August 13, 2011: Red Sox at Mariners - Game 2 of 3

From Safeco Field, Seattle, Washington, USA

Boston Red Sox

(73-44)

Manager: Terry Francona

@

Seattle Mariners

(50-67)

Manager: Eric Wedge

Game 2 of 3

First pitch: 10:10 PM EST  

Starting Pitchers
Red Sox - Josh Beckett
Mariners - Felix Hernandez  

Umpires
Home - Mark Ripperger
1B - Brian Onora
2B - Alfonso Marquez-
3B - Ed Hickox  

Weather  
68F | 18C

Partly CloudyWind - 4 mph | 7 kph


August 14 - 7:30 AM

I went to bed last night with two outs in the bottom of the 5th. Sometimes the day ceases you. Early this morning I completed the notations.
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Terry Francona has great baseball sense. When he was kicked out of the game in the top of the 4th for argueing an out call at the plate he must have had the feeling that Ichiro's DP (FO9, 9-2 OUT) was a pivital moment.

As the MLB Play-by-Play widget (part of the Game Day interface) reported a sacrifice fly, RBI - Ellsbury plated, Crawford to 3B I was thinking, these Bostons just keep on coming... . But then the widget reversed itself and I had to change the scorecard; from a 2 out rally - to end of inning, no runs. Then, after a long delay with the widget showing "injury time out", came the news that Francona was gone.

That one run may have changed the outcome of the game. It's not as simple as, that run + the 4 in the 6th = extra innings - the Bostons suffered a change in momentum, that could have become a crooked number rally. And Francona - in real time, as it was happening - knew - and acted. As I completed the scorecard this morning I could see Francona's managing from the hallway all over the game. The PR in the 8th, the PH in the 9th - giving his club all the help he could give. Interesting.  

Took a look at the MLB video of the play this morning (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_08_13_bosmlb_seamlb_1&mode=box), and surprisingly a frame on the replay actually shows that catcher Bard is in control of the ball after impact as Ellsbury is crossing the plate.

Image immediately after impact - Bard hanging on to ball by his third finger as Ellsbury slides through

The umps get it right on the reversal - but Bud Selig's perfection neurosis Meme, that recording technology improvements is causing, kicks the hell out of the Red Sox in this instance.

It's (un)funny that Bard stays in the game - no pammpering and concussion tests and 'better be safe' bla, bla, bla - after he gets kneed in the jaw so hard I'm amazed it's not broken (maybe it is - the hockey helmet very much helped it looks like). I guess defensive catchers are a dime-a-dozen.

(Another way the DH rule distorts the AL game - I would posit.)


Line-ups and Pitching Totals help from ESPN - Boxscore

Colour Legend (as of this date)

Neon Green is a Base Hit Forest Green is a runner advanced by a Base Hit or a Sacrifice Yellow is Intentional Base on Balls, Defensive Indifference, a Sacrafice or Fielder's Choice Red is an out Pink are un-earned bases - Wild Pitch, Passed Ball or an Error Neon Blue is a Stolen Base Navy Blue is a base earned via a Hit or a Sacrifice, that results in a Run Scored

The Scoring Notations

BB Base on Balls - Batter to first base because the umpire ruled that pitched ball was the forth pitch of the at-bat out of the strike zone HBP Hit By Pitch - Batter is ruled by the umpire to have been hit by pitch - awarded one base BH Base Hit - Batter-runner safe at first base via a hit ball 2BH Two Base Hit - Batter-runner safe at second base via a hit ball 3BH Three Base Hit - Batter-runner safe at third base via a hit ball HR Home Run - Batter-runner safe at home plate via a hit ball RBI Run Batted In - via a SAC, a BH or a BB - a run scores RS Run Scored. SAC Sacrifice - With less than two outs the batter causes a base runner to advance but in the process, is put out FC Ball hit on the ground, fielded and a put out made anywhere but at 1B DI Defensive Indifference - A baserunner advances because the defence, for strategic reasons, does nothing IBB Intentional Base on Balls - The defences decides to walk a batter for strategic reasons

SB Stolen Base - Base runner advances on a pitched ball despite the defence's best efforts CS Caught Stealing - A baserunner is put out while tring to advance on a pitch K Called third strike - Batter out because the umpire ruled that with two strikes in an at-bat, a pitched ball was in the strike zone Ks Batter out, swinging third strike IFR Infield Fly Rule - A ball popped up on the infield that an umpire rules is easily catch-able - batter-runner is out, the ball is dead LO Ball caught that was hit so hard it appears like the vector was a straight line GO Ball hit on the ground, fielded and the batter-runner is put out at 1B FO A high arching hit ball caught on the fly by a fielder E The defence allows runners to advance because of less than stallar play Eth The defence allows runners to advance because of less than stallar throw WP Wild Pitch - a pitched ball that bounces in and is not caught by the catcher and that results in a runner advancing PB Passed Ball - a pitched ball that doesn't bounce and is not caught by the catcher and that results in a runner advancing

pop A ball hit in a high arch such that the distance travelled up is greater than the distance travelled from the plate GR To prevent injury, "Ground Rules" define what hit or thrown balls are in, and out of play - announced before each game by the home team manager f Hit ball caught in foul territory - for example "FO3f" - Fly Ball caught by First Base, foul op Out of Play - for example "FO5op", Fly ball caught by Third Base across the railing in the stands, or in the camera bay... BRIF Base runner is out for interfering with the defence while they're making a play on a batted ball Ksf2 Foul tip with 2 strikes, caught by catcher - strike three - - - - - - - - - - - -

Box Score - Final	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	Runs	Hits	Errors	LOB
Boston Red Sox	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	-	-	4	10	0	4
Seattle Mariners	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	-	-	5	9	1	4

Boston Red Sox	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	AB R H BB SAC RBI SO HBP LOB 2BH 3BH HR AVG PO A E
1.  J Ellsbury CF	pop FO6			CCBF BBB E3 BB		RS 2RBI HR	DP BH7(8)
2.  C Crawford LF	4-3			1-SX 1-3 E3 #1 1,2 GB1 IF-BH #1 2,3		FO8	GB 2nd DP 4-3 #1 out /
3.  A Gonzalez 1B	LO8 /			CX GB3 soft 3-1 #2 1,2		RS bunt 5 BH		Wright + DP BH8
4.  D Pedroia 2B		pop FO3f		CCBB X DP FO9 9-2 #1 out / Francona -		RS 2RBI HR8		GB1 DP 1-6-3 #1 out
5.  D Ortiz DH 8th PR D McDonald		FO7			BB	BH9		CS BB PR /
6.  J Reddick RF		CBSF X 6-3 /			FO7	Ks		BB>B #5 CS 2-6 --->	League + Ks
7.  M Aviles 3B 9th PH J Lowrie			FFFB X FC soft bouncer BH5		Ks	BH7 #5 1,2			PH Ks
8.  J Varitek C			SBX DP GB3 FC 3-6 #7 out		3UA /	LO4 /			GB1 1-3 /
9.  M Scutaro SS			CX GB4 DP 4-6-3 /			RS 3BH7(8) deep	pop FO4
Per-Inning Totals	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	Totals
Runs Hits Errors LOB	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	0 1 0 0	0 1 0 0	0 0 0 1	4 6 0 2	0 1 0 0	0 1 0 0	0 0 x 0

Red Sox Pitching Totals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P/S	ERA
Josh Beckett	5.0	8	5	5	1	6	2	99/63	2.40
Matt Albers	1.2	1	0	0	0	3	0	26/18	2.37
Franklin Morales	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	6/5	4.34
Alfredo Aceves	0.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	10/7	3.26

Seattle Mariners	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	AB R H BB SAC RBI SO HBP LOB 2BH 3BH HR AVG PO A E
1.  I Suzuki RF	RS RBI HR9	BX GB3 DP 3-6-3 #9 out			Ks		Ks
2.  F Gutierrez CF	RS BH8	BCSF FBX 6-3 /			SB IF-BH5 #9 2,3		Ks
3.  D Ackley 2B	RS 2BH9 deep #2 1,3		FBX GB3(4) 3-1		Ks #2 1,2		Morales + K /
4.  M Carp 1B	RS 2RBI BH8 #2 3,H #3 2,H		CBSS Ksf2		BB			FO9
5.  W Pena DH	FO8		CX 6-3 /		I'm tired. I'm going to bed. 7:30 AM Ks /			Aceves + Ks
6.  C Wells LF	RS 2RBI HR7 #4 1,H			K		Albers + IF-BH5		Ks /
7.  J Bard C	K			FO9		FO7
8.  L Rodriguez 3B	1-3 /			3UA /		FO8
9.  J Wilson SS		BFBC BFX DP (#1) BH9 soft bloop			2BH7	Ks /
Per-Inning Totals	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	Totals
Runs Hits Errors LOB	5 5 0 0	0 1 0 0	0 0 0 0	0 0 1 0	0 1 0 1	0 1 0 1	0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0	x x 0 x

Mariners' Pitching Totals	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	P/S	ERA
Felix Hernandez	7.0	9	4	4	2	2	2	107/73	3.38
Jamey Wright	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	18/8	3.44
Brandon League	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	14/9	2.91