Yep, this team is playing like crap again.
Josh Beckett made his return to Florida and the Marlins welcomed him by dropped scored all four of their runs in the first two innings while Josh Johnson contained the offense as Miami gets the 4-1 win.
It started real quick as Jose Reyes got a leadoff triple off of Beckett and Donovan Solano managed to get enough of a Beckett pitch to get the sac fly to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead. After a Giancarlo Stanton single,Logan Morrison got one into the gap in right center and gets himself an RBI double. The next batter, Gaby Sanchez, gets an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Solano continued to be a pest as he got an RBI single to make it 4-0 but after that hit, Beckett got a grip of the game and retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, the only blemish was a seventh inning walk to John Buck. Beckett's final (and deceiving) line: 7 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.
The Sox offense could not figure out Josh Johnson as he got out of a two-on, no out jam and didn't get in any other trouble until the sixth where the Sox only managed to only put one run up, via a sac fly, despite having two men in scoring position with the middle of the order coming up. Johnson went seven, struck out seven and walked only one.
Scott Podsednik had himself a pretty good game batting leadoff, going 3-4 with a run scored & a stolen base. Just a damn shame that the rest of the team went 2-26. The only other bright spot of the night was the return of Mark Melancon as he pitched a very effective eighth inning, getting three quick outs in just nine pitches.
Oh and Adrian Gonzalez got his first walk since May 15th (!!!) in the ninth which was nice but didn't even try to run to second when Miami closer Heath Bell threw a ball past John Buck that managed to go near the Sox dugout. He would've been safe standing even with his sloth-like speed.
There was also a shouting match between home umpire Ron Kulpa & Kevin Youkilis. Kulpa came to the steps to talk to Youkilis, who may have said something at the plate earlier before striking out for the final out of the game.
The Sox have lost four straight and are three under .500 and are now the undivided attention of Bostonians. Grab the Sam Summer's it's going to be a long summer. Then again if some of the players played like the way they complained to umpires, maybe they wouldn't be in the cellar of the AL East.
Original Story:
|
June 11, 2012
