Dave pitched 7.1 innings allowing one run, a homer by Brandon Snyder that hit the Pesky foul pole probably 303 feet out there, allowed just two hits with no walks and eight ring ups. Dave threw 90 pitches, with 67 strikes and 23 balls. Again, an amazing outing. Dave was cruising along going into the bottom of the eighth when all of the sudden it started pouring. The teams had to leave the field and there was a 39 minute rain delay. I knew it would be risky to bring Dave back after that delay, and Joe Maddon consulted with Jim Hickey, his pitching coach, and DP. DP, of course, wanted to go out there. Joe said after the game he was very uncomfortable putting him back out there. Dave had actually had probably a 50 minute break because he had been on the bench in the top of the eighth while his team hit. After listening to Dave plead his case and Hickey agreeing with Dave, Joe put him back out there. Joe said after the game that David was too important to the franchise to risk losing him in one game. Joe was talking about David’s long term career and not blowing out his arm and losing his opportunity to make a fantastic living and have a potentially Hall of Fame career. But Joe relented and put him back out there. Dave went 3-0 on the first batter he faced, but then came back and struck Jonny Gomes out.
Joe said after the game that he didn’t like what he was seeing. Dave was not fluid and he looked to be laboring. So he took him out. Dave was livid. But then some real fireworks ensued. Our highly reliable Joel Peralta came in with the Rays leading 2-1, but immediately gave up a double to catcher Ryan Lavarnway. Red Sox manager John Farrell immediately inserted Daniel Nave to pinch run for Lavarnway. Shortstop Stephen Drew then hit a double over Wil Myers head that went to the right field wall. Amazingly, Nava held up going somewhat halfway and then returning close to the bag thinking Wil might catch it. Wil had no chance, but hustled after the ball and fired it to second baseman Ben Zobrist. Nava only reached third.
Then even more fireworks ensued. Brandon Snyder hit a fly ball to left central (as Joe calls it), Sam Fuld called off Des Jennings. Sam and Des are out two best outfielders–they’re both very good–but Sam probably has a little better arm than Des. Sam is a Type 1 diabetic and one of the best hustlers in baseball. He played his college ball at Stanford. He has made some epic catches for us the last three years.Love the guy. He hauled the ball in and fired to the plate. Nava took off. Jose Molina, our fine, hard-working, 38-year old catcher was in perfect position to catch the throw and tag Nava out. Sam one hopped it to Molina as Nave was sliding into home. Molina put the tag on Nava in a real bang-bang play. It was so close in fast motion. Home plate umpire Jerry Meals called Nava out. The replay showed that Nava got his toe in before the tag. The Red Sox went ballistic, but the call stood and the Rays held on to the 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Fernando Rodney gave up a leadoff single to Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury stole second after Shane Victorino popped out. Rodney then got a huge out getting Dustin Pedroia to ground out to short on a bang-bang play at first, but he was out. Big Papi came up and Maddon intentionally walked David Ortiz. Maddon said after the game that he’d seen Papi respond too many times in the big moments, so he was not going to take any chances. Jose Iglesias ran for Papi. Mike Napoli came up, Napoli is a power guy and a high RBI guy with 14 and 64. He’s hitting .261 but has struck out 136 times this year. Rodney threw a wild pitch and Ellsbury and Iglesias advanced to third and second with two outs. Napoli worked it to 3-2. Rodney had been throwing him mostly 98 MPH fastballs, but this time he threw him an 85 MPH change up. Napoli swung and missed and the Rays took over first place in one of the best late July games I’ve ever seen. The Rays could have been up 4 or 5-1 in the game. Luke Scott hit a ball to very deep right field in the top of the seventh that Victorino reached for and caught over the three and a half foot wall. The ball even kind of popped out of Victorino’s club but he held onto it. In the top of the fifth with runners on first and third James Loney crushed a line drive to right but Victorino got to it and pulled it in.
It was a September-October game played in July. Incredible. Pirates won game one over the Cards, 9-2 ad Pedro crushed one out to right, a three run shot, his 27th of the year and his 68th RBIs of the year. The Pirates scored five times in the bottom of the seventh and took a 9-2 lead and finished off to move a half game behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. Pirates play a doubleheader today against the Cards and two more after that in an unusual five game set. If they can take four of five or sweep, they’ll be back in front in the Central.
Rays now a half game up on the Sox and play at home the rest of the week. Play Arizona tonight and tomorrow night and then San Francisco Friday through Sunday.
Dave is now 6-1 at Fenway with a 1.90 (roughly) ERA in the best hitters ballpark in the majors with maybe the best hitting team along with the Cards and the Rays in the majors. Incredible stuff. David now 6-5 on the season with a 3.57 ERA. Before the injury, Dave’s ERA was way over 4. He now has 15 walks and 84 strikeouts. Just amazing stuff. Dave said after the game that he was upset that Joe pulled him, but the key was winning. And that was the result. I think it was a good move by Joe. Joe didn’t want to put him back in after the delay, and I thought he shouldn’t, but David is a pretty convincing guy. Joe didn’t like it when he saw him pitch to the first batter and pulled him. It was the right move for David and his career, and it was the right move for his team. Joe is always thinking about his player’s well being for the long run. He really cares passionately about his players. He’s a really good guy.
Mike pitches tomorrow night vs the Rockies. First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET/6:10 CT. Sonny had a tough outing Sunday Night for the Sacramento River Cats, but he has been pitching well. He only pitched to two batters and walked them both. I checked to see if there was any injury, but there was none reported. Sam had a good outing Sunday giving up only one run in five innings but took the loss 1-0. He walked three and K’d seven and gave up four hits for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Tony hitting it pretty well for the Tri-City Valley Cats, hitting about .270. Conrad Gregor also playing for Tri-City in New York state and hitting around .240. They are in the Houston Astros organization Curt Casali has moved up to double A ball in Montgomery, Al for the Buscuits. Curt hitting .360 so far and catching. The Montgomery team is the Rays double A team.
Will have more later.
