny being gunned down at the plate when Torrealba made a terrific scoop of a throw from Holliday. With some starch out of the inning Fogg wisely worked around Lugo issuing the free pass bringing Matsuzaka to the plate.

And Daisuke grounded the first pitch to left for a two run single.

Up 5-0 the Sox got another run when Ellsbury had his second double of the inning and it was 6-0 and the Sox were in charge.

Matsuzaka cruised until the sixth when he seemed to tire. With one out he walked successive hitters and having thrown 101 pitches Francona pulled the trigger and lifted him. I felt that given Matsuzaka’s tendency to give up big innings quickly that Tito made the right move lifting Daisuke. Where Francona erred was his choice of reliever.

Sigh.

Look, as a reader of sports writing I hate when writers belabor a point. I’m as sick of bashing Javier Lopez as you are of reading me bash him but if Terry Francona continues to use him in key spots and Lopez continues to fail in key spots I can’t ignore it. He just should not be used in a key situation, it really is that simple.

Anyway, after Lopez allowed the Rockies to cut the lead to 6-2 Timlin came on and got lucky. Spilborghs just missed a three run homer then Lugo made a spectacular play on a line shot that would likely have plated two runs to end the inning.

In the seventh the Rockies kept it going with Matsui and Tulowitzki starting a rally. Francona lifted Timlin and called for Okajima. Okajima’s first pitch was destroyed by Holliday for a three run homer to dead center and when Helton smoked a single it felt like the wheels might be coming off.

Okajima got nasty though and struck out Atkins and Hawpe and Torrealba to ground back to the mound to end the inning with the Sox protecting a one run lead.

Inning number eight was a good one as the Sox offense rallied. A one out walk to Lugo was followed by a soft liner for a single by Crisp. Ellsbury then flied one down the right field line that seemed like it was catchable but Hawpe decided to slide rather than run through the ball and it fell for an RBI double. Pedroia then lined a two bagger to right and the Sox had recaptured the three runs they had given up in the seventh and led 9-5.

In the bottom of the eighth the Rockies threatened with two outs but Papelbon got Holliday to fly deep to left to end the inning. The Sox got a run in the ninth thanks to a Mike Lowell steal of third and a sac fly by ‘Tek and Papelbon closed it out.

Other Notes:

Daisuke Matsuzaka – Daisuke pitched exceptionally well. For five innings he was brilliant allowing just three hits and one walk without a run. His fastball seemed very strong and had a lot more life than we’ve seen. Most importantly he was pounding the strike zone with 54 of his 83 pitches in the first five innings being strikes.

Jacoby Ellsbury/Dustin Pedroia – You can’t do it better than Jacoby did tonight. He’s the first rookie to have a four hit World Series game since Joe Garagiola in the 1946 Series. Pedroia was right along with him with three hits of his own and the two rookies combined for seven hits, three runs and four RBI.

Julio Lugo – Lugo made two fine defensive plays getting a force at third base and his leaping grab in the sixth that was a huge play. On top of that he was on base three times tonight and is hitting .400 for the World Series.

Terry Francona – Tito did some good things and some not so good things. I felt he made the right call to lift Matsuzaka but using Lopez was a mistake. It was my opinion that he should have gone to Okajima there. I thought Francona was correct in his timing of making the switch from Ortiz to Youkilis and I liked the two double switches that lifted Drew then Pedroia. On the other hand, I thought he erred in letting Timlin start the seventh. Mike had gotten away with murder in the sixth and I thought he should have had Okajima or Delcarmen start that inning.

Yorvit Torrealba – He had two hits tonight and made a tremendous play to scoop the short hop from Holliday to put the tag on Ramirez in the third inning. Anyone who has played catcher knows that fielding throws with a catcher’s mitt is not always the easiest thing in the world to do.

Rockies Middle Relief – Franklin Morales, Jeremy Affeldt and Matt Herges all did a tremendous job to keep the Sox at bay after Fogg was chased and give the Rockies a chance to come back. Morales was especially impressive after he was knocked around in Game One he did a nice job to come out and make good pitches.